Publications

21 Aug 2017
Lessons from the Classroom

Companies Love Big Data But Lack the Strategy To Use It Effectively

depth, and accessibility—it has become clear it is key to helping companies develop sustainable competitive advantage. “The new attention being given to data today is because suddenly, everywhere, it’s... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

April 1994 (Revised September 1994)
Case

KENETECH Corporation

By: William E. Fruhan Jr.

Involves a strategic decision about how fast to ramp up sales. Improvements in technology have driven down the cost of electric power generated from wind turbines to the point where they are competitive with fossil-fuel plants. KENETECH needs to raise equity capital to... View Details

Keywords: Renewable Energy; Borrowing and Debt; Equity; Initial Public Offering; Growth and Development Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Going Public; Sales; Competition; Energy Industry

January 2013
Case

Cabot Corporation: The Fuel Cell Decision (A)

By: Willy Shih and Ying Zhou

Managers at Cabot Corporation are faced with deciding the future of its fuel cell program. The (A) case recounts the view of the business manager and the technical project lead, and the (B) case describes the perspective of a senior manager who is the head of the New... View Details

19 Feb 2008
Research & Ideas

Radical Design, Radical Results

that design innovation often involves a high degree of uncertainty in terms of market success. "It's very hard to understand what people want," he says. "If I make a car that can brake in 10 yards instead of 50, that's a... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Consumer Products

2010
Chapter

Business Groups in Historical Perspectives

By: Geoffrey Jones and Asli M. Colpan

Business groups-collections of legally independent firms interconnected by multiple economic and social linkages that exhibit widely diversified product portfolios-are viewed as the prototypical large-enterprise form in contemporary emerging economies. By exploring the... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Management Skills; Emerging Markets; Alliances; Groups and Teams; Competitive Advantage; Great Britain

January 2013 (Revised March 2016)
Case

The Private Company Council

By: Karthik Ramanna and Luis M. Viceira

Financial Accounting Foundation chairman Jack Brennan is under pressure from private-company interests to set up a new body—the Private Company Council—to determine separate GAAP for private companies. PCC advocates—including the US Chamber of Commerce—argue that... View Details

Keywords: FASB; Lobbying; Political Economy; Accounting; Government and Politics; Leadership; Financial Markets; Accounting Industry; Financial Services Industry; Public Administration Industry

16 Aug 2022
Op-Ed

Now Is the Time for Entrepreneurs to Play Offense

For the past six months, there has been a lot of handwringing about the market downturn. Most everyone has been advising entrepreneurs to marshal their capital, cut costs, and extend their runway. In essence, play defense. Many investors... View Details

Keywords: by Jeffrey Bussgang

November 1995 (Revised November 1999)
Case

National Power and the Privatization of the British Power Generation Industry

By: Willis M. Emmons III and Ed Simnett

The British government privatized the nation's electric utility sector in 1991 through a complex process involving the restructuring of the industry as well as the creation of a new regulatory oversight body. National Power plc, the largest of the privatized power... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Trade; Energy Generation; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Markets; Monopoly; Privatization; Opportunities; Diversification; Expansion; Energy Industry; Utilities Industry

04 Jun 2001
What Do You Think?

What’s the Future of the Subscription Model?

Summing Up The Subscription Model: Down but Not Out Just as manufacturing organizations are once again adopting a subscription model as a means of pricing product-service packages marketed as solutions, it appears that Internet-based... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

Web

Reunions - Alumni

Volunteers work collaboratively with their Reunion Liaison, who supports the planning and execution of reunions. Help with Reunion Fundraising Reunion fundraising volunteers work in collaboration with their Development Liaison, who drives... View Details

01 Jan 2017
News

Improving Health Care Delivery

new career path. “I became interested in the intersection of health care and finance, and that led me to HBS,” says Jeffrey, managing partner of the health care investment firm Great Point Partners. “HBS gave me the toolkit I needed to go... View Details

April 1989 (Revised October 2005)
Case

James Burke: A Career in American Business (A)

By: Richard S. Tedlow and Wendy Smith

Presents an historical overview of the professional career of James E. Burke, chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson. Examines the corporation's handling of three major occurrences--the Tylenol poisonings in 1982 and 1986 and the acquisition and subsequent sale of... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Marketing Strategy; Ethics; Personal Development and Career; Crisis Management; Consumer Products Industry; Health Industry; United States

Article

Businessmen and Land Ownership in the Late Nineteenth Century

By: Tom Nicholas

This article analyses the proportions of personal to real estate wealth for a group of 295 businessmen profiled in the Dictionary of business biography. It shows that businessmen who owned land on a large scale in the late nineteenth century were a comparatively small... View Details

Keywords: Ownership; Personal Finance; Property; Biography; History; Acquisition; Wealth; Power and Influence; Status and Position; Integration; Transformation; Market Transactions

Read Now

24 Sep 2020
Blog Post

Introducing the HBS Heartland Club

In the traditional sense of the term, the Heartland has referred to any U.S. state that doesn’t touch an ocean. At HBS, the Heartland Club’s focus is even broader. Our focus is on specific regions in the United States that are underrepresented in the HBS student body.... View Details

January 2016
Teaching Note

Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc.

By: Sunil Gupta and Margaret Rodriguez

In September 2010, Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (T2) reported an unexpectedly high third quarter profit of $5.92 million, driven largely by the success of its video game, Red Dead Redemption (which sold over 6.9 million copies since launching in May). Red Dead... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Model; Leadership Style; Marketing; Competitive Strategy; Entertainment and Recreation Industry