Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(5,262)
- Faculty Publications (1,335)
- 2010
- Working Paper
Growth through Heterogeneous Innovations
By: Ufuk Akcigit and William R. Kerr
We study how exploration versus exploitation innovations impact economic growth through a tractable endogenous growth framework that contains multiple innovation sizes, multi-product firms, and entry/exit. Firms invest in exploration R&D to acquire new product lines... View Details
- September 2010
- Teaching Note
A Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com (TN)
Teaching Note for 309060. View Details
- September 2010 (Revised April 2012)
- Case
Better World Books
By: Michael I. Norton, Fiona Wilson, Jill Avery and Thomas J. Steenburgh
Better World Books, a young start-up, provides a socially conscious alternative to Amazon, collecting and selling used books to keep them out of the waste stream, while donating a portion of their profits to support global literacy efforts. The case presents an... View Details
- September 2010 (Revised January 2012)
- Case
Mobile Banking for the Unbanked
By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Katharine Lee
The case describes in detail the workings of two mobile banking operators in Africa—WIZZIT in South Africa and M-PESA in Kenya. It explores the dimensions of strategy that make for success in the market for the unbanked. It raises questions regarding the portability of... View Details
- September 2010
- Case
NetApp
By: Das Narayandas and Elizabeth A. Kind
NetApp had undertaken an award-winning overhaul and upgrading of its channel strategy design that accounted for 46 percent of North America sales in 2006. Nonetheless, NetApp senior management announced they expected to grow revenue another 30% in fiscal 2007 with half... View Details
- September 2010 (Revised January 2016)
- Case
Grameen Danone Foods Ltd., a Social Business
By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Katharine Lee
Grameen Danone is a joint venture between the Grameen Group (a sister company of Grameen Bank) and Groupe Danone, a $2 billion (revenues) French food company. The company's goal was to provide nutritional yogurt (brand name Shoktidoi) for the nearly 50 million... View Details
- 2010
- Working Paper
Making the Numbers? 'Short Termism' and the Puzzle of Only Occasional Disaster
By: Nelson P. Repenning and Rebecca Henderson
Much recent work in strategy and popular discussion suggests that an excessive focus on "managing the numbers"—delivering quarterly earnings at the expense of longer-term investments—makes it difficult for firms to make the investments necessary to build competitive... View Details
- September 2010
- Article
Strategies to Fight Ad-sponsored Rivals
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Feng Zhu
We analyze the optimal strategy of a high-quality incumbent that faces a low-quality ad-sponsored competitor. In addition to competing through adjustments of tactical variables such as price or the number of ads a product carries, we allow the incumbent to consider... View Details
Keywords: Strategy; Business Models; Tactics; Pricing; Business Model; Advertising; Competition; Quality; Price; Product Marketing
- August 2010 (Revised October 2010)
- Case
Patagonia
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Hyunjin Kim and Forest L. Reinhardt
Patagonia was deeply committed to the environment. This commitment, at times, conflicted with the company's goal to create the most innovative products in its industry. Patagonia's founder and executives welcomed imitation of both its environmental commitment and its... View Details
- 2011
- Working Paper
Business Model Innovation and Competitive Imitation: The Case of Sponsor-Based Business Models
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Feng Zhu
We study sponsor-based business model innovations where a firm monetizes its product through sponsors rather than setting prices to its customer base. We analyze strategic interactions between an innovative entrant and an incumbent where the incumbent may imitate the... View Details
- June 2010 (Revised September 2013)
- Case
IDFC India: Infrastructure Investment Intermediaries
By: John D. Macomber and Viraal Balsari
Indian financial intermediary matching international capital to local infrastructure decides how to balance range of services, risk-adjusted return, margin pressure, and nation building. IDFC was chartered with partial ownership from the Indian government to help... View Details
- June 2010
- Teaching Note
American Well: The Doctor Will E-See You Now (TN)
By: Elie Ofek
Teaching Note for 510061. View Details
- June 2010 (Revised August 2011)
- Case
Tennant Company: Innovating Within and Beyond the Core
By: Lynda M. Applegate, Toby E. Stuart and James Weber
Tennant, a leading producer of floor cleaning equipment, must determine the business model to use for its new chemical-free cleaning technology. In 2005, Tennant Company had developed an innovative, environmentally friendly cleaning technology that could potentially... View Details
- 2010
- Working Paper
Trade Policy and Firm Boundaries
By: Laura Alfaro, Paola Conconi, Harald Fadinger and Andrew F. Newman
We study how trade policy affects firms' ownership structures. We embed an incomplete contracts model of vertical integration choices into a standard perfectly-competitive international trade framework. Integration decisions are driven by a trade-off between the... View Details
- May 2010
- Case
CEIBS: A Global Business School Made in China
By: John A. Quelch
In 2009, just 15 years after it was founded, the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) has achieved the remarkable 8th position in the Financial Times Global MBA rankings. The case describes the short history of the school and the reasons for its success.... View Details
- May 2010
- Supplement
Tim Westergren of Pandora Radio
By: Willy C. Shih and Halle Alicia Tecco
Pandora Radio is at a crossroads. Founder Tim Westergren has just been told by a well known VC to get rid of his unprofitable customers in order to get his costs down, but Westergren is not sure that such actions are consistent with his company's business model.... View Details
- April 2010
- Case
A Giant Among Women
By: Willy C. Shih, Ethan S Bernstein, Maly Hout Bernstein, Jyun-Cheng Wang and Yi-Ling Wei
Few CEOs successfully manage the evolution of their companies from OEM outsourcer to branded manufacturer to expert consumer marketer as well as Tony Lo, CEO of Giant Manufacturing Co. Ltd., now the largest bicycle manufacturer in the world. In the mid-1980s, Giant... View Details
- April 2010 (Revised September 2011)
- Case
Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (A) (Abridged)
By: V.G. Narayanan and Lisa Brem
Owens & Minor (O&M) performed lean inventory services for Virginia Mason (VM) as its Alpha Vendor, but the outdated industry pricing model created perverse incentives and could not capture O&M's costs. Together, O&M and VM created an activity-based pricing model: Total... View Details
- April 2010
- Course Overview Note
Competing through Business Models
This note was prepared to aid instructors in the EC course “Competing through Business Models” (CTBM). Describes the course objectives; the conceptual framework used in the course; some central principles that emerge from this framework; and the modular structure of... View Details