Publications

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Doctoral

New Ideas for a Changing World New Ideas for a Changing World Some of the greatest intellectual challenges of our time are emerging from the broad fields of business management. Harvard Business School together with the Harvard Graduate... View Details

Beauty Imagined: A History of the Global Beauty Industry

The global beauty business permeates our lives, influencing how we perceive ourselves and what it is to be beautiful. The brands and firms which have shaped this industry, such as Estée Lauder, Chanel, L'Oréal, and Shiseido, have imagined beauty for us.... View Details

20 Mar 2012
First Look

First Look: March 20

through a largely unguided process like biological evolution with a gradual impact upon the distribution of power among economic and political actors, the emergence of factor markets typically required... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

July 2000 (Revised May 2001)
Case

WebMD (A)

Discusses the emerging role of the Internet in the health care industry and describes the strategy of WebMD in this new "ehealth" space. Issues include technology strategy, industry transformation, competition in turbulent environments, and strategic alliances. View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Alliances; Competitive Advantage; Industry Structures; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry

December 2003 (Revised April 2004)
Case

Blockbuster Inc. & Technological Substitution (D): The Threat of Direct Digital Distribution

Examines the emergence of technologies for delivering video content to consumer homes via direct digital distribution and investigates the strategic options facing video rental giant Blockbuster Inc. as it tries to respond to the new technological substitutes. Examines... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Risk and Uncertainty; Decisions; Technological Innovation; Competition; Change Management; Service Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

2018
Chapter

The United States in Contemporary Perspectives: Evolving Forms, Strategy, and Performance

By: David J. Collis, Bharat Anand and J. Yo-Jud Cheng

BOOK ABSTRACT: In spite of surging interest in the business group organization among business scholars, economists, and historians in recent years, academic research on business groups has, to date, remained within the boundary of emerging markets. The major aim of... View Details

Find at Harvard

January 2011 (Revised July 2012)
Case

Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged)

By: Arthur A. Daemmrich

Arcadia Biosciences is seeking to introduce genetically modified rice to China that will lower farmers' costs and generate environmental benefits through reduced greenhouse gas emissions. The case describes challenges facing this small agricultural biotechnology... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Intellectual Property; Genetics; Environmental Sustainability; Science-Based Business; Climate Change; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Biotechnology Industry; China

24 Apr 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Bank Accounting Standards in Mexico: A Layman’s Guide to Changes 10 Years after the 1995 Bank Crisis

Keywords: by Gustavo A. Del Angel, Stephen Haber & Aldo Musacchio; Banking

02 Sep 2015
Research & Ideas

Explaining China's Crash

supply it with oil, gas, metals, and other primary materials. A slowdown in China could impact some of these emerging markets pretty hard. Capital has quickly flown out of them, hitting their currencies and... View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese; Financial Services

03 Aug 2017
Blog Post

“I Can Acquire Important Skills, But Also Gain the Big Picture Perspective of a Founder.”

Sometimes inspiration does come from the likeliest places. For Rahil Mehrotra, MBA 2018, it emerged from a combination of HBS courses and experiences: The Entrepreneurial Manager (TEM) course, the winter break Startup Boot Camp program,... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship

April 2009 (Revised December 2015)
Case

Dot.com: Online Pet Retailing

By: Tom Nicholas and David Chen

From 1995 to 1999, the U.S. experienced a period of tremendous growth in its information technology (IT) sector. The IT industry, although it accounted for less than 10% of the U.S. economy's total output, contributed disproportionately to economic growth. One market... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Price Bubble; Growth and Development Strategy; Failure; Competitive Strategy; Online Technology; Retail Industry

August 2013 (Revised November 2013)
Supplement

Ford vs. GM: The Evolution of Mass Production (B)

By: Willy Shih

This case explores the very different paths taken by the Ford Motor Company and the General Motors Corporation in the first three decades of the twentieth century. Henry Ford's Model T was a car for the masses. After considerable experimentation, Ford Motor... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Exploration; Dominant Design; Business Growth and Maturation; Business History; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Positioning; Product Design; Product Development; Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Vertical Integration; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Michigan

09 Nov 2009
Research & Ideas

Come Fly with Me: A History of Airline Leadership

war years; and innovator Herb Kelleher at Southwest near the end of the century. In this e-mail interview, Mayo, director of the HBS Leadership Initiative and the Thomas S. Murphy Distinguished Research Fellow, discusses how executives representing different leadership... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Air Transportation

March 2024
Case

Nomad: A License to Bank

By: Paul A. Gompers and Pedro Levindo

In late 2023, Lucas Vargas, CEO and co-founder of Nomad, a fintech that offered financial services in the United States for Brazilian residents, had to decide what to do to ensure the company’s continued expansion. Nomad launched its first product, a U.S. digital bank... View Details

September 2008 (Revised April 2009)
Supplement

Wyoff and China-LuQuan: Negotiating a Joint Venture (B)

By: James K. Sebenius and Cheng (Jason) Qian

Through stalled joint venture talks between Pennsylvania-based Wyoff Corp. and Jinan-based China-LuQuan, strategic and cross-cultural negotiation challenges are explored both from American and Chinese perspectives. Wyoff, a leading U.S. chemical company, has been... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Negotiation Process; Negotiation Tactics; Chemical Industry; China; Pennsylvania

October 2004 (Revised February 2007)
Case

Spain: Straddling the Atlantic

By: Rafael M. Di Tella and Ingrid Vogel

Provides a broad overview of economic and political developments in Spain from the 1940s to the present day. Examines the emergence of Spain from the Franco dictatorship and its convergence into a vibrant democracy, as reflected in the surprising election results of... View Details

Keywords: Economics; Government and Politics; Spain; European Union

As the financial crisis has shown, neither traditional market failure models nor public choice theory, by themselves, sufficiently inform or explain our current regulatory challenges, nor point us toward the best solutions. Regulatory studies, long neglected in an... View Details

February 2022 (Revised January 2023)
Case

Huazhu: A Chinese Hotel Giant's Journey of Digital Transformation

By: Feng Zhu, Yulin Fang, Bonnie Yining Cao and Duan Yang

Based in Shanghai, China, Huazhu Group, the world’s third-largest hotel operator, was known for its standardized IT system. It helped the company boost efficiency during the COVID-19 pandemic. Chief Digital Officer Xinxin Liu also faced some longer-term challenges:... View Details

Keywords: Hotel Industry; COVID-19 Pandemic; Labor; Business or Company Management; Emerging Markets; Information Technology; Operations; Strategy; Digital Transformation; Accommodations Industry; China; United States; Singapore; Germany; Hong Kong