Publications

March 1995 (Revised April 1997)
Case

Co-operative Bank, The

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Srikant M. Datar

A British bank with strong roots in the cooperative movement encounters declining profitability in an increasingly competitive and deregulated financial services industry. It attempts to grow by broadening its customer base and increasing the range of products and... View Details

Keywords: Product; Competition; Expansion; Cost Management; Activity Based Costing and Management; Profit; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry

Web

Lifelong Learning - Alumni

other subject experts addressing timely topics on business and society, recorded live in Klarman Hall. Includes presentations from recent conferences, reunions and other events. Career Coaching for You, for Free An HBS career coach can guide your career development and... View Details

Program

Families in Business

Formulate strategies for growing the company and strengthening competitive advantage Create a strong board of directors Develop succession plans and successfully navigate leadership transitions Discuss governance across all aspects of... View Details

November 2009 (Revised July 2011)
Case

International Lobbying and The Dow Chemical Company (A)

By: Arthur A. Daemmrich

This case explores company strategy, business-government relations, and collective action challenges associated with international and domestic lobbying regarding regulation of the chemical industry. In the fall of 2006, a five-year legislative process for a major new... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Government Legislation; Business and Government Relations; Power and Influence; Competitive Advantage; Corporate Strategy; Chemical Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Europe

January 2025
Case

Ontra: Embracing GenAI in the Legal Technology Industry

By: Christopher Stanton and George Gonzalez

Ontra built a network of legal professionals to enable financial institutions to outsource contract negotiations. The rise of generative AI inspired the company to build software solutions to streamline its processes through automation. Now company leadership must... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; AI and Machine Learning; Applications and Software; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Business Strategy; Technology Industry; Legal Services Industry; United States

May 2011 (Revised July 2015)
Case

Ford Motor Company: Strengthening the Dealer Network

By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Katharine Lee and Marie Bell

The case describes a five-year effort (2006-2011) of distribution rationalization and consolidation at Ford. The financial crisis in the second-half of 2008 forced GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy. Having completed the distribution overhaul work by 2011, its senior... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Product; Distribution; Consolidation; Distribution Channels; Transformation; Business Processes; Auto Industry

12 Mar 2019
Blog Post

What I Learned in the Africa Rising Short Intensive Program

the successful businesses we discussed were time, relationships, and tailored strategy. Setting up and growing a business is time-consuming in any market. In many resource-constrained African countries, those processes tend to take even... View Details

March 1994 (Revised August 1997)
Case

Raychem Corp.: Interconnection Systems Division

By: Clayton M. Christensen

Describes the highly successful efforts of a management team to turn around the performance of a $30 million Raychem division that manufactures electronic connectors. The original manufacturing system was a batch operation, with a broad product line, high inventories,... View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Time Management; Production; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Success; Performance; Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Electronics Industry

February 2024
Article

Diversification as an Adaptive Learning Process: An Empirical Study of General-Purpose and Market-Specific Technological Know-How in New Market Entry

By: Dominika Kinga Randle and Gary P. Pisano

An enduring trait of modern corporations is their propensity to diversify into multiple lines of business. Penrosian theories conceptualize diversification as a strategy to exploit a firm’s fungible, yet “untradeable”, resources and point to redeployment of... View Details

Keywords: Diversification; Market Entry and Exit; Assets

Find at Harvard

27 Jan 2003
Research & Ideas

New Cluster Mapping Project Helps Companies Locate Facilities

Silicon Valley or the Napa wine country) that can lead to competitive advantage. Porter's Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness has just introduced a new database tool to help corporations and policy makers pinpoint these clusters,... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

November 1994 (Revised June 1996)
Case

Dennis Hightower: Walt Disney's Transnational Manager

By: Ashish Nanda

Describes the actions taken by Dennis Hightower as president of Disney Consumer Products in Europe and the Middle East from 1988 to 1994. Focuses on how he has established a regional office and knit local operations closer together, the benefits that the process has... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leadership; Change Management; Corporate Strategy; Personal Development and Career; Consumer Products Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Europe

Program

Leading Change and Organizational Renewal

experimentation with financial stability. You will return to your company prepared to build change strategies that inspire organizational change and drive corporate success. This program is eligible for the Certificate of Management... View Details

January–February 2023
Article

External Interfaces and Internal Processes: Market Positioning and Divergent Professionalization Paths in Young Ventures

By: Alicia DeSantola, Ranjay Gulati and Pavel Zhelyazkov

We explore how the initial market positioning of entrepreneurial ventures shapes how they professionalize over time, focusing specifically on the development of functional roles. In contrast to existing literature, which has presumed a uniform march toward... View Details

Keywords: Market Positioning; Professionalization; Scaling; Entrepreneurship; Strategy; Business Startups; Growth and Development; Organizational Structure

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Read Now

14 Dec 2010
First Look

First Look: Dec. 14

Carliss Y. Baldwin Abstract The existing theory of modularity explains how modular designs create value. We extend this theory to address value appropriation. A product or process design that is modular with respect to intellectual... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Meeting the Challenge of Corporate Entrepreneurship

To be competitive, companies must grow innovative new businesses. Corporate entrepreneurship, however, isn't easy. New ventures face innumerable barriers and seldom mesh smoothly with well-established systems, processes, and cultures. Nonetheless, success requires a... View Details

August 2009 (Revised August 2010)
Case

Calera Corporation

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III, Thomas J. Steenburgh and Lauren Barley

Brent Constantz, founder, CEO, and president of Calera Corporation, felt a surge of optimism as he gazed at the recently commissioned prototype flue gas processing line at Calera's R&D facility in Moss Landing, California. It was late May 2009, and Calera was an... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Product Design; Product Development; Environmental Sustainability; Commercialization; Green Technology Industry