Publications

June 2018
Case

Forta Furniture: International Expansion

By: John A. Quelch and Karthik Easwar

The Forta Furniture case highlights the need to consider new market expansion to grow a firm. It demonstrates that simply doing what has always been done is not sustainable when other competitors enter the market with differentiated or potentially superior offerings.... View Details

Keywords: Market Entry and Exit; Global Range; Decision Making; Analysis; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Growth and Development Strategy; Brands and Branding; Expansion

03 Sep 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Supply Chain Screening Without Certification: The Critical Role of Stakeholder Pressure

Keywords: by Susan A. Kayser, John W. Maxwell & Michael W. Toffel

2017
Working Paper

Cluster Mapping as a Tool for Development

By: Christian H.M. Ketels

This report builds on the foundational work on cluster mapping that Prof. Michael E. Porter has led at the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness (ISC), Harvard Business School over the last two decades. He launched the U.S. Cluster Mapping Initiative in the late... View Details

Keywords: Industry Clusters; Development Economics

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March 2016 (Revised May 2018)
Case

ASOS PLC

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

Launched in 2000, ASOS was one of the world’s largest online fashion specialists in 2018. Focusing on young consumers aged 16–25 years, the company offered over 85,000 items on its websites, many times more than the largest fashion stores, and added several thousand... View Details

Keywords: ASOS; AsSeenOnScreen; Online Fashion; Online Apparel; Nick Beighton; Nick Robertson; E-commerce; E-Commerce Strategy; Online Retail; Multichannel Retailing; Omnichannel; Social Media; Marketplaces; Shipping; Advertising; Digital Marketing; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Business Startups; For-Profit Firms; Customer Focus and Relationships; Age; Gender; Currency Exchange Rate; Profit; Revenue; Geography; Geographic Scope; Global Range; Global Strategy; Globalized Firms and Management; Globalized Markets and Industries; Business History; Selection and Staffing; Journals and Magazines; Human Capital; Business or Company Management; Crisis Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Management Succession; Brands and Branding; Marketing Channels; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Product Positioning; Social Marketing; Media; Distribution; Distribution Channels; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Infrastructure; Logistics; Public Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Vertical Integration; Segmentation; Internet and the Web; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Fashion Industry; Retail Industry; United Kingdom; England; London

12 PM – 1 PM EDT, 15 Apr 2020
Webinars: Career

Is Your Career Recession-Ready?

Dick Vietor, Baker Foundation Professor, and former Unit Head of Business, Government and the International Economy (BGIE), and Lauren Murphy, Director, HBS Career & Professional Development (CPD), address what's likely ahead in the global economy and how best to... View Details

01 Apr 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Opting Out of Good Governance

Keywords: by C. Fritz Foley, Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham, Jonathan Greenstein & Eric Zwick

28 May 2021
Blog Post

Taking Measure on Memorial Day

On Memorial Day 2010, LTC Jamie Leonard, the most senior female U.S. military officer to be killed in combat, penned a compelling piece for her local paper titled “A soldier’s view on Memorial Day.” Specifically, Jamie wrote, “Take measure of what you have done for... View Details

Research Summary

Overview

A growing body of strategy and management literature emphasizes the importance of non-market strategy, not only as a stand-alone strategy but also as a part of integrated strategy in dealing with frequent regulatory change and political/regulatory actors and agencies.... View Details

Keywords: Non-market Strategy; Lobbying; Business ＆ Government Relations; Global Strategy; Institutions

October 2013 (Revised March 2015)
Case

Cyprus (A)

By: Eric Werker, Sebastian Berardi, Stelios Elia, Omar Muakkassa and James Zumberge

Cyprus is a small Mediterranean island located at the cross-roads of Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Since its 1974 split, Cyprus has grown real GDP more than fivefold—in large part because of its development as an "international business" center. The country... View Details

Keywords: Tax Havens; Taxation; Financial Crisis; Business and Government Relations; Cyprus

2014
Book

Consumer Lending in France and America: Credit and Welfare

By: Gunnar Trumbull

Why did America embrace consumer credit over the course of the twentieth century, when most other countries did not? How did American policy makers by the late twentieth century come to believe that more credit would make even poor families better off? This book traces... View Details

Keywords: Attitudes; Credit; France; United States

February 1992 (Revised April 1995)
Case

Pfizer: Global Protection of Intellectual Property

By: Lynn S. Paine and Michael Santoro

Top officials at Pfizer are assessing their strategy for improving protection of Pfizer's patents around the world. The outcome of the Uruguay Round of the GATT negotiations is uncertain, and it is not clear whether an acceptable intellectual property protection... View Details

Keywords: Patents; Trade; Policy; Government and Politics; Business Strategy; Agreements and Arrangements; Alliances; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States; Japan; Europe

14 Feb 2014
HBS Seminar

John Van Reenen, LSE, CEPR, and NBER

May 2020
Article

The Creation and Evolution of Entrepreneurial Public Markets

By: Shai Bernstein, Abhishek Dev and Josh Lerner

This paper explores the creation and evolution of new stock exchanges around the world geared towards entrepreneurial companies, known as second-tier exchanges. Using hand-collected novel data, we document the proliferation of these new stock exchanges that were... View Details

Keywords: Stock Exchanges; Entrepreneurship; Finance; Initial Public Offering; Capital; Entrepreneurial Finance

Often considered one of the major forces behind economic growth and development, the entrepreneurial firm can accelerate the speed of innovation and dissemination of new technologies, thus increasing a country's competitive edge in the... View Details

Article

Europe's Alternative to Medicare for All: Swiss and Dutch Private Insurance Provide Better Coverage Than Canada's Single-Payer System

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Bacchus Barua

An analysis of Canada’s single-payer healthcare system shows the dangers of the proposed Medicare for All model. In fact, the Canadian healthcare system is costly and drives poor outcomes when compared to objective performance measures. Alternatively, the Swiss and... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare Systems; Universal Health Coverage; Health Care and Treatment; Insurance; Canada; Switzerland; Netherlands

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April 1996 (Revised December 1998)
Case

Australia in the 1990s: Lucky or Broke?

By: George C. Lodge

In 1996, Australia had a new prime minister, John Howard, ending 13 years of Labor Party rule. This case allows an analysis of the challenges that the new government faces and invites thought about the choices that the government has in meeting those challenges. Large... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Government and Politics; Markets; Problems and Challenges; Australia

16 Jul 2020
News

The Implications of Working Without an Office

Michael E. Porter

Michael Porter is an economist, researcher, author, advisor, speaker and teacher. Throughout his career at Harvard Business School, he has brought economic theory and strategy concepts to bear on many of the most challenging problems facing corporations, economies... View Details

Keywords: biotechnology; e-commerce industry; health care; information; information technology industry; internet; nonprofit industry; service industry; state government

December 2014
Article

The Distinct Effects of Information Technology and Communication Technology on Firm Organization

By: Nicholas Bloom, Luis Garicano, Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen

Empirical studies on information communication technologies (ICT) typically aggregate the "information" and "communication" components together. We show theoretically and empirically that this is problematic. Information and communication technologies have very... View Details

Keywords: Communication Technology; Information Technology; Organizational Structure