Publications

17 Feb 2022
Blog Post

The Fifth Year of Short Intensive Programs (SIPs) at HBS

Debora Spar (formerly of Barnard College and currently senior associate dean for business and global society at HBS) and Larry Summers (Harvard);... View Details

Robert Brozin

Keywords: Restaurants; Fast Food Franchises

February 2017
Case

BlaBlaCar: The Road Ahead...

By: Karim R. Lakhani, Arun Sundararajan, Emilie Billaud and Caroline Caltagirone

In 2017, the co-founders of BlaBlaCar—the world’s largest long-distance carpooling company—reflected on the evolution of their venture and the way forward. BlaBlaCar had reached critical mass and size; yet staying still was not going to be enough to be relevant and... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Business Startups; Transformation; Decision Making; Values and Beliefs; Growth and Development Strategy; Digital Platforms; Network Effects; Strategic Planning; Competitive Strategy; Expansion; Internet and the Web; Transportation Networks; Transportation Industry; Transportation Industry; France; Europe

November 2008 (Revised January 2009)
Case

Arcapita - 2002

In 2002, Arcapita Bank, B.S.C., then known as First Islamic Investment Bank, or FIIB, faced a liquidity crunch. Aracapita offered Islamic-compliant private equity, real estate, and venture capital products. In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attack, however, Islamic... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Private Equity; Financial Liquidity; Investment; Globalized Firms and Management; National Security; Religion; Financial Services Industry

April 1998 (Revised April 2004)
Case

NEC: A New R&D Site in Princeton

In 1992, Daizburo Shinoda, a senior R&D manager at NEC, has to deal with a succession issue regarding the leadership of NEC's R&D site in Princeton, N.J. In deciding whom to appoint as the next leader of NEC's most important R&D site abroad, Shinoda has to consider a... View Details

Keywords: Management Succession; Corporate Strategy; Research and Development; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Information Technology Industry; New Jersey

August 1996 (Revised November 2000)
Case

Hewlett-Packard Co.'s Home Products Division in Europe (A)

By: Michael Y. Yoshino and Carin-Isabel Knoop

In 1995, Hewlett-Packard Home Products Division (HPD) has the assignment to make Hewlett-Packard the third major home PC player worldwide. With the U.S. launch imminent, the HPD team has to decide how to enter the European market. View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Globalization; Product Launch; Market Entry and Exit; Competition; Information Technology; Technology Industry; Europe; United States

07 Oct 2014
First Look

First Look: October 7

http://hbr.org/product/Via-Verde/an/214105-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 714-517 Airgas, Inc. In 2013, Airgas was the market leader in packaged industrial gas distribution. Recent acquisitions had... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

13 Oct 2010
Research & Ideas

How Government can Discourage Private Sector Reliance on Short-Term Debt

sector's tilt toward short-term financing was merely the industry responding to a lack of available government debt instruments, such as short-term risk-free Treasuries, that were much in demand by investors during the View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Financial Services

07 Nov 2011
Research & Ideas

The Forgotten Book that Helped Shape the Modern Economy

best nurture and encourage their industries against foreign competitors." We asked Reinert to discuss his book and some of its central ideas. Sean Silverthorne: How did... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

July 1989 (Revised April 2001)
Case

Kanthal (A)

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Multinational company needs an improved cost system to determine the profitability of individual customer orders. Its strategy is to have significant sales and profitability growth without adding additional administrative and support people. The new cost system... View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Earnings Management; Cost Management; Financial Management; Multinational Firms and Management; Business or Company Management; Customer Relationship Management; Sales; Business Strategy; Profit; Electronics Industry

August 1989 (Revised October 2003)
Case

Fan Pier

By: William J. Poorvu and Katherine Sweetman

The owner of the Fan Pier site in South Boston has been found legally responsible for blocking the efforts of his development partner in attaining the approval necessary to build the $800 million megaproject they had planned together. It was believed that the owner... View Details

Keywords: Partners and Partnerships; Law; Projects; Design; Organizational Design; Marketing Strategy; Government and Politics; Property; Real Estate Industry; Boston

01 Apr 2001
News

Student Conferences Tackle Business Issues

2001). “The state of the market has made for a more serious tone on campus, and that was reflected in this year’s conference. MBAs are never afraid to ask tough questions, and... View Details

Keywords: Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services

25 Oct 2016
First Look

October 25, 2016

can be used to evaluate the implications of marketing actions, consumer heterogeneity, competition, successive technology generations, and globalization. The exposition is filled with vivid examples from a... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2007
Working Paper

The 'Fees → Savings' Link, or Purchasing Fifty Pounds of Pasta

By: Michael I. Norton and Leonard Lee

Many consumers have had the experience of entering discount membership clubs to make a few purchases, only to leave with enough pasta to outlast a nuclear winter. We suggest that the presence of membership fees can lead consumers to infer a "fees → savings" link,... View Details

Keywords: Price; Profit; Spending; Consumer Behavior; Retail Industry

Read Now

May 1986
Supplement

Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (B), Video

Presents an audiovisual account of the bake-off competition between Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborne (BBDO) and a second advertising agency: Ames. The videotape is divided into two parts: 1) interviews with bake-off participants from Gillette and BBDO, and 2)... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Consumer Products Industry

08 Jun 2009
Research & Ideas

The Return of the Salesman

seeing its real importance. It didn't help that economists also thought that selling was unimportant in influencing markets and that door-to-door selling declined in the United States in the final decades of... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

20 Nov 2012
First Look

First Look: November 20

Marketing (forthcoming) Abstract What restrictions should be placed on advertising agencies with respect to serving accounts or clients that are competitors of one another in order to avoid conflicts of interest? In recent decades, the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

04 Aug 2009
First Look

First Look: August 4

consensus that embraced international trade and outsourcing while supporting continuous upgrading of workplace skills. In April 2009, the new Prime Minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, is balancing short-term responses to a View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

May 1981 (Revised May 1985)
Case

MEM Co., Inc.

By: John A. Quelch

The President of MEM Co., Inc. is assessing the proposed introduction of a new line of men's toiletries. He also must determine the best distribution channels and the size of the product's advertising budget. View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Distribution Channels; Budgets and Budgeting; Product Development; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry