Publications

October 1992 (Revised December 1996)
Case

Laura Ashley and Federal Express Strategic Alliance

In an effort to improve its global distribution system and thus enhance customer service in its shops around the world, Laura Ashley entered into a path-breaking strategic alliance with Federal Express Business Logistics Services. Under the terms of a loosely... View Details

Keywords: Partners and Partnerships; Customer Focus and Relationships; Distribution Industry; Retail Industry

26 Sep 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, September 26, 2017

firm and industry heterogeneity and quasi-exogenous meteorological and sport events. The evidence suggests that family CEOs value—or can pursue—leisure activities relatively more than professional CEOs. Publisher's link:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Innovation and Design in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

At the heart of any innovation process lies a fundamental practice: the way people create ideas and solve problems. This “decision making” side of innovation is what scholars and practitioners refer to as “design.” Decisions in innovation processes have so far been... View Details

February 2005 (Revised June 2006)
Case

JCDecaux

By: John R. Wells and Vincent Dessain

Describes how JCDecaux, the second largest global outdoor advertising company, became the world leader in street furniture advertising in a fast consolidating business environment. Also explains why, in the late 1990s, JCDecaux diversified its activities into... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Global Strategy; Leadership Style; Family Ownership; Strategic Planning; Competitive Strategy; Diversification; Advertising Industry

07 Sep 2021
News

Automated Hiring Systems Are Rejecting Qualified Candidates

28 Jul 2015
Blog Post

Recruiting in the U.S. for International Students: 101

Starting business school meant a lot of “first time” experiences to me: First time living abroad (not to mention moving out of my parents’ house), first time going to school in English, and, of course, first time trying to navigate the U.S. job market. I have to be... View Details

Keywords: All Industries

2016
Working Paper

Alternative Paths of Green Entrepreneurship: The Environmental Legacies of The North Face's Doug Tompkins and Patagonia's Yvon Chouinard

By: Geoffrey Jones and Ben Gettinger

This working paper examines the impact of two entrepreneurs who offered alternative paths to reach their shared goal of a more sustainable world. Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins were respective founders of the prominent outdoor apparel brands Patagonia and The North... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Entrepreneurship; Environmental Sustainability; Apparel and Accessories Industry

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June 2021
Case

Modern Endowment Management: Paula Volent and the Bowdoin Endowment

By: Luis M. Viceira, Emily R. McComb and Dean Xu

This case examines modern endowment investment management through the lens of a leadership transition between Chief Investment Officers (CIOs). In March 2021, Paula Volent is about to step down as the CIO of the endowment of Bowdoin College after twenty-one years, and... View Details

Keywords: Investment Portfolio; Investment Banking; Growth Management; Investment Return; Capital Markets; Interest Rates; Competition; Cost Management; Risk Management; Financial Liquidity; Performance Evaluation

July 13, 2023
Article

Threads Foreshadows a Big—and Surprising—Shift in Social Media

By: Scott Duke Kominers and Liang Wu

Threads, Meta’s Twitter competitor, has become the fastest downloaded app in history. One of the reasons for this is because it allows users to port over their profiles and follows from the already popular social media platform Instagram, also owned by Meta—a feature... View Details

Keywords: Decentralization; Twitter; Facebook; Instagram; Crypto Economy; Blockchain; Network; Industrial Organization; Competition; Open Innovation; Open Platforms; Open Source Innovation; Social Networks; Social Media; Applications and Software; Information Technology Industry

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December 2019 (Revised November 2021)
Course Overview Note

The Entrepreneurial Manager: Spring 2022

By: Mitchell Weiss and Benjamin Henkes

This is the course overview note for “The Entrepreneurial Manager,” taught in the first year at Harvard Business School. Students will learn how to be opportunity-driven managers and how to lead under uncertainty. They'll learn how to identify opportunities, how to... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Management; Entrepreneurship; Management

Article

Merchants as Business Groups: British Trading Companies in Asia before 1945

By: G. Jones and Judith Wale

Merchants formed an important component of British foregn direct investment before 1945. Locating in parts of Asia, Latin America and other developing economies, they often diversified into non-trading activities, inclding the ownership of plantations. This article... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Developing Countries and Economies; Diversification; Competency and Skills; Entrepreneurship; Foreign Direct Investment; Asia; Latin America; Europe; Africa; North and Central America

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August 1998
Case

HIMSCORP, Inc.

By: William A. Sahlman, Michael J. Roberts and Laurence E. Katz

Himscorp is an industry consolidation of records storage companies providing management and retrieval services of active medical records to healthcare institutions. Kent Dauten, a former general partner at Madison Dearborn Partners with 15 years of venture capital and... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Initial Public Offering; Business Exit or Shutdown; Business Growth and Maturation; Decision Choices and Conditions; Consolidation; Information Industry

02 Jan 2020
News

Hospitals Merged. Quality Didn’t Improve.

Program

Strategic Marketing for Driving Growth

changes in technology, regulations, and customer behavior Assess the economic impact and viability of social media and digital strategies Ensure marketing activities contribute to company success Align marketing strategies with your... View Details

Program

Strategy: Building and Sustaining Competitive Advantage

activating them, making advantage durable, outmaneuvering competitors, driving innovation, identifying and tackling needs for strategy change, and leveraging multi-business and global opportunities. Details Design and evolve effective... View Details

26 Jun 2000
Research & Ideas

What’s an Internet Business Model? Ask a Health Care Professional

information of this type that's actively used. "There are a lot of components on the Web today, but no one has really put this together in a compelling way." Moriarty also reckoned that another emerging frontier is online continuing... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Health

April 2020
Article

Technological Leadership (de)Concentration: Causes in Information and Communication Technology Equipment

By: Yasin Ozcan and Shane Greenstein

Using patent data from 1976 to 2010 as indicators of inventive activity, we determine the concentration level of where inventive ideas originate and then examine how and why those concentrations change over time. The analysis finds pervasive deconcentration in every... View Details

Keywords: Deconcentration; Technological Innovation; Innovation Leadership; Patents; Market Entry and Exit; Telecommunications Industry