Publications

May 2003
Case

Sun Hydraulics: Leading in Tough Times (A) (Abridged)

By: Linda A. Hill and Jennifer Suesse

Sun Hydraulics, 32-year-old global hydraulics engineering and manufacturing company headquartered in Sarasota, Florida; confronts tough choices due to the economic downturn in 2001. The company leadership debates how to maintain profitability and reduce labor costs... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Mission and Purpose; Financial Crisis; Crisis Management; Manufacturing Industry; Florida

May 2010 (Revised May 2013)
Case

C.K. Claridge, Inc.

By: James K. Sebenius

Sued for patent infringement, chemical manufacturer C.K. Claridge tries to design a settlement strategy taking into account a decision analysis of litigating v. negotiating. The plaintiffs are the patent holder and its sole licensee, who is also a CKC competitor. (This... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Patents; Lawsuits and Litigation; Negotiation Style; Negotiation Tactics; Chemical Industry

21 Jun 2018
Video

KPMA HBX Live Cracking the Data Aggregation Problem - Richard Hamermesh

23 Apr 2013
News

Needed: CIO As Strategist

March 2020
Module Note

Business Model Transformation in the Platform Age

By: Feng Zhu

Although some digital platforms are highly successful, most firms today are still traditional product- or service-based firms. To take advantage of the opportunities created by platform business models, traditional firms can work with existing platforms to become their... View Details

Keywords: Platforms; Platform Businesses; Platform Disruption; Internet and the Web; Business Model; Transformation; Digital Platforms

15 Nov 2016
First Look

November 15, 2016

protection affects innovation in China in the years around the privatizations of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Innovation increases after SOE privatizations, and this... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

18 Mar 2013
HBS Case

HBS Cases: LEGO

worked hard to define the core business of the company. "How you work with, and experiment outside of, the core of your business is part of that balance," explains Thomke. Knudstorp recognized that View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish; Entertainment & Recreation

October 1989 (Revised May 1996)
Case

Xerox Corp.: Leadership Through Quality (A)

By: Todd D. Jick and Leonard A. Schlesinger

Describes the "Leadership Through Quality" effort undertaken by Xerox in the 1980s. Includes the history of Xerox in the 1970s and its need to make major changes in quality by the 1980s. Most of the remainder of the case details the step-by-step process by which Xerox... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategic Planning; Quality; Leadership; Organizational Culture; Service Industry; Electronics Industry

March 2017 (Revised April 2017)
Case

OXXO's Turf War Against Extra (A)

By: Tatiana Sandino, Gerardo Pérez Cavazos and Annelena Lobb

In 2006, Mexican convenience store chain OXXO faced a threat from a formidable competitor, the rival convenience chain Extra. OXXO had embarked on an initiative to fortify its corporate culture and operating system, but the threat of Extra raised the question of... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Organizational Design; Competitive Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Retail Industry; Mexico

9 AM – 10 AM EST, 09 Jan 2019
HBS Online

HBS Online Economics for Managers

Gain the knowledge and skills to craft successful business strategy, whether you are an aspiring marketing professional, strategy consultant, or entrepreneur, preparing for an MBA, or just looking to contribute more to business decision making. Program Dates: January... View Details

29 Apr 2022
News

Professor Cynthia Montgomery: Pivots

September 2011 (Revised February 2013)
Case

Trucost: Valuing Corporate Environmental Impacts

By: Michael W. Toffel and Stephanie van Sice

Trucost provided corporate environmental performance data and analysis to institutional investors and corporate managers, but after operating for a decade had yet to achieve profitability. Trucost was struggling to effectively differentiate its high quality products... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Distribution Channels; Investment; Measurement and Metrics; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Information; Value; Environmental Sustainability; Financial Services Industry

28 May 2015
Working Paper Summaries

Lost in the Clouds: The Impact of Changing Property Rights on Investment in Cloud Computing Ventures

Keywords: by Josh Lerner & Greg Rafert; Technology

October 1992 (Revised October 1993)
Case

MCI Communications Corporation: National Accounts Program (Condensed)

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Concerns the early stages of a major-account program at MCI, a telecommunications firm seeking to penetrate the corporate-account market. Among the issues are: 1) coordination of field sales efforts with national account selling efforts; 2) sales strategy for major... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Decision Choices and Conditions; Training; Compensation and Benefits; Management Practices and Processes; Marketing Strategy; Groups and Teams; Sales

Find at Harvard

03 May 2024
Research & Ideas

How Much Does Proximity Influence Startup Innovation? 20 Meters' Worth to Be Exact

ideas.” Roche suggests that in-person interactions may be particularly important if your organization depends on innovative thinking for success. “In that case,” she says, “you are going to need access to information you don’t already... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

2016
Working Paper

Big History, Global Corporations, Virtual Capitalism

By: Richard L. Nolan

Homo sapiens has mastered its environment so thoroughly that, for the first time in history, a small minority of the population is capable of creating enough food and fuels to support not only itself, but also a growing majority of the 6 billion people now living on... View Details

Keywords: Economic Systems; Internet and the Web; Innovation and Invention; United States

SSRN

Read Now

May 2018 (Revised October 2018)
Case

Urban Us

By: Mitchell Weiss and Phoebe Peronto

Shaun Abrahamson and Stonly Baptiste aimed to invest in what they called "urbantech superheroes." At Urban Us, the seed-stage urban technology-focused venture capital firm the two started in 2012, they looked for startups innovating around the future of cities. By... View Details

Keywords: Public Entrepreneurship; Govtech; Urbantech; Seed Investing; Urban Us; Shaun Abrahamson; Stonly Baptiste; Remix; One Concern; Starcity; SeamlessDocs; Venture Capital; Public Sector; City; Urban Development; Entrepreneurship; Miami; San Francisco; New York (city, NY)