Publications

Person Page

A. Harbus Articles 2009-2010

EiR Interview - Jim Sharpe
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April 2021
Case

Transforming BlackBerry: From Smartphones to Software

By: Ranjay Gulati and Nicole Tempest Keller

On the verge of failure, BlackBerry brought in John Chen as CEO in 2013 to orchestrate a bold turnaround of the company. Once an iconic leader in the smartphone market, BlackBerry was best known for its tactile QWERTY keyboard, strong security, and a focus on business... View Details

Keywords: Pivot; Managing Change; Turnaround; Smartphone; Change Management; Leading Change; Transformation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Digital Platforms; Change; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Competitive Strategy; Cybersecurity; Technology Industry; Transportation Industry; Canada

March 2005
Case

Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), The

By: George C. Chacko, Anders Sjoman, Daniela Beyersdorfer and George Robert Nelson

The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBEO) must decide how to respond to new competition in the market for financial options. Options have typically been a very liquid asset class, despite the fact that many single-name options are listed on the CBOE, the second largest... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Financial Liquidity; Financial Markets; Financial Services Industry; Chicago

October 2014 (Revised October 2015)
Case

Procter & Gamble, 2015

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

On July 30, 2015, Procter & Gamble (P&G) announced headline double-digit earnings per share growth for the year ended June 30. A closer look at the numbers suggested a less healthy picture. Sales, volumes, and operating profits were down. Investors were not impressed;... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Analysis; Strategy; Consumer Products; Global; Procter ＆ Gamble; Corporate Strategy; Competition; Consumer Products Industry

December 2024
Article

Coordinating the Energy Transition: Electrifying Transportation in California and Germany

By: Nicholas Goedeking and Jonas Meckling

California and Germany share ambitious emission reduction targets. Yet California is ahead of Germany in electrifying transportation by several metrics, including the number of public charging stations. We show that variation in the politics of coordination in... View Details

Keywords: Electric Vehicles; Coordination; Technology Adoption; Infrastructure; Transportation; Government and Politics; Energy; Utilities Industry; Germany; California

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January 1997 (Revised October 2000)
Case

Lynton V. Harris & Madison "Scare" Garden (A)

By: Michael A. Wheeler and Guhan Subramanian

A young entrepreneur, Lynton V. Harris, who successfully staged family-oriented shows in his native Australia and who had several entertainment ventures in the United States, is on the verge of signing an agreement with Madison Square Garden to jointly produce a new... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; New York (city, NY)

02 Jun 2014
Research & Ideas

Excerpt: ‘A Social Strategy’

book excerpt What My Research Revealed, In Broad Strokes From A Social Strategy: How We Profit From Social Media By Mikolaj Jan Piskorski As I began my research, it quickly became clear that there are two major ways in which companies... View Details

2009
Book

Reorganize for Resilience: Putting Customers at the Center of Your Organization

By: Ranjay Gulati

In an era of raging commoditization and eroding profit margins, survival depends on resilience: staying one step ahead of your customers. Sure, most companies say they're "customer focused," but they don't deliver solutions to customers' thorniest problems. Why?... View Details

Keywords: Competency and Skills; Customer Focus and Relationships; Profit; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Cooperation

16 Aug 2010
Lessons from the Classroom

HBS Introduces Marketing Analysis Tools for Managers

retailer penny profit and retailer margin. Q: In addition to CLV and pricing and profitability, what other toolkits are available for marketing managers? A: There are five toolkits currently available that cover the key analytical tools... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert

Article

Wage-Employment Contracts

By: Jerry R. Green and Charles M. Kahn

This paper studies the efficient agreements about the dependence of workers' earnings on employment, when the employment level is controlled by firms. The firms' superior information about profitability conditions is responsible for this form of contract governance.... View Details

Keywords: Labor; Wages; Contracts

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2021
Book

The Heart of Business—Leadership Principles for the Next Era of Capitalism

By: Hubert Joly and Caroline Lambert

A remarkable turnaround by a leader with a remarkable philosophy: Find your noble purpose. Put people at the center. Unleash human magic.
"It was fall in Minnesota. It was getting cold and we were supposed to die." This is how Hubert Joly describes the early,... View Details

Keywords: Capitalism; Leadership; Mission and Purpose; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Leading Change

April 2023
Case

Elliott Management: Capital Allocation in Biopharma

By: Amitabh Chandra, Paul Clancy and Lauren Gunasti

The case explores the intersection of capital allocation and shareholder activism in the biopharmaceutical industry. As many biopharma companies face looming patent expirations for key medicines, the case asks the question of whether investing in R&D and M&A is an... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Strategy; Capital Allocation; Biopharmaceutical Industry; Shareholder Activism; Investment Activism; Resource Allocation; Research and Development; Business and Shareholder Relations; Corporate Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry

23 Aug 2019
Sharpening Your Skills

Has the Corporate Mission Just Been Disrupted?

Business as usual is no longer acceptable, was the message of 200 corporate leaders on August 19, when the Business Roundtable issued a "Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation." No longer should the primary purpose of companies be to maximize View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Green Technology

November – December 2011
Article

Competitive Strategy for Open Source Software

By: Vineet Kumar, Brett Gordon and Kannan Srinivasan

Commercial open source software (COSS) products-privately developed software based on publicly available source code-represent a rapidly growing, multibillion-dollar market. A unique aspect of competition in the COSS market is that many open source licenses require... View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Competitive Strategy; Product Development; Growth and Development; Markets; Motivation and Incentives; Quality; Policy; Perspective; Profit; Open Source Distribution; Emerging Markets

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October 2023 (Revised January 2024)
Case

McDonald's Board of Directors (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz

In October 2019, the McDonald’s Corporation board of directors, chaired by Enrique Hernandez, Jr., gathered to learn the results of their outside counsel’s investigation into the conduct of the CEO. On the surface, the iconic fast-food chain was thriving as growing... View Details

18 Oct 2018
Research & Ideas

How to Use Free Shipping as a Competitive Weapon

ablokhin Free shipping is an increasingly important tool in the online retailer's marketing arsenal, but few sellers understand the intricacies of the strategy and are leaving significant profits on the table, new research suggests.... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Retail

10 Feb 2003
Research & Ideas

Commodity Busters: Be a Price Maker, Not a Price Taker

the pressure. Competitors, in an attempt to gain market share or market position, often succumb and thus destroy the profitability of whole markets. But, with careful thought and precise execution, managers... View Details

Keywords: by Benson P. Shapiro

02 Jun 2014
Research & Ideas

Secrets to a Successful Social Media Strategy

Why are people so drawn to social media? The question long haunted Mikolaj "Misiek" Piskorski and eventually led to his new book, A Social Strategy: How We Profit from Social Media. Drawing from years of research dating back to before... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

June 2009 (Revised July 2010)
Case

Microfin

By: Michael Chu and Enrique Kramer

The case presents the management dilemmas of a new institution in an undeveloped microfinance market in Latin America. Supported by a globally recognized industry player, it is the result of the efforts of two fledgling local entrepreneurs with a business model they... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Developing Countries and Economies; Social Entrepreneurship; Microfinance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Industry Structures; Competitive Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Latin America