Publications

September 2019
Article

Technology Reemergence: Creating New Value for Old Technologies in Swiss Mechanical Watchmaking, 1970-2008

By: Ryan Raffaelli

In 1983, 14 years after the introduction of the battery-powered quartz watch, mechanical watches and the Swiss watchmakers who built them were predicted to be obsolete (Landes, 1983). Unexpectedly, however, by 2008 the Swiss mechanical watchmaking industry had... View Details

Keywords: Technology Reemergence; Technology Cycles; Cognition And Market Redefinition; Legacy Technology Trajectories; Information Technology; Demand and Consumers; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Identity; Change; Consumer Products Industry; Switzerland

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20 Jun 2013
Other Presentation

The New Competitive Advantage: Creating Shared Value

By: Michael E. Porter

The ideas drawn from "Creating Shared Value" (Harvard Business Review, Jan 2011) and "Competing by Saving Lives" (FSG, 2012). View Details

Keywords: Society; Switzerland

29 Jan 2010
Other Presentation

Ideas Lab: Value Based Healthcare Delivery

By: Michael E. Porter

This presentation draws on Michael E. Porter and Elizabeth Olmsted Teisberg: Redefining Health Care: Creating Value-Based Competition on Results, Harvard Business School Press, May 2006, and ―How Physicians Can Change the Future of Health Care, Journal of the American... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Switzerland

May 2013
Teaching Plan

High Wire Act: Credit Suisse and Contingent Capital

By: Clayton Rose and David Lane

Late in 2010, Credit Suisse CEO Brady Dougan and his team considered whether or not to issue contingent capital, which Swiss regulators would require by 2019. They faced a number of substantial issues, including: Would contingent capital actually work as conceptualized... View Details

Keywords: Financial Institutions; Capital Markets; Financial Crisis; Decision Choices and Conditions; Leadership; International Finance; Financial Liquidity; Risk and Uncertainty; Competitive Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Switzerland

September 2012
Case

Ringier - Building a Digital-Age Media Company

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee

Overview of the strategic re-orientation and diversification of Ringier, a Swiss based media company, as they confront the challenges of staying competitive and profitable in the new and increasingly digital media landscape. View Details

Keywords: Media And Publishing; Publishing; Media; Organizational Structure; Strategy; Diversification; Publishing Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Switzerland

April 2012 (Revised October 2013)
Case

Switzerland: Foreign Pressure and Direct Democracy

By: Julio J. Rotemberg and Jonathan Naharro Martin

Keywords: Switzerland

July 2006 (Revised August 2007)
Case

Charles Veillon, S.A. (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Aldo Sesia

The top management team at Charles Veillon, a Swiss mail-order company, is considering whether to work with a human rights organization to monitor the labor practices of its suppliers. A particular concern is avoiding child labor and other forms of workplace coercion.... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Governance Controls; Labor; Rights; Nonprofit Organizations; Switzerland

June 2000
Case

Rebirth of the Swiss Watch Industry, 1980-1992 (A)

By: Michael L. Tushman and Daniel Radov

The Swiss watch industry has been devastated by new entrants from Asia in the low- and mid-priced watch segments. Japanese and Hong Kong firms have used quartz technology to lower costs dramatically. Nicolas Hayek, president of a Swiss consulting firm, is asked to help... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Product Development; Organizational Structure; Change Management; Alignment; Product Positioning; Brands and Branding; Management Teams; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Switzerland

October 1999 (Revised March 2000)
Case

Credit Suisse (A)

Credit Suisse is looking for ways to differentiate itself from current and likely competitors. After two years of restructuring, the bank's leadership wants profitable growth. It has decided to emphasize customer service. View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Competitive Advantage; Customer Focus and Relationships; Banking Industry; Switzerland

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24 Apr 2014
News

Investing in new technologies to accelerate change

Girish Nadkami (MBA 1988), a venture capitalist in Switzerland, talks about the impact of investing in new technologies for communications, robotics, and environmental start-ups. (Published April 2014) View Details

17 Sep 2015
Blog Post

Why We Recruit: Innosight

MA, Switzerland and Singapore. How long has your organization been recruiting at Harvard Business School and what roles do you hire for?We have recruited at HBS since 2005. We hire full-time Associates in the Fall and Summer Associates... View Details

Keywords: Consulting

01 Dec 1998
News

Faculty Retirements

cohort. Uyterhoeven, who received Doctor of Laws degrees from the University of Zurich in Switzerland and the University of Ghent in Belgium before earning his MBA and DBA from Harvard, is the author of numerous cases, casebooks, and... View Details

01 Dec 2004
News

Wyss Gift Supports HBS Doctoral Programs

with distinction in 1965. Following nine years working for large multinational corporations, Wyss struck out on his own as an entrepreneur and established Synthes USA. He has taken on leadership roles in both this country and Switzerland... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations; Personal Services

September 2021 (Revised March 2024)
Case

Bühler: Mobilizing Industry around a Common Purpose

By: Ranjay Gulati, Franz Wohlgezogen and Malini Sen

Bühler Group, a Swiss multinational processing technology provider, started by selling machines for processing grains and later transitioned into selling food processing solutions. A family-owned business in the fifth generation, Bühler’s high-end milling, grinding,... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Customer Focus and Relationships; Machinery and Machining; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Innovation Leadership; Switzerland

2019
Article

Industrie-Holding: Creating a Community of Interest among Swiss 'Multinationals'

By: Sabine Pitteloud

This article focuses on the genesis and evolution of Industrie-Holding, a federation of Swiss multinationals, from 1942 onwards. Thanks to recent donations from the Alusuisse and Hero archives, historians now have access to the minutes of the Industrie-Holding... View Details

Keywords: Business ＆ Government Relations; Multinationals; Lobbying; Business and Government Relations; Multinational Firms and Management; Switzerland

30 Jan 2009
Other Presentation

Advice to the U.S. President on Competitiveness

By: Michael E. Porter

Session moderated by Michael Porter and featuring Scott Davis, Ellen J. Kullman, Rupert Murdoch, Duncan Niederauer, David M. Rubenstein, Ronald A. Williams. View Details

Keywords: Economics; Growth and Development; Switzerland

29 Jan 2011
Other Presentation

Bloomberg Interview At Davos

By: Michael E. Porter and Tom Keene

Michael Porter, a professor at Harvard Business School, talks about corporate strategy and the need for companies to address social issues. Porter talks with Tom Keene at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Bloomberg Television's "Surveillance Midday." View Details

Keywords: Society; Switzerland