Publications

24 Sep 2014
Op-Ed

Tackling Climate Change Will Cost Less Than We Think

No one knows how much it will cost to keep the risks of significant climate disruption to a reasonable level. One commonly cited estimate puts the cost at roughly 1 percent of world GDP a year, or about $840 billion. This is a large number, but it seems smaller when... View Details

Keywords: by Rebecca Henderson; Energy; Utilities

06 Jan 2003
What Do You Think?

China: The Next Big Market Opportunity or the Next Big Bubble?

economy, Russia is not a good analogy. The risk of a sudden disruption in China is much lower. Patrik Akerman articulated the argument in this way: "The European Communists opened up their economies because of a collapse (on a... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

13 Dec 2004
Research & Ideas

How Leaders Create Winning Streaks

resources available to the company—this includes attracting the best people who like to work for winners. Winners get better deals and are left alone by others who don't want to disrupt the winning. Losing is the exact opposite. The... View Details

Keywords: by Rosabeth Moss Kanter & Walter Kiechel

February 2019 (Revised May 2019)
Case

Schneider Electric: Opening Up to External Innovation

By: Antonio Davila

Schneider Electric competes in tough but stable markets around energy management, automation, and control of infrastructures ranging from homes to production plants. New technologies and new approaches to serving markets are challenging the status quo. To take... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Venture Capital; Accelerator; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Disruptive Innovation; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Organizational Design; Energy Industry; Manufacturing Industry; France; United States

July 2011 (Revised January 2013)
Case

Digital Microscopy Is Making Me Crazy!

By: Willy Shih

For Carl Zeiss Microimaging, modular hardware and software enabled customers to tailor Zeiss's broad range of microscopy systems hardware and software to meet a wide range of needs from basic scientific research in the biological and medical sciences to clinical... View Details

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Corporate Strategy; Disruptive Innovation; Science-Based Business; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Business Conglomerates; Digital Platforms; Opportunities; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Computer Industry

06 Feb 2007
First Look

First Look: February 6, 2007

http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=507021 Where to Get Your News and Information: The Digital Disruption Harvard Business School Note 707-442 What is the response by traditional news and information deliverers... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

June 2024
Case

SnapTravel: Betting on 'Super.com'

By: Reza Satchu and Tom Quinn

This case explores SnapTravel, a travel startup offering discounted hotel rooms, and its founders’ desire to pivot to a “super app” that saved customers money across many different purchase types. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Hussein Fazal and Henry Shi saw SnapTravel... View Details

March 2022
Case

DealShare: Social E-Commerce for the Indian Mass Market

By: Krishna G. Palepu and Malini Sen

Launched in September 2018, e-retail startup DealShare has created a tech-enabled model for the Indian mass market that allows customers to buy together, save money on good quality goods, and at the same time have fun. It targets customers who are still getting used to... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Disruption; Trends; Talent and Talent Management; Customer Focus and Relationships; Value; Cost vs Benefits; Value Creation; Internet and the Web; India

April 2019
Teaching Note

The a2 Milk Company

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher

The a2 Milk Company (a2MC) became the most valuable company listed on the New Zealand stock exchange in 2018 by capitalizing on a biochemical discovery related to the protein composition of cow's milk. Because many people find the A1 protein difficult to digest, and... View Details

02 Apr 2001
What Do You Think?

Telecommuting: Dangerous to Health?

widely heralded. Clearly, it has enabled millions to participate in the paid workforce who otherwise would be constrained by location and disruptive commitments. But now we are beginning to see a backlash in the form of a migration of... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

September 2023 (Revised May 2025)
Teaching Note

On

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Karolin Frankenberger, Sascha Mader, Jordan Mitchell and Karen Elterman

Teaching Note for "On," HBS Case No. 723-430. On is a premium performance running shoe company founded in Switzerland in 2010. The company rapidly gained traction through its unique CloudTec cushioning technology, its innovative midsole plate called the Speedboard, and... View Details

22 Sep 2020
Research & Ideas

Recessions Push Some Entrepreneurs to Launch Too Soon

professors (the most likely group to have strong job stability), PhDs/postdoctoral students (the least stable), and founders who had previously been employed at larger firms, small firms, and startups. In an email exchange, we asked Roche about how economic View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

25 Apr 2014
Research & Ideas

To Pay or Not to Pay: Argentina and the International Debt Market

that many believe helped the sovereign lending market evolve on a grand scale. It also led to a wave of litigation that did little more than disrupt or delay sovereign debt restructurings. Over the next two decades, lawyers, lenders and... View Details

Keywords: by Laura Alfaro

07 Nov 2005
What Do You Think?

Is Less Becoming More?

without endangering its competitive position? Or does the answer lie in increasing levels of disruptive competition, the strategy of providing less for much less? What do you think? Original Article The issue of whether less is more, both... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Consumer Products

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

Bright Ideas: The Creative Power of Groups

individuals willingly succumbing to "group think," waving through a lukewarm idea rather than disrupting the comfort of the status quo. "Questioning long-held beliefs and traditional ways of doing things is a painful but... View Details

Keywords: by Laurie Joan Aron

March 2021
Supplement

Facebook's Libra (B): The Privatization of Money?

By: Marco Di Maggio, Ethan Rouen, George Serafeim and Amy Klopfenstein

This case addresses the events that took place following the conclusion of the case “Facebook’s Libra (A): The Privatization of Money?” In October 2019, several months after the conclusion of the A case, multiple members of the Libra Association announced that they... View Details

November 2020 (Revised April 2021)
Case

Roll-Ups and Surprise Billing: Collisions at the Intersection of Private Equity and Patient Care

By: Trevor Fetter and Kira Seiger

This case describes the increasing investment by private equity (PE) firms in patient care and other healthcare services. The case focuses on investments in physician staffing firms and roll-up strategy investments in physician practice management (PPM). Included in... View Details