Publications

13 Jan 2003
Research & Ideas

The Subconscious Mind of the Consumer (And How To Reach It)

proposition and becomes a more profound basis for developing marketing strategy than, say, technical superiority or long-lasting benefits. While the latter attributes are important, it is because they serve the deeper needs of connection... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Mahoney

06 Aug 2007
Research & Ideas

High Hills, Deep Poverty: Explaining Civil War in Nepal

to prevent them. "The main conclusion from this whole stream of research is that investing in poverty reduction strategies not only has direct economic benefits but also political benefits," says Lakshmi Iyer, a Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

07 Dec 1999
Research & Ideas

Henry Heinz and Brand Creation in the Late Nineteenth Century

grocers. These and other such products were made by farm households in Devon, Berwyn, and other surrounding areas. Although these foodstuffs bore no name or other information, urban retailers could generally vouch for their quality. Heinz... View Details

Keywords: by Nancy F. Koehn

September 1989 (Revised December 1989)
Case

Siemens Electric Motor Works (A) and (B) (Combined)

Explores how a cost system can help support a firm's decision to change strategies. In the process, students are exposed to a simple activity-based cost system. Also examines Siemens policy for transferring products between sales and manufacturing divisions. Transfer... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Business Strategy; Technology Industry

September – October 2011
Article

The Rise and Consequences of Corporate Sustainability Reporting

By: Ioannis Ioannou and George Serafeim

For many decades the cornerstone of corporate reporting has been financial information that is presented in a company's annual, semi-annual, and quarterly reports. These comprehensive financial reports—required by law for public companies in most countries... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; ESG Reporting; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Annual Reports; Operations; Strategy; Business and Shareholder Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Performance; Business Model; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Corporate Disclosure

2009
Working Paper

Assess, Don't Assume, Part II: Negotiating Implications of Cross-Border Differences in Decision Making, Governance, and Political Economy

By: James K. Sebenius

When facing a cross-border negotiation, the standard preparatory assessments—of the parties, their interests, their no-deal options, opportunities for and barriers to creating and claiming value, the most promising sequence and process design, etc.—should be... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Corporate Governance; Negotiation Process; Organizational Culture; Business and Government Relations

22 Feb 2018
Blog Post

Five Steps to Jump Start Your MBA Recruiting at HBS

an effective and tailored recruiting strategy. 5. Determine Your Strategy –In addition to exploring our recruiting platform and Recruiting Guide, we also encourage you to contact your industry specific Recruiting Relations Manager who can... View Details

Keywords: All Industries

Web

Curriculum - Case Method Project

decision; Abolitionists; rise of the Republican Party; Lincoln/Douglas Debates; tariffs; Election of 1860; Southern Secession; Fort Sumter Reconstruction A: The Crisis of 1877 This case provides a general overview of Reconstruction,... View Details

2011
Working Paper

The Impact of Horizontal Mergers and Acquisitions in Price Competition Models

The question of what impact mergers and acquisitions have on key equilibrium performance measures is fundamental to our understanding of competitive dynamics in an oligopolistic industry. We address these questions in the context of price competition models with... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Cost; Price; Profit; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Performance Efficiency; Mathematical Methods; Competition

Web

Podcast - Business & Environment

of the Climate Rising series on climate resilience, features Sarah Russell, General Manager of Project Bellwether at X, The Moonshot Factory at Alphabet (formerly Google X). Sarah shares how geospatial data and artificial intelligence can... View Details

February 2014
Case

BGI: Data-driven Research

By: Willy Shih and Sen Chai

BGI has the largest installed gene-sequencing capacity in the world, and to Zhang Gengyun, general manager of the Life Sciences Division, this represented an opportunity to apply his training as a plant breeder and his early career work as a biochemist to improving... View Details

11 Jun 2024
In Practice

The Harvard Business School Faculty Summer Reader 2024

As the vacation season looms, Harvard Business School faculty members share recommendations for a little light reading. Spoiler alert: Lessons in Chemistry tops two of their beach-read lists. For those whose brains can’t—or won’t—turn off, HBS faculty also suggest some... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

March 1987 (Revised January 1988)
Case

Paul Revere Insurance Co. (B)

Describes a program of value-analysis workshops undertaken by this company as part of its massive effort to regain the number one position in its industry. The value-analysis workshops are the second half of the company's two-part Quality Has Value process. The focus... View Details

Keywords: Quality; Valuation; Competitive Strategy; Insurance Industry; United States

August 2003 (Revised June 2005)
Case

Royal Bank of Scotland, The: Masters of Integration

By: Nitin Nohria and James Weber

Describes the acquisition of Nat West by Royal Bank of Scotland. Describes the strategic rationale for the acquisition and the process by which the integration of the two banks was accomplished. The acquisition is remarkable for how successful it was, given the typical... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Integration; Banks and Banking; Success; Banking Industry; Scotland

2019
Article

Pay-for-Monopoly?: An Assessment of Reverse Payment Deals by Pharmaceutical Companies

By: Sana Rafiq and Max Bazerman

Abstract Over the past eighteen years, pharmaceutical firms have developed a blueprint to impede competition in order to maintain their monopoly profits. This scheme, termed pay-for-delay, involves direct or indirect payment of money from a branded-drug manufacturer... View Details

Keywords: Monopoly; Policy; Competition; Agreements and Arrangements; Pharmaceutical Industry

24 Jun 2019
Blog Post

Chloe Ho, MBA 2019: Data-Driven and In Demand

After graduating at the University of Pennsylvania in 2012, Chloe Ho (MBA 2019) began her post-undergrad career in New York working for Morgan Stanley. While there, she served in a strategy and analytics role, working on projects for... View Details

Keywords: Technology

May 2017
Teaching Note

Promontory, Inc. (Brief Case)

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Amy Handlin

Teaching Note for HBS No. 917-535. The Promontory teaching note covers a) how and why buying processes in Promontory’s market generate the array of selling approaches illustrated in the case; b) the impact of incremental sales increases on the firm’s cost structure and... View Details

Keywords: Sales; Salesforce Management; Marketing Strategy

Article

Why ‘Tell Them Something They Don't Know’ Is Bad Advice in B2B Sales

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Tracy DeCicco

Common advice in sales is to provide insights to customers during sales calls. But this advice generally stays at the level of “tell people something they don’t already know” and results in sales conversations littered with many irrelevant factoids. This article... View Details

Keywords: Sales; Interpersonal Communication; Communication Strategy

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