Publications

October 2014 (Revised June 2015)
Case

Quiet Logistics (A)

By: Robert Simons and Natalie Kindred

This two-part case focuses on how to identify and manage strategic uncertainties in an innovative, entrepreneurial start-up company. In the (A) case, students learn about Quiet Logistics, an e-commerce fulfillment company working with high-end apparel retailers such as... View Details

22 Feb 2022
Research & Ideas

Lack of Female Scientists Means Fewer Medical Treatments for Women

scientist.” Missed innovation opportunities Koning, an assistant professor of business administration in the Strategy Unit at HBS, teamed up with John-Paul Ferguson of McGill University and Sampsa Samila of... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

October 2018
Supplement

JetBlue: Relevant Sustainability Leadership (B)

By: George Serafeim and David Freiberg

The case outlines JetBlue's decision to disclose according to the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) standards and the ESG metrics they began reporting. Data on resulting changes in institutional ownership are also provided. View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Metrics; Leadership And Change Management; Airlines; Innovation; Purpose; ESG; ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; Sustainability Reporting; Change Management; Leadership; Mission and Purpose; Financial Reporting

23 Oct 2000
Research & Ideas

The Strategy-Focused Organization

illustrate how major organizations have used the Scorecard to create an entirely new performance management framework that puts strategy at the center of a company's key management processes and systems. Mobil North America Marketing and... View Details

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan & David P. Norton

Article

One Obstacle to Curing Cancer: Patient Data Isn't Shared

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Kathy Giusti

Precision Medicine requires large datasets to identify the mutations that lead to various cancers. Currently, genomic information is hoarded in fragmented silos within numerous academic medical centers, pharmaceutical companies, and some disease-based foundations. For... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare; Technological And Scientific Innovation; Cancer Care In The U.S.; Cancer Treatment; Precision Medicine; Personalized Medicine; Data Sharing; Technological Innovation; Analytics and Data Science; Health Disorders; Medical Specialties; Research and Development; Customization and Personalization; Health Industry; United States

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October 2014
Supplement

Quiet Logistics (B)

By: Robert Simons and Natalie Kindred

This two-part case focuses on how to identify and manage strategic uncertainties in an innovative, entrepreneurial start-up company. In the (A) case, students learn about Quiet Logistics, an e-commerce fulfillment company working with high-end apparel retailers such as... View Details

20 Apr 2021
Book

A Simple Question That Can Guide Companies to Epic Success

dozens of proposals for projects. Value-based strategy teaches how to select among these ideas and projects. The most successful firms are very strict: Unless an idea creates value for customers, employees, or suppliers, they do not touch... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

14 Aug 2019
Sharpening Your Skills

The Manager's Guide to Leveraging Disruption

forces at work in today's digital economy. Two years later, Christensen expounded on his theories in his groundbreaking book, The Innovator's Dilemma. Their HBS colleagues have been adding to innovation research ever since. Here is a... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

March 2006 (Revised April 2007)
Case

Harley-Davidson: Preparing for the Next Century

By: Richard L. Nolan and Suresh Kotha

Harley-Davidson Co. exemplifies a remarkable management-led business transformation of a long standing manufacturing company. The company successfully met global competition and continues to innovate to maintain its market position. View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Transformation; Change Management; Innovation and Invention; Competitive Strategy; Manufacturing Industry; Motorcycle Industry

17 Mar 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Conceptual Foundations of the Balanced Scorecard

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan

May 2007 (Revised April 2009)
Case

Netflix

By: Willy C. Shih, Stephen P. Kaufman and David Spinola

Reed Hastings founded Netflix with a vision to provide a home movie service that would do a better job satisfying customers than the traditional retail rental model. But as it encouraged challenges it underwent several major strategy shifts, ultimately developing a... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Film Entertainment; Disruptive Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Distribution Channels; Service Delivery; Renting or Rental; Competitive Strategy; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

November 2017
Case

BeiGene

By: Willy Shih and Jimmy Zhang

BeiGene was a biopharmaceutical company founded on exploiting a temporal regulatory policy discontinuity. Because of regulatory challenges in China, most innovative new drugs launched there four to six years after their initial U.S. launches. This gave BeiGene a window... View Details

Keywords: Biotechnology; Pharmaceutical Company; Pharmaceuticals; China; Regulatory Environment; Business Strategy; Business Startups; Innovation Strategy; Situation or Environment; Pharmaceutical Industry; China

June 1994
Case

Nicolas G. Hayek

By: John J. Gabarro and Dominik E.D. Zehnder

With very few exceptions, established premium producers eventually begin to lose market share and profitability to new, dynamic competitiors. These companies respond by focusing on their old success strategy without regard to changes in the marketplace. This is what... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Alignment; Innovation Leadership; Management Teams; Apparel and Accessories Industry

December 2002
Article

Something Old, Something New: A Longitudinal Study of Search Behavior and New Product Introduction

By: Riitta Katila and Gautam Ahuja

We examine how firms search, or solve problems, to create new products. According to organizational learning research, firms position themselves in a unidimensional search space that spans a spectrum from local to distant search. Our findings in the global robotics... View Details

Keywords: Problem Solving; New Products; Organizational Learning; Uncertainty; Organizational Research; Knowledge Management; Robotics; Organizational Behavior; Organizational Effectiveness; Innovation Adoption; Strategy; Product Design; Business Processes; Product Development

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Research Summary

FDA Review Time of New Drug Applications

Study of FDA Review Time of New Drug Applications (NDAs) between 1990-2004. Three main questions are addressed: How the optimal innovation strategy for firms is contingent upon firm status positions in the knowledge domain; how knowledge status both enables and... View Details

August 3, 2022
Article

Why NFT Creators Are Going cc0

By: and Scott Duke Kominers Flashrekt

Strategies for building brands, communities, and content through intellectual property (IP) vary greatly across NFT projects. Some maintain more or less standard IP protections; others give just NFT owners rights to innovate upon the associated intellectual property;... View Details

Keywords: Non-fungible Tokens; NFTs; Video Games; Merchandising; Creative Commons; Intellectual Property

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07 Sep 2021
News

Focus on Health and Equity to Meet 2026 Climate Goal, Advises Sustainability Committee

October 1990 (Revised November 1992)
Case

Ceramics Process Systems Corp. (A)

By: Clayton M. Christensen

A small ceramics company started by a group of MIT professors struggles with some basic technology strategy issues. A plan to take "one commercializable step" at a time in order to get a foothold in the market goes awry because of incompatibility between the company's... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Technology; Problems and Challenges; Market Entry and Exit; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Research and Development; Production; Manufacturing Industry; Cambridge