Publications

October 2017 (Revised September 2018)
Supplement

Jumia Nigeria: from Retail to Marketplace (B)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Namrata Arora

This follow up case study explores the ramifications of Jumia's decision to move from a retail-led to a markplace business model for its e-commerce platform. The case visits the company's successes as well as its many failures when adopting this vendor-led strategy. ... View Details

Keywords: Retail; Marketplace; Inventory; Funding; Business Ecosystems; Business Ecosystem; Competition; Business Model; Globalization; Emerging Markets; Expansion; Logistics; Retail Industry; India; Nigeria; Africa

January 2003
Background Note

Institutions for Collaboration: Overview

By: Michael E. Porter and Willis M. Emmons III

Provides an overview of the wide variety of organizations other than firms, government ministries and regulatory agencies, and universities that may have significant effects on competitiveness. These intermediary entities, referred to as institutions for collaboration... View Details

Keywords: Globalization; Labor Unions; Organizations; Competitive Strategy; Technology

01 Dec 2008
Lessons from the Classroom

How Many U.S. Jobs Are ‘Offshorable’?

The controversial topic of offshoring U.S. jobs may have been shoved out of the headlines by recent events, but it remains front and center for senior business leaders operating in an increasingly global, competitive economy. To give MBAs... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

28 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

Why Manufacturing Matters

Restoring American Competitiveness, which lays out their views in detail. Despite their dire analysis, Pisano and Shih remain cautiously optimistic that the United States can regain its competitive footing. Roger Thompson: When it comes... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson; Manufacturing

15 Sep 2009
First Look

First Look: September 15

Abstract We study competitive interaction between two alternative models of digital content distribution over the Internet: peer-to-peer (p2p) file sharing and centralized client-server distribution. We present microfoundations for a... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

October 2024
Case

Allurion: Competing in the Age of GLP-1

By: Satish Tadikonda, Rajiv Lal, David Lane and Sarah Sasso

Shantanu Gaur had built Allurion into a formidable business internationally, providing obesity patients with a less invasive option long before GLP-1 drugs became the latest craze. Selling Allurion's medical device across 60+ countries, he awaited FDA approval to bring... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Global Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Health Industry; United States; United Kingdom; France; India; Brazil; Middle East

19 Dec 2011
Research & Ideas

Climbing the Great Wall of Trust

"It's a gap that might make you less competitive compared with someone who is of the same ethnic culture." “To the extent that you could speak the language or demonstrate a certain level of understanding of culture, that might... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

January 2018
Case

Kids & Company: Entering the U.S.

By: Boris Groysberg, Matthew G. Preble and Katherine Connolly Baden

In April 2017, Victoria Sopik and Jennifer Nashmi, CEO and CFO (respectively) of Kids & Company, a Canadian childcare provider that they had co-founded in the early 2000s and developed into a nearly 100-unit enterprise, are discussing how the company should proceed... View Details

15 Jan 2008
First Look

First Look: January 15, 2008

differences in terms of how they affect companies and how they can be affected by government. It finds that locational competitiveness is becoming an increasingly strategic question for both locations and companies: Locations need to... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

26 Apr 2011
Op-Ed

HBS Faculty Comment on Environmental Issues for Earth Day

600 urban centers accounting for roughly 60 percent of global GDP. The creation of this economic and social value, however, involves the consumption of considerable natural resources. For example, cities today contain 50 percent of the... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Energy; Utilities

13 Sep 2016
First Look

September 13, 2016

Abstract—This article presents a clinical study, based on a decade of ongoing research at Samsung Group, which describes how the Samsung Group and its mobile phone division competed successfully in smartphones. The ability to manage co-opetition—simultaneous forces of... View Details

11 Jun 2007
Lessons from the Classroom

Teaching the Next Generation of Energy Executives

You may think that being an energy executive—especially a manager in a leading oil company—might be the easiest job around. Just flip the production switch, and watch gas prices head toward $4 a gallon. But students enrolled in Harvard Business School professor Forest... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Energy; Utilities

02 Jan 2007
Research & Ideas

Most Popular Articles of 2006

Here then are our most-read stories in 2006. Microsoft vs. Open Source: Who Will Win? Using formal economic modelling, professors Pankaj Ghemawat and Ramon Casadesus-Masanell consider the competitive dynamics of the software wars between... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

13 Jun 2012
HBS Case

HBS Cases: A Startup Takes On the Credit Ratings Giants

For most of the 20th century, three bond ratings agencies—Moody's, Fitch, and Standard & Poor's—dominated the credit ratings industry, recently controlling 97 percent of the market. But the status quo was disrupted by the 2008 global... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish; Banking; Financial Services

12 Jul 2011
First Look

First Look: July 12

returns. Download the paper: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1734528 Platform Competition under Asymmetric Information Authors:Hanna Hałaburda and Yaron Yehezkel Abstract In the context of platform View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

10 Dec 2007
HBS Case

One Laptop per Child

anticipated to nudge governments from polite handshakes to cash commitments. One problem: the price. Although originally envisioned as the "$100 PC," OLPC has struggled to bring the price below $175. And now it faces competition... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Computer

January 2018
Supplement

Jumia Nigeria PowerPoint Supplement

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell

Founded in 2012, Jumia Nigeria, a startup effort by Germany-based Rocket Internet, aimed to become an African Amazon. The company entered the nascent market and immediately enjoyed an uptick in consumer spending fueled by the strength of Nigeria’s oil-based economy. By... View Details

Keywords: Retail; Marketplace; Inventory; Nigeria; Africa; Ecommerce; Funding; Business Ecosystems; Business Ecosystem; Competition; Business Model; Globalization; Emerging Markets; Expansion; Logistics; E-commerce; Retail Industry; India; Nigeria; Africa

January 2018 (Revised March 2019)
Teaching Note

Jumia Nigeria: from Retail to Marketplace (A) and (B)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Karen Elterman

Founded in 2012, Jumia Nigeria, a startup effort by Germany-based Rocket Internet, aimed to become an African Amazon. The company entered the nascent market and immediately enjoyed an uptick in consumer spending fueled by the strength of Nigeria’s oil-based economy. By... View Details

Keywords: Retail; Marketplace; Inventory; Ecommerce; Funding; Business Ecosystems; Competition; Business Model; Globalization; Emerging Markets; Expansion; Logistics; E-commerce; Retail Industry; India; Nigeria; Africa