Publications

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December 2017 (Revised May 2018)
Case

Amazon Buys Whole Foods

By: José B. Alvarez, David Lane and Joni Coughlin

The June 2017 news that e-commerce giant Amazon was paying $13.7 billion for organic supermarket chain Whole Foods precipitated a broad sell-off in the shares of grocery retailers and suppliers. Behind the precipitous declines lay recognition that Amazon’s bold move... View Details

Keywords: Amazon; Whole Foods; Grocery; Grocery Delivery; Mergers ＆ Acquisitions; Business Models; Food Value Chain; Agribusiness; Mergers and Acquisitions; Operations; Competitive Strategy; E-commerce; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Retail Industry; Web Services Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

November 1986 (Revised February 1996)
Case

Allstate Chemical Company: The Commercialization of Dynarim

By: David A. Garvin

Raises three issues: the different requirements for competing in specialty and commodity chemicals; the steps a new idea follows in moving from research, applied research, and development to manufacturing and marketing; and the role of a commercial development... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Production; Marketing; Product Development; Goals and Objectives; Research; Managerial Roles; Business Divisions; Chemical Industry

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May 1997 (Revised March 1998)
Case

Teradyne: Managing Strategic Change

By: Joseph L. Bower

Three cases deal with the introduction of a new product to Teradyne's line of semiconductor test equipment. This case provides historic and administrative background for the other two cases. Teradyne: The Aurora Project deals with the problems facing the head of a... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Change Management; Business or Company Management; Market Entry and Exit; Product; Problems and Challenges; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Technology

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Dorothy Leonard*, the William J. Abernathy Professor of Business Administration Emerita, joined the Harvard faculty in 1983 after teaching for three years at the Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has taught MBA courses in... View Details

Keywords: computer; consulting; education industry; electronics; federal government; high technology; information technology industry; software; venture capital industry

2020
Working Paper

Pioneer (Dis-)advantages in Markets for Technology

By: Moritz Fischer, Joachim Henkel and Ariel Dora Stern

This study sheds new light on first- and early-mover advantages in the context of product innovation. Research on this classic topic often assumes that each firm participates in the entirety of the innovation and commercialization process. However, a division of labor... View Details

Keywords: First-mover Advantage; Product; Innovation Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Acquisition; Technology

SSRN

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August 2002 (Revised February 2005)
Case

Gillette Company (C): Strategies for Change

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and James Weber

Examines the strategic change agenda set by a new CEO as the initial priorities in the turnaround of this leading global consumer products company. View Details

Keywords: Business History; Global Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Leading Change; Change Management; Retail Industry

January 1996
Background Note

Creativity and Innovation in Organizations

By: Teresa M. Amabile

Creativity, the production of new and useful ideas by individuals or teams, can appear in many forms and many functions within firms of all kinds--from entrepreneurial start-ups to well-established enterprises. This note describes the varieties of creativity in... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Entrepreneurship; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Organizational Design; Situation or Environment; Creativity

August 2005 (Revised April 2006)
Case

Kemps LLC: Introducing Time-Driven ABC

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Kemps is making a strategy shift: from being focused on fulfilling customer requests to becoming the best cost dairy producer in the industry. Its existing manufacturing cost system, however, fails to capture the costs associated with handling special flavors, small... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Customer Relationship Management; Cost Accounting; Managerial Roles; Cost Management; Earnings Management; Business Strategy; Time Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Teams; Decisions; Food and Beverage Industry

March 1998 (Revised June 1999)
Teaching Note

Linking Strategy and Innovation TN

By: Clayton M. Christensen

An overview note to guide instructors in teaching the third module of the Managing Innovation course. Describes how managers can use aggregate project planning to manage the resource allocation process in new product development. View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Managerial Roles; Resource Allocation; Product Development; Planning; Projects; Strategy

Research Summary

Science-Based Business and the Business of Science

Science and technology can provide strategic advantage to companies' through differentiated products and processes. The focus of our research is on unusually productive and creative labs that are the sources of breakthroughs that create platforms for sustained... View Details

June 2018 (Revised January 2020)
Case

Voice War: Hey Google vs. Alexa vs. Siri

By: David B. Yoffie, Liang Wu, Jodie Sweitzer, Denzil Eden and Karan Ahuja

By early 2018, voice-controlled intelligent assistants had become a major new front in the battle between the giants of the technology sector. "Voice War" focuses on Alphabet’s strategy for Google Assistant, its entrant in the voice assistant space, and asks how the... View Details

Keywords: Alphabet; Amazon; Apple; Strategy; Technology; Intelligent Assistants; Smart Speaker; Voice Assistants; Voice; Platform; Technology Adoption; Digital Platforms; Competitive Strategy; Product Positioning; Technology Industry

09 Jan 2024
Research & Ideas

Could Clean Hydrogen Become Affordable at Scale by 2030?

Hydrogen is poised to move from the sidelines of global clean energy as the industry learns to produce it more efficiently and at lower cost, according to newly published research led by Gunther Glenk, a climate fellow with Harvard Business School's Institute for the... View Details

Keywords: by Desmond Dodd; Energy; Green Technology

March 1981 (Revised February 1993)
Case

Hank Kolb, Director, Quality Assurance

By: Frank S. Leonard and W. Earl Sasser

Designed to introduce the systemic nature of product quality and the complexity of quality problems. Uses a new director, quality assurance, and the discovery of a quality problem. The new director has to decide if it is a real problem, what to do about it, and how to... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Product; Organizational Culture; Problems and Challenges; Quality; Attitudes; Complexity

02 Jul 2018
Blog Post

Pursuing A Passion in Health Care

Hej! Reporting from Copenhagen here. My first year of HBS is complete, and I moved here one month ago for my summer internship. I’m working in New Product Development at Radiometer – a medical device... View Details

Keywords: Health Care

February 2011 (Revised May 2011)
Case

Utilis: Designing, Producing, and Selling Rapid Deployment Shelters for a Troubled World

By: Herman B. Leonard, Daniela Beyersdorfer and Simon Harrow

How can a company that supplies disaster response and humanitarian agencies best handle the intrinsically unpredictable and highly volatile demand for its products? Utilis is a French supplier of rapid-deploy high-end tent solutions for civilian and military uses (such... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Demand and Consumers; Strategic Planning; Natural Disasters; Competitive Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; France