Publications

Research Summary

Competing on a Common Platform

Why have over 100 firms joined the Eclipse Foundation to collectively produce an open source platform and tools for software application development? What are they trying to accomplish? This research analyzes IBMs divestment of the Eclipse Java Integrated Development... View Details

August 2005 (Revised May 2006)
Case

Cherkizovsky Group, The (A) (Abridged)

By: Lynn S. Paine

Describes the transformation of a formerly state-owned meat processing plant in Russia into a privately owned and operated food processing conglomerate under Russia's economic reforms of the 1990s. Among the challenges the CEO, Igor Babaev, and his top management team... View Details

Keywords: History; Business Conglomerates; Privatization; Transformation; Management Teams; Sales; Brands and Branding; Business or Company Management; Marketing Strategy; Crisis Management; Food and Beverage Industry; Russia

Find at Harvard

March 2001 (Revised April 2002)
Background Note

Word-of-Mouth Referral Module Note

Describes the power of word-of-mouth referral for service organizations. Illustrates a process to help students and/or managers calculate the value of word-of-mouth and develop ways to influence (i.e. increase) it. View Details

Keywords: Marketing Reference Programs; Service Industry

November 2016 (Revised April 2018)
Case

reMarkable: e-Writing the Future

By: Elie Ofek and Curtis Hsu

Magnus Wanberg is the creator of reMarkable, a breakthrough e-writer device set apart from similar products on the market by having solved the frustrating “slow ink” problem typically experienced on pen-based electronic devices, thus providing a “pen and paper” like... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Marketing; Innovation Management; Go To Market Strategy; Marketing Plan; Target Market; Digital Devices; Consumer Electronics; Forecasting; Information Technology; Marketing Strategy; Innovation and Management; Marketing Channels; Entrepreneurship; Forecasting and Prediction; Product Marketing; Product Development; Electronics Industry

June 2002
Case

Vans: Skating on Air

By: Youngme E. Moon and David Kiron

Vans is best known for selling footwear and apparel to skateboarders, surfers, and other alternative sports athletes. In April 2002, Gary Schoenfeld, the CEO, is facing a number of challenges. With respect to footwear, he must decide what to do about two product lines... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Product Launch; Demand and Consumers; Product Development; Value Creation; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Retail Industry; California

11 Dec 2017
Book

'Don’t Show Up Empty-handed' and Other Tips for Finding the Right Job at a Startup

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

07 Nov 2014
Video

FIELD 2: DASH Days

July 2000 (Revised April 2011)
Case

Greeley Hard Copy, Portable Scanner Initiative (A)

By: Michael L. Tushman and Daniel Radov

Hewlett-Packard's Greeley Hard Copy Division is the market leader in the production of desktop flatbed scanners for personal computers. The division has been working to develop a portable scanner product for the past five years with mixed results. The new general... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Leading Change; Product Development; Organizational Structure; Hardware; Technology Industry

April 2010 (Revised March 2011)
Case

Tata Nano The People's Car

By: Krishna G. Palepu, Bharat N. Anand and Rachna Tahilyani

The case explores how Tata Motors, India's largest automobile company, developed the Nano, the world's cheapest car. The case focuses on the translation of Ratan Tata's (chairman of Tata Motors) vision of a safe affordable car for the masses by Ravi Kant, managing... View Details

Keywords: Price; Globalized Firms and Management; Disruptive Innovation; Emerging Markets; Business Processes; Quality; Competition; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry; India

May 1997 (Revised May 2004)
Case

Precision Worldwide, Inc.

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

A competitor has developed and introduced a superior product that is less costly to manufacture. Precision Worldwide must decide whether to match the competitor's product, when to do so, and how to price, given that it holds a large inventory of its now inferior... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Price; Cost; Competition

February 2006 (Revised September 2006)
Case

Sippican Corporation (A)

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Presents a time-driven version of the Wilkerson Co. activity-based costing case (101092). Faced with declining profits, Sippican Corp. is struggling to understand why it is encountering severe price competition on one product line. The controller collects data that... View Details

Keywords: History; Business Model; Strategic Planning; Cost Accounting; Motivation and Incentives; Resource Allocation; Activity Based Costing and Management; Profit; Business Strategy; Budgets and Budgeting

Research Summary

Research Focus of Chris Gordon

Chris Gordon's main area of interest and expertise is the delivery of complex capital projects. These projects can take the form of government sponsored infrastructure projects such as highways and utilities, private real estate development such as commercial and... View Details

September 2020 (Revised May 2024)
Case

Hot Wheels: Launching The Mixed Play Experience

By: Elie Ofek, Andres Terech and Nicole Tempest Keller

Chris Down, Global Brand General Manager for Hot Wheels, and his team from the Advanced Play Group within Mattel, Inc., had developed an entirely new “mixed play” product experience that blended familiar Hot Wheels play in the physical world with breakthrough play in... View Details

Keywords: Toys; Go-to-market Strategy; Product Development; Technological Innovation; Product Launch; Product Positioning; Decision Making; Marketing; Strategy; Los Angeles

19 Apr 2011
First Look

First Look: April 19

the firm's predictions. Students develop programs to reduce churn post hoc and then reengineer the company's marketing, selling, and customer relationship management processes to manage churn proactively... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 2003 (Revised January 2004)
Exercise

Electric Maze Exercise, The

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Hanna Rodriguez-Farrar

This team-based exercise uses an educational tool called "The Electric Maze," developed by Interel Corp., to teach insights about the social and psychological challenges facing employees who must engage in collaborative learning. The tool is a grid-patterned rug with... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Leadership; Learning; Groups and Teams; Risk and Uncertainty

February 2017
Supplement

The De Beers Group: Exploring the Diamond Reselling Opportunity

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Daniel P. Gross and Lauren G. Pickle

In September 2014, Tom Montgomery (SVP of strategic initiatives at the De Beers Group) and his team launched a pilot program in the United States to explore the $1 billion diamond market for pre-owned (recycled) diamonds. According to Montgomery, the motivation for the... View Details

Article

How a Fast-Growing Startup Built Its Sales Team for Long-Term Success

By: Frank V. Cespedes and David Mattson

It’s common for leaders of sales teams to focus almost exclusively on short-term tactics and current operations while failing to think and act in a way that supports the longer-term needs of their businesses—and it’s hard to fault them. The biggest problem with a... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Salesforce Management; Management Practices and Processes

Register to Read

November 2001 (Revised September 2005)
Case

What's the BIG Idea? (A)

By: Clayton M. Christensen and Scott Duncan Anthony

CEO Michael Collins must decide if and how a process he developed to further innovation in the kids' industry could port over to other industries. The process was based on Collins' experiences as an inventor and as a venture capitalist, and it allowed his company to be... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Entrepreneurship