Publications

Read Now

26 Oct 2018
Blog Post

Making the Switch from Finance to Fitness

at night, I was so happy doing what I loved. I was also conscious of the fact that my primary responsibility was to my company. I worked to ensure that I was productive and meeting deadlines, and I appreciated the support I received from... View Details

Aticus Peterson

Aticus Peterson (apeterson@hbs.edu) is a PhD candidate in the Strategy Unit at Harvard Business School. His research focuses on how entrepreneurs and investors can... View Details

Summer 2014
Article

Taiwan's PC Industry, 1976–2010: The Evolution of Organizational Capabilities

By: Howard H. Yu and Willy C. Shih

The stellar growth of Taiwan's personal computer (PC) industry over the past three decades represents a paradox. Participating in the global production system, local firms in Taiwan grew in association with established firms in the West. Despite their technical... View Details

Keywords: Personal Computer; PC; PC Industry; Taiwan PC Industry; Taiwan PC Manufacturers; Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Growth and Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Industry Clusters; Industry Growth; Industry Structures; Information Technology; Technological Innovation; Mobile Technology; Information Technology Industry; Taiwan

July 1986 (Revised April 1989)
Background Note

Note on Sources of Comparative Advantage

By: David B. Yoffie and John J. Coleman

After Eli Heckscher and Bertil Ohlin's propositions about the sources of comparative advantage were empirically challenged by Wassily Leontief, scholars set out to explain the "Leontief paradox" by developing alternative theories on the sources of comparative... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Advantage

25 Sep 2018
Video

Out of the Comfort Zone: FIELD Global Immersion

17 Sep 2014
Video

Student Impressions of FIELD

September 1997 (Revised May 1999)
Case

Automated Intelligence Corporation

By: James K. Sebenius and David T. Kotchen

Precision Controls is a Minnesota-based manufacturer of electronic control devices. To enhance its product line, Precision would like to establish an artificial intelligence research group, either through internal development or, preferably, by merging with or... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Valuation; Research and Development; Stock Shares; Negotiation Process; Negotiation Tactics; Mergers and Acquisitions; Manufacturing Industry; Electronics Industry; Minnesota

September 1997 (Revised May 1999)
Case

Precision Controls, Inc.

By: James K. Sebenius and David T. Kotchen

Precision Controls is a Minnesota-based manufacturer of electronic control devices. To enhance its product line, Precision would like to establish an artificial intelligence research group, either through internal development or, preferably, by merging with or... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Valuation; Research and Development; Negotiation Process; Stock Shares; Negotiation Tactics; Mergers and Acquisitions; Manufacturing Industry; Electronics Industry; Minnesota

March 2004 (Revised April 2004)
Background Note

Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and John T. Gourville

Analysis of an interview with Red Auerbach, HBR No. 87201. Alan M. Webber, who conducted the interview, probed for the lessons that Auerbach has learned from a long and productive career coaching and managing the Boston Celtics, a professional basketball team in the... View Details

Keywords: Markets; Research; Sports; Product Development; Communication Intention and Meaning; Sports Industry

November 2016
Case

But, It's For a Good Cause

By: Elizabeth Keenan and John Gourville

Companies have long tried to enhance consumers’ perceptions of their firms and the products they sell in a variety of ways. Such efforts include the development of a brand image that the public views favorably, as in the case of Apple. It extends to the development of... View Details

Keywords: Social Change; Marketing And Society; Social Marketing; Brands and Branding; Customers; Perception; Advertising; Advertising Campaigns; Partners and Partnerships; Trends; Environmental Sustainability

January 1998 (Revised February 2002)
Case

Funai Consulting Company, Ltd. (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Tomoya Nakamura

In the summer of 1997, a consultant at Japan's Funai Consulting Co. Ltd., must decide how to respond to a client's proposal to offer "open pricing" (based on willingness to pay) to customers unable to pay the standard price for the client's product. The client, Akita... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Price; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Decisions; Agribusiness; Management Practices and Processes; Business Ventures; Consulting Industry; Japan

February 2000 (Revised February 2002)
Case

Owens & Minor, Inc. (A)

By: V.G. Narayanan and Lisa Brem

A forward-thinking manager at Owens & Minor (O&M), a large national medical and surgical distribution company, enlisted the help of both logistics and cost managers to develop an innovative pricing schedule based on the customer's activities instead of the price of the... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Logistics; Distribution; Price; Supply Chain Management; Customer Relationship Management; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Distribution Industry

17 Sep 2021
News

If Networking Makes You Feel Dirty, You’re Doing It Wrong

16 Oct 2012
First Look

First Look: October 16

experiment, in that we observe products that fulfill the same function being developed by very different organizational forms. At one extreme are commercial software firms, in which the organizational... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

July 2000 (Revised November 2001)
Case

Catalyst Medical Solutions

By: Amy C. Edmondson, Richard M.J. Bohmer and Naomi Atkins

Faced with a drop in the NASDAQ, four eHealth entrepreneurs must decide between two distribution strategies for their new company's technology. The team, comprised of three full-time resident physicians and an MBA, has developed software to enable electronic... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Health Care and Treatment; Distribution; Strategy; Venture Capital; Applications and Software; Partners and Partnerships; Borrowing and Debt; Information Technology Industry; Service Industry

June 2002 (Revised October 2005)
Case

Inside Intel Inside

By: Youngme E. Moon and Christina L. Darwall

In early 2002, Pamela Pollace, vice president and director of Intel's worldwide marketing operations, is debating whether the company should extend its "Intel Inside" branding campaign to non-PC product categories, such as cell phones and PDAs. The "Intel Inside"... View Details

Keywords: Advertising Campaigns; Growth and Development; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Product Positioning; Sales; Expansion; Competitive Advantage; Semiconductor Industry; Manufacturing Industry; California

Teaching Interest

Supply Chain Management

By: Kris Johnson Ferreira

The Supply Chain Management (SCM) course builds on aspects of the first-year Technology and Operations Management (RC TOM) course. However, whereas RC TOM focuses primarily on developing and producing products and services, SCM emphasizes managing... View Details

December 2020 (Revised April 2021)
Case

IBM Watson at MD Anderson Cancer Center

By: Shane Greenstein, Mel Martin and Sarkis Agaian

After discovering that their cancer diagnostic tool, designed to leverage the cloud computing power of IBM Watson, needed greater integration into the clinical processes at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, the development team had difficult choices to make. The Oncology... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Innovation Strategy; Knowledge Management; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Operations; Failure; Information Technology; Applications and Software; Health Care and Treatment; Product Development; Health Industry; Information Technology Industry; Technology Industry; United States; Houston; Texas

December 2007
Article

Learning to Live with Governments: Unilever in India and Turkey, 1950-1980

By: G. Jones

A noteworthy characteristic of the contemporary global economy is the uneven distribution of world foreign direct investment (FDI). In 2007 three-quarters of world FDI was located in developed countries. The residual was concentrated in a small number of emerging... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Ethics; Foreign Direct Investment; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Consumer Products Industry; India; Turkey