Publications

27 Sep 2011
First Look

First Look: September 27

demonstrates that SFP always enables truth to speak to power safely, and in a majority of cases enables senior teams to transform silent barriers into strengths, realign their organization's design and strategic management process with... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Web

Operational Effectiveness vs. Strategy - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

HBS ISC Strategy Strategy Strategy Explained Business Strategy Creating a Successful Strategy Corporate Strategy The Role of Leaders Related Topics Business Strategy Business Strategy The Five Forces Strategic Positioning The Value Chain... View Details

25 Jun 2024
Research & Ideas

How Transparency Sped Innovation in a $13 Billion Wireless Sector

2018, much of which came from the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) massive database of Wi-Fi products. The researchers used the FCC documents and other sources to observe firms' positions in a supply View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald; Technology

January 1997 (Revised December 1999)
Case

OXO International

By: H. Kent Bowen, Marilyn Matis and Sylvie Ryckebusch

OXO, a kitchen tools and gadgets company, was started by a businessman who had 30 years of experience in the housewares industry. With his wife and son as founders, he creates a new niche in the gadgets industry for high-end gourmet stores. The company has headquarters... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Supply Chain Management; Production; Design; Ownership; Business Startups; Acquisition; Consumer Products Industry; Asia; New York (city, NY); Connecticut

15 Mar 2024
HBS Case

Let's Talk: Why It's Time to Stop Avoiding Taboo Topics at Work

time in the workplace and can be addressed wisely—or poorly—says Harvard Business School Senior Lecturer Christina Wing, whose forthcoming book Unspeakable offers advice for managing weighty interactions. She has also created a... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

February 2016 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Greening Walmart: Progress and Controversy

By: Rebecca Henderson and James Weber

In 2005, Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, launched a sustainability initiative aimed at reducing waste and making the company more environmentally and socially conscious. By 2015, the company had made progress on multiple dimensions: energy efficiency in its... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business or Company Management; Motivation and Incentives; Reputation; Environmental Sustainability; Retail Industry; United States

04 Dec 2019
News

Prudential’s long position on skills: fostering careers while embracing automation

November 2011 (Revised August 2012)
Background Note

Customer Discovery and Validation for Entrepreneurs

By: Frank V. Cespedes, Thomas Eisenmann and Steven G. Blank

Provides practical guidelines for conducting market research to explore and validate demand for entrepreneurial offering. Explains how the research objectives of entrepreneurs might differ from those relevant to managers evaluating product or service offerings to... View Details

Keywords: Customer Value and Value Chain; Entrepreneurship

18 Jun 2024
Research & Ideas

Central Banks Missed Inflation Red Flags. This Pricing Model Could Help.

It’s no secret the Federal Reserve and other central banks weren’t prepared for the swift, steep curve of inflation’s climb after COVID-19 snarled supply chains in 2021 and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Financial Services; Banking

26 Jun 2023
Research & Ideas

Want to Leave a Lasting Impression on Customers? Don't Forget the (Proverbial) Fireworks

“That’s important because if customer experience managers are limited in resources, they can really focus on certain types of features that will pay off the most.” De Freitas cowrote the paper with Tomer Ullman, an assistant professor in... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Entertainment & Recreation

11 Jan 2010
Research & Ideas

Mixing Open Source and Proprietary Software Strategies

approaching it product by product.” Their findings highlight the complexities managers face in navigating an increasingly competitive industry. But if there's no easy recipe for software firms, even in the seemingly ideal balance of mixed... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Web Services

01 Feb 2008
What Do You Think?

How Sustainable Is Sustainability in a For-Profit Organization?

Supply Chain Management Moving Toward New Theory" has crossed my desk. I receive these occasionally with a request for my blind (authors unknown to me) review for a juried... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

January 2008
Article

The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy

By: Michael E. Porter

This article includes a one-page preview that quickly summarizes the key ideas and provides an overview of how the concepts work in practice along with suggestions for further reading. In 1979, a young associate professor at Harvard Business School published his first... View Details

Keywords: Profit; Five Forces Framework; Industry Growth; Industry Structures; Business and Government Relations; Competitive Strategy

Find at Harvard

January 2023 (Revised January 2023)
Case

Belden and Digital Transformation: From Product Sales to Solutions Sales

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Amy Klopfenstein

This case concerns the industrial automation division at Belden, a hardware manufacturer. While Belden historically sold products such as cables, wires, and other networking devices, EVP of Industrial Automation Ashish Chand recognized that IT vendors were entering the... View Details

Keywords: Implementation; Sales Cycle; Digital Transformation; Sales; Product Positioning; Business Model; Market Entry and Exit; Customer Focus and Relationships; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Supply and Industry; Technology Industry; North America; United States

July 1997
Case

We've Got Rhythm! Medtronic Corporation's Cardiac Pacemaker Business

By: Clayton M. Christensen

Illustrates how a new management team at Medtronic's Cardiac Pacemaker business reversed a steep decline in market share by adopting certain management principles for new product development: clarifying strategy, aggregating project planning, accommodating the number... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Innovation Strategy; Innovation and Management; Product Development; Health; Technology; Change Management; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States

April 2005 (Revised October 2006)
Case

David Berman

By: Ananth Raman, Vishal Gaur and Saravanan Kesavan

Examines the decision of a hedge fund manager who is considering investing in a retail stock. The protagonist is concerned about the retailer's inventory level. Explores the relationship between the retailer's inventory and future earnings--and, hence, the relationship... View Details

Keywords: Business Earnings; Stocks; Price; Supply Chain Management; Investment