Publications

02 May 2023
Blog Post

From Harvard Business School to Spotify: Four Lessons in My Journey to Land My Dream Job

Rodolfo A. Diaz Cabello (MBA 2021) reflects on how his experiences at Harvard Business School supported his path to building new products at Spotify. In October 2022 I joined Spotify as a Senior View Details

September 1988 (Revised June 1993)
Case

Ring Medical

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

Describes the progress of a new product launch (HCS-100, a hospital communication system). Ring Medical has sold only five systems in six months against an annual target of 30. There is a lack of agreement internally on how the new product effort should be organized.... View Details

Keywords: Conferences; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Distribution Channels; Performance

29 Jul 2015
News

Why a Federal Rule on CEO Pay Disclosure May Get You In Trouble With Customers

750 Gun Deaths a Year Are Prevented by Waiting Periods, Study Finds

Waiting periods in 17 states for handgun purchases prevent about 750 gun deaths each year in the United States, new research has found.

An estimated 910 gun deaths could also be avoided if those policies were adopted... View Details

November 2014
Article

Government Green Procurement Spillovers: Evidence from Municipal Building Policies in California

By: Timothy Simcoe and Michael W. Toffel

We study how government green procurement policies influence private-sector demand for similar products. Specifically, we measure the impact of municipal policies requiring governments to construct green buildings on private-sector adoption of the U.S. Green Building... View Details

Keywords: Public Procurement; Green Building; Quality Certification; Environmental Policy; Buildings and Facilities; Environmental Sustainability; Policy; Government and Politics; Green Technology Industry; Public Administration Industry; California

22 Nov 2023
Research & Ideas

Humans vs. Machines: Untangling the Tasks AI Can (and Can't) Handle

highly-skilled tasks with and without AI. After establishing a performance baseline, consultants were randomly divided into two groups. The first group would “conceptualize and develop new product ideas,... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Information Technology; Technology

March 2018
Article

Hospital Budget Systems are Holding Back Innovation

By: Robert S. Kaplan, Michael S. Jellinek and Derek A. Haas

Nearly 800 digital health startups were funded in 2017, an all-time high. Each of the new companies offers the hope of transforming the performance of the U.S. health care system. The audience for such innovation wants to be receptive: A recent American Hospital... View Details

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December 1999 (Revised January 2000)
Case

Agrochemicals at Ciba-Geigy AG (B)

By: Michael L. Tushman, Wendy Smith and Daniel Radov

Focuses on Pierre Urech's efforts to change the division structure at Ciba-Geigy to facilitate the marketing of the new product. Details the relationships Urech cultivates and the strategy he pursues as "product champion." Also describes the restructuring of the... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Innovation Strategy; Innovation and Management; Leadership Development; Leadership Style; Research and Development; Marketing Strategy; Goods and Commodities; Product Development; Pharmaceutical Industry; Switzerland

September 2024 (Revised October 2024)
Case

Anker Innovations (A)

By: Feng Zhu, Jiangyong Lu and Nancy Hua Dai

An Amazon-native brand, Anker is the world’s No. 1 mobile charging brand and a leading consumer electronics company. Over the years, Anker developed an effective model of proving new products online first by leveraging customer insights from its proprietary Voice of... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Product; Distribution; Product Launch; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry

19 Oct 2021
News

“No-Code” Miracle for Startups

February 2018
Case

Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence

By: William R. Kerr and Emer Moloney

Vodafone was operating in the fast-moving telecommunications market where innovation and scale were key. Faced with an onslaught of technological advances—big data, automation, and artificial intelligence—CEO Vittorio Colao reflected on how he should change the... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Opportunities; Telecommunications Industry

July 2009 (Revised August 2010)
Case

Radiant Cosmetics: What's in a Pout?

By: Robert C. Pozen and Mary Ellen Webster Hammond

In 2006, Radiant Cosmetics president and CEO, Margaret Clark, was contemplating the launch of a new, lip-plumping product called "Four Carat Pout." Clark faced many decisions concerning the launch: marketing the product as a luxury brand or a retail item; how to... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Globalized Markets and Industries; Intellectual Property; Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Product Launch; Product Positioning; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry

September 2022
Article

Experimentation and Start-up Performance: Evidence from A/B Testing

By: Rembrand Koning, Sharique Hasan and Aaron Chatterji

Recent scholarship has argued that experimentation should be the organizing principle for entrepreneurial strategy. Experimentation leads to organizational learning, which drives improvements in firm performance. We investigate this proposition by exploiting the... View Details

Keywords: Experimentation; A/B Testing; Data-driven Decision-making; Organizational Learning; Entrepreneurship; Strategy; Business Startups; Learning; Performance; Decision Making

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November 2012 (Revised September 2013)
Case

Restructuring at Nova Chemical Corporation (Abridged)

By: Scott P. Mason

Management of a diversified chemicals company faces two financial decisions: whether to finance a major investment in new production facilities for its rapidly expanding Environmental Products Division, and whether to sell a more slowly growing non-specialty chemicals... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Decision Choices and Conditions; Chemicals; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Finance; Chemical Industry

January 1996 (Revised March 1998)
Case

Linking Strategy and Innovation: Materials Technology Corporation

By: Clayton M. Christensen

Materials Technology Corp. (MTC), a high-tech materials company, is struggling in its development portfolio and to achieve a better record of delivering new products on time. View Details

Keywords: Technology; Innovation and Invention; Business Strategy; Time Management; Product; Production; Manufacturing Industry; Chemical Industry; Technology Industry; United States

31 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

From SpinPop to SpinBrush: Entrepreneurial Lessons from John Osher

fact the product of a sharp intellect and dozens of lessons learned over the course of a long career. "He's a street-smart guy, and he has this observational power. He had in mind designing the perfect company, which included the... View Details

Keywords: by Dennis Fisher; Consumer Products

May 1998 (Revised May 1999)
Case

Biopure Corp.

By: John T. Gourville

It is early 1998 and Biopure Corp., a small biopharmaceutical firm with no sales revenues in its ten-year history, has just received government approval to release Oxyglobin, a revolutionary new "blood substitute" designed to replace the need for donated animal blood... View Details

Keywords: Segmentation; Marketing Strategy; Engineering; Budgets and Budgeting; Sales; Transformation; Markets; Debates; Product Launch; Pharmaceutical Industry

November 1999
Case

E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (B)

DuPont must decide whether to launch a new non-GM (genetically modified) soybean that is tolerant to chemical sprays. In the face of rapid introductions of GM products by competitors, DuPont faces the challenge of ensuring the identity preservation of its new product... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Customer Value and Value Chain; Genetics; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

February 1986 (Revised November 1989)
Case

Copeland Corp.: Evolution of a Manufacturing Strategy--1975-82 (A)

By: David A. Garvin

Describes the evolution of a company's manufacturing strategy over an eight-year period. Copeland had pursued a strategy of building freestanding focused plants devoted to single processes or product lines, and then moving products from the home plant at Sidney, Ohio... View Details

Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Product; Production; Strategy; Restructuring; Geographic Location; Manufacturing Industry; Ohio