Publications

February 2011 (Revised March 2021)
Case

Hindustan Unilever's 'Pureit' Water Purifier

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Mona Sinha

The case asks students to formulate a strategy to respond to various competitive threats to its Pureit Water purifier, launched in 2008, targeted at millions of low-income Indian consumers who did not have access to safe drinking water. The case describes in detail the... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Product Development; Social Enterprise; Competitive Strategy; India

September 2020
Case

Jan Swartz: Steering Princess Cruises Through the COVID-19 Crisis

By: Boris Groysberg and Michael Norris

In the summer of 2020, Jan Swartz, President of Princess Cruises, was persevering to lead her company back from the depths of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Diamond Princess, one of Princess Cruises’ 18 ships was the site of one of the earliest large outbreaks of COVID-19... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; COVID-19; Leading Change; Crisis Management; Ship Transportation; Health Pandemics; Human Resources; Business Strategy; Gender; Personal Development and Career; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Travel Industry; Tourism Industry; Japan; United States

August 2000 (Revised August 2005)
Case

STAR TV in 1993

Describes STAR TV, a pan-Asian satellite network that has standardized its strategy across its target markets. STAR's acquisition by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation provides an opportune point to analyze whether the viability of this strategy is likely to increase or... View Details

Keywords: Integration; Adaptation; Globalization; Television Entertainment; Telecommunications Industry

October 2014 (Revised October 2015)
Case

Mobileye: The Future of Driverless Cars

By: David B. Yoffie

Mobileye was an Israeli company, officially headquartered in The Netherlands, which was a Tier 2 supplier to the global automobile industry. After 15 years of building a leading technology for autonomous driving systems, Mobileye emerged in 2014 as one of the most... View Details

Keywords: Driverless Car; Competitive Advantage; Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Technology; Auto Industry; Semiconductor Industry; Technology Industry; Israel

June 2005 (Revised February 2006)
Case

TCL Multimedia

By: Tarun Khanna, Felix Oberholzer-Gee and David Lane

TCL considers the underlying logic behind the globalization of one of China's most prominent companies. TCL, and similarly prominent companies in China, are in the forefront of China's emergence as one of the world's preeminent economic powers. Allows a discussion of... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Success; Business Strategy; Developing Countries and Economies; China

12 Aug 2002
Op-Ed

Using Big Business to Fight Poverty

In recent months, world leaders—including President George W. Bush and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan—have proclaimed their determination to reduce global poverty. Such promises, however, have been made before, and past efforts to follow... View Details

Keywords: by George C. Lodge

December 2015 (Revised February 2016)
Case

Ocado

By: José Alvarez, David E. Bell and Damien McLoughlin

In 2015, U.K.-based Ocado was the world's largest pure player in the online home-delivery grocery business and was gaining a growing share of the highly competitive U.K. grocery market. Ocado had made heavy investments in technology, including a highly automated... View Details

Stefan Thomke (sthomke@hbs.edu), an authority on the management of innovation, is the William Barclay Harding Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He has worked with firms on product, process, and... View Details

April 2001 (Revised September 2001)
Case

Merloni Elettrodomestici: Building for a New Century

By: Joseph L. Bower

In 2001 a young new CEO has to develop a strategy to move his company beyond the hyper-competitive conditions of Western Europe. A major acquisition in Russia and a new Web-based service business provide interesting new directions. This case traces the development of... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Multinational Firms and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Structure; Business Strategy; Web; Russia

20 Sep 2012
Research & Ideas

US Competitiveness at Risk

and from other institutions with the goal of creating strategies to reignite America's economic future in the global economy. Porter is the Lawrence University Professor, and Rivkin the Rauner professor of... View Details

Keywords: Re: Michael E. Porter & Jan W. Rivkin

Web

Faculty & Advisors | MBA

Inc., Hammerton, Inc., and Kala Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: KALA) where he served as Chairman from 2014 to 2016. From 2004 to 2008, he was Vice President, Commercial Strategy at Gilead Sciences, Inc. where his responsibilities included... View Details

February 2010 (Revised November 2013)
Case

Living PlanIT

By: Robert G. Eccles, Amy C. Edmondson, Susan Thyne and Tiona Zuzul

Living PlanIT is a start-up company that has developed a new, innovative business model for sustainable urbanization. This model reflects the software and technology backgrounds of its founders, Steve Lewis and Malcolm Hutchinson, and is in vivid contrast to other... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Startups; Development Economics; Entrepreneurship; City; Technological Innovation; Environmental Sustainability; Urban Development; Construction Industry; Green Technology Industry; Real Estate Industry; Portugal

April 2018 (Revised May 2018)
Case

Goldman Sachs: Making an Imprint in Impact Investing

By: Shawn Cole, Vikram S. Gandhi, Caitlin Reimers Brumme and Lynn Schenk

Goldman Sachs acquired Imprint Capital Advisors, a small firm that specialized in advising clients on environmental/social/governance (ESG) and impact investments. The founders sold Imprint with the belief that joining a global financial firm would help to scale impact... View Details

Keywords: Impact Investing; ESG; Investment; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Growth and Development Strategy; Acquisition; Integration

Nov 19 2020
Testimonial

Embracing a New Virtual Reality

January 2005 (Revised June 2006)
Case

HSBC Holdings

By: Tarun Khanna and David Lane

Illustrates the challenges of managing a global business enterprise. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Globalized Firms and Management; Problems and Challenges