Publications

November 2019 (Revised April 2021)
Case

United Technologies: Are the Parts Worth More Than the Whole?

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher

After spending more than 50 years creating a diversified industrial conglomerate that Fortune magazine described as “arguably the most profitable conglomerate in America” in 2014, UTC’s CEO Greg Hayes was under pressure from activist investors (Dan Loeb and Bill... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Business Conglomerates; Financial Management; Corporate Governance; Organizational Structure; Investment Funds; Value Creation; Electronics Industry; Electronics Industry; Electronics Industry; United States

April 2013
Article

In Search of a Second Act: Riding the Popularity of a Great First Product Is Easy; Finding the Next One Is Hard

By: Elie Ofek and Jill Avery

The article presents a fictional case study on new product development and improvement after the successful launch of a first breakthrough product. Topics include business planning for brand name products, finance and investment for the development of educational toys,... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Growth Strategy; Consumer Marketing; Marketing; Brand Management; Market Research; New Product Development; Marketing Management; Technology Commercialization; Technology; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Electronics Industry; Electronics Industry; Electronics Industry; North and Central America; United States

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01 Dec 2009
News

Taking the Plunge

THE BOTTOM LINE: TOTO’s ad campaign turned heads. Did it win U.S. customers? Photo courtesy Toto Usa Inc. It’s installed in 63 percent of all Japanese homes but rarely found in the United States: a combination bidet-toilet with an View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Electrical Equipment, Appliance, and Component Manufacturing; Manufacturing

16 May 2005
Research & Ideas

Confronting the Reality of Web Services

format and expect the date to be the first field in any electronic purchase order it receives. Before any systems integration can take place, these dissimilarities need to be resolved. There is no magic bullet in the Web services toolkit... View Details

Keywords: by Sara Grant

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

Bright Ideas: The Creative Power of Groups

electronic equipment, the company had all the Generation Xers in a brainstorming group don gloves to make them more aware of the effects of reduced dexterity. After a collection of new ideas has been laid out on the table, the desire to... View Details

Keywords: by Laurie Joan Aron

01 Jan 2006
News

Philip L. Yeo, MBA 1976

which makes it slightly smaller than New York City. Yet with Yeo's hand on the rudder of its economy, it tacked from the manufacturing of labor-intensive finished goods like washing machines and televisions in the 1980s to the making of capital- and skill-intensive... View Details

05 Nov 2024
Research & Ideas

AI Can Help Leaders Communicate, But Can't Make Employees Listen

efficient by automating busy leaders’ routine tasks—such as the electronic communication that takes 24 percent of a CEO’s time, studies show. In theory, this would allow the executive to devote more time to strategic planning, for... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Information Technology; Technology

07 Apr 2003
Research & Ideas

XTV: Xerox’s Attempted Recovery From “Fumbling the Future”

called Uppercase; and the LiveBoard, a sophisticated workgroup interaction tool that was the basis for LiveWorks. The LiveBoard was a large electronic whiteboard with a sixty-seven-inch diagonal display that users could access or write on... View Details

Keywords: by Henry Chesbrough

12 Jun 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, June 12, 2018

agents over eight weeks to examine how differing types of guidance and training impact the agents' inventory management. We find agents who are trained in person and receive an explicit, personalized, daily text message recommendation of how much View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

03 Mar 2003
Research & Ideas

The Basics of Consumer Marketing in Asia

important." Duan Yongping, the founder, Chairman and CEO of BBK Electronics Corp., a Chinese company that manufactures consumer electronics, also said that Chinese consumers are becoming more concerned about quality and are willing... View Details

Keywords: by Julie Jette

01 Sep 2003
News

New York Club Honors Goldman Sachs CEO

Photos (color prints or electronic files with a resolution of at least 300 dpi) are welcome and also will be included on a space-available basis. Send information to Harvard Business School Bulletin, Soldiers Field, Teele 360, Boston, MA... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

August 2007 (Revised March 2008)
Case

Fiyta - The Case of a Chinese Watch Company

By: Regina M. Abrami, William C. Kirby, F. Warren McFarlan, Luc R. Wathieu, Gao Wang, Fei Li and Tracy Manty

Fiyta had long been on of China's foremost watch brands. However, as China's economy began to improve and the livelihood of many Chinese rose with it, their tastes began to change. Exposed to more luxurious foreign brands, many Chinese strived to purchase a Swiss or... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Product Marketing; Product Positioning; Demand and Consumers; Consumer Behavior; Electronics Industry; Electronics Industry; China

January 2006
Teaching Note

Strategic Inflection: TiVo in 2005 (TN)

By: David B. Yoffie

Teaching Note to 706421. View Details

Keywords: Electronics Industry; Electronics Industry

June 1991 (Revised May 2002)
Case

Barco Projection Systems (A): Worldwide Niche Marketing

Deals with the issue of niche marketing in a worldwide market. Barco Projection Systems makes video, data, and graphics projectors for the industrial market. They have traditionally been the performance leader. In August 1989, Sony Corp. introduced a higher performance... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Globalized Markets and Industries; Product Marketing; Electronics Industry; Electronics Industry

January 1980 (Revised October 1993)
Case

Renn Zaphiropoulos

By: John P. Kotter

Focuses on the management style of Renn Zaphiropoulos in the context of a rapidly changing business environment within Xerox Corporation. To be contrasted with the case, Fred Henderson and the videotape, A Day with Fred Henderson (9-881-502), which are appropriate for... View Details

Keywords: Situation or Environment; Management Style; Electronics Industry; Electronics Industry