Publications

2014
Case

Yonyou 2013

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Zheng Xiaoming and Ziqian Zhao

The case describes how a leading Chinese management software provider Yonyou (formerly known as "UFIDA") disrupted its value chain-based business model to transform itself into a platform provider. The case describes Yonyou's past success, the market forces and... View Details

Keywords: Business Models; ERP; Platforms; Strategy; Transformations; China; Information Technology; Applications and Software; Digital Platforms; China

28 Aug 2017
Research & Ideas

Should Industry Competitors Cooperate More to Solve World Problems?

disadvantage. Third, increasing wages or selecting suppliers with better environmental practices might bring a financial benefit in the long term; however, short-term pressures on the firm might make business leaders averse to making such... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Financial Services; Manufacturing; Agriculture & Agribusiness; Mining

01 Mar 2010
News

How to Spur Prosperity

about how venture capitalists fund companies, they usually do it in stages, giving a little money to start, waiting for it to percolate, and maybe doing a midcourse correction. For the public sector View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Administration of Economic Programs; Government

17 Apr 2019
Blog Post

Coming Home to HBS

consider myself lucky to have met them. After HBS, I left the East Coast for California, joining the Tech world for the first time, straight in the heart of Silicon Valley. While developing my career at Microsoft, I was learning about the... View Details

13 Aug 2012
Research & Ideas

When Good Incentives Lead to Bad Decisions

identification documentation, let alone a credit score. Loan officers often end up relying on qualitative information and intuition, all the while knowing that these loans may be vital to the nation's economy. "Small businesses in... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Banking

August 28, 2019
Article

How to Make Your Sales Forecasts More Accurate

By: Lou Shipley

Companies need consistently accurate sales forecasts — but unfortunately they are rare. That’s because many companies fail to align their sales and marketing departments, and that alignment is a prerequisite for forecast accuracy. Companies can achieve better alignment... View Details

Keywords: Sales; Forecasting and Prediction; Marketing; Alignment; Technology

Find at Harvard

Read Now

12 Aug 2018
News

As Barnes & Noble Struggles to Find Footing, Founder Takes Heat

September 2020 (Revised May 2024)
Case

Hot Wheels: Launching The Mixed Play Experience

By: Elie Ofek, Andres Terech and Nicole Tempest Keller

Chris Down, Global Brand General Manager for Hot Wheels, and his team from the Advanced Play Group within Mattel, Inc., had developed an entirely new “mixed play” product experience that blended familiar Hot Wheels play in the physical world with breakthrough play in... View Details

Keywords: Toys; Go-to-market Strategy; Product Development; Technological Innovation; Product Launch; Product Positioning; Decision Making; Marketing; Strategy; Los Angeles

August 2018 (Revised October 2020)
Case

Tailor Brands: Artificial Intelligence-Driven Branding

By: Jill Avery

Using proprietary artificial intelligence technology, startup Tailor Brands set out to democratize branding by allowing small businesses to create their brand identities by automatically generating logos in just minutes at minimal cost with no branding or design skills... View Details

22 Nov 2023
News

So You Want to Join a Startup

sells, There's enough left over after the preferred shareholders get paid out that the common shareholders get paid out. There's so many risks that startups have to go through in order View Details

20 Dec 2017
Lessons from the Classroom

How to Design a Better Customer Experience

ho-hum and quickly forgotten? Stefan Thomke, the William Barclay Harding Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, explains that “the difference has less to do with catchy marketing... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Health; Entertainment & Recreation

01 Dec 2000
News

Looking to the East

policies of Western entities such as the IMF and the World Bank are often contrary to India's best interests, he told the newspaper that a strategic agreement between India and Japan would greatly benefit both countries over time.... View Details

August 2009 (Revised April 2012)
Case

Genzyme's CSR Dilemma: How to Play its HAND

By: Christopher A. Bartlett, Tarun Khanna and Prithwiraj Choudhury

Genzyme, a global biotechnology company, launches a program to develop therapies for neglected diseases (e.g., malaria, TB), giving away the intellectual property. This case focuses on the decision of which diseases, which partnerships, and which markets should... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Health Care and Treatment; Intellectual Property; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Partners and Partnerships; Research and Development; Biotechnology Industry

April 2011
Case

Designs by Kate: The Power of Direct Sales

By: John A. Deighton and Sarah Abbott

The sales representatives at Designs by Kate (DBK) sell private label jewelry at hosted parties and through online social media channels. They are also responsible for recruiting, training, and managing new sales reps. CEO and founder Kate Creevey designed the... View Details

Keywords: Direct Sales; Consumer Marketing; Marketing Management; Personal Selling; Sales Compensation; Sales Organization; Motivation and Incentives; Marketing Strategy; Salesforce Management; Performance; Compensation and Benefits; Apparel and Accessories Industry

March 2006
Case

Bringing OTC back to the Exchange: Euronext.liffe's launch of ABC

Euronex.liffe, a derivatives trading exchange, launches matching, clearing, and confirmation services for the over-the-counter market. This combination of services creates a new platform for a market that potentially cannibalizes its current exchange-based services. Is... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Digital Platforms; Consolidation; Financial Markets; Network Effects

01 Mar 2012
News

Putting Ghosts to Rest

the right inputs to grow more and access the right markets to sell more. Co-ops are one way to do this (form a group View Details

Keywords: Chris Maloney; Animal Production and Aquaculture; Agriculture; Social Assistance; Health, Social Assistance

June 2021
Teaching Note

Michael Phelps: 'It's Okay to Not Be Okay'

By: Boris Groysberg, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Michael Norris

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 421-044. In 2020, Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time, with 28 medals in various swimming events, was now retired. As he looked back on his 20+ year athletic career, he considered what had gone into making him the... View Details

Keywords: Mental Health; Talent and Talent Management; Training; Health; Success; Performance Improvement; Personal Development and Career; Family and Family Relationships; Sports; Competition; Sports Industry; United States; Baltimore; Arizona; Sydney; Athens; Beijing; London

June 2012
Article

Pricing to Create Shared Value

By: Marco Bertini and John T. Gourville

Many companies are in competition with their customers to extract as much value as possible from every transaction. Pricing is their weapon of choice, and consumers fight back by rooting out and disseminating pricing policies that seem unfair. The problem is that... View Details

Keywords: Pricing; Marketing Strategy; Price; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Relationship Management; Value Creation; Fairness