Publications

May 2007
Article

Location Strategies and Knowledge Spillovers

By: Juan Alcacer and Wilbur Chung

Given the importance of proximity for knowledge spillovers, we examine firms' location choices expecting differences in firms' strategies. Firms will locate to maximize their net spillovers as a function of locations' knowledge activity, their own capabilities, and... View Details

Keywords: Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; For-Profit Firms; Knowledge Management; Research and Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Disruptive Innovation; Five Forces Framework; Cost Management; Technology; Competition; United States

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18 Aug 2022
Op-Ed

Your Best Employees Are Burning Out: A Framework for Retaining Talent

covenant forged at the onset of the Industrial Age, the Silent Generation, born between 1928 and 1945, typically had the benefit of guaranteed pensions. The ability of corporations to provide pensions... View Details

Keywords: by Hise Gibson and MaShon Wilson

June 1992 (Revised June 1993)
Case

Hennessy and Harvey-Jones: Two Responses to the Crisis in Chemicals

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Responding to the crisis in chemicals in the early 1980's, Allied Chemical (U.S.) and ICI (U.K.) appoint new chairmen to revitalize each company's strategy, culture, and organization. Hennessy, an outsider with a background in managing conglomerates, has strong ideas... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Leading Change; Crisis Management; Management Style; Managerial Roles; Organizational Culture; Corporate Strategy

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21 Feb 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Developing the Guts of a GUT (Grand Unified Theory): Elite Commitment and Inclusive Growth

Keywords: by Lant Pritchett & Eric D. Werker

23 Jun 2003
Research & Ideas

Psychology, Pathology, and the CEO

without informing other departments, leading to waste and duplication. Respect among peers declined. Employees regularly went to the press to air grievances, reinforcing the BBC's culture of blame.— Rosabeth Moss Kanter BBC: In 1999, the... View Details

Keywords: by Rosabeth Moss Kanter

September 2018
Supplement

From Beirut With Love (B): The Last Judgment

By: Christina R. Wing, Esel Y. Cekin and Samer Al-Rachedy

June 2011 (Revised August 2012)
Case

Coca-Cola in 2011: In Search of a New Model

By: David B. Yoffie and Renee Kim

Muhtar Kent, CEO of the Coca-Cola Company, faced a critical decision in 2011 after closing a $12 billion deal to buy its troubled North America bottling operations from its biggest bottler, Coca-Cola Enterprises. The decision was prompted by several changes in the U.S.... View Details

Keywords: Beverage Industry; Strategic Positioning; Mergers And Acquisitions; Competition; Business Model; Vertical Integration; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Franchise Ownership; Investment; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

November 2006 (Revised November 2007)
Case

Strategy in the Twenty First Century Pharmaceutical Industry: Merck & Co. and Pfizer Inc.

By: David J. Collis and Troy Smith

The global pharmaceutical industry has gone through substantial changes in the last few decades and pharmaceutical firms face major challenges including headline-grabbing litigation, imminent patent expirations, new technologies, rising drug development costs, generic... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Development; Research and Development; Corporate Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States

19 Dec 2017
First Look

New Research and Ideas, December 19, 2017

is likely to have a meaningful effect on health care spending patterns. In addition, precision medicines can change the expected profitability of therapies both by allowing more sophisticated pricing systems View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

2023
Working Paper

The Economic and Environmental Effects of Making Electricity Infrastructure Excludable

By: Husnain Fateh Ahmad, Ayesha Ali, Robyn C. Meeks, Zhenxuan Wang and Javed Younas

Electricity theft occurs when individuals cannot be excluded from accessing services. We study the impacts of an infrastructure upgrade in Karachi, Pakistan -- converting bare distribution wires to aerial bundled cables (ABCs) -- that was intended to prevent illegal... View Details

Keywords: Infrastructure; Energy; Environmental Sustainability; Utilities Industry; Pakistan

SSRN

January 2015 (Revised January 2017)
Case

Curriculum Associates: Turning the Page from Tradition to Innovation

By: John J-H Kim and Christine S. An

Set in Fall 2014, the traditional textbook publishing industry is being transformed by technological innovations and new student achievement standards. This case chronicles how Rob Waldron, CEO, and his team bring Curriculum Associates (CA), a traditional supplemental... View Details

Keywords: Education Technology; SaaS; Turnaround; Textbook Publishing; Innovation; Sales Cycle; HR Strategy; Privately-funded Businesses; Sustainable Growth; Product Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Technological Innovation; Competitive Advantage; Publishing Industry

Web

Environmental Quality - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

emissions will be increasingly scrutinized, regulated, and priced. While individual managers can disagree about how immediate and significant the impact of climate change will... View Details

Web

Competitiveness & Economic Development - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

businesses to innovate and grow? Traditional economic theories fail to capture many of the underlying forces at work in today’s global economy. Competitiveness is the only way to achieve sustainable job... View Details

16 Dec 2002
Lessons from the Classroom

Marrying Distance and Classroom Education

adult learning workshop was looking at the strengths and weaknesses of face-to-face education versus online distance learning. But in fact, these two types of education can be quite complementary. Should executives interested in View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

Michael W. Toffel

Professor Toffel is the Senator John Heinz Professor of Environmental Management. His research examines how companies are addressing climate change (especially decarbonization) and other environmental and working condition issues in their operations and supply... View Details

Blog

HBS Online and Executive Education Leadership: Q+A with Patrick Mullane and Luis Viceira

the organizational structures will likely morph and become more integrated, but not in some single, huge change and not in all areas. We will also look to be opportunistic. For... View Details

October 2023 (Revised March 2024)
Case

KOKO Networks: Bridging Energy Transition and Affordability with Carbon Financing

By: George Serafeim, Siko Sikochi and Namrata Arora

The problem was massive: two million hectares of African forests were lost annually to charcoal production for cooking, an area equivalent to 13 times Greater London, resulting in one billion tons of carbon emissions yearly. At the same time, an estimated 700,000... View Details

Keywords: Clean Tech; Digital; Carbon Credits; Carbon Offsetting; Climate Change; Entrepreneurship; Energy Sources; Environmental Sustainability; Health; Market Design; Business Startups; Transition; Environmental Regulation; Policy; Energy Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Africa; Kenya; Rwanda

March 2020
Technical Note

Intrapreneurship: Leading Innovation Efforts in Established Organizations

By: Karen G. Mills and Annie Dang

“Intrapreneurship” is the use of entrepreneurial management techniques within established companies to create new environments that foster innovation. Mature firms have consistently faced risk of elimination from competitors, shifting consumer preferences, and... View Details

Keywords: Intrapreneurship; Innovation; Corporate Venture Capital; Accelerators; Incubators; Lean Startup; Hypothesis Testing; Business Ventures; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Leadership; Framework; Disruption

2025
Working Paper

Residential Battery Storage - Reshaping The Way We Do Electricity

By: Christian Kaps and Serguei Netessine

In this paper, we aim to understand when private households invest in behind-the-meter battery storage next to rooftop solar and how those batteries impact households, the electricity market, and emissions. We answer three main research questions: 1) When do customers... View Details

Keywords: Solar Power; Energy Storage; Technology And Innovation Management; Energy; Energy Policy; Renewable Energy; Technological Innovation; Innovation and Management; Energy Industry