Publications

Read Now

10 Nov 2008
What Do You Think?

How Much Can You Ask of Your Customers?

And Gerald Nanninga posed the interesting question: "Have we limited our potential by not only mislabeling potential partners as 'customers' but in mislabeling everyone in the entire supply chain?" What do you think? Original... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

08 Mar 2016
First Look

March 8, 2016

sensitive customers in markets where it has supplied relatively high (low) levels of service quality in the past. Furthermore, we show that it is the high quality incumbent’s most profitable customers who are the most attracted by... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

05 Feb 2007
Research & Ideas

Business and the Global Poor

have several great examples of that. First of all, Nestlé. Since World War II, Nestlé's milk has by and large been produced by thousands of small farmers in developing countries. And their supply chain... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

September 2011 (Revised February 2013)
Case

Trucost: Valuing Corporate Environmental Impacts

By: Michael W. Toffel and Stephanie van Sice

Trucost provided corporate environmental performance data and analysis to institutional investors and corporate managers, but after operating for a decade had yet to achieve profitability. Trucost was struggling to effectively differentiate its high quality products... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Distribution Channels; Investment; Measurement and Metrics; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Information; Value; Environmental Sustainability; Financial Services Industry

June 2008 (Revised May 2017)
Case

Cook Composites and Polymers Co.

By: Deishin Lee, Michael W. Toffel and Rachel Gordon

This case describes how a company improves resource efficiency and process quality in its manufacturing process by developing a waste by-product into a new product. The case describes how CCP cleans production equipment between batches using styrene, which becomes a... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Product Development; Business Processes; Performance Efficiency; Natural Environment; Wastes and Waste Processing; Pollutants; Environmental Sustainability; Chemical Industry; Manufacturing Industry

June 2011 (Revised December 2013)
Case

FIJI Water: Carbon Negative?

By: Francesca Gino, Michael W. Toffel and Stephanie van Sice

Seeking to go beyond global best practices in reducing environmental impacts, FIJI Water, a premium artesian bottled water company in the United States, launched a Carbon Negative campaign that would offset more greenhouse gas emissions than were released by the... View Details

Keywords: Carbon Footprint; Carbon Offsetting; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Brands and Branding; Negotiation Tactics; Business and Government Relations; Corporate Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; United States; Fiji

03 Mar 2009
First Look

First Look: March 3, 2009

Authors:Joseph Rhatigan, Sachin H. Jain, Joia S. Mukherjee, and Michael E. Porter Abstract The care delivery value chain is a framework that can help conceptualize the organization and structure of care delivery for medical conditions. We... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Web

Courses by Faculty Unit - Course Catalog

3.0 Managing Service Operations Ryan Buell Robert Markey Fall 2025 Q1Q2 3.0 Supply Chain Management Kris Ferreira Fall 2025 Q1Q2 3.0 Ananth Raman Spring 2026 Q3Q4 3.0 Transforming Health Care Delivery (also... View Details

01 Mar 2009
News

Buddy, Can You Spare a Trillion

currency manipulation. In the first phase of the crisis, between mid-2007 and mid-2008, the dollar depreciated roughly 25 percent against the currencies of its major trading partners, including 9 percent against the renminbi. Because this coincided with simultaneous... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

28 Oct 2014
First Look

First Look: October 28

examines the operations strategy of Whole Foods, one of the largest natural grocery chains in the United States. In late 2013, Whole Foods was expanding rapidly, with a publicly stated goal of growing from 351 to 1,000 domestic stores by... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

01 Sep 2012
News

On a Sound Track

that is relevant in Shanghai, Panama, South Africa, Europe, or wherever. The United States is one big market. Contrast that with Europe, where we have a central office, but where there are lots of different markets that require different strategies and investments. Our... View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg; audio accessories; Sporting Goods, Hobby, Musical Instrument, and Book Stores; Retail Trade

19 Jun 2007
First Look

First Look: June 19, 2007

http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/07-051.pdf Alignment in Cross-Functional and Cross-Firm Supply Chain Planning Authors:Santiago Kraiselburd and Noel Watson Abstract In this paper, we seek to use quantitative... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

01 Mar 2017
News

The Middle Way

Woods”—a series of demonstrations involving environmental and First Nations activists blocking the path of logging equipment and chaining themselves to trees and bulldozers. The protests attracted international attention and spread beyond... View Details

Keywords: Dan Morrell; photos by Kamil Bialous

21 May 2019
Cold Call Podcast

If the Key to Business Success Is Focus, Why Does Amazon Work?

Keywords: Re: Sunil Gupta; Retail

26 May 2015
First Look

First Look: May 26

comparative advantage of clusters located in one region versus another. Under this scenario, geographic concentration is still valuable, but the center of production activity can shift from one location to another. The paper then analyzes how firm View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

22 Feb 2011
Research & Ideas

The Most Important Management Trends of the (Still Young) Twenty-First Century

Internet-based companies like Google record every click and keystroke of every customer, analyzing the data to continuously improve their products and marketing. Customers are courted and supply chains are... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

November 2020 (Revised April 2021)
Case

Roll-Ups and Surprise Billing: Collisions at the Intersection of Private Equity and Patient Care

By: Trevor Fetter and Kira Seiger

This case describes the increasing investment by private equity (PE) firms in patient care and other healthcare services. The case focuses on investments in physician staffing firms and roll-up strategy investments in physician practice management (PPM). Included in... View Details