Publications

16 Jul 2012
Research & Ideas

Are You a Strategist?

the beginning of a strategy. "It gives you the right to play, and puts you in the game," the book states. But at the root it's only an idea. Strategists also must lead the charge in creating organizations that can deliver on their intentions. That means building View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

Article

Competition for Scarce Resources

By: Peter Eso, Volker Nocke and Lucy White

We model a downstream industry where firms compete to buy capacity in an upstream market that allocates capacity efficiently. Although downstream firms have symmetric production technologies, we show that industry structure is symmetric only if capacity is sufficiently... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Natural Environment; Technology; Production; Business Cycles; Forecasting and Prediction; Cost; Demand and Consumers; Industry Structures; Performance Capacity

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August 2017
Supplement

CareMore Health System (B)

By: Robert S. Huckman and Brian W. Powers

This supplement to “CareMore Health System (A)” discusses the company's early experience introducing its managed Medicaid model in the Des Moines, Iowa, market. It also provides an update on the Memphis program discussed in the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Health Care Delivery; Health Insurance; Medicare; Medicaid; Managed Care; Extensivist; Social Determinants Of Health; Health Care and Treatment; Insurance; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Health Industry; United States

July 1986 (Revised August 1987)
Background Note

Note on Comparative Advantage

By: David B. Yoffie and John J. Coleman

Discusses David Ricardo's theory of comparative advantage and the refinement of his model developed by Eli Heckscher and Bertil Ohlin. Presents several criticisms of the Heckscher-Ohlin theory, including Wassily Leontief's empirical demonstration that the nature of... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Forecasting and Prediction; Macroeconomics; Trade; Theory

January 2001
Background Note

Online Brokers

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Alastair Brown

Describes online brokers, companies that use the Internet to help clients identify prospective trading partners and sometimes help their clients complete transactions. First, summarizes the various ways that online brokers create value for their clients. Then analyzes... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Web Services Industry

November 2004 (Revised November 2005)
Case

Kodak and The Digital Revolution (A)

By: Giovanni M. Gavetti, Rebecca Henderson and Simona Giorgi

The introduction of digital imaging in the late 1980s had a disruptive effect on Kodak's traditional business model. Examines Kodak's strategic efforts and challenges as the photography industry evolves. After discussing Kodak's history and its past strategic moves in... View Details

Keywords: History; Information Technology; Business Model; Leadership; Disruption; Industry Growth; Business Strategy; Consumer Products Industry

December 2021
Case

Burning Glass Technologies: From Data to Product

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Amy Klopfenstein

In May 2021, Matt Sigelman, CEO of Burning Glass Technologies, a company that provided labor market analytics for a variety of markets, navigates his company’s transition from data company to product company. Burning Glass originated as a service that used artificial... View Details

15 Jun 2007
Research & Ideas

Remembering Alfred Chandler

a wider sense, Al's legacy was to provide an extraordinary role model for subsequent generations of researchers in business history and far wider. He was so influential because he asked questions that were... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

11 Jan 2022
News

School for Scaling Impact: Starting Harvard’s ALI ‘22

Teaching

Overview

In the MBA program, Professor Fearing teaches Technology and Operations Management (TOM), a required first-year MBA course.

In January 2013 he traveled with a cohort of... View Details

March 2003
Case

Zara

Fashion retailer ZARA has achieved spectacular growth via a distinctive design-on-demand operating model. This case describes this model and outlines a number of challenges facing the company, with a particular emphasis on its international expansion. Includes color... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Globalized Firms and Management; Production; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Fashion Industry; Retail Industry

December 1999 (Revised April 2001)
Case

Avon Products China (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Jennifer Gui

In April 1998, when the Chinese central government bans all forms of direct selling in China in April 1998, executives at Avon China must decide how to respond. The first direct sales company to enter China after its opening to outsiders, Avon sparked widespread... View Details

Keywords: Crisis Management; Sales; Trade; Business and Government Relations; Government and Politics; Market Participation; China

September 2023 (Revised September 2024)
Case

IBJ, Inc. (A): Seeking Matrimony in Japan

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Akiko Saito

In March 2020, Shigeru Ishizaka, founder and CEO of IBJ, Inc., Japan's largest marriage matching service provider, faced a critical decision regarding the company’s planned ¥3.5 billion (US$32.8 million) acquisition of competitor ZWEI Co., Ltd. IBJ, founded in 2006,... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Risk and Uncertainty; Business Model; Corporate Strategy; Value

Program

Leading in the Digital Era

leadership responsibilities, including but not limited to division heads, functional heads, or executives with P&L responsibility Executives in medium to large organizations in any country or industry, including organizations with digitally driven View Details

09 Apr 2025
Video

Schneider Electric | How digital solutions are accelerating sustainability in buildings

April 2009 (Revised April 2012)
Case

Bono and U2

By: Nancy F. Koehn, Katherine Miller and Rachel Wilcox

This case traces the 30-year development of the rock band U2 and the development of its four members as artists, business leaders, and humanitarians (with particular attention paid to lead singer Bono's global humanitarian work). The case examines the beginnings of the... View Details

Keywords: Arts; Business Model; Social Entrepreneurship; Globalized Markets and Industries; Leadership; Brands and Branding; Personal Development and Career; Social Enterprise; Music Industry

December 2014 (Revised November 2023)
Case

Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement?

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Lisa C. Mazzanti

Codecademy, an open-platform, online community for learning computer programming, launched in 2011. By 2014, the company had raised a total of $12.5 million in funding and was, on many fronts, an overwhelming success. However, there were still no revenues. The founders... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Management; Startup Management; Technology; Computer Programming; Coding; Online Education; Monetization; Online Communities; Marketplaces; Internet and the Web; Education; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Technology Industry; Education Industry

06 Sep 2022
Cold Call Podcast

Reinventing an Iconic Independent Bookstore

Keywords: Re: Ryan L. Raffaelli; Retail

June 2010 (Revised August 2011)
Case

Tennant Company: Innovating Within and Beyond the Core

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Toby E. Stuart and James Weber

Tennant, a leading producer of floor cleaning equipment, must determine the business model to use for its new chemical-free cleaning technology. In 2005, Tennant Company had developed an innovative, environmentally friendly cleaning technology that could potentially... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Startups; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Disruptive Innovation; Organizational Structure; Business Strategy; Value Creation; Consumer Products Industry; Industrial Products Industry