Publications

12 May 2021
Working Paper Summaries

Accounting for Product Impact in the Water Utilities Industry

Keywords: by George Serafeim and Katie Trinh

May 11, 2017
Article

Good Riddance to Big Insurance Mergers

By: Leemore S. Dafny

Federal judges issued preliminary injunctions halting mergers of four of the five largest U.S. health insurers. These decisions provide more precedent to support challenges of mergers between competitors in health care markets—whether payers or providers. View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Insurance; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry; Insurance Industry

19 Sep 2007
Working Paper Summaries

Strategic Interactions in Two-Sided Market Oligopolies

Keywords: by Emmanuel Farhi & Andrei Hagiu

2025
Working Paper

Pricing with Bandits in the Long-tail: The Role of Competitive Monitoring

By: Ayelet Israeli and Eric Anderson

Most e-commerce retailers offer a long-tail of very low demand products. Individually, these items may have low sales but collectively they are critical to the overall e-commerce business model. Because of their minimal sales, pricing is a constant challenge. The... View Details

Keywords: Algorithmic Pricing; Ecommerce; Price Monitoring; Price; Competition; E-commerce; Retail Industry

SSRN

03 Mar 2017
News

Clay Christensen's Surprising Take On Ikea, Google And Milkshakes

September 2006 (Revised March 2010)
Case

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd

By: Tarun Khanna, Krishna G. Palepu and Claudine Deborah Madras

How do companies develop a strategy that is both low-cost and differentiated without becoming squeezed in the middle? Describes how Teva, Israel's first and largest multinational, achieved its globally dominant position in generic pharmaceuticals, an industry that has... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Emerging Markets; Rank and Position; Competitive Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry; India; Israel

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; Consumer Products Industry; Electronics Industry

January 2002
Case

DeRemate.com: Building a Latin American Internet Auction Site

Analyzes the strategic decision-making process in terms of market forces and short-term growth for an online trading community site in Latin America. A major competitor to E-bay, DeRemate.com is contemplating expansion throughout Latin America. View Details

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Competition; Expansion; Internet and the Web; Auctions; Latin America

April 1998 (Revised February 2001)
Case

CBS Evening News

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

The CBS Evening News looks for options for growth of the franchise. This case discusses CBS's main competitors and their positioning in the evening news market, as well as the history and operations of the CBS Evening News. View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Competition; Business Growth and Maturation; Media; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States

2023
Working Paper

Competition and Speculation in Cryptocurrencies

By: Alex A. Wu and Justin Katz

We examine how mutual fund managers' performance incentives generated speculative demand during the 2020-2022 cryptocurrency boom and bust. Managers with strong relative performance incentives began investing in crypto after their competitors began investing in it,... View Details

Keywords: Cryptocurrency; Mutual Funds; Competition; Investment; Decision Making

Read Now

June 2024
Teaching Note

Beamery: Using Skills and AI to Modernize HR

By: Boris Groysberg, David Lane, Susan Pinckney and Alexis Lefort

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 424-004. Unicorn human relationships startup Beamery evaluates it growth versus depth strategy as its strategic partners and customers could become future competitors in a quickly changing AI based human resources and talent management... View Details

21 Nov 2017
News

6 Ways to Create a Competitive Work Culture That's Team First (And Not Me First)

21 Jul 2011
News

Groupon growth lures rivals, regulators

15 Jun 2016
News

These VC Partners May Make Your Firm Less Innovative

September 2017 (Revised May 2019)
Case

Goldman Sachs' Digital Journey

By: Sunil Gupta and Sara Simonds

Lloyd Blankfein, Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, proclaimed, “We are a technology firm. We are a platform.” By 2017, he led a series of initiatives to translate this vision into reality. These included giving clients access to its proprietary database without... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Information Technology; Digital Platforms; Strategy; Transformation; Digital Strategy; Digital Transformation

February 1998 (Revised May 1998)
Case

Merck-Medco: Vertical Integration in the Pharmaceutical Industry

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Marie Bell

Records the analyses and actions taken by Merck Pharmaceuticals in its acquisition of Medco, a channel intermediary (called "pharmacy benefit manager"). While many of its competitors seem to be faring poorly, Merck seems to have managed the Medco integration superbly. View Details

Keywords: Vertical Integration; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Competitive Strategy; Marketing Channels; Mergers and Acquisitions; Pharmaceutical Industry

February 1991 (Revised April 1991)
Case

Zenith and High-Definition Television--1990

By: Benjamin Gomes-Casseres, David B. Yoffie and Heather A. Hazard

Describes Zenith's strategy in HDTV and high resolution monitors. Includes overview of HDTV industry with profiles of major competitors worldwide and policies of U.S., Japanese, and European governments. Focuses on competition over standards setting, industrial policy,... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Standards; Production; Corporate Strategy; Customization and Personalization; Electronics Industry; Technology Industry