Publications

May 1995 (Revised September 1997)
Case

Internationalizing the Cola Wars (A): The Battle for China and Asian Markets

By: David B. Yoffie

Analyzes the strategies pursued by Coke and Pepsi in the emerging Asian soft drink market. Analyzes the tactical battle of the cola giants in China specifically. View Details

Keywords: Trade; Emerging Markets; Corporate Strategy; Competition; Globalized Firms and Management; Food and Beverage Industry; China; Asia

September 2017
Article

Winning the War for Talent: Modern Motivational Methods for Attracting and Retaining Employees

By: Anais Thibault-Landry, Allan Schweyer and Ashley V. Whillans

Given the struggle that many organizations face hiring and retaining talent in today's tight labor market, it is critical to understand how to effectively reward employees. To address this question, we review relevant evidence that explains the importance of workplace... View Details

Keywords: Rewards; Total Reward Strategies; Incentives; Recognition; Motivation; Psychological Needs; Employees; Retention; Motivation and Incentives; Working Conditions

Find at Harvard

Book Review

Review of The American State from the Civil War to the New Deal: The Twilight of Constitutionalism and the Triumph of Progressivism, by Paul D. Moreno

By: Laura Phillips Sawyer

Find at Harvard

2023
Book

Suharto's Cold War: Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and the World

By: Mattias Fibiger

After the murder of senior generals in the Indonesian army by elements of the country's communist party in 1965, General Suharto orchestrated the mass killing of some half a million leftists and fellow travelers. But his ambitions spanned far beyond perpetrating a... View Details

Keywords: Indonesia; Cold War; Political Economy; Foreign Aid; International Investment; International Relations; International Finance; History; War; Economic Systems; Government and Politics; Indonesia; Southeast Asia

April 3, 2018
Article

Insight on Syria: What Are Putin's Motives?

By: Rawi Abdelal and Alexandra Vacroux

Russia’s direct entry into the Syrian conflict in September 2015 was spurred by a plethora of motivations. Russian scholars Rawi Abdelal and Alexandra Vacroux unpack the various rationales. View Details

Keywords: Syrian Civil War; Vladimir Putin; War; International Relations; Russia; Syria

2024
Working Paper

Age at Immigrant Arrival and Career Mobility: Evidence from Vietnamese Refugee Migration and the Amerasian Homecoming Act

By: Sari Pekkala Kerr, William R. Kerr and Kendall Smith

We study the long-run career mobility of young immigrants, mostly refugees, from Vietnam who moved to the United States during 1989-1995. This third and final migration wave of young Vietnamese immigrants was sparked by unexpected events that culminated in the... View Details

Keywords: Vietnam; Vietnam War; Assimilation; Immigration; Refugees; Age; Outcome or Result; Personal Development and Career; Viet Nam

January 2017
Case

The Six CEOs of Tyco International Ltd.

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

In September 2016, Johnson Controls, Inc. completed the acquisition of Tyco International PLC, a $9.9 billion business with operating profits of $884 million. The purchase consideration was $14.4 billion. Although the deal was billed as a merger, Ireland-based Tyco... View Details

Keywords: Tyco; Dennis Kozlowski; Edward Breen; Fire Safety; Fire Protection; Security; Packaging; Securities And Exchange Commission; Fraud; Accounting; Accounting Audits; Earnings Management; Financial Statements; Goodwill Accounting; Acquisition; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Conglomerates; Business Divisions; Business Exit or Shutdown; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Headquarters; Business Model; Business Organization; For-Profit Firms; Restructuring; Crime and Corruption; Engineering; Applied Optics; Chemicals; Construction; Metals and Minerals; Ethics; Finance; Cash Flow; Public Equity; Stock Options; Financing and Loans; Initial Public Offering; Profit; Revenue; Geographic Location; Geographic Scope; Global Range; Globalized Firms and Management; Multinational Firms and Management; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Disclosure; Health Care and Treatment; Business History; Executive Compensation; Selection and Staffing; Courts and Trials; Lawfulness; Lawsuits and Litigation; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Public Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Strategy; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Consolidation; Corporate Strategy; Diversification; Expansion; Horizontal Integration; Value; Chemical Industry; Construction Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Electronics Industry; Energy Industry; Industrial Products Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Mining Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Semiconductor Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Utilities Industry; Republic of Ireland; Switzerland; Bermuda; United States; New Hampshire

2019
Book

The Business of Platforms: Strategy in the Age of Digital Competition, Innovation, and Power

By: Michael A. Cusumano, Annabelle Gawer and David B. Yoffie

The Business of Platforms explores the strategic, economic, and technology management challenges of digital platform businesses. We have five major themes in the book: 1) The world’s most valuable companies are all platforms, in part because platforms have... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Technology; Platform; Internet and the Web; Management; Competitive Strategy; Digital Platforms

09 Apr 2008
Research & Ideas

The Matchmaker of the Modern Economy

Doriot could not take the job, as he was still employed by the Army. So in the interim, the directors named him chairman of the board of directors.[ ] The group of men who... View Details

Keywords: by Spencer E. Ante

August 2022
Case

Negotiating Peace in Colombia

By: Deepak Malhotra and Cody Smith

This case follows the protracted armed conflict between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), tracing it from its origins over 50 years ago, through the private and public negotiations that ultimately resulted in the 2016... View Details

Keywords: Conflict; Peace Process; Dispute Resolution; Protracted Conflicts; Peacemaking; Civil War; Negotiation; Leadership; Conflict and Resolution; Government Administration; Colombia

December 2005 (Revised March 2010)
Case

William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia

By: Nitin Nohria, Anthony Mayo and Mark Benson

Demand for low-cost housing after World War II far exceeded supply. Was this a profitable new market? New York developer William Levitt had to decide. During World War II, Levitt was eager to build basic housing for the working class—otherwise, Levitt & Sons would have... View Details

Keywords: Demographics; Construction; Business History; Housing; Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Development; Business and Government Relations; Construction Industry; Real Estate Industry; United States; New York (state, US)

January 2011 (Revised April 2023)
Course Overview Note

The Coming of Managerial Capitalism: Overview

By: Tom Nicholas

This is a course overview note for The Coming of Managerial Capitalism. CMC is chronologically organized. It starts in the late eighteenth century when America gained independence, spans the remarkable rise to industrial maturity during the nineteenth and twentieth... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Business or Company Management; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Welfare; War; Transformation; Information Technology; Finance; Situation or Environment; Decision Making; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; United States

December 2017
Case

Piracy in Somalia (A)

By: Sophus A. Reinert and Alissa Davies

A Somali fisherman stands on a beach in early 2011, considering his options: should he embark in his tiny fishing vessel or join a nearby pirate crew? His war-ravaged country, entering its 20th year of civil war, was in the midst of a famine that had claimed hundreds... View Details

Keywords: Pirates; Foreign Aid; Civil War; Private Property; Human Rights; Economic Development; Globalization; War; Property; Crime and Corruption; Rights; Development Economics; Moral Sensibility; Shipping Industry; Somalia

2024
Chapter

The U.S. Secession Crisis as a Breakdown of Democracy

By: Dean Grodzins and David Moss

This chapter examines the U.S. secession crisis of 1860–1861 as a case of democratic breakdown. From December 1860 to early June 1861, eleven of the fifteen slaveholding states in the U.S. South declared secession from the Union. The trigger for the crisis was Abraham... View Details

Keywords: War; History; Political Elections; United States

June 2023
Case

Russia's Invasion of Ukraine in 2022: Consequences for Agriculture

By: José B. Alvarez and Natalie Kindred

Russia's brutal full-scale invasion of Ukraine that begain in February 2022 caused major destruction to Ukraine's agriculture sector, one of the most productive and important in the world. This note provides a brief overview of certain singificant moments and moments... View Details

Keywords: Food; Agribusiness; War; Disruption; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Shipping Industry; Ukraine; Russia

2021
Article

Prisoners, Rooms, and Lightswitches

By: Daniel M. Kane and Scott Duke Kominers

We examine a new variant of the classic prisoners and lightswitches puzzle: A warden leads his n prisoners in and out of r rooms, one at a time, in some order, with each prisoner eventually visiting every room an arbitrarily large number of times. The... View Details

Keywords: Mathematical Methods

June 1991 (Revised May 1995)
Case

Jay Gould and the Coming of Railroad Consolidation

Concerns the role of Jay Gould in causing the creation of large regional rail systems after the Civil War in the United States. In class it will be used to show the inevitability of consolidation in that industry. View Details

Keywords: Rail Transportation; Industry Growth; Consolidation; Rail Industry; United States

January 1993 (Revised April 1995)
Case

Fog of Business, The

In the mid-1980s, the Holland Sweetener Co. (HSC) was facing the decision whether to enter the European and Canadian aspartame markets, following the ending of NutraSweet's patents there. A major question facing HSC was whether NutraSweet would respond to entry in an... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Patents; Competition; Market Entry and Exit; Food and Beverage Industry; Canada; United States; Europe