Publications

December 2010
Compilation

VCPE Strategy Vignettes I

By: Josh Lerner, G. Felda Hardymon, Matthew Rhodes-Kropf, Ann Leamon and Lisa Strope

These three vignettes present various issues around the strategy and management of venture capital and private equity firms. In one, the general partners must decide whether to invest in an intriguing opportunity that lies outside the firm's carefully developed... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Private Equity; Financial Strategy; Projects; Decision Choices and Conditions; Partners and Partnerships; Opportunities; Investment Portfolio; Business or Company Management; China

December 2010
Compilation

VCPE Strategy Vignettes II

By: Josh Lerner, G. Felda Hardymon, Matthew Rhodes-Kropf, Ann Leamon and Lisa Strope

These three vignettes present various issues around the strategy and management of venture capital and private equity firms. In one, a senior partner must decide how to manage an over-extended colleague and how to reduce the risk of the firm's portfolio; the second... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Private Equity; Cost vs Benefits; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Investment Portfolio; Ownership; Partners and Partnerships; Risk Management; Stocks; Problems and Challenges; United States

January 2020 (Revised July 2020)
Supplement

MoviePass: The 'Get Big Fast' Strategy

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher

In August 2017, MoviePass dramatically lowered its subscription price from $50 per month to just $10 for up to one movie per day. The idea was to rapidly scale the business to the point where they could generate incremental revenue streams form related businesses... View Details

2023
Working Paper

Where Strategy Matters: Evidence from a Global Startup Field Study

By: Nataliya Langburd Wright

The role of strategy for innovative startups is theoretically ambiguous and much debated among practitioners. I interviewed executives of 253 scaling software ventures from 34 countries and scored the alignment of their market and organizational choices to detect... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship And Strategy; Scaling Technology Ventures; Global Contextual Intelligence; Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Global Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy

SSRN

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June 1991 (Revised March 1995)
Case

Becton Dickinson (A): Corporate Strategy

By: Michael Beer

This case series introduces the strategic human resource management (SHRM) process. SHRM is an action research program designed to align the organization and management of human resources with strategy. This case describes the health care industry, Becton Dickinson's... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Corporate Strategy; Alignment; Human Resources; Health Industry

February 2020 (Revised February 2022)
Case

Sustainable Product Management at Solvay

By: George Serafeim, Vincent Dessain and Mette Fuglsang Hjortshoej

In November 2019, Ilham Kadri, CEO of Solvay, a Belgian specialty chemicals and advanced materials group, with annual revenues of more than €10 billion in 2018, announced the group’s mid-term strategy, eight months after she took the helm as Solvay’s 11th CEO. The case... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Sustainable Business And Innovation; Sustainability Management; Sustainable Development; Management Accounting; Innovation; Carbon Emissions; Sustainability Reporting; Sustainability Targets; Target-setting; Product; Management; Transformation; Growth and Development Strategy; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Chemical Industry; Europe; Belgium

Article

Humblebragging: A Distinct—and Ineffective—Self-Presentation Strategy

By: Ovul Sezer, Francesca Gino and Michael I. Norton

Self-presentation is a fundamental aspect of social life, with myriad critical outcomes dependent on others’ impressions. We identify and offer the first empirical investigation of a prevalent, yet understudied, self-presentation strategy: humblebragging. Across nine... View Details

Keywords: Humblebragging; Impression Management; Self-presentation; Interpersonal Perception; Competence; Liking; Sincerity; Behavior; Perception; Interpersonal Communication; Personal Characteristics

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Teaching Interest

Global Strategy and Implementation

Professor Vijay Govindarajan

This course focuses on the challenges of developing and implementing strategies in global industries. The aim is to provide students with a conceptual and practical understanding of the strategic and organizational... View Details

summer 2000
Article

The Balanced Scorecard: A Strategic Management System for Multi-Sector Collaboration and Strategy Implementation

By: Robert S. Kaplan, Noorein Inamdar, Mary Lou Helfrich Jones and Rita Menitoff

Keywords: Balanced Scorecard; Strategy; Management; Cooperation

May 1991 (Revised January 2017)
Teaching Note

Turner Construction Co.: Project Management Control Systems

By: Robert Simons

Teaching Note for Turner Construction Company: Project Management Control Systems (190-128) View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Execution; Control Systems; Performance Measurement; Projects; Management; Construction Industry

2015
Working Paper

Match Your Own Price? Self-Matching as a Retailer's Multichannel Pricing Strategy

By: Pavel Kireyev, Vineet Kumar and Elie Ofek

Multichannel retailing has created several new strategic choices for firms. With respect to pricing, an important decision is whether to offer a "self-matching policy." Self-matching allows a multichannel retailer to offer the lowest of its online and in-store prices... View Details

Keywords: Price Self-matching; Multichannel Retailing; Pricing Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Price; Distribution Channels; Supply and Industry; Retail Industry

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18 Aug 2003
Research & Ideas

How New Managers Become Great Managers

Linda Hill's book for the star performer-turned-new-manager, Becoming a Manager: Mastery of a New Identity appeared a decade ago to much acclaim. Much of the original book is still fresh today. But a new edition, Becoming a Manager: How New View Details

Keywords: by Linda Hill

July 1993 (Revised March 1995)
Case

Millipore Corporate Strategy

By: Nitin Nohria and V. Kasturi Rangan

Millipore, a $750 million (sales) company with three divisions, had been growing at a rate of 20% in the 1970s, but this growth rate had slowed considerably in the 1980s. CEO John Gilmartin was looking for ways to reenergize the organization and redirect its strategy... View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Corporate Strategy; Restructuring; Growth and Development Strategy; Goals and Objectives; Business Processes; Organizational Structure

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January 2008
Article

Mastering the Management System

By: Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton

Companies have always found it hard to balance pressing operational concerns with long-term strategic priorities. The tension is critical: World-class processes won't lead to success without the right strategic direction, and the best strategy in the world will get... View Details

Keywords: Framework; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Management Systems; Operations; Performance Improvement; Strategy

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10 Nov 2003
Research & Ideas

Globalization: The Strategy of Differences

77 percent of its profits from outside North America. But Goizueta's strategy soon ran into trouble, due in large part to the Asian currency crisis. By the end of 1999, when Douglas Daft took the reins, earnings had slumped, and Coke's... View Details

Keywords: by Pankaj Ghemawat

Research Summary

Environmental Management

By: Forest L. Reinhardt

Forest L. Reinhardt is exploring the strategic and operational problems of firms in environmentally significant industries. His book, Down to Earth: Applying Business Principles to Environmental Management (published in 2000 by Harvard Business School Press),... View Details

9 AM – 10 AM EDT, 30 Oct 2019
HBS Online

HBS Online Disruptive Strategy

Make innovation a reality with strategies from two-time World's Most Innovative Business Thinker, Clayton Christensen. Program Dates: October 30, 2019 - December 11, 2019 View Details

9 AM – 10 AM EDT, 21 Aug 2019
HBS Online

HBS Online Disruptive Strategy

Make innovation a reality with strategies from two-time World's Most Innovative Business Thinker, Clayton Christensen. Program Dates: August 21, 2019 - October 02, 2019 View Details

March 2013 (Revised April 2014)
Case

Barnes & Noble: Managing the E-Book Revolution

By: Alan MacCormack, Brian Kimball Dunn and Chris F. Kemerer

The case describes competition in the market for E-Books, and Barnes & Noble's Strategy in this industry. As a traditional retailer, B&N was challenged by the introduction of digital technologies that allow books to be published, distributed and sold to consumers... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Technology Strategy; Platform Competition; Innovation Strategy; Information Technology; Product Development; Digital Platforms; Standards; Disruptive Innovation; Retail Industry; Publishing Industry; North America