Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(973)
- Faculty Publications (173)
- December 2005 (Revised March 2007)
- Case
Innovation and Collaboration at Merrill Lynch
By: Boris Groysberg and Ingrid Vargas
In the spring of 2005, Candace Browning, head of Global Securities Research and Economics at Merrill Lynch, led about 500 Merrill Lynch analysts worldwide in a collaborative effort to produce innovative research, most of them accustomed to working independently in... View Details
- August 2005 (Revised September 2006)
- Case
Polyphonic HMI: Mixing Music and Math
By: Anita Elberse, Jehoshua Eliashberg and Julian Villanueva
In 2003, Mike McCready, CEO of Barcelona-based Polyphonic HMI, was preparing to launch an artificial intelligence tool that could create significant value for music businesses. The technology, referred to as Hit Song Science (HSS), analyzed the mathematical... View Details
- June 2005 (Revised March 2006)
- Case
E Ink in 2005
By: David B. Yoffie and Barbara Mack
Explores the challenges of commercializing a bleeding-edge technology. After seven years, E Ink has spent more than $100 million to commercialize electronic ink. With business momentum picking up, but resources running out, the case examines the key trade-offs in... View Details
- March 2005
- Article
Sovereign Debt As a Contingent Claim: A Quantitative Approach
By: Laura Alfaro and Fabio Kanczuk
We construct a dynamic equilibrium model with contingent service and adverse selection to quantitatively study sovereign debt. In the model, benefits of defaulting are tempered by higher future interest rates. For a wide set of parameters, the only equilibrium is one... View Details
- February 2005 (Revised November 2016)
- Background Note
Forecasting the Adoption of a New Product
By: Elie Ofek
Provides tools and methodologies that allow forecasting demand for innovative new products. Highlights the Bass model—the theory behind it and ways to determine its parameters. Provides a detailed example of how to use the Bass model to forecast demand for satellite... View Details
- November 2004 (Revised April 2005)
- Background Note
Math for Strategists
By: Tarun Khanna and Jan W. Rivkin
Great strategists rely heavily on numbers as they go about their work. Offers an overview of the high- and low-brow quantitative tools that students encounter during the Strategy course. The class explores high-brow tools in detail; the focus here is on low-brow... View Details
- March 2003 (Revised December 2003)
- Exercise
Organizational Alignment Exercise
By: Michael Beer and John J. Gabarro
Presents an overview of a method for diagnosing and developing an organization's capability to achieve its goals and implement its strategy, with exercises for application. A rewritten version of an earlier exercise. View Details
- January 2003 (Revised January 2008)
- Case
The British Motorcycle Industry at a Crossroads
By: Jan W. Rivkin
By 1975, the collapse of the British motorcycle industry is nearly complete. Only one British manufacturer, NVT, remains in operation. In this setting, the British government commissions the Boston Consulting Group to identify and evaluate strategic alternatives for... View Details
- November 2002 (Revised March 2010)
- Case
The Newsprint Industry
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Nabil I. Al-Najjar and James Pyke
Describes the 1990s consolidation on the newsprint industry. Questions whether consolidation will ever deliver on its promise. Whereas some industry observers maintain that the effects of consolidation are already visible, others argue that further consolidation is... View Details
- July 2002 (Revised April 2003)
- Case
Computer Associates International, Inc.: Governance and Investor Communication Challenge
By: Paul M. Healy and Krishna G. Palepu
Sanjay Kumar, the CEO of Computer Associates, faces investor communication challenges following the company's implementation of a new business model and the accompanying change method used to recognize revenue. Despite management's confidence that the new business... View Details
- Other Article
What Do We Know About Variance in Accounting Profitability?
By: Anita M. McGahan and Michael E. Porter
In this paper, we analyze the variance of accounting profitability among a broad cross-section of firms in the American economy from 1981 to 1994. The purpose of the analysis is to identify the importance of year, industry, corporate-parent, and business-specific... View Details
- October 2001 (Revised October 2017)
- Case
Store24 (A): Managing Employee Retention
By: Frances X. Frei and Dennis Campbell
Provides a retailing context in which employee retention strategies are explored through analyzing detailed store-level data. View Details
- June 2001
- Exercise
Strategic Human Resource Management Applications Exercise
By: Michael Beer
Overview of a method for diagnosing and developing an organization's capability to achieve its goals and implement its strategy, with exercises for application. A rewritten version of an earlier exercise. View Details
- January 2001
- Case
Abgenix and the XenoMouse
By: Robert J. Dolan
Abgenix has a unique method for generating antibodies useful in treating a number of diseases, including cancer. In early 2000, the company's cancer has performed very well in animal testing and is moving to early stage human testing. Abgenix must decide whether to... View Details
- October 2000 (Revised April 2001)
- Case
Cost of Capital at Ameritrade
By: Mark L. Mitchell and Erik Stafford
Ameritrade Holding Corp. is planning large marketing and technology investments to improve the company's competitive position in deep-discount brokerage by taking advantage of emerging economies of scale. In order to evaluate whether the strategy would generate... View Details
- October 2000
- Background Note
Sustaining Value
By: Robert J. Dolan
Describes the challenges a firm faces in building and sustaining a value proposition over time. Describes major ways in which the marketing environment changes over time and the methods a firm can use to protect its market position. View Details
- August 2000 (Revised September 2000)
- Case
Extraprise
By: Srikant M. Datar, Krishna G. Palepu and Sarah S. Khetani
In the three years since it was founded, the Boston-based Internet strategy consulting firm, Extraprise, has changed its strategy three times. Jennifer Gabler, the CFO, considers what kinds of control systems she can put in place to ensure the company can continue to... View Details
- November 1999 (Revised July 2003)
- Case
Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc.
By: Paul M. Healy and Jacob Cohen
Pre-Paid Legal Services' business model reveals two key issues--managing the sales force and sales growth and managing claims. Students analyze the economics of the business and consider how to measure firm performance, how to evaluate and reward the sales force, and... View Details
- May 1999 (Revised August 1999)
- Case
Victory Supermarkets: Expansion Strategy?
By: David E. Bell and Ann Leamon
Jay DiGeronimo, president of a 16-store supermarket chain, is trying to decide the timing and method for expanding his chain. The family-owned company could continue in a maintenance mode, with each family member running one store. It could expand slowly using a new... View Details