Publications

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March 2008
Background Note

Marketing Input and Innovation Strategy

By: Elie Ofek

This note develops a framework for considering the challenges of incorporating marketing input when setting innovation strategy. The framework lays out the possible innovation opportunities a firm can entertain and describes how the customer knowledge gained from... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Innovation Strategy; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Marketing; Research; Competition

May 20, 2024
Article

Porter’s Five Forces and Competitive Advantage in Web3

By: Scott Duke Kominers and Liang Wu

Competitive strategy — the art of crafting and executing plans to achieve an advantageous position in the market — is integral to any business, and especially relevant for platforms because it determines their ability to achieve network effects and scale. But web3... View Details

Keywords: Five Forces Framework; Competitive Strategy; Business Strategy; Network Effects; Digital Transformation

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16 Aug 2010
Lessons from the Classroom

HBS Introduces Marketing Analysis Tools for Managers

Harvard Business Publishing has released new toolkits to help managers make key marketing decisions on market analysis, breakeven analysis, customer lifetime value, profit and pricing, and analyzing the... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert

October 2004 (Revised July 2010)
Case

Product Team Cialis: Getting Ready to Market

By: Elie Ofek

Lilly and ICOS are preparing for the launch of a new drug, Cialis, to compete against Viagra. To position against the incumbent firm Pfizer, which developed and markets Viagra, and other newcomers into the erectile dysfunction market, they must determine how best to... View Details

Keywords: Communication Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Product Positioning; Competition; Competitive Advantage; Segmentation; Pharmaceutical Industry

August 1995 (Revised March 1998)
Background Note

Competition Policy in the European Union in 1995

Describes the history of the competition policy in the European Union, and focuses on the evolution of pan-European and member-state statutes. The tension between policy and enforcement at various levels draws attention to issues of market definition, especially in... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Policy; European Union

19 Sep 2007
Working Paper Summaries

Strategic Interactions in Two-Sided Market Oligopolies

Keywords: by Emmanuel Farhi & Andrei Hagiu

16 Apr 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Gray Markets and Multinational Transfer Pricing

Keywords: by Romana L. Autrey & Francesco Bova

October 1978 (Revised March 1987)
Background Note

Note on Market Definition and Segmentation

Outlines the problems involved in defining "markets" for purposes of 1) developing competitive strategies, 2) measuring market share, and 3) evaluating the extent of competition. The primary focus is on strategic planning--specifically, the questions of delimiting the... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Markets; Segmentation

January 1990 (Revised November 1992)
Case

Competition and Product Variety

Examines the choice of optimal product positioning in a differentiated goods market. View Details

Keywords: Product Positioning; Competition

Research Summary

Housing Markets with Contingencies

We model a real-estate market with three types of agents: regular buyers and sellers, and homeowners, who are agents who want to sell their current home only if they can buy another one. On the one hand, our model is a counterpart of the Abdulkadiroglu and Sonmez... View Details

July 2005
Article

Price Improvement in Dealership Markets

By: Matthew Rhodes-Kropf

Price improvement refers to the practice whereby dealers order executions that improve on quoted prices. Why are these improvements given? Standard thinking is that competition causes dealers to give better prices to customers with less information. This paper... View Details

Keywords: Price; Markets; Competition; Information; Customers; Negotiation; Mission and Purpose; Practice; Theory; Performance Improvement; Bids and Bidding; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

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05 Jul 2006
Working Paper Summaries

Measuring Consumer and Competitive Impact with Elasticity Decompositions

Keywords: by Thomas J. Steenburgh; Advertising

26 May 2003
Research & Ideas

What Your Competition is Telling You

niches that enable others to come into the market. And the existence of niches can boost your business—provided that you don't try to be all things to all people. The fiercely competitive retail shopping center View Details

Keywords: by David Stauffer

2017
Book

Global Marketing Management: A Casebook

By: John A. Quelch

During the last quarter century, international business was shaken by a revolution in global competition unlike any previously experienced. As companies move through the twenty-first century, they need to be aware of the range of powerful, dynamic, and often... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Management; Globalization; Competitive Strategy

September 2009 (Revised August 2013)
Case

Colombia: Organizing for Competitiveness

By: Jorge Ramirez-Vallejo and Michael E. Porter

The case is designed to explore the process of building competitiveness, particularly in an unstable environment, with a focus on organizing for competitiveness. View Details

Keywords: Microeconomics; Industry Clusters; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Colombia