Publications

September 1998 (Revised September 1998)
Case

Saturn Corporation in 1998

Describes the challenges facing the Saturn Corp., General Motor's (GM) small-car company, as it enters a phase of transferring its knowledge, technology, and experience throughout GM. Describes the urgency of Saturnization at GM and the continuing pressure to retain... View Details

Keywords: Knowledge Sharing; Competitive Advantage; Auto Industry; United States

May 2009
Article

Lobbies and Technology Diffusion

By: Diego Comin and Bart Hobijn

This paper explores whether lobbies slow down technology diffusion. To answer this question, we exploit the differential effect of various institutional attributes that should affect the costs of erecting barriers when the new technology has a technologically close... View Details

Keywords: Technology Adoption; Cost; Problems and Challenges; Knowledge Dissemination; Competition

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14 Oct 2013
Research & Ideas

Blockbuster! Why Star Power Works

Disney Company expects to lose up to $190 million on its summer fiasco The Lone Ranger, another star vehicle featuring Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer. Welcome to the risky strategy of "blockbusters,"... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Entertainment & Recreation

01 Jun 2006
News

HBS Students Help Rebuild New Orleans

assess public education reform needs, and assemble different aspects of the city’s recovery plan into a report to be submitted to President George W. Bush (MBA ’75). The trip inspired an ongoing effort that... View Details

Keywords: Construction of Buildings; Construction of Buildings; Construction of Buildings; Construction of Buildings; Construction of Buildings

Article

How to Capture Value from Innovation: Shaping Intellectual Property and Industry Architecture

By: Gary P. Pisano and David J. Teece

Capturing value from innovation requires innovators to figure out how to blunt inroads into the profit stream by imitators, customers, suppliers, and other providers of complementary products and services. In making strategic decisions around technology... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Intellectual Property; Knowledge Management; Knowledge Sharing; Industry Structures; Standards; Commercialization; Value

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February 1999
Case

Sports Agents: Is There a Firm Advantage?

By: Stephen A. Greyser and Brian R. Harris

Focuses on the decision of a young tennis player on what kind of agent to have as his representative. The choice is between someone in a large sports management/marketing firm and an independent agent representing a small number of individual athletes. Outlines the... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Knowledge Management; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Organizational Structure

23 Jul 2008
Sharpening Your Skills

Sharpening Your Skills: Balanced Scorecard in Action

reduce the gap between strategy and execution? Does the BSC work in testing strategy? How Can The Balanced Scorecard Improve Corporate Governance? Working Paper: Improving Corporate Governance with the Balanced Scorecard The authors... View Details

October 2010 (Revised July 2012)
Supplement

Robin Bienenstock at Sanford C. Bernstein

By: Linda A. Hill and Dana Teppert

Robin Bienenstock, a senior sell-side equity research analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, considers how to build her research franchise given the changing nature of the industry and the firm. A collaborative research paper called "Computer in Your Pocket" was recently... View Details

Keywords: Employees; Knowledge Dissemination; Knowledge Sharing; Leadership; Groups and Teams; Research; Cooperation; Financial Services Industry

04 Nov 2002
What Do You Think?

What’s Best for the Corporate Brain?

orderly introduction of new talent into an organization, perhaps by periodically identifying and letting the lowest performers go, was applauded. One of the comments reflects this view: "What is really... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

21 Jul 2019
Working Paper Summaries

Why Do User Communities Matter for Strategy?

Keywords: by Sonali K. Shah and Frank Nagle

February 2006 (Revised February 2007)
Case

Barry Riceman at NetD (A)

Brandon Fogg must solve two seemingly unrelated problems in his management of creative R&D professionals. First, despite having hired brilliant research professionals, his firm is having problems commercializing their ideas. Second, his most brilliant engineer has... View Details

Keywords: Intellectual Property; Knowledge Management; Contracts; Research and Development; Creativity; Commercialization

24 Apr 2014
News

Leaders must be strategists first

Cynthia Montgomery believes strategy should be a habit of mind, not a document; a continuous process, not a destination. Leaders need to use strategy as a dynamic tool for... View Details

01 Jun 2010
Sharpening Your Skills

Sharpening Your Skills: Social Reporting

their reputation and brand," says Rangan. CSR should be treated as a business discipline and practiced with the same professionalism and rigor as other aspects of a firm's strategy. "For example,... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

December 2010 (Revised February 2012)
Case

Vodafone in Japan (A)

By: Juan Alcacer, Mary Furey and Mayuka Yamazaki

Despite a rough start in the Japanese telecom market, by late 2003, Vodafone seemed to have weathered the storm, largely based on the strength of their mobile phone unit. But was it simply the calm before the storm? View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Global Strategy; Knowledge Acquisition; Adaptation; Diversification; Expansion; Telecommunications Industry; Japan

01 Jun 2024
News

The Exchange: Chance Encounters

Assistant Professor Maria Roche and Associate Professor Andy Wu; image by John Ritter Late one day in the fall of 2021, as she was packing up to head home, Assistant Professor Maria Roche bumped into Andy Wu, a colleague in the Strategy Unit whose office is next to... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint

Research Summary

Overview

By: Kyle R. Myers

Professor Myers studies the economics of what determines the rate and direction of innovation. He has examined the reallocation of scientists through the use of targeted research grants at the National Institutes of Health, and is working to further understand how... View Details

2003
Report

UK Competitiveness: Moving to the Next Stage

By: Michael E. Porter and Christian H.M. Ketels

In October 2002, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) appointed Professor Michael Porter and his team to conduct a brief, three-month review of the existing evidence on UK competitiveness. The effort was funded jointly by the ESRC and the Department of... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Economics; Performance Productivity; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Research and Development; Competency and Skills; Investment; Assets; Corporate Strategy; Policy; Management; Knowledge Use and Leverage; United Kingdom; United States

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03 Jan 2019
Research & Ideas

Everyone Knows Innovation is Essential to Business Success—Except Board Directors

directors as there has been on CEOs and managers,” he says. Boards are an essential factor in whether companies do well. “There are many examples of companies that had great strategies but were completely... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

July 2013 (Revised November 2021)
Module Note

Exploration vs. Exploitation

By: Willy Shih

This module note introduces James March's concept of exploration and exploitation, and the management challenge of balancing the allocation of resources to the two activities in the firm. The note also touches on the O'Reilly and Tushman paper on the ambidextrous... View Details