Publications

Forthcoming
Article

You've Got Mail! The Late 19th-Century U.S. Postal Service Expansion, Firm Creation, and Firm Performance

By: Astrid Marinoni and Maria P. Roche

This paper examines the impact of the expansion of the US Postal Service in the late 19th century on firm creation and performance. Utilizing newly digitized archival data on historic business establishments, post office locations, and road networks in California,... View Details

Keywords: Institutional Innovation; Knowledge Exchange; US Postal Service; Firm Performance; Infrastructure; Expansion; Government Administration; Communication; Business History; Entrepreneurship; Public Administration Industry; California

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January 1994 (Revised March 1995)
Case

De Passe Entertainment and Creative Partners

By: Linda A. Hill

After 24 years at Motown Industries, Hollywood executive Suzanne de Passe has decided to go out on her own to start two new businesses. The case describes de Passe's career from her beginning as Berry Gordy's assistant at Motown Records to her presidency of Gordy/de... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Partners and Partnerships; Business or Company Management; Entertainment; Personal Development and Career; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Music Industry; California

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October 1992 (Revised June 1994)
Case

American Airlines, Inc.: Proposal for a Three-Class Transcon Service

American Airlines, Inc., the largest airline in the United States, is considering a proposal to enhance its flagship New York JFK - Los Angeles transcontinental service from a two-class (first and coach) to a three-class (first, business, and coach) product. The... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Marketing Strategy; Air Transportation Industry; United States

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25 Aug 2014
Blog Post

Working in Tech 4Dev

After spending the first half of my internship in Nairobi, I am now wrapping up the summer at Ushahidi’s San Francisco office, where I’ve been working in a business development capacity to develop a new mapping platform. Lately, I’ve been... View Details

Keywords: Technology

Iavor I. Bojinov

Iavor Bojinov is an Associate Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He is the co-PI of the AI and Data Science Operations Lab and a faculty affiliate in the Department of Statistics at Harvard University and the Harvard Data Science... View Details

September 2021 (Revised December 2023)
Case

On the Bubble: Startup Bootstrapping

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Tom Quinn and Annelena Lobb

Bubble was a software company in the low-code/no-code market, making tools that allowed users without traditional programming backgrounds or technical skills to build software. The case covers cofounder Joshua Haas’s engineering background, as he experienced a high... View Details

March 2010 (Revised October 2018)
Case

Toby Johnson (A): Leading After School

By: Boris Groysberg, Leslie Danford, Amy Lodge and Tereh Sayles

After completing her MBA in 2007, Toby Johnson, a former army pilot with the 18th Airborne Corps Rapid Deployment Force, joined PepsiCo's Leadership Development Program (LDP). For her first assignment with PepsiCo, Johnson accepted a position as a manufacturing-manager... View Details

Keywords: Leading Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Compensation and Benefits; Business or Company Management

A self-described “human Venn diagram” Christina Wallace has crafted a career at the intersection of business, technology, and the arts. She is a Senior Lecturer in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: consumer products; consumer products; consumer products; consumer products; consumer products

06 Feb 2012
Research & Ideas

Kodak: A Parable of American Competitiveness

process often sparks ideas that lead to creation of innovative new products, Shih explains. So when American companies allow the production of high-tech products like... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Manufacturing

October 2002 (Revised June 2005)
Case

McDonald's Corporation (Abridged)

McDonald's has over many years built an operating strategy based on consistency and quality through a limited product range. Competitive forces have drawn the company into a much wider variety of foods and services to maintain growth. Now, new competitors threaten to... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Competition; Brands and Branding; Growth and Development Strategy; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

July 2006 (Revised October 2006)
Case

Lenovo: Building A Global Brand

By: John A. Quelch and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Announced in December 2004, the $1.75 billion acquisition of IBM's PC division by Lenovo, China's largest PC maker, made headlines around the world. A relative upstart in the business, Lenovo acquired the division of IBM that invented the PC in 1981. While Lenovo was... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Information Infrastructure; Global Strategy; Acquisition; Brands and Branding; Manufacturing Industry; Computer Industry; China

21 Feb 2018
Research & Ideas

When a Competitor Abandons the Market, Should You Advance or Retreat?

opportunity to redouble their efforts and grab more market share, or take it as a warning that it might be time to get out while the getting was good? A new research study suggests that more companies than expected see a half-empty glass... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Pharmaceutical; Health

19 Nov 2018
News

Architectural Innovation in the Software Industry

August 2007 (Revised February 2008)
Case

Gome Electronics: Evolving the Business Model

By: Regina M. Abrami, William C. Kirby, F. Warren McFarlan, Gao Wang, Fei Li, Tracy Manty and Waishun Lo

After 20 years of expansion, Gome Electronics has become China's largest consumer electronics retailer. It has opened stores in almost every province in China, acquired some of its competitors, and went public in Hong Kong. However, it has begun to experience a... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Distribution Channels; Growth and Development Strategy; Information Technology; Industry Growth; Marketing Strategy; Business Growth and Maturation; Product; Electronics Industry; Retail Industry; China