Publications

January 2003 (Revised July 2006)
Exercise

Travelexis.com Role for Jackie Hoff from Travelexis.com

By: Kathleen L. McGinn and Nicole Nasser

Two fictional travel companies, SCOUT and TravelPlanner, engage in competitive bidding to acquire a third party, Travelexis. This exercise consists of three roles, one representative from each of the three companies. It is based on the actual negotiations between... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Bids and Bidding; Acquisition; Travel Industry

January 2003 (Revised July 2006)
Exercise

Travelexis.com Role for Pat Young from SCOUT

By: Kathleen L. McGinn and Nicole Nasser

Two fictional travel companies, SCOUT and TravelPlanner, engage in competitive bidding to acquire a third party, Travelexis. This exercise is consists of three roles, one representative from each of the three companies. It is based on the actual negotiations between... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Bids and Bidding; Acquisition; Travel Industry

October 2005 (Revised February 2007)
Case

Ripe 'n Ready

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Laura Winig

Stoned fruit has quality variations, reducing consumption. Five independent growers formed a cooperative to provide quality control and a brand name--Ripe 'N Ready--that enabled retailers to differentiate their stores and producers to differentiate the products they... View Details

Keywords: Quality; Brands and Branding; Competitive Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry

August 2021 (Revised November 2021)
Case

The NCB Capital Turnaround: Waking the Sleeping Giant

By: Sandra J. Sucher, Gamze Yucaoglu, Shalene Gupta and Fares Khrais

The case opens in 2019, five years after, Sarah Al Suhaimi, CEO of NCB Capital (NCBC), the investment arm of Saudi’s largest bank, NCB, took the helm. Having successfully turned the business to make it the market leader, she was contemplating her next steps as... View Details

Keywords: Turnaround; Investment Banking; Financial Institutions; Change Management; Leadership; Business Model; Strategy; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Management Teams; Asset Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Saudi Arabia

November 1988
Case

Honeywell Residential Division: New Product Development

By: Steven C. Wheelwright

Describes three different product development efforts at the Residential Controls division of Honeywell, Inc. Each of the three projects was for a different market and competitive environment. Each was tackled in a somewhat different way within the Honeywell... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Construction; Outcome or Result; Situation or Environment; Business Divisions; Product Design; Change Management; Construction Industry

November 2019
Case

Gillette: Cutting Prices to Regain Share

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher

After losing market share to low-priced competitors such as Harry’s and Dollar Shave Club for several years, Gillette decided to fight back by launching new products and increasing advertising. When these efforts failed to stem the losses, Gillette decided to cut the... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Product Positioning; Business Strategy; Competition; Price; Public Equity; Retail Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States

Program

Managing Health Care Delivery

your organization's performance Identify and address gaps in your health care delivery organization Evaluate and create flexible strategies for ensuring more effective care Respond to new market forces, payment models, and consumer... View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Health Care

Program

Mergers and Acquisitions

Summary Across the globe, mergers and acquisitions are reshaping the corporate and competitive landscape. To help companies gain a strategic advantage and expand market share, this M&A program takes you... View Details

Joseph L. Bower

JOSEPH L. BOWER, Donald K. David Professor Emeritus, has been a leader in general management at Harvard Business School for 51 years. He also served on the faculty of the Harvard Kennedy School during its first decade. He has served in many administrative roles... View Details

Keywords: banking; chemical; electronics; financial services; home appliances; hotels ＆ motels; information technology industry; insurance industry; private equity (LBO funds); retailing

04 Oct 2004
What Do You Think?

Does Speed Trump Intellectual Property?

the advent of the fall television season, replete with new reality TV shows, producers are presenting us with an interesting case example of speed as a competitive strategy. One specific case in point is that of the Fox Network's recent... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

November 2003 (Revised September 2016)
Case

Creating Global Oil, 1900-1935

By: Geoffrey G. Jones and Daniel Wadhwani

Taught in the elective MBA course entitled The Evolution of Global Business. Examines the development of an international cartel in the oil industry in the 1920s and 1930s. Focuses on the decisions and actions of the leading multinational oil companies—particularly... View Details

Keywords: History; Competition; Multinational Firms and Management; Alliances; Cooperation; Business and Government Relations; Energy Industry

June 1981 (Revised August 1985)
Case

Shopfair Supermarkets (A)

By: John A. Quelch

The marketing vice president of the leading supermarket chain in a major metropolitan area has to plan his 1981 strategy in light of increasing warehouse store competition. Considers relationships with major manufacturers who are supplying warehouse stores with deal... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Marketing Strategy; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

2001
Other Unpublished Work

Clusters of Innovation Initiative: San Diego

By: Michael E. Porter

The study contains a conceptual framework for assessing the competitiveness of regional economies, an analysis of the San Diego region overall, as well as detailed assessments of two representative clusters—biotechnology/pharmaceuticals and communications. The report... View Details

Keywords: Clusters; Economics; Industry Clusters; Economy; Growth and Development; Biotechnology Industry; Communications Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; San Diego

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Research Computing Services Social Enterprise Social Impact Collaboratory U.S. Competitiveness 50 Years of Women in the MBA Program Centennial Publications Alumni Bulletin Business History Review Harvard Business Review HBS Working... View Details

August 2011 (Revised November 2011)
Case

The U.S. Military Academy at West Point

By: Anat Keinan

The case examines an iconic institution's decision on whether or not to undertake a branding initiative. Founded in 1802, West Point has played a key role in America's history. It is one of the nation's oldest institutions of higher learning and is well known for... View Details

Keywords: Surveys; Resource Allocation; Brands and Branding; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Competitive Strategy; Education Industry; United States

20 Dec 2016
First Look

December 20, 2016

Non-Repatriation of Foreign Cash Negatively Affect U.S. Firms’ Operations? Evidence from Product Market Competitiveness By: Alhusaini, Badryah, Rick Laux, Henock Louis, and Anywhere Sikochi Abstract—Cash... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

October 2000
Case

CDNow (A)

By: Stephen P. Bradley, Christina Akers and Howard Reitz

With CDnow's acquisition of N2K's Music Boulevard web site, this case deals with capturing value in the music industry with online sales. CDnow has the advantage of being one of the exclusive music online retailers on AOL but faces fierce competition from Amazon.com.... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Distribution Channels; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Value Creation

Find at Harvard

September 1998 (Revised August 1999)
Case

IBM's Lotus Development in 1999

By: Stephen P. Bradley and Kelley Porter

Describes Lotus' acquisition by IBM, its movement from proprietary standards to open standards, and its current market position. Microsoft is gaining ground with its Exchange Server, and Lotus has received unfavorable press. View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Technological Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Product Marketing; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Information Technology Industry; Web Services Industry