Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(1,201)
- Faculty Publications (187)
- September 2006 (Revised September 2007)
- Case
VMware, Inc. (A)
By: David B. Yoffie, Ward Bullard, Nikhil Raj and Suja Vaidyanathan
VMware, Inc., the first company to crack the software virtualization market, faces new challenges from competitors' plans to bundle free virtualization solutions in operating systems. VMware, acquired by data storage giant EMC Corp. in 2003, has delivered top-line... View Details
- July 2006
- Article
Bringing History (Back) into International Business
By: G. Jones and Tarun Khanna
We argue that the field of international business should evolve its rhetoric from the relatively uncontroversial idea that 'history matters' to exploring how it matters. We discuss four conceptual channels through which history matters, illustrating each with a major... View Details
- February 2006
- Case
Bumble and bumble: Building a Successful Business in Beauty and Fashion
By: Nancy F. Koehn and Erica Helms
Explores the creation and subsequent rise of Bumble and bumble, a trend-setting hair-care company. Analyzes the vision and achievements of the founding entrepreneur, Michael Gordon, and charts the evolution of the company within the $230 billion global beauty industry.... View Details
- January 2006 (Revised March 2010)
- Case
Peer-to-Peer File Sharing and the Market for Digital Information Goods
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Andres Hervas and Jordan Mitchell
We study competitive interaction between two alternative models of digital content distribution over the Internet: peer-to-peer (p2p) file sharing and centralized client-server distribution. We present microfoundations for a stylized model of p2p file sharing where all... View Details
Keywords: Price; Profit; Distribution; Competition; Internet and the Web; Information Infrastructure
- 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
- March 2005 (Revised January 2006)
- Case
Foreign Exchange Hedging Strategies at General Motors: Transactional and Translational Exposures
By: Mihir A. Desai and Mark Veblen
How should a multinational firm manage foreign exchange exposures? Examines transactional and translational exposures and alternative responses to these exposures by analyzing two specific hedging decisions by General Motors. Describes General Motors' corporate hedging... View Details
- June 2004 (Revised January 2005)
- Case
Rambus Inc., 2004
By: David B. Yoffie and Deborah Freier
Examines the role of technology licensing in strategies for high-technology companies. In the 1990s, Rambus developed a revolutionary memory technology that would improve the ability of DRAMs to keep pace with ever-faster microprocessors. To commercialize the... View Details
- August 2003 (Revised October 2003)
- Case
Harvard Business School Social Enterprise Initiative at the Ten-Year Mark, The
By: James E. Austin, Stacey M. Childress and Cate Reavis
In mid-2003, as the 10-year anniversary of Harvard Business School's Social Enterprise Initiative approached, the group's faculty and staff decided to analyze its past performance and to formulate its future strategy. View Details
- Article
The Growing Strategic Importance of End-of-Life Product Management
Requiring manufacturers to manage the their products when they become waste is an innovative form of regulation, one that has been adopted by countries in Asia, Europe, and North America on a variety of products that range from vehicles to appliances to batteries.... 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
- October 2002 (Revised May 2004)
- Case
Starbucks and Conservation International
By: James E. Austin and Cate Reavis
Starbucks, the world's leading specialty coffee company, developed a strategic alliance with Conservation International, a major international environmental nonprofit organization. The purpose of the alliance was to promote coffee-growing practices of small farms that... View Details
- March 2002 (Revised January 2010)
- Case
BP and the Consolidation of the Oil Industry, 1998-2002
By: Forest L. Reinhardt, Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and David J Hanson
Examines the economics of the oil and gas industry with a focus on 1998 through 2001. Discusses the rationale behind using a growth in scale as a means to increase profitability and to gain competitive advantage. Also examines the classic strategic implications of... View Details
- December 2001 (Revised February 2006)
- Background Note
An Options-led Approach to Making Strategic Choices
By: Jan W. Rivkin
Summarizes some of the pitfalls of conventional strategic planning processes and proposes an alternative approach to making strategic choices. View Details
- June 2001 (Revised September 2010)
- Exercise
Deal-crafting Toolkit
Illustrates the potential sources of value creation as well as practical barriers to its achievement. Students analyze five brief scenarios that would yield efficient trades over valuation, discount rates, expectations, and risk tolerance, but that might be thwarted by... View Details
- February 2001 (Revised December 2002)
- Case
Marshall Field and the Rise of the Department Store
By: Nancy F. Koehn
Analyzes Marshall Field's efforts to develop a market for mass retailing in late 19th-century Chicago. Examines Chicago's expansion in the 1860s and, within this context, how Field struck out on his own to, build a wholesale and retail business. Concentrates on the... View Details
- January 2001
- Background Note
Online Brokers
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Alastair Brown
Describes online brokers, companies that use the Internet to help clients identify prospective trading partners and sometimes help their clients complete transactions. First, summarizes the various ways that online brokers create value for their clients. Then analyzes... View Details
- December 2000
- Background Note
Online Portals
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Sanjay Pothen
Describes the online portal business model. Analyzes the model, focusing on the tactics used to acquire new users, turn new users into repeat visitors, and monetize user traffic. Explains portals' revenue and cost drivers and their implications for pursuing aggressive... View Details
- August 2000 (Revised September 2002)
- Exercise
Working with Your Shadow Partner in Analyzing IT Strategic Partnering
By: Richard L. Nolan
A team-based exercise allowing students to conduct a strategy analysis of the leading companies in the IT business. Involves searching on the web for both public information sources and company information sources. The teams work together to analyze the information and... View Details
- July 2000 (Revised April 2001)
- Case
Agricultural Biotechnology and its Regulation
In the United States, genetically modified corn and soybeans are now widely grown and consumed. In Europe, however, they have been dubbed "Frankenstein foods," shunned by packaged food manufacturers, and subjected to a host of governmental restrictions. This case... View Details
- March 1999 (Revised December 2001)
- Background Note
Analyzing Consumer Perceptions
By: Robert J. Dolan
Describes the perceptual mapping techniques in a non-technical fashion. The procedure is useful for the depiction of the structure of the market. Discusses alternative methods, presents examples of each, and shows how the maps can be used in marketing decision making. View Details