Publications

December 7, 2022
Article

Why Decentralized Crypto Platforms Are Weathering the Crash

By: Shai Bernstein and Scott Duke Kominers

In the past year, crypto markets dropped from $2.9 trillion in value to around $800 billion. In the wake of the collapse, crypto lenders and exchanges have been accused of fraud and other wrongdoing. What went wrong? One factor is competition. In theory, competition... View Details

Keywords: Crypto Economy; Cryptocurrency; Financial Complexity; Financial Crisis; Decentralization; Decentralized Markets; Decentralized Autonomous Organizations; Finance; Market Design; Financial Services Industry

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May 2013
Article

From Russia with Love: The Impact of Relocated Firms on Incumbent Survival

By: Oliver Falck, Christina Guenther, Stephan Heblich and William R. Kerr

We identify the impact of local firm concentration on incumbent performance with a quasi-natural experiment. When Germany was divided after World War II, many firms in the machine tool industry fled the Soviet occupied zone to prevent expropriation. We show that the... View Details

Keywords: Geographic Location; Competition; Supply and Industry; Labor; West Germany; Soviet Union

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February 2010
Supplement

Organization and Strategy at Millennium (B)

By: Julie M. Wulf and Scott Waggoner

This case examines Millennium's strategic and organizational responses to the rapid evolution of the biopharmaceutical industry. In the early 2000s, as Millennium's competitive advantage in early-stage research slipped away and its losses mounted, founder CEO Mark... View Details

Keywords: Leading Change; Transformation; Decision Choices and Conditions; Crisis Management; Competitive Advantage; Commercialization; Selection and Staffing; Product Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Pharmaceutical Industry

September 2024
Case

Nvidia, Inc. in 2024 and the Future of AI

By: David B. Yoffie and Sarah von Bargen

Nvidia was one of the most successful companies in the world, reaching $3.4 trillion in valuation on June 18th, 2024. While Microsoft and Apple quickly recaptured the value crown, some analysts forecasted that Nvidia was so strongly positioned that it might become the... View Details

Keywords: Customer Value and Value Chain; Price; Technological Innovation; Competition; Vertical Integration; Valuation; Technology Industry

October 1988 (Revised June 1993)
Case

Siemens Electric Motor Works (A): Process-Oriented Costing

Explores how a cost system can help support a firm's decision to change strategies. In the process, the students are introduced to a simple activity-based cost system. Siemens Electric Motor Works found itself facing an increasingly competitive environment and so made... View Details

Keywords: Production; Activity Based Costing and Management; Manufacturing Industry

November 2005 (Revised September 2007)
Case

Beijing Hualian

By: David E. Bell and Mary L. Shelman

China's fifth largest domestic retailer faced intensifying competition from Wal-Mart and Carrefour with the opening of China's fast-growing retail market in January 2005. In response, Beijing Hualian developed a new "Family Store" format targeted at the nation's... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Product Positioning; Consumer Behavior; Competition; Corporate Strategy; Retail Industry; China

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Article

How Market Power Affects Dynamic Pricing: Evidence from Inventory Fluctuations at Car Dealerships

By: Ayelet Israeli, Fiona Scott-Morton, Jorge Silva-Risso and Florian Zettelmeyer

This paper investigates empirically the effect of market power on dynamic pricing in the presence of inventories. Our setting is the auto retail industry; we analyze how automotive dealerships adjust prices to inventory levels under varying degrees of market power. We... View Details

Keywords: Dynamic Pricing; Market Power; Pricing; Price Discrimination; Inventory Production; Marketing; Price; Competitive Strategy; Auto Industry; Retail Industry

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August 2008
Article

From Clusters to Cluster-Based Economic Development

By: Christian H.M. Ketels and Olga Memedovic

Over the last decades, changes in the global economy and the emergence of Global Value Chains (GVCs) have raised the interest in understanding the specific conditions and cross-company interactions within and across locations. For companies, the need to choose the... View Details

Keywords: Development Economics; Economy; Value; Business Strategy; Competition; Performance Productivity; Cost; Natural Environment; Policy; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Framework; Industry Clusters

12 Sep 2022
Research & Ideas

When Experts Play It Too Safe: Innovation Lessons from a NASA Experiment

suggests new research based on an international competition to design a NASA robot. "When experts have a been-there-done-that mindset, potential breakthroughs may hit the discard pile before companies can evaluate them in full." Harvard... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Aerospace

Research Summary

Knowledge flows and capability acquisition

By: Willy C. Shih

Technological advancements are a major source of improvement in competiveness, and a firm’s incentives to invest are diminished when the knowledge generated is involuntarily dispersed to competitors. While intellectual property rights can moderate this flow to the... View Details

Keywords: Knowledge Aspects Of Strategy; Knowledge Management; Knowledge Spillovers; Knowledge Acquisition; Manufacturing Industry; Biotechnology Industry; Technology Industry; United States; China

28 Sep 2011
Research & Ideas

The Profit Power of Corporate Culture

relatively uniform, low customer involvement nature where it is important to move people of different backgrounds and nationalities around the world as part of their development. In contrast, high involvement products or services such as... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

09 Jan 2020
Book

Rethinking Business Strategy in the Age of AI

the real deal, capping two decades of investment in developing software algorithms and AI technologies. It showed that AI had moved to the center of the company, to the core of its operating model. Increasingly, AI would be the common... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

July 1986 (Revised September 1989)
Case

Sedalia Revisited

The Sedalia Engine Plant was one of the first models of socio-technical work designs. This case is an update of the activities in the plant over its eleven-year history. The main problem facing the third plant manager is a change in world competition and a need to... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Mission and Purpose; Change Management; Manufacturing Industry

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October 2023
Case

JPMorgan Chase in Paris

By: Joseph L. Bower, Dante Roscini, Elena Corsi and Michael Norris

In 2019, Daniel Pinto, President and COO of JPMorgan Chase, has to make a recommendation to the bank’s Chairman and CEO, Jamie Dimon, about where to physically locate the bank’s European trading operations after Brexit takes effect in 2020. The decision-making process... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Banks and Banking; Financial Markets; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Globalized Firms and Management; Globalized Markets and Industries; Decisions; Banking Industry; Europe; European Union; France; United Kingdom; Paris

06 Dec 2012
News

Can Apple Really Bring Manufacturing Back to the U.S.?

18 Apr 2000
Research & Ideas

Learning in Action

mock-ups of each piece of equipment placed on casters so that they could be moved easily. The learning process included elements of both competition and cooperation to ensure that Cardboard City produced a... View Details

Keywords: by David A. Garvin

August 2023 (Revised September 2023)
Case

Zegna

By: Rohit Deshpandé, Dante Roscini and Elena Corsi

In 2023, the Italian luxury Zegna brand, traditionally known for formal menswear, was refocusing towards leisure wear, following a recent consumer trend. Such a move exposed the brand to more competition, in a segment where perhaps its made-in-Italy feature was less of... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Product Positioning; Luxury; Competition; Fashion Industry; Italy

Research Summary

Overview

Professor Sawyer’s research focuses on U.S. political economy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, concentrating on the development of competition policy and the administrative state. While the conventional history of U.S. competition policy portrays the... View Details

December 2018 (Revised October 2020)
Case

Shiseido: Reinvesting in Brand

By: Jill Avery and Nobuo Sato

Shiseido was in the midst of a six year corporate turnaround, trying to reverse the effects of decades of under-investment in R&D and marketing which had led to a cycle of declining customer support and brand value. Would the CEO’s VISION 2020 plan, centered on four... View Details