Publications

23 Aug 2006
Op-Ed

The Real Wal-Mart Effect

This opinion piece, first published in the New York Times in August 2005, has been updated by Pankaj Ghemawat for HBS Working Knowledge.Mighty Wal-Mart's headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, must feel less like a hotbed of retailing and more like a war room. There is... View Details

Keywords: by Pankaj Ghemawat & Ken A. Mark; Retail

January 2000 (Revised September 2002)
Case

Hitting the Wall: Nike and International Labor Practices

By: Debora L. Spar and Jennifer Burns

In the mid-1990s Nike, one of the world's most successful footwear companies, is hit by a spate of alarmingly bad publicity. After years of high-profile media attention as the company that can "just do it," Nike is suddenly being portrayed as a firm that relies on... View Details

Keywords: Wages; Developing Countries and Economies

February 2000 (Revised February 2001)
Background Note

Ecotourism: A Brief Introduction

Introduces the concept of ecotourism, discusses consumptive and non-consumptive programs, and reviews the benefits and costs of this approach to development. View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Tourism Industry

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2010
Journal Article

Competitiveness: Business Model Reconfiguration for Innovation and Internationalization

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Joan E. Ricart

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on competitiveness by using the business model concept and to understand the need to adapt business models to changes in the environment. View Details

Keywords: Modeling Innovation; Business Improvement; Spain; Competitive Strategy; Business Model; Change; Globalization; Innovation and Invention; Situation or Environment; Competition

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22 Oct 2007
Research & Ideas

Bringing ‘Lean’ Principles to Service Industries

Thanks to the pioneering success of Toyota, the concept of a "lean" operating system has been implemented in countless manufacturing companies and even adapted for industries as diverse as insurance and healthcare. With its... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Computer

01 Aug 2018
What Do You Think?

Are Free Trade and Free Markets Quaint Ideas From the Past?

AvigatorPhotographer Are Free Trade Notions Repeatedly Victim to Short-Term Thinking? Free trade and free markets are concepts to which many of us, given our training in economics, aspire. But they inevitably fall victim to the varied and... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

October 2010
Background Note

Family Corporate Governance: A Brief Literature Review

By: Lena G. Goldberg and David Kiron

This note discusses competing theories of governance in family owned firms and focuses on agency theory, stewardship theory, and the sociological concept of embeddedness. View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Managerial Roles; Family Ownership; Theory

May 2006
Exercise

Building a Shed

By: Steven C. Wheelwright and Kerry Herman

Provides terminology and concepts for the process of building a wooden garden shed. View Details

Keywords: Product; Production

28 Jan 2008
Research & Ideas

Billions of Entrepreneurs in China and India

Entrepreneurship in the world's two most populous nations, China and India, has through modern times been somewhat asleep. But now, says HBS professor Tarun Khanna in a new book, both societies "have woken up," and the results could reshape business,... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

11 Apr 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Learning By Thinking: How Reflection Improves Performance

Keywords: by Giada Di Stefano, Francesca Gino, Gary Pisano & Bradley Staats

February 2003 (Revised February 2006)
Exercise

Revenue Recognition Exercises

The difference between the Financial Accounting Standards Board's Concept Statements #5 and #6 is explored as it pertains to revenue recognition and expense recognition. View Details

Keywords: Revenue Recognition

December 2016
Simulation

Venture Capital and Private Equity Game

By: Matthew Rhodes-Kropf, Josh Lerner, G. Felda Hardymon and Nathaniel Burbank

The Venture Capital and Private Equity Simulation enables groups of students to play the role of either an early or later stage private equity firm. Within the simulation, students raise funds, search for companies to invest in, complete deals, and manage a portfolio... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Private Equity

August 1998 (Revised October 1998)
Background Note

Note on Lead User Research

By: Stefan H. Thomke and Ashok Nimgade

Describes the Lead User concept and method (step-by-step) with brief examples from industrial practice. View Details

Keywords: Customers; Management Practices and Processes; Industry Growth

07 Jun 2004
What Do You Think?

How Important are Big Ideas?

them. This raises a new set of questions concerning the future of global competition. As Winfried Schoepf put it, "The big idea is the only thing with the ability to attract enough people around a new concept when real change is... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

April 2009 (Revised May 2009)
Case

Oprah Winfrey

By: Nancy F. Koehn, Erica Helms, Katherine Miller and Rachel Wilcox

The case explores the entrepreneurial journey of Oprah Winfrey, examining how she built an audience for one of the most successful television shows in history; how she created the company, Harpo Productions, that produces that show as well as other media offerings; how... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Entrepreneurship; Leadership; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Personal Development and Career; Strategy; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States

March 2024
Tutorial

FRC: The Balanced Scorecard

By: Trevor Fetter

This brief video tutorial explains the concept and application of The Balanced Scorecard, developed by Prof. Robert Kaplan of HBS. It has been used in the MBA required course, Financial Reporting and Control. View Details

Keywords: Balanced Scorecard

July 2005 (Revised August 2006)
Background Note

Bribery in Business: A Legal Perspective

By: Lynn S. Paine and Christopher Bruner

Provides a brief overview of the concept of bribery and the principal rationales prompting restrictions on such conduct. Also, reviews some of the most important U.S. and international laws prohibiting various forms of bribery. View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Lawfulness

March 1997
Background Note

Note on Customer Behavior

By: Gerald Zaltman

A review of selected key concepts that are useful for understanding customers. The importance of understanding customers is also discussed, along with a short description of new frontiers in the study of customer behavior. View Details

Keywords: Knowledge; Marketing; Consumer Behavior

June 2005
Tutorial

Prematriculation Financial Accounting Tutorial/Module

By: David F. Hawkins, Paul M. Healy and Ratna G. Sarkar

The Financial Accounting course is an introduction to the fundamental concepts of financial accounting in a management context. The course describes the business activities for Global Grocer, a small retail franchise specializing in gourmet foods and specialty kitchen... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Performance; Financial Statements