Publications

September 2023 (Revised January 2024)
Case

RightHand Robotics: Choosing the First Market

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Stacy Straaberg

In early 2015, RightHand Robotics’s (RHR) leadership faced several decisions in commercializing the startup’s robotic picking solution. RHR’s central product was the RightPick integrated robotic picking system which featured a robotic arm, a three-fingered robotic hand... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Market Entry and Exit; Product; Research and Development; Business Strategy; Commercialization; Information Infrastructure; Technological Innovation; Manufacturing Industry; Technology Industry; United States; Massachusetts

14 Sep 2010
First Look

First Look: September 14, 2010

management practices and decentralization. Productivity dispersion between firms and countries has motivated the improved measurement of firm organization across industries and countries. There appears to be substantial variation in View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

15 Nov 2012
Research & Ideas

Funding the Design of Livable Cities

innovative design in the built environment. To create an environmentally sustainable built environment, design that focuses on maximizing natural resource efficiency, planning that fosters public health, business models that attract the... View Details

Keywords: by Lisa Chase; Construction; Real Estate; Energy; Utilities

11 May 2010
First Look

First Look: May 11

hard times. In 2009, Michael Dell and his management team must figure out why the Direct Model has faltered and what they can do to revitalize the company. Purchase this case:http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/710442-PDF-ENG Carrot or... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

April 2010 (Revised March 2011)
Case

Tata Nano The People's Car

By: Krishna G. Palepu, Bharat N. Anand and Rachna Tahilyani

The case explores how Tata Motors, India's largest automobile company, developed the Nano, the world's cheapest car. The case focuses on the translation of Ratan Tata's (chairman of Tata Motors) vision of a safe affordable car for the masses by Ravi Kant, managing... View Details

Keywords: Price; Globalized Firms and Management; Disruptive Innovation; Emerging Markets; Business Processes; Quality; Competition; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry; India

Ramana Nanda is Professor of Entrepreneurial Finance and Academic Lead of the Institute for Deep Tech Entrepreneurship at Imperial College London. His research examines financing frictions facing new ventures, with an aim to help entrepreneurs with fundraising and... View Details

Keywords: banking; biotechnology; energy; financial services; green technology; microfinance; nonprofit industry; venture capital industry

February 2009 (Revised April 2011)
Supplement

Mistry Architects (B)

By: Amy C. Edmondson, Robert G. Eccles and Mona Sinha

This case is a follow-up of Mistry Architects: Innovating for Sustainability (A) (Case 609-044). In Case (A) Sharukh and Renu Mistry found and run an architectural firm dedicated to being both client-oriented and environmentally responsible. The case uses a difficult... View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Emerging Markets; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Natural Disasters; Environmental Sustainability; Product Design; Innovation and Invention; Construction Industry

August 1, 2015
Article

New Product Development Flexibility in a Competitive Environment

By: Janne Kettunen, Yael Grushka-Cockayne, Zeger Degraeve and Bert De Reyck

Managerial flexibility can have a significant impact on the value of new product development projects. We investigate how the market environment in which a firm operates influences the value and use of development flexibility. We characterize the market environment... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Projects; Management Style; Situation or Environment; Innovation and Invention; Competition

November 2008
Article

Chartering New Territory: Diversification, Legitimacy and Practice Area Creation in Professional Service Firms

By: Heidi Gardner, N. Anand and Timothy Morris

Diversification into innovative domains through new practice area creation is a critical imperative for professional services firms. Using theories of organizational territoriality and corporate charters, we conceptualize professional firms as federations of distinct... View Details

Keywords: Diversification; Lawfulness; Code Law; Management Practices and Processes; Service Operations; Innovation and Invention; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques

Find at Harvard

22 Nov 2023
Research & Ideas

Humans vs. Machines: Untangling the Tasks AI Can (and Can't) Handle

Consulting Group employees work with AI: Humans are still needed to make that call. To operationalize AI successfully, managers must carefully select its applications, train workers in using it properly, and quickly move the line as AI... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Information Technology; Technology

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Featured Topics - Faculty & Research

History Case Method Project Creating Emerging Markets Digital Data Design Institute at Harvard Entrepreneurship Global Health Care Impact Investments Impact-Weighted Accounts Institute for Business in Global Society Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness Laboratory... View Details

June 1999 (Revised June 2000)
Case

Robert Mondavi: Competitive Strategy

By: Michael E. Porter and Gregory C Bond

Describes the competitive situation facing Robert Mondavi, the leading premium California winery. Mondavi has been an industry innovator and has recently taken steps to become more international. Mondavi has to cope with growing domestic competition as well as market... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Technological Innovation; Business or Company Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Industry Structures; Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Food and Beverage Industry; California; Australia; Chile