Publications

January–February 2013
Article

Will Our Partner Steal Our IP?

By: Willy C. Shih and Jyun-Cheng Wang

This fictionalized case looks at the spillover of intellectual property (IP) from a critical component supplier to an original equipment maker in the Chinese auto industry. What are the challenges to holding on to proprietary know-how when a customer wishes to use... View Details

Keywords: Intellectual Property Management; Intellectual Property; Auto Industry; Electronics Industry; China; Taiwan

27 Mar 2017
News

How Companies Can Benefit More From Their Corporate Giving

November 2000
Case

beenz.com: Building "The Web's Currency" Into a Global Business

Beenz.com, an incentive-based Web currency and customer management tool, is reassessing its business in August 2000, one year after launch. The original vision was to make the currency globally available and recognized. However, the company's rapid internationalization... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Growth Management; Internet and the Web; Marketing; Business Startups

Educators

Research Summary

(formerly Leonard-Barton) Creating and Exploiting Knowledge-Based Assets

By: Dorothy A. Leonard

For the past decade, Dorothy Leonard's research has focused on how companies develop and exploit strategically advantageous knowledge assets. In her 1995 book Wellsprings of Knowledge (HBS Press), she identified and described in depth, activities that create and... View Details

June 2016
Teaching Note

The Rawlinsons: Facing Life and Career Decisions as a Couple

By: Boris Groysberg and Robin Abrahams

David and Nadia Rawlinson are a dual-career power couple who both seek executive careers in large organizations. At the beginning of the case, Nadia has taken a new job in San Francisco, while David has been offered an opportunity in London. What are the risks of... View Details

Keywords: Career Management; Career Planning; Personal Development and Career; Gender

November 2019 (Revised January 2020)
Supplement

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited: A Global Company's China Strategy (B)

By: William C. Kirby, Billy Chan and Dawn H. Lau

After the legendary founder of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) retired, the new chairman had to grapple with fresh challenges related to its China market: a recently opened factory in China had to find ways to reverse its financial loss and meet its... View Details

Keywords: Cross-cultural; Foreign Investment; Government; Business and Government Relations; Globalization; Change Management; Customer Relationship Management; Innovation Strategy; Global Strategy; Leadership; Semiconductor Industry; Taiwan; China

Celia Stafford

Celia Stafford is a doctoral student in Health Policy (Management). She received a B.A. in Mathematics and Economics from Emory University in 2017 and an MPH focused in Biostatistics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2020. She is also... View Details

2023
Working Paper

Design-Based Confidence Sequences: A General Approach to Risk Mitigation in Online Experimentation

By: Dae Woong Ham, Michael Lindon, Martin Tingley and Iavor Bojinov

Randomized experiments have become the standard method for companies to evaluate the performance of new products or services. In addition to augmenting managers’ decision-making, experimentation mitigates risk by limiting the proportion of customers exposed to... View Details

Keywords: Performance Evaluation; Research and Development; Analytics and Data Science; Consumer Behavior

SSRN

Read Now

November 1993 (Revised September 1994)
Case

Food Distribution in Russia: The Harris Group and the LUX Store

By: David E. Bell, Walter J. Salmon and Dinny Starr

Discusses the challenges facing businesses entering the Russian business environment, especially focusing on food retailing and distribution in that country. Highlights one small, entrepreneurial company, The Harris Group, which, with the help of both Russian partners... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Marketing Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Distribution; Partners and Partnerships; Expansion; Food and Beverage Industry; Retail Industry; Russia

Research Summary

Creativity

My second line of research focuses on creative improvisation in organizations. For instance, in a chapter of the Routledge Companion to Creativity (with Teresa Amabile), I explore how emerging research on improvisation in organizations... View Details

November 1997 (Revised February 1998)
Case

WESCO Distribution, Inc.

By: Das Narayandas

In 1996, WESCO, a national distributor of electrical equipment and supplies, charted out a growth of 6 to 8 percent in sales, and 12 to 16 percent in profitability over the next five years. The centerpiece of this growth strategy is the National Accounts (NA) program... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Customer Satisfaction; Growth and Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Distribution; Sales; Balance and Stability; Distribution Industry; Electronics Industry

Educators

Research Summary

Trust

By: Sandra J. Sucher

In this research, I aim to provide a practical orientation to trust—how to build it, how it can be damaged, how it might be repaired—grounded in my experience as an executive and in the research on organizational trust and moral philosophy. As a case researcher, I... View Details

Article

The Conversational Circumplex: Identifying, Prioritizing, and Pursuing Informational and Relational Motives in Conversation

By: Michael Yeomans, Maurice E. Schweitzer and Alison Wood Brooks

The meaning of success in conversation depends on people’s goals. Often, individuals pursue multiple goals simultaneously, such as establishing shared understanding, making a favorable impression, and persuading a conversation partner. In this article, we introduce a... View Details

Keywords: Conversation; Goal Pursuit; Communication; Interpersonal Communication; Goals and Objectives; Framework

Read Now

March–April 2013
Article

Expected Firm Altruism, Quality Provision, and Brand Extensions

By: Julio J. Rotemberg

A setting is considered where consumers keep track of the extent to which brands care about them, which is modeled as altruism of brands towards their target consumers. Consumers who purchase an experience good of high quality reasonably deduce that the supplier of... View Details

Keywords: Customers; Quality; Consumer Behavior; Attitudes; Brands and Branding

05 Jan 2021
Video

Beatriz Fernández

Beatriz Fernández, Co-Founder and Manager of Crepes & Waffles S.A., discusses the workshops she holds at the Academy of Arts that focuses on women’s empowerment and the ways in which she supports women from low-income communities. View Details

11 Jul 2016
Blog Post

Career Resources to Consider Before You Arrive at HBS

As you consider embarking on an MBA Program at HBS or elsewhere, it is important to become familiar with the resources that will be beneficial to a successful job search. Even before you get access to the plethora of resources available... View Details

March 1998 (Revised December 2000)
Case

Siebel Systems (A)

By: Michael J. Roberts, Joseph B. Lassiter III and Nicole Tempest

The case describes the early evolution of Siebel Systems, a sales force automation software company, focusing on issues surrounding Siebel's use of systems integrators as implementation partners and the relationship between implementation and the selling function. View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Software; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Sales; Information Technology Industry

Educators