Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(1,693)
- Faculty Publications (375)
- July 2013 (Revised July 2013)
- Case
Powerchip Semiconductor Corporation
By: Willy Shih and Chen-Fu Chien
Powerchip Semiconductor Corporation has a horizontal firm structure in an industry that is predominantly organized vertically. While it has been successful in up markets, in the current down market its strategic rationale was being tested. As a capital-intensive... View Details
- Summer 2013
- Article
IP Modularity: Profiting from Innovation by Aligning Product Architecture with Intellectual Property
By: Joachim Henkel, Carliss Y. Baldwin and Willy C. Shih
Firms seeking to take advantage of distributed innovation and outsourcing can bridge the tension between value creation and value capture by modifying the modular structure of their technical systems. Specifically, this article introduces the concept of "IP... View Details
- June 2013 (Revised February 2014)
- Case
FanMode: Launching a Global Sports Venture
By: Shikhar Ghosh, William R. Kerr and Alexis Brownell
Neven Murugan is developing FanMode, an app that allows sports fans all over the world to broadcast their reactions in real time into stadiums where their team is playing. It also provides social networking across sports fans. The company is growing, and its founders... View Details
- 2013
- Dissertation
Designing Freemium: A Model of Consumer Usage, Upgrade, and Referral Dynamics
By: Clarence Lee, Vineet Kumar and Sunil Gupta
Abstract. Over the past decade "freemium" (free + premium) has become the dominant business model among internet start-ups for its ability to acquire and monetize a large install-base with limited marketing resources. Freemium is a hybrid strategy where a firm offers... View Details
- May 2013 (Revised October 2014)
- Case
Novartis: Leading a Global Enterprise
By: William W. George, Krishna G. Palepu and Carin-Isabel Knoop
Novartis, the world's leading healthcare company, was formed in 1996 out of a merger of two very different, mid-tier Switzerland-based pharma companies. The case traces the company's evolution over the past 17 years, as it transformed into a truly global enterprise... View Details
Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Talent and Talent Management; Organizational Structure; Organizational Culture; Success; Globalized Markets and Industries; Management Teams; Change Management; Business History; Mergers and Acquisitions; Global Strategy; Health Care and Treatment; Pharmaceutical Industry; Health Industry; Switzerland
- March 2013 (Revised October 2013)
- Supplement
Integrated Services at Jones Lang LaSalle (2005) (B)
By: Ranjay Gulati and Luciana Silvestri
This case describes the strategic and organizational challenges that Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) faced between 2001 and 2005. Faced with the need to deliver integrated services to corporate clients in 2001, JLL created Corporate Solutions, a group that aimed to draw... View Details
- March–April 2013
- Article
Unlocking Innovation Through Business Experimentation
By: Stefan Thomke
There is a downside to businesses that focus heavily on standardization, optimization, and driving out variability: Such organizations leave themselves vulnerable to underinvesting in experimentation and variation, which are the lifeblood of innovation. Good... View Details
- February 2013
- Case
New Enterprise Associates
By: Felda Hardymon and Tom Nicholas
NEA was established in 1977 and it subsequently morphed into one of the largest venture capital firms in the world. Despite its size and significance, some other firms established during the same era such as Kleiner-Perkins and Sequoia (both were established in 1972),... View Details
- 2013
- Working Paper
Skilled Immigration and the Employment Structures of U.S. Firms
By: Sari Pekkala Kerr, William R. Kerr and William F. Lincoln
We study the impact of skilled immigrants on the employment structures of U.S. firms using matched employer-employee data. Unlike most previous work, we use the firm as the lens of analysis to account for a greater level of heterogeneity and the fact that many skilled... View Details
Keywords: H-1B; Firms; Scientists; Engineers; Inventors; Age; Employment; Competency and Skills; Immigration; United States
- Article
Agency Costs, Mispricing, and Ownership Structure
By: Sergey Chernenko, C. Fritz Foley and Robin Greenwood
Standard theories of corporate ownership assume that because markets are efficient, insiders ultimately bear all agency costs that they create and therefore have a strong incentive to minimize conflicts of interest with outside investors. We argue that if equity is... View Details
- 2012
- Article
The Architecture of Transaction Networks: A Comparative Analysis of Hierarchy in Two Sectors
By: Jianxi Luo, Carliss Y. Baldwin, Daniel E. Whitney and Christopher L. Magee
Many products are manufactured in networks of firms linked by transactions, but comparatively little is known about how or why such transaction networks differ. This article investigates the transaction networks of two large sectors in Japan at a single point in time.... View Details
- Article
When Talk Is "Free": The Effect of Tariff Structure on Usage Under Two- and Three-Part Tariffs
By: Eva Ascarza, Anja Lambrecht and Naufel Vilcassim
In many service industries, firms introduce three-part tariffs to replace or complement existing two-part tariffs. In contrast with two-part tariffs, three-part tariffs offer allowances, or “free” units of the service. Behavioral research suggests that the attributes... View Details
- November–December 2012
- Article
Toward a Theory of Extended Contact: The Incentives and Opportunities for Bridging Across Network Communities
By: Maxim Sytch, Adam Tatarynowicz and Ranjay Gulati
This study investigates the determinants of bridging ties within networks of interconnected firms. Bridging ties are defined as nonredundant connections between firms located in different network communities. We highlight how firms can enter into these relationships... View Details
- November 2012 (Revised May 2013)
- Case
ASUSTeK and the Google Nexus 7 Tablet
By: Willy C. Shih and Jyun-Cheng Wang
Days after Jerry Shen introduced a new tablet computer at the Consumer Electronics Show, a Google meeting convinced him to go with a lower price point and co-branding as the Nexus 7. While his company would have a premier position at launch, companies like Samsung... View Details
Keywords: Nexus; Google; ASUSTeK; Android; Tablet; Kindle; Kindle Fire; Notebook Computers; ODM; Apple; Price Point; App Store; Ecosystem; Open Handset Alliance; Reference Design; iPad; EMS; Electronic Manufacturing Services; Smartphone; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Product Marketing; Product Launch; Product Positioning; Industry Structures; Product Design; Product Development; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Digital Platforms; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Computer Industry; Information Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Taiwan; United States
- November 2012
- Article
The Organization of Firms Across Countries
By: Nicholas Bloom, Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen
We argue that social capital as proxied by trust increases aggregate productivity by affecting the organization of firms. To do this we collect new data on the decentralization of investment, hiring, production, and sales decisions from Corporate Headquarters to local... View Details
Keywords: Decentralization; Social Capital; Theory Of The Firm; Firm Objectives, Organization, And Behavior; Business Economics; Management Of Technological Innovation And R＆D; Technological Change: Choices And Consequences; Diffusion Processes; Organizational Structure; Performance Productivity; Trust; Technology Adoption; Multinational Firms and Management
- October 2012 (Revised August 2013)
- Case
Global Unichip Corporation (A)
By: Willy Shih and Chen-Fu Chien
Global Unichip Corporation (GUC) is a design services company that acts as a front-end to TSMC, the world's largest semiconductor foundry. In so doing, it masked the complexity of the latest process technologies, and reduced the entry barriers for small firms to... View Details
Keywords: Abstraction; Value-network; Entry Barriers; Intermediaries; Dis-intermediation; Aggregator; Vertical Specialization; Technology Adoption; Digital Platforms; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Horizontal Integration; Vertical Integration; Technological Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Innovation and Management; Industry Structures; Information Infrastructure; Complexity; Information Technology; Semiconductor Industry; Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Taiwan
- October 2012 (Revised February 2013)
- Case
Innova Capital: The Transition
By: Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon
The partners at Innova Capital, a leading mid-market private equity investor in Poland, must negotiate a transition of power between the two ex-patriate founders and three talented young Polish partners. If they fail to find an accomodation, the entire firm will... View Details
- October 2012
- Case
Winfield Refuse Management, Inc.: Raising Debt vs. Equity
By: W. Carl Kester and Sunru Yong
A small, publicly traded company specializing in non-hazardous waste management considers a major acquisition in the Midwestern U.S. The acquisition can provide entry into the region, help the firm compete in a competitive industry, and improve its cost position. The... View Details
- August 2012
- Article
A Darker Side to Decentralized Banks: Market Power and Credit Rationing in SME Lending
By: Rodrigo Canales and Ramana Nanda
We use loan-level data to study how the organizational structure of banks impacts small business lending. We find that decentralized banks-where branch managers have greater autonomy over lending decisions-give larger loans to small firms and those with "soft... View Details
- 2012
- Working Paper
IP Modularity: Profiting from Innovation by Aligning Product Architecture with Intellectual Property
By: Joachim Henkel, Carliss Y. Baldwin and Willy C. Shih
In this paper we explain how firms seeking to take advantage of distributed innovation and outsourcing can bridge the tension between value creation and value capture by modifying the modular structure of their technical systems. Specifically, we introduce the concept... View Details