Publications

Research Summary

Overview

By: Robert Simons

Professor Simons is currently studying how executives make their businesses more competitive using innovative structural designs and performance measurement systems. He has a number of ongoing research projects on this topic, and teaches MBA and executive education... View Details

Keywords: Strategy Execution; Organization Design; Management Control Systems; Performance Measurement; Competitiveness

Web

Strategy Curriculum - Faculty & Research

on the doctoral programs website: PhD in Business Administration, Strategy PhD in Business Economics Executive Education Strategy: Building and Sustaining Competitive Advantage 01–06 JUN 2025 View Details

Research Summary

Business Strategy at the Base of the Pyramid

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

Rangan is studying how businesses create value for the 4.2 billion low income, and poorer income residents at the base of the global income pyramid. These are individuals who live on less than $5/day. Providing food, water, sanitation, healthcare, education, skills... View Details

27 Jan 2014
News

Why I Hired an Executive with Mental Illness

Keywords: mental illness; employee management; competititve advantage; workplace diversity

February 2002 (Revised August 2002)
Case

Inhale Therapeutics: Executing and Growing the Business Model

Inhale is about to bring a novel technology to market that uses inhalation to administer drugs that formerly required injection. Inhale must now decide which way to evolve its business model. This will determine the future direction of growth for the company. View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Technological Innovation; Health Care and Treatment; Growth and Development Strategy; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

Find at Harvard

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

February 2005 (Revised November 2012)
Case

Chuck's Wagon Inc.

By: Paul W. Marshall and Derek Lewis

This case describes the experiences of an HBS student as he takes on the challege of transitioning from an intern to a president at a small consumer packaged goods firm in Southern Texas. This HBS student is confronted with the opportunity to perform an operational and... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Goods; Operations Strategy; Executive Development; Strategy; Small Business; Production; Transformation; Management Skills; Financial Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Texas

January 2023 (Revised June 2024)
Supplement

Zaoui & Co. (B): Executing the Odyssey SPAC Transaction

By: Ashish Nanda, Alex Kitsberg and Zack Kurtovich

In September 2019, founding partners Michael and Yoel Zaoui decided to add principal investing to Zaoui & Co.’s offerings. The case outlines how, over the next two years, Zaoui & Co. pursued the formation of a SPAC, Odyssey Acquisitions, followed by the identification... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Investment Banking; SPACs; M＆A; Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Europe; United Kingdom

October 2007 (Revised December 2008)
Case

The Royal Bank of Scotland Group: The Human Capital Strategy

By: Boris Groysberg and Eliot Sherman

Describes the development and implementation of one of the world's most advanced human resource management support systems. The Royal Bank of Scotland Group is a global banking leader that began implementing a strategy for measuring the impact of human capital on... View Details

Keywords: Financial Management; Human Resources; Human Capital; Management Systems; Measurement and Metrics; Performance Effectiveness; Strategy; Information Technology; Banking Industry

31 Jan 2017
Research & Ideas

Why These Business School Professors Oppose Trump's Executive Order on Immigration

Editor’s note: Last Friday, President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order indefinitely preventing Syrian refugees from entering the United States, suspending all refugee admission for 120 days, and blocking all citizens of seven... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

2016
Working Paper

Notes on Developing a Strategy and Designing a Company

By: Kevin J. Boudreau

The practice and teaching of business strategy today exist largely as a set of alternative views and frameworks not entirely connected to one another. These notes contribute an integrated sequence of steps for creating or evaluating a strategy and associated company... View Details

Keywords: Business Strategy

SSRN

TeachingInterests

Strategy - Building and Sustaining Competitive Advantage

By: Jan W. Rivkin

With the accelerating pace of competition, cutting-edge companies are defined by innovative strategies. In this Executive Education program, we explore how to develop groundbreaking stratgies and action plans for execution, forecast industry evolution, and analyze... View Details

09 Oct 2018
News

How This Executive Spearheaded The Largest M&A In Williams-Sonoma's History

Blog

Mark your calendars! HBS Executive Education reunions are back on campus!

friends, you'll stay informed about the latest business trends and best practices. This year's program includes the latest thought leadership from faculty and guest speakers on topics ranging from digital strategy and innovation to the... View Details

Oct 21 2016
Interview

Helping Executives Become Leaders They Want to Be

1999
Chapter

Microeconomic Competitiveness: Findings from the 1999 Executive Survey

By: M. E. Porter

Keywords: Competition; Microeconomics

December 2023
Case

Davivienda Bank's Upskilling and Reskilling Strategy in Colombia

By: Jorge Tamayo, Raffaella Sadun and Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago

Set in 2022, this case describes the digital transformation strategy of Davivienda— a leading player in Colombia’s commercial banking and one of the companies belonging to Grupo Bolívar, a major Colombian financial conglomerate—and the bank’s upskilling and reskilling... View Details

February 2021
Case

A Cultural Transformation at Southeastern Grocers

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Jonah S. Goldberg and Joseph A. Paul

When Anthony Hucker, the CEO of Southeastern Grocers (SEG), took over in that role in July 2017, the company was in dire financial and operational condition and was headed towards bankruptcy. SEG, the fifth largest grocery chain in the U.S. in early 2021, operated... View Details

Keywords: Business Transformation; Strategy Execution; Retail; Organizational Culture; Transformation; Growth and Development Strategy; Performance; Success; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States; Florida

August 1989 (Revised November 1994)
Case

Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.: Marketing Strategy for the European Market

By: John A. Quelch

Nissan executives are reviewing their European marketing strategy in light of the 1992 European Community (EC) market integration program and the likely end of bilateral import quotas on Japanese cars by some EC countries. Having recently established a manufacturing... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Resource Allocation; Market Entry and Exit; Trade; Auto Industry; Japan; United Kingdom; Europe