Publications

05 Dec 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, December 5, 2017

competitiveness fundamentals to productivity and prosperity outcomes. On these indicators Sweden is compared to a peer group of other advanced EU and OECD countries. The Scorecard finds Sweden's competitiveness to be solid overall,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

18 Sep 2008
News

HBS Olympians

Arvidsson (MBA 1985F) won a gold medal for Sweden in the 100-meter butterfly in the 1980 Moscow Olympics. More information here. Robert Hackett (MBA 1986B), swimming for the US, won a silver medal in the 1500 meter freestyle at the 1976... View Details

Keywords: Keith Larson; Olympics; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Arts, Entertainment

11 Jul 2024
Blog Post

Energy & Environment Club’s Icelandic Adventure!

landmarks, like the Hallgrímskirkja Church, and found great food in the Icelandic capital city, Reykjavik. Tyler & Sydney in front of Hallgrímskirkja Church Our first scheduled stop was an overview with our group’s host, Jesper Jolma, an Investment Manager at... View Details

22 Mar 2017
Research & Ideas

What's the Ideal Frequency for a Sales Quota?

in Sweden. For decades, the company had compensated sales people with a base salary and a monthly quota. But anecdotes from regional managers indicated it might be time for a change—largely thanks to the weather. “In Sweden what happens... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

March 2016
Case

IC Group A/S

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

IC Group owned several of Scandinavia's leading premium fashion brands. How should it respond to the decline of its primary wholesale distribution channels (independent fashion boutiques and department stores)? Should it open more physical stores or focus on... View Details

July 1987 (Revised May 1993)
Case

Atlas Copco (A): Gaining and Building Distribution Channels

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

Atlas Copco, a Swedish company, holds the highest market share for air compressors worldwide. However, its attempts to enter U.S. markets have been unsuccessful. The case describes a series of strategic distribution maneuvers implemented by the company which enable it... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development; Marketing Channels; Market Entry and Exit; Market Participation; Distribution Channels; Failure; Industrial Products Industry; Sweden; United States

14 Apr 2008
Research & Ideas

The Surprising Right Fit for Software Testing

another under construction in Scotland, and branches being planned in Sweden and India. Its niche, according to the case, is testing when the cost of establishing automated testing is too expensive and complex. In March 2008 Sonne was... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Video Game; Web Services; Computer

23 Jun 2016
Op-Ed

Brexit: Should Britain Stay or Go?

Europe is seething with nationalism and racism. There are large and growing extreme right wing parties from Sweden to Greece, many of which enjoy waving Nazi flags. Fascist parties are in power in Hungary and Poland. There is a huge... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey G. Jones & Dante Roscini

May 2018
Other Article

A Cross-Country Comparison of Dynamics in the Large Firm Wage Premium

By: Emanuele Colonnelli, Joacim Tag, Michael Webb and Stefanie Wolter

We provide stylized facts on the existence and dynamics over time of the large firm wage premium for four countries. We examine matched employer-employee micro-data from Brazil, Germany, Sweden, and the UK, and find that the large firm premium exists in all these... View Details

Keywords: Large Firms; Wages; Global Range; Sweden; United Kingdom; Brazil; Germany

Find at Harvard

01 Dec 2012
News

Alvin Roth Wins Nobel Prize in Economics

ROYAL REVELATIONS: The HBS Club of London recently hosted more than 150 alumni and friends at the famed Kensington Palace for a discussion on "Restoring a Historic Royal Palace and Bringing its Stories to Life." Officials from Historic Royal Palaces walked guests... View Details

01 Nov 2010
Research & Ideas

How IT Shapes Top-Down and Bottom-Up Decision Making

trust tend to be systematically more decentralized than those in areas with low levels of trust. Sweden and Portugal, for example, seem to be on opposite ends of the trust spectrum. "There's huge cross country heterogeneity in the... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

January 2019 (Revised March 2021)
Case

SoundCloud: Subscription Streaming?

By: Ashish Nanda, Eric Van den Steen, Andy Wu, Jeffrey Boyar and Bonnie Bennett Slater

Established in 2007, SoundCloud already boasted the second largest number of active music listeners among all streaming services and was recognized as the go-to platform for new artists by early 2014. Yet, its founders were questioning the robustness of the firm’s... View Details

12 Sep 2011
Research & Ideas

The Untold Story of ‘Green’ Entrepreneurs

Nebraska, received barely a breeze of interest from wind entrepreneurs. Yes, Denmark, a hub of innovation in the turbine business, has plenty of wind, but neighboring Sweden and Great Britain, equally windy, showed little interest in the... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

May 2013 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Gap, Inc., 2012

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

Between 2000 and 2012, Gap, Inc. (Gap) ceded its world leadership position in specialty fashion retailing to Inditex of Spain and H&M of Sweden. These two companies, each less than a quarter of Gap's size in 2000, were now setting the pace in the global mass fashion... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Change; Fashion; Multinational; Brands; Competition; Multinational Firms and Management; Performance Improvement; Strategy; Brands and Branding; Change Management; Retail Industry; Fashion Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Sweden; Spain; United States

January 2025
Supplement

A Winning Strategy (B): Innovation in Olympic Speed Skating

By: Rebecca Karp, Maria Roche, Maisie Wiltshire-Gordon and Tom Quinn

This case describes the aftermath of decisions made by two innovators in the Olympic sport of speed skating: the U.S. Men’s team, which devised a new approach to the team pursuit event; and Nils van der Poel, a Swedish skater who created a new training plan that defied... View Details

Keywords: Sports; Disruptive Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Knowledge Sharing; Performance Improvement; Sports Industry; United States; Sweden; Netherlands; Norway

January 2025
Case

A Winning Strategy (A): Innovation in Olympic Speed Skating

By: Rebecca Karp, Maria Roche, Maisie Wiltshire-Gordon and Tom Quinn

This case describes two innovators in the Olympic sport of speed skating: the U.S. Men’s team, which devised a new approach to the team pursuit event following their disappointing performance in the 2018 Winter Olympics; and Nils van der Poel, a Swedish skater who... View Details

Keywords: Sports; Disruptive Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Knowledge Sharing; Sports Industry; United States; Sweden; Netherlands; Norway

22 Jul 2022
Blog Post

Climate Stories Episode #7: Turning Waste Heat to Power

green infrastructure investment firm Generate Capital, Janice saw an opportunity. The San Francisco-based company has said publicly that it has raised some $10 billion in funding, much of it from pension funds in Australia, Sweden and the... View Details

August 2023 (Revised March 2024)
Case

Arla Foods: Data-Driven Decarbonization (A)

By: Michael Parzen, Michael W. Toffel, Susan Pinckney and Amram Migdal

The case describes Arla’s history, in particular its climate change mitigation efforts, and how it implemented a price incentive system to motivate individual farms to implement scope 1 greenhouse gas emissions mitigation measures and receive a higher milk price. The... View Details

August 2023 (Revised January 2024)
Supplement

Arla Foods: Data-Driven Decarbonization (A)

By: Michael Parzen, Michael W. Toffel, Amram Migdal and Susan Pinckney

Arla implemented a data-based price incentive system to measure, track, and influence climate friendly changes to reduce CO2 emissions across the world’s fourth largest dairy cooperative. View Details

Keywords: Dairy Industry; Business Earnings; Earnings Management; Environmental Accounting; Agribusiness; Animal-Based Agribusiness; Acquisition; Mergers and Acquisitions; Decision Making; Decisions; Voting; Environmental Management; Climate Change; Environmental Regulation; Environmental Sustainability; Green Technology; Pollution; Moral Sensibility; Values and Beliefs; Financial Strategy; Price; Profit; Revenue; Food; Geopolitical Units; Global Strategy; Ownership Type; Cooperative Ownership; Performance Efficiency; Performance Evaluation; Problems and Challenges; Natural Environment; Science-Based Business; Business Strategy; Commercialization; Cooperation; Corporate Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Europe; United Kingdom; European Union; Germany; Denmark; Sweden; Luxembourg; Belgium