Publications

December 2018 (Revised December 2020)
Course Overview Note

Introduction to the RC Strategy Course

By: Ashish Nanda

This note offers an overview of the Strategy course offered in HBS’s Required Curriculum. The RC Strategy course aims to help students become effective strategists. The note introduces the six modules of the course: What is Strategy, Market Attractiveness, Competitive... View Details

Keywords: Market Attractiveness; Strategic Interactions; Strategy; Corporate Strategy

June 2007 (Revised January 2008)
Case

BBC Worldwide: Global Strategy

By: John A. Quelch and Carin-Isabel Knoop

In January 2007, John Smith, chief executive officer of BBC Worldwide (BBC WW), the commercial arm of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), was preparing to meet with his senior managers to discuss BBC WW's global strategy options. BBC WW exploited and exported... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Brands and Branding; Marketing Channels; Expansion; Internet; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Great Britain

September 2011 (Revised February 2013)
Case

Trucost: Valuing Corporate Environmental Impacts

By: Michael W. Toffel and Stephanie van Sice

Trucost provided corporate environmental performance data and analysis to institutional investors and corporate managers, but after operating for a decade had yet to achieve profitability. Trucost was struggling to effectively differentiate its high quality products... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Distribution Channels; Investment; Measurement and Metrics; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Information; Value; Environmental Sustainability; Financial Services Industry

28 Aug 2013
News

Microsoft: 11 Fix-It Strategies

2002
Book

Corporate Information Strategy and Management: The Challenge of Doing Business in a Network Economy

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Robert D. Austin and F. Warren McFarlan

Keywords: Information; Strategy; Management; Problems and Challenges; Economy; Technology

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July 2024
Module Note

Organization: Managing the Corporation

By: David J. Collis

Ongoing management of the corporate portfolio is critical to realizing value in diversified companies. This requires designing and administering structures, systems, and processes appropriate for the set of businesses and the resources that underpin value creation... View Details

Keywords: Organization; Corporate Strategy; Business Conglomerates; Business or Company Management; Diversification; Value Creation; Corporate Governance; Business Units

April 2005
Background Note

Strategies of Unrelated Diversification

By: Bharat N. Anand and Samhita Patwardhan Jayanti

Conglomerates lie at the heart of debates in corporate strategy. They include, perhaps, the best known companies in history--Beatrice Corp., General Electric, ITT, Siemens, and ABB--and at various times over the last few decades have been both admired and vilified as a... View Details

Keywords: Diversification; Business Conglomerates; Corporate Strategy; Value

23 Aug 2004
Research & Ideas

Strategy for Small Fish

series of ecosystems, they urge, with "keystone" companies such as Microsoft and Wal-Mart providing for the health of all who do business with them. What are the best strategies for companies living in these ecosystems? This... View Details

Keywords: by Marco Iansiti & Roy Levien

October 2016 (Revised October 2017)
Case

Misaki Capital and Sangetsu Corporation

By: Ian Gow, Charles C.Y. Wang, Naoko Jinjo and Nobuo Sato

Japan’s corporate culture has traditionally prioritized the interests of stakeholders such as customers, employees, and suppliers over those of shareholders. After a decades-long economic slump, Japan’s government has revitalized efforts to improve corporate governance... View Details

Keywords: Activist Investing; Constructivist Investing; Japan; Valuation; Stock Screens; Return On Equity; Investment; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Corporate Governance; Financial Strategy; Business and Shareholder Relations; Japan

Over a billion people use social platforms on the Internet, making them the most frequently visited category of sites. Some platforms, such as eHarmony, MeetUp, and Twitter, allow us to connect to strangers. eHarmony alone is estimated to account for one in six new... View Details

October 2002 (Revised June 2005)
Case

McDonald's Corporation (Abridged)

McDonald's has over many years built an operating strategy based on consistency and quality through a limited product range. Competitive forces have drawn the company into a much wider variety of foods and services to maintain growth. Now, new competitors threaten to... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Competition; Brands and Branding; Growth and Development Strategy; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

2006
Other Unpublished Work

Rural Clusters of Innovation: Berkshires Strategy Project: Driving A Long-Term Economic Strategy

By: Michael E. Porter

The Berkshires Strategy Project, a six-month strategy development effort involving dozens of private and public sector organizations in the Berkshires, has led to broad consensus behind an economic strategy for the County, and galvanized a leadership group in the form... View Details

Keywords: Economics; Industry Clusters; Growth and Development; United States

Read Now

March 1982 (Revised June 1986)
Background Note

Note on Diversification as a Strategy

By: Michael E. Porter and Malcolm S. Salter

Presents a discussion of corporate diversification. Covers historical background, the concept of strategy for a diversified company, and concepts of value creation. View Details

Keywords: Diversification; Strategy; Value Creation

April 2009 (Revised March 2010)
Case

Nippon Steel Corporation

By: Srikant M. Datar and Akiko Kanno

Nippon Steel Corporation, the largest Japanese steel producer and second largest in the world faces challenges in pursuing strategy to become a true global player. Nippon Steel had long been the top Japanese company, however the emergence of a global player,... View Details

Keywords: History; Corporate Strategy; Problems and Challenges; International Accounting; Change Management; Restructuring; Competitive Strategy; Emerging Markets; Globalization; Global Strategy; Steel Industry; Japan

Article

Diversification Strategies and Corporate Governance in Trading Companies: Anglo-Japanese Comparisons since the Late Nineteenth Century

By: G. Jones

Keywords: Diversification; Corporate Governance; Trade; Business Ventures; Japan

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April 2000 (Revised May 2000)
Case

Capital One Financial Corporation

By: Bharat N. Anand, Michael G. Rukstad and Christopher Paige

Designed to explore the structure, implementation, and sustainability of an information-based strategy (IBS) undertaken by Capital One during the 1990s. Particular issues of interest are the impact of mass customization on industry structure, the ability to transfer... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Customization and Personalization; Industry Structures; Internet and the Web; Innovation Strategy; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Financial Services Industry; United States

Research Summary

Corporate Social Responsibility

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

Rangan has developed a framework and a process for auditing a company's CSR activities and from that a blueprint for CSR strategy development. He is now in the phase of verifying the framework and implementing the process in certain chosen sites. View Details

Web

Operational Effectiveness vs. Strategy - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

HBS ISC Strategy Strategy Strategy Explained Business Strategy Creating a Successful Strategy View Details

1999
Case

Nucor Corporation (B)

By: Vijay Govindarajan

In January, 1999, Ken Iverson, the thirty-year leader of Nucor Corporation, was forced into retirement. Five months later, his successor, John Correnti, was asked to leave. The board of directors wanted fundamental shifts in Nucor's strategy and organization that... View Details

Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Restructuring; Management Teams; Business Strategy