Publications

Find at Harvard

October 2014 (Revised January 2016)
Case

IDEO: Human-Centered Service Design

By: Ryan W. Buell and Andrew Otazo

The case describes IDEO, one of the world's leading design firms, and its human-centered innovation culture and processes. It is an example of what managers can do to make their own organizations more innovative. In reaction to a rapidly changing competitive landscape,... View Details

Keywords: Design Thinking; Innovation; Service Management; Service; Design; Service Delivery; Innovation and Management; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Peru

November 2010 (Revised May 2012)
Background Note

Assessing a Company's Future Financial Health

By: Thomas R. Piper

The case provides students with (1) an understanding of the essence of long-term financial health; (2) familiarity with the calculation and meaning of various financial ratios; and (3) an understanding of the influence of a company's operating and competitive... View Details

Keywords: Financial Condition; Forecasting and Prediction; Investment Return; Operations; Competitive Strategy

18 Jan 2012
News

U.S. Losing Competitiveness?

Dec 2019
Survey

A Recovery Squandered

Despite a decade of steady economic growth since the Great Recession, America has done remarkably little to address underlying structural weaknesses in the country’s economy and society. Surveys of HBS alumni worldwide, HBS MBA students, and members of the U.S. public... View Details

4 May 2003
Other Presentation

Thailand's Competitiveness: Creating the Foundations for Higher Productivity

Competitiveness presentation delivered in Bangkok, Thailand. View Details

Keywords: Economics; Thailand

18 Jun 2004
Other Presentation

Chinese Competitiveness: Where Does The Nation Stand?

Competitiveness presentation delivered in Beijing, China. View Details

Keywords: Economics; China

18 Nov 2003
Lecture

Microeconomic Foundations of Competitiveness—A New Agenda for International Aid Institutions

This presentation draws on ideas from Professor Porter’s books and articles, in particular, "Building the Microeconomic Foundations of Prosperity," in The Global Competitiveness Report 2003-04 (World Economic Forum, 2003); "Clusters and the New Competitive... View Details

Keywords: Economics

02 Apr 2013
Video

Plexx - Episode 2 - New Name, New Challenges

May 2022
Case

Maestro Pizza: Coming in Hot!

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Fares Khrais

Maestro Pizza opened its first store in 2013 after its founder, Khalid Al Omran, recognized an opportunity in Saudi Arabia to offer high quality pizza at affordable prices. The business grew rapidly and under the radar at first, but soon enough caught the attention of... View Details

25 May 2011
HBS Case

QuikTrip’s Investment in Retail Employees Pays Off

It's a much believed assumption in the retail world: If you're going to compete on the basis of low cost, then you can't afford to invest in your employees. Extensive training—who has the time to give? Regularly scheduled hours?—way too inflexible. Benefits?—forget it!... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail

02 Oct 2017
News

Our Political System Is Big Business - And That's Why It's Failing Us

December 2001 (Revised February 2008)
Case

Borealis

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Bjorn N. Jorgensen

When Borealis, a European producer of plastics, used a traditional, time-consuming budgeting process, the budget was quickly out of date in a competitive environment characterized by continually changing input and output prices and dynamic market conditions. This case... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Budgets and Budgeting; Forecasting and Prediction; Investment; Governance Controls; Balanced Scorecard; Management Systems; Manufacturing Industry; Europe

Jan 2014
Case

Rethinking Cities: Chicago on the Move

It is impossible to discuss national competitiveness without considering cities and the regions they anchor. Cities are transportation hubs, centers of commercial exchange, and the locus of lives. They thrive by the ways they connect to... View Details

June 2015
Article

You Need an Innovation Strategy

By: Gary P. Pisano

Why is it so hard to build and maintain the capacity to innovate? The reason is not simply a failure to execute but a failure to articulate an innovation strategy that aligns innovation efforts with the overall business strategy. Without such a strategy, companies will... View Details

Keywords: Innovation Strategy

Find at Harvard

22 Oct 2007
Other Presentation

Competitiveness: Implications for Central and Eastern Europe and the Czech Republic

Competitiveness presentation delivered in Prague, Czech Republic. View Details

Keywords: Economics; Czech Republic

June 2020 (Revised October 2020)
Case

What Went Wrong with Boeing's 737 Max?

By: William W. George and Amram Migdal

This case describes the development of the Boeing 737 Max airplane model and the events leading up to two tragic plane crashes, in which a total of 346 people died: the crash of Lion Air flight 610 on October 29, 2018, in Indonesia, and the crash of Ethiopian Airlines... View Details

Keywords: Communication; Communication Intention and Meaning; Communication Strategy; Forms of Communication; Announcements; Decision Making; Decision Choices and Conditions; Judgments; Ethics; Moral Sensibility; Values and Beliefs; Globalization; Global Strategy; Governance; Corporate Accountability; Governance Controls; Human Resources; Resignation and Termination; Leadership; Leadership Style; Management; Business or Company Management; Crisis Management; Management Practices and Processes; Management Skills; Management Style; Management Systems; Risk Management; Time Management; Markets; Demand and Consumers; Digital Platforms; Supply and Industry; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Industry Structures; Operations; Product Development; Organizations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Outcome or Result; Failure; Success; Planning; Strategic Planning; Problems and Challenges; Relationships; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Risk and Uncertainty; Safety; Strategy; Transportation; Air Transportation; Aerospace Industry; Air Transportation Industry; Africa; Ethiopia; Asia; Indonesia; North and Central America; United States; Seattle; Chicago

winter 2005
Article

Financing Auction Bids

By: Matthew Rhodes-Kropf and S. Viswanathan

In many auctions, bidders do not have enough cash to pay their bid. If bidders have asymmetric cash positions and independent private values then auctions will be inefficient. However, what happens if bidders have access to financial markets? We characterize efficient... View Details

Keywords: Financing and Loans; Auctions; Bids and Bidding; Financial Markets; Valuation; Cash; Capital Markets; Profit; Competition