Publications

21 Dec 2022
News

HBS Community Comes Together in Wake of Ukraine Invasion

decreased supply of traditional food exports of wheat and corn from Russia and Ukraine will also result in rising prices, Shih said. "You'll pay more for everything that uses wheat and corn and flour.” Harvard Ukrainian Research... View Details

February 2023 (Revised June 2023)
Supplement

Graphic Packaging: Project Cowboy (B)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and E. Scott Mayfield

Analyzes the company’s decision on Project Cowboy following the events described in the A Case. View Details

Keywords: Capital Budgeting; Growth Management; Demand and Consumers; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Expansion; Value Creation; Supply and Industry; Pulp and Paper Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States; North America

10 Nov 2008
What Do You Think?

How Much Can You Ask of Your Customers?

And Gerald Nanninga posed the interesting question: "Have we limited our potential by not only mislabeling potential partners as 'customers' but in mislabeling everyone in the entire supply chain?" What do you think? Original... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

24 Jul 2007
First Look

First Look: July 24, 2007

much more radical change (sacking of Troy / innovation). Democratizing Entry: Banking Deregulations, Financing Constraints, and Entrepreneurship Authors: William Kerr and Ramana Nanda Abstract We study how US branch banking deregulations... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

06 Aug 2014
Research & Ideas

Climbing Down from the Ivory Tower

to apply it and disseminate it," she says. "That seems kind of wrong." Recognizing the importance of knowledge co-production can lead not only to successful products and services, but also to improved supply View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Education; Health

14 Oct 2008
Research & Ideas

Should You Bring Advertising Expertise In-House?

services to "make" internally as opposed to what it buys in the marketplace. A firm may integrate "forward" into the channels used to distribute its output to customers, or "backward" into the supply View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Advertising

31 Jan 2025
News

New York, Boston Alumni Volunteer to Boost Small Businesses

design, operations, supply chain management, and more.” With a year under its belt, the SMB is focused on boosting its client pipeline. “A lot of small business owners don’t realize our service is free,”... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley

July 2024
Case

ZEISS: Commercializing Science

By: Maria P. Roche, Carlota Moniz and Daniela Beyersdorfer

Karl Lamprecht, President and CEO of the ZEISS AG Group, mused on how far ZEISS had come in 175 years of being a pioneer in optics, and how the course he had charted since taking the helm of the company could keep it on track. In his role, he oversaw the four core... View Details

June 2014
Teaching Note

Andreessen Horowitz

By: Thomas Eisenmann

Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), a venture capital firm launched in 2009, has quickly broken into the VC industry's top ranks, in terms of its ability to invest in Silicon Valley's most promising startups. The case recounts the firm's history; describes its co-founders'... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Venture Capital; Disruption; Organizational Structure; Entrepreneurship; Industry Structures; Service Industry; United States

November 2004
Case

Innocent Drinks

By: William A. Sahlman and Dan Heath

The three founders of a London-based, start-up smoothie company must decide between three growth options: expansion of the existing product line into Europe, extension of the brand into other product categories, or continued organic growth within the United Kingdom. View Details

Keywords: Growth Management; Expansion; Business Growth and Maturation; Industry Growth; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Corporate Finance; Brands and Branding; Food and Beverage Industry; United Kingdom; Europe

2011
Working Paper

The Impact of Forward-Looking Metrics on Employee Decision Making

By: Pablo Casas-Arce, F. Asis Martinez-Jerez and V.G. Narayanan

This paper analyzes the effects of providing forward-looking metrics on employee decision making. We use data from a southern European bank that, in April 2002, started providing its branch managers with customer lifetime value (CLV) information about mortgage... View Details

Keywords: Customer Value and Value Chain; Decision Choices and Conditions; Mortgages; Employees; Information; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Service Delivery; Banking Industry; Europe

21 May 2019
Cold Call Podcast

If the Key to Business Success Is Focus, Why Does Amazon Work?

Keywords: Re: Sunil Gupta; Retail

May 2020
Case

Trust Merchant Bank

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Pippa Tubman Armerding, Dilyana Karadzhova Botha and Salim Dewji

Trust Merchant Bank (TMB), a leading bank in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), needs to decide whether to enter the soon-to-be-liberalized insurance industry. Since its founding in 2004, TMB has played a pivotal role in reshaping the DRC banking landscape by... View Details

Keywords: Retail Banking; Financial Services; Financial Inclusion; Turnaround; Fintech; Banks and Banking; Financial Condition; Insurance; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Business Model; Family Business; Entrepreneurship; Information Technology; Monopoly; Banking Industry; Insurance Industry; Africa; Congo, Democratic Republic of the

01 Dec 2014
News

Feedback

the Bitcoin supply should grow approximately at the real rate of our global economies—perhaps with a built-in boom/bust modulator. However, I understand that its growth is purely mechanical now and could even become deflationary in a few... View Details

Keywords: feedback

28 Apr 2020
Blog Post

A Crash Course in Saving a Family Business

return home to Queens, NY, to both complete her first-year MBA studies online, and launch an e-commerce site to help her parents’ small business, Bean&Bean Coffee Roasters, stay afloat. “It’s been surreal. This morning, I had a View Details

April 2013
Article

Business Model Innovation and Competitive Imitation: The Case of Sponsor-Based Business Models

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Feng Zhu

This paper provides the first formal model of business model innovation. Our analysis focuses on sponsor-based business model innovations where a firm monetizes its product through sponsors rather than setting prices to its customer base. We analyze strategic... View Details

Keywords: Business Model Innovation; Imitation; Sponsor-based Business Model; Strategic Revelation; Strategic Concealment; Business Model; Innovation and Invention; Price; Competitive Strategy; Adoption; Value; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Product; Customers; Market Entry and Exit; Monopoly

Find at Harvard

2017
Working Paper

Firm Selection and Corporate Cash Holdings

By: Juliane Begenau and Berardino Palazzo

Among stock market entrants, more firms over time are R&D intensive with initially lower profitability but higher growth potential. This sample-selection effect determines the secular trend in U.S. public firms’ cash holdings. A stylized firm industry model allows us... View Details

Keywords: Initial Public Offering; Market Entry and Exit; Supply and Industry; Research and Development

SSRN

Read Now

August 2006 (Revised February 2021)
Case

Anthem, Inc.

By: Regina E. Herzlinger

Describes the U.S. Health Care industry and WellPoint's background, market growth strategies, and potential as an investment option. View Details

Keywords: Investment; Growth and Development Strategy; Health; Industry Structures; Organizational Design; Health Industry; United States

May 2004 (Revised April 2006)
Case

Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (A)

By: Dwight B. Crane and Ricardo Reisen de Pinho

Ultra is one of a small group of competing Brazilian petrochemical companies, each of which buys raw material and is a minority owner of Copene, a "cracking" company that provides ethylene and other materials. Because of an industry restructuring, an auction of shares... View Details

Keywords: Capital; Capital Budgeting; Investment; Risk and Uncertainty; Risk Management; Industry Structures; Cash Flow; Cost of Capital; Valuation; Bids and Bidding; Economy; Ownership Stake; Chemical Industry; Brazil