Publications

December 2011 (Revised April 2013)
Case

Brasil Foods

By: David E. Bell and Natalie Kindred

In mid-2011, the management of Brasil Foods, a leading Brazilian branded foods producer and protein exporter, is evaluating strategies for international and domestic growth. The team has just received approval from Brazil's antitrust authorities to complete the merger... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Brazil

March 2002 (Revised January 2010)
Case

BP and the Consolidation of the Oil Industry, 1998-2002

By: Forest L. Reinhardt, Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and David J Hanson

Examines the economics of the oil and gas industry with a focus on 1998 through 2001. Discusses the rationale behind using a growth in scale as a means to increase profitability and to gain competitive advantage. Also examines the classic strategic implications of... View Details

Keywords: Non-Renewable Energy; Growth and Development Strategy; Industry Structures; Competitive Advantage; Consolidation; Horizontal Integration; Vertical Integration; Energy Industry

December 1999 (Revised August 2001)
Case

Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (A)

By: Stefan H. Thomke and Ashok Nimgade

Focuses on Millennium's strategy to grow and revolutionize drug development through the use of new technologies such as genomics. Describes how Millennium Pharmaceuticals--a fast-growing biotechnology firm in Cambridge, MA--has used strategic alliances to finance the... View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Financing and Loans; Medical Specialties; Retention; Growth and Development Strategy; Time Management; Product Development; Problems and Challenges; Alliances; Technology; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Cambridge

20 Nov 2017
Research & Ideas

How Independent Bookstores Have Thrived in Spite of Amazon.com

promotion of independent bookstores. But then a funny thing happened. While pressure from Amazon forced Borders out of business in 2011, indie bookstores staged an unexpected comeback. Between 2009 and 2015, the ABA reported a 35 percent View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel (with video by Amelia Kunhardt); Retail

August 2010 (Revised August 2011)
Case

Developing an App for That

By: Hanna Halaburda, Joshua Gans and Nathaniel Burbank

At a time when ever-rising smartphone sales are driven as much by demand for devices that run must-have third-party "apps" as by the quality of traditional voice and data services, there is a myriad of challenges facing the software developer who is looking to choose... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Competitive Strategy; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Applications and Software; Digital Platforms; Banking Industry; Information Technology Industry

08 Jul 2019
Research & Ideas

Are Paywalls Saving Newspapers?

US daily newspaper circulation is estimated to have dropped from 62 million weekday subscriptions in 1990 to 31 million in 2017, according to the Pew Research Center. Growth in digital advertising revenue has failed to offset the decline... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Journalism & News; Media & Broadcasting

06 Feb 2020
Research & Ideas

What We Learned from Reading Jeff Bezos’ Patents

attributed to our lack of in-depth understanding of each patent’s language. However, this may also indicate that Bezos feels there are more opportunities in other areas or that he has chosen to cede control of AWS’s growth to Andy Jassy,... View Details

Keywords: by Tricia Gregg and Boris Groysberg; Retail

Web

Advisory Board - Entrepreneurship

company Excara and switched to selling enterprise software for managing product content. In 2002, he started two nonprofits in response to the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church. He is currently acting VP of Product Strategy for... View Details

November 2021 (Revised December 2022)
Case

Babban Gona: Great Farm

By: Kristin Fabbe, Tarun Khanna, Caroline M. Elkins, Zeke Gillman, Eleni Kyrkopoulou and Thomaz Teodorovicz

In 2020, Babban Gona was one of the world’s largest farming operations with over 140,000 acres of maize farms, an area over ten times as large as Manhattan, and over 80,000 member-farmers in Nigeria. According to the company, the average Nigerian farmer’s net income... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Value Creation; Agribusiness; Capital Budgeting; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Nigeria; Africa

16 May 2023
In Practice

After Silicon Valley Bank's Flameout, What's Next for Entrepreneurs?

greatest, I would start by looking here given how ventures founded by women and minorities—and ventures targeting women and minorities—struggle to raise the capital they need to succeed. Rembrand Koning is an assistant professor in the View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman; Technology; Financial Services

December 2022 (Revised September 2024)
Case

Sword Health

By: Regina E. Herzlinger, Annelena Lobb and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Virgilio “V” Bento, CEO of Sword Health—a startup that provided virtual physical therapy to patients in self-insured firms via AI and sensor technology with supervision by a physical therapist with a doctorate—considered how to increase its U.S. market share. To do so,... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Competitive Strategy; Health Industry; Technology Industry

18 Jan 2022
Research & Ideas

How Eliminating Non-Competes Could Reshape Tech

Federal restrictions of employee non-compete agreements could be in the cards for 2022, paving the way for increased worker mobility in a variety of industries. Such restrictions would have hiring and strategy implications for businesses... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Technology

September 2024
Supplement

National Public Broadcasting (B)

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Pre-abstract: Instructors should consider the timing of making videos available to students, as they may reveal key case details.
Abstract: This (B) case supplement is designed for use by faculty only to support classroom instruction in conjunction with... View Details

Keywords: Financial Strategy; Financial Management; Media; Ownership; Strategy; Advertising; Decision Choices and Conditions; Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Mergers and Acquisitions; Private Equity; Journalism and News Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States

April 2024 (Revised December 2024)
Case

Anthropic: Building Safe AI

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Shweta Bagai

In late 2024, Anthropic, a leading AI safety and research company, achieved a significant breakthrough with computer use capabilities that allowed AI to interact with computers like humans. Co-founded by former OpenAI employees and known for its generative AI... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business Growth and Maturation; Corporate Strategy; Technology Industry; United States