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Show Results For
- All HBS Web
(7,929)
- People (9)
- News (1,436)
- Research (5,748)
- Events (20)
- Multimedia (9)
- Faculty Publications (4,111)
- February 1990 (Revised August 2001)
- Case
Merloni Elettrodomestici SpA: The Transit Point Experiment
By: Janice H. Hammond and Maura G Kelly
Merloni Elettrodomestici is a leading Italian manufacturer of domestic appliances. In 1986, an exposition for Merloni customers is scheduled at its Milano regional warehouse. During the two-month period preceding the event, when the warehouse must be free of inventory,... View Details
Keywords: Logistics; Marketing Channels; Planning; Time Management; Distribution Channels; Competitive Advantage; Customer Relationship Management; Information Technology; Consumer Products Industry; Italy
Hammond, Janice H., and Maura G Kelly. "Merloni Elettrodomestici SpA: The Transit Point Experiment." Harvard Business School Case 690-003, February 1990. (Revised August 2001.)
- August 2018 (Revised April 2019)
- Case
Chateau Winery (A): Unsupervised Learning
By: Srikant M. Datar and Caitlin N. Bowler
This case follows Bill Booth, marketing manager of a regional wine distributor, as he applies unsupervised learning on data about his customers’ purchases to better understand their preferences. Specifically, he uses the K-means clustering technique to identify groups... View Details
Datar, Srikant M., and Caitlin N. Bowler. "Chateau Winery (A): Unsupervised Learning." Harvard Business School Case 119-023, August 2018. (Revised April 2019.)
- 12 PM – 1 PM EDT, 02 Nov 2017
- Webinars: Trending@HBS
Tools for Life's Major Transitions
To take charge of a major life transition, we must look beyond the numbers in a financial plan, we must look at our relationships and how they will change, assess our physical health and lifestyle and develop an understanding of how work and play will keep us mentally... View Details
- 06 Jan 2016
- What Do You Think?
Why Do Leaders Get Their Timing Wrong?
Summing Up Is Good Timing in Management Primarily a Function of Strategy or Culture? Timing in executing change is an important responsibility of leadership. Responses to this month’s column suggest that if timing is the result of one... View Details
- March 2023 (Revised May 2025)
- Case
On
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Karolin Frankenberger and Sascha Mader
Founded in 2010, in just one decade, the Swiss company On had established itself as a main player in global sports footwear and apparel. Based on an unconventional strategy which one of the founders labeled as “obsessively distinct,” On grew its sales with a compound... View Details
Keywords: Brands and Branding; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Business Startups; Business Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Digital Marketing; Disruptive Innovation; Distribution Channels; Entrepreneurship; Environmental Sustainability; Global Strategy; Initial Public Offering; Innovation and Invention; Innovation Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Marketing Strategy; Product Design; Product Development; Product Marketing; Social Media; Strategy; Supply Chain Management; Technological Innovation; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Retail Industry; Sports Industry; Europe; Switzerland; Germany; United States
- January 2008
- Article
The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy
This article includes a one-page preview that quickly summarizes the key ideas and provides an overview of how the concepts work in practice along with suggestions for further reading. In 1979, a young associate professor at Harvard Business School published his first... View Details
Keywords: Profit; Five Forces Framework; Industry Growth; Industry Structures; Business and Government Relations; Competitive Strategy
Porter, Michael E. "The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy." Special Issue on HBS Centennial. Harvard Business Review 86, no. 1 (January 2008): 78–93.
- 08 Mar 2012
- Working Paper Summaries
Customer-Driven Misconduct: How Competition Corrupts Business Practices
- August 2012
- Article
A Darker Side to Decentralized Banks: Market Power and Credit Rationing in SME Lending
By: Rodrigo Canales and Ramana Nanda
We use loan-level data to study how the organizational structure of banks impacts small business lending. We find that decentralized banks-where branch managers have greater autonomy over lending decisions-give larger loans to small firms and those with "soft... View Details
Keywords: Geographic Location; Customers; Financing and Loans; Credit; Organizational Structure; Banks and Banking; Governance Compliance; Competitive Strategy
Canales, Rodrigo, and Ramana Nanda. "A Darker Side to Decentralized Banks: Market Power and Credit Rationing in SME Lending." Journal of Financial Economics 105, no. 2 (August 2012): 353–366.
- September 24, 2024
- Article
4 Steps That Can Optimize Your Sales Process
By: Frank V. Cespedes, Scott Peterson and Daniel Weinfurter
Sales is a performance art where outcomes matter, so most advice here focuses on closing the sale. But a close is the result of actions and choices that occur earlier in the process: how much time and effort to spend on customer discovery (understanding what and to... View Details
Cespedes, Frank V., Scott Peterson, and Daniel Weinfurter. "4 Steps That Can Optimize Your Sales Process." Harvard Business Review (website) (September 24, 2024).
- September 1998
- Case
Vanguard Group, Inc. (1998), The
By: Andre F. Perold
Since the beginning of 1997, Vanguard's assets under management have increased more than 60% from $240 billion to almost $400 billion, making it second in market share only to Fidelity. Vanguard views this success as another vindication of its low-cost strategy of... View Details
Keywords: Asset Management; Cost Management; Investment Funds; Product; Service Operations; Performance Expectations; Competition; Consolidation; Expansion; Internet; Financial Services Industry
Perold, Andre F. "Vanguard Group, Inc. (1998), The." Harvard Business School Case 299-002, September 1998.
- June 2008
- Case
Rackspace Hosting in Late 2000
By: James L. Heskett and W. Earl Sasser
The leadership team of Rackspace, faced with accommodation of its service offering and dwindling financial reserves, decides to make customer focus the rallying cry of its new strategy. This short case was designed as the discussion igniter for a series of short video... View Details
Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Finance; Management Teams; Service Operations; Customer Ownership; Strategy
Heskett, James L., and W. Earl Sasser. "Rackspace Hosting in Late 2000." Harvard Business School Case 808-166, June 2008.
- September 1996 (Revised September 1999)
- Case
Mobil USM&R (A): Linking the Balanced Scorecard
By: Robert S. Kaplan
The CEO of the marketing and refining division of a major oil company is in the midst of implementing a profit turnaround. He transforms the strongly centralized, functionally-organized division into 17 independent business units and 14 internal service companies. The... View Details
Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Measurement and Metrics; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Design; Balanced Scorecard; Corporate Strategy; Mining Industry; Energy Industry
Kaplan, Robert S. "Mobil USM&R (A): Linking the Balanced Scorecard." Harvard Business School Case 197-025, September 1996. (Revised September 1999.)
- November 2019 (Revised February 2020)
- Case
Starbucks: Reaffirming Commitment to the Third Place Ideal
By: Francesca Gino, Katherine B. Coffman and Jeff Huizinga
On April 12, 2018, two African American entrepreneurs had scheduled a business meeting at a Starbucks in Philadelphia’s Rittenhouse Square neighborhood. They sat without ordering, waiting for a local businessman to show up for the meeting. The store manager called 911... View Details
Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Values and Beliefs; Prejudice and Bias; Crisis Management; Employees; Training
Gino, Francesca, Katherine B. Coffman, and Jeff Huizinga. "Starbucks: Reaffirming Commitment to the Third Place Ideal." Harvard Business School Case 920-016, November 2019. (Revised February 2020.)
- 2018
- Book
Driving Digital Strategy: A Guide to Reimagining Your Business
By: Sunil Gupta
Disruption and transformation get a lot of hype and for good reason. Digital technologies have disrupted entire industries and incumbents have often struggled in this new world. Typical approaches used by legacy players such as using technology to improve efficiency,... View Details
Keywords: Marketing; Information Technology; Transformation; Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Value Creation; Customer Focus and Relationships; Organizational Structure; Digital Strategy
Gupta, Sunil. Driving Digital Strategy: A Guide to Reimagining Your Business. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press, 2018.
- September 2018
- Case
ProdEng: Services for Oil & Gas Extraction
By: Frank V. Cespedes, Maria Fernanda Miguel and Mariana Cal
ProdEng is a venture created as part of a PE fund and provides oil field services in Argentina. In 2016, an industry-wide unforeseen oil and gas demand slump drove ProdEng’s average service rates down by more than 37%, with EBITDA margins falling from 50% to 24% in the... View Details
Cespedes, Frank V., Maria Fernanda Miguel, and Mariana Cal. "ProdEng: Services for Oil & Gas Extraction." Harvard Business School Case 819-003, September 2018.
- September 2006 (Revised April 2007)
- Supplement
Tim Keller at Katzenbach Partners LLC (B)
By: Boris Groysberg, Christopher Marquis and Ayesha Kanji
Supplements the (A) case. The (B) case presents the final outcome of the events. Reveals how Keller is able to turn around perceptions about him and forge relationships with key decision makers. Includes reflections and lessons learned from all parties and Keller's... View Details
Keywords: Projects; Management; Leadership; Organizations; Situation or Environment; Competition; Rank and Position; Attitudes; Motivation and Incentives; Consulting Industry
Groysberg, Boris, Christopher Marquis, and Ayesha Kanji. "Tim Keller at Katzenbach Partners LLC (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 407-038, September 2006. (Revised April 2007.)
- September 2016
- Case
Financial Services at Falabella (A)
By: C. Fritz Foley and Agustin M. Hurtado
In 2010, the board and senior management team of Falabella, a leading retailer with operations throughout Latin America, faced choices about what to do with its financial services division. More than 4.5 million customers had CMR credit cards that could be used in... View Details
Keywords: Consumer Credit; Financial Institutions; Personal Finance; Financial Management; Financial Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Banking Industry; Retail Industry; Latin America; Chile; Argentina; Colombia; Peru
Foley, C. Fritz, and Agustin M. Hurtado. "Financial Services at Falabella (A)." Harvard Business School Case 217-016, September 2016.
- 2017
- Working Paper
Cellophane, the New Visuality, and the Creation of Self-Service Food Retailing
By: Ai Hisano
This working paper examines how innovations in transparent packaging, specifically cellophane in the mid-twentieth century United States, helped retailers create full self-service merchandising systems, including selling perishable food. While self-service stores began... View Details
Hisano, Ai. "Cellophane, the New Visuality, and the Creation of Self-Service Food Retailing." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 17-106, May 2017.
- Research Summary
The Ownership of Deep Metaphors
By: Gerald Zaltman
Deep metaphors are basic orienting structures of human thought. They guide in subtle and overt ways how customers and managers process information about any product, service, or activity and event. It is essential for a firm to understand deep metaphors as they are... View Details
- January 2003 (Revised May 2003)
- Case
VendQuest (A): The Business Idea
By: Dwight B. Crane and David Foster
A potential founder of a company is considering whether to start up a new enterprise that would link parts distributors with customers in the construction industries via the Internet. This case describes the industry and the potential advantages to distributors and... View Details
Keywords: Business Startups; Corporate Strategy; Business Model; Distribution; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Internet and the Web; Business Plan; Customer Relationship Management; Business Ventures; Construction Industry
Crane, Dwight B., and David Foster. "VendQuest (A): The Business Idea." Harvard Business School Case 203-065, January 2003. (Revised May 2003.)