Publications

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19 Oct 2010
First Look

First Look: October 19, 2010

One explanation for these patterns is that U.S. firms are organized in a way that allows them to use new technologies more efficiently. A model of endogenously chosen organizational form and IT is developed... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Strategy Execution Series

The 15-module Strategy Execution series forms a complete course that teaches the latest techniques for using performance measurement and control systems to implement strategy. Module... View Details

March 1990 (Revised June 1991)
Case

IBM Corp.: ""Make It Your Business"" (A)

By: Robert L. Simons

In 1987, IBM changed its strategy in an attempt to become a market-driven company rather than a product-driven company. The case begins with a description of the new strategy and the reasons for the change and then describes the top-down sales planning and quota system... View Details

Keywords: Commercialization; Competitive Advantage; Business Strategy; Goals and Objectives; Strategic Planning; Motivation and Incentives; Sales; Volatility; System; Information Technology Industry

01 Jul 2010
News

Beyond Disengagement and Anger

23 Apr 2012
Research & Ideas

How to Brand a Next-Generation Product

people will be led to believe that there are massively new features in there, and you'll just lead them to disappointment." On the other hand, a brand sequencing approach can be tricky in a crowded marketplace where competitors are... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

15 Aug 2006
First Look

First Look: August 15, 2006

Working PapersOptimal Reserve Management and Sovereign Debt Authors:Laura Alfaro and Fabio Kanczuk Abstract Most models currently used to determine optimal foreign reserve holdings take the level of international debt as given. However,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

April 2009 (Revised November 2012)
Case

Sermo, Inc.

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Lars Peter Christian Nielsen

Sermo operates the leading online professional network for physicians in the United States. Doctors use Sermo free of charge to post surveys regarding diagnostic and treatment concerns and to discuss these concerns, as well as challenges with managing their practices.... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Knowledge Sharing; Two-Sided Platforms; Conflict and Resolution; Social and Collaborative Networks; United States

18 Nov 2014
First Look

First Look: November 18

television advertising influences online shopping. We construct a massive dataset spanning $3.4 billion in spending by 20 brands, including measures of brands' website traffic and transactions as well as ad content measures for 1,224 commercials. We View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2021
Article

Increasing the Level of Abstraction as a Strategy for Accelerating the Adoption of Complex Technologies

By: Willy C. Shih

Many new technologies are complex and embody high levels of technical sophistication, and applying them should require significant knowledge and experience. Yet, the rapid adoption and incorporation of these technologies into other innovations seems inconsistent with... View Details

Keywords: Abstraction; Technological And Scientific Innovation; Technological Progress; Diffusion Of Innovation; Technology Adoption; Technological Innovation; Complexity; Information Technology; Strategy

Tatiana Sandino is the Arthur Lowes Dickinson Professor of Business Administration in the Accounting and Management Unit, most recently teaching and undertaking the role of course head for the required first-year MBA course Financial Reporting and Control. She has... View Details

Keywords: retailing; service industry

June 2023
Case

Barton Malow: Building From the Top-Down

By: Hise O. Gibson and Alicia Dadlani

In 2023, Detroit-based Barton Malow completed the first high-rise building in the U.S. built from the top-down using LIFTbuild, a patented methodology that aimed to make construction safer and more efficient. By completing building work at ground level and then... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Innovation and Invention; Construction Industry

13 May 2019

Making History More Relevant, One Case At A Time

2012
Book

Uncommon Service: How to Win by Putting Customers at the Core of Your Business

By: Frances Frei and Anne Morriss

Most companies treat service as a low-priority business operation, keeping it out of the spotlight until a customer complains. Then service gets to make a brief appearance—for as long as it takes to calm the customer down and fix whatever foul-up jeopardized the... View Details

Keywords: Customers; Business Ventures

Find at Harvard

August 2017 (Revised September 2018)
Case

Accounting Turbulence at Boeing

By: Jonas Heese, Suraj Srinivasan, David Lane and James Barnett

Unlike its rival Airbus, Boeing had used a practice called program accounting to record its commercial aircraft expenses since the 1980s. Program accounting allowed Boeing to expense estimated average costs instead of the actual production costs of an aircraft. This... View Details

Keywords: Asset Recognition; Program Accounting; Airline Industry; Accounting; Production; Cost; Air Transportation Industry

6 PM – 7 PM EDT, 23 Sep 2021
Virtual Programming

Power, for All: How it Really Works and Why Its Everyones Business

Power is one of the most misunderstood--and therefore vilified--concepts in our society. But is it all bad? How could it be used by anyone no matter their wealth and status--for good? To find out, please join Harvard professor Julie Battilana and University of Toronto... View Details

2002
Other Unpublished Work

The Effect of Editorial Discretion Book Promotion on Sales at Amazon.com

By: Benjamin Edelman

A new dataset collected by the author allows estimation of the effect on book sales of promotional listing on Amazon's editorial discretion pages. Following Goolsbee and Chevalier (2001), sales quantities are inferred from sales rank data freely available on Amazon's... View Details

Keywords: Online Advertising; Sales; Marketing Strategy; Web Sites; Competition; Books

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January 2014
Case

In a Bind: Peak Sealing Technologies' Product Line Extension Dilemma

By: Robert J. Dolan and Heather Beckham

Peak Sealing Technologies (PST), a manufacturer of premium carton sealing tapes, stresses technological innovation as the company's core value. But when a new regional competitor introduces a less expensive and inferior product, PST is faced with a decision that could... View Details