Publications

June 1999 (Revised June 2000)
Case

Robert Mondavi: Competitive Strategy

By: Michael E. Porter and Gregory C Bond

Describes the competitive situation facing Robert Mondavi, the leading premium California winery. Mondavi has been an industry innovator and has recently taken steps to become more international. Mondavi has to cope with growing domestic competition as well as market... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Technological Innovation; Business or Company Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Industry Structures; Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Food and Beverage Industry; California; Australia; Chile

Educators

December 2023
Case

Robert McNamara: Changing the World

By: Robert Simons and Shirley Sun

This case traces the life of Robert McNamara from Harvard Business School to Ford Motor Company to the U.S. Department of Defense. McNamara excelled in every job along the way: becoming the youngest-ever professor at Harvard Business School, the first non-family... View Details

Keywords: Performance Measurement; Military; Leadership Development; Values and Beliefs; Personal Characteristics; Leadership Style; Success; Business and Government Relations; Power and Influence; Business Education; War

Educators

22 Nov 2010
Research & Ideas

Seven Strategy Questions: A Simple Approach for Better Execution

Business leaders can't develop and execute effective strategy without first gathering the right information, says Harvard Business School professor Robert Simons. In his new book, Seven Strategy Questions: A Simple Approach for Better... View Details

Keywords: by Robert Simons

2006
Book Review

Book Review of 'What Price the Moral High Ground? Ethical Dilemmas in Competitive Environments' by Robert Frank

By: Nien-he Hsieh

08 Aug 2005
Research & Ideas

A Balanced Scorecard Approach To Measure Customer Profitability

When the customer says "jump," they ask "how high?" They offer additional product features and services to their customers, but fail to receive prices that cover the costs for these additional features and services. How can companies avoid this... View Details

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan

09 Jan 2006
Research & Ideas

When Benchmarks Don’t Work

that internal support or shared services groups provide, such straight-across cost or numeric comparisons become meaningless. Today's successful support unit earns its keep by being a trusted partner to the business units it serves. So,... View Details

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan; Service

25 Jul 2005
Research & Ideas

An Organization Your Customers Understand

subordinate to the functions? Maybe you should organize by product, with separate units set up to serve specific markets. You play with the different combinations in your hands. How to decide ... This is the most obvious—and... View Details

Keywords: by Robert Simons

19 May 2003
Research & Ideas

Expensing Options Won’t Hurt High Tech

received for those options. Considering that the market systematically puts a higher value on options than employees do, companies are likely to end up with more cash from the sale of externally issued options (which carry with them no deadweight costs) than they would... View Details

Keywords: by Zvi Bodie, Robert S. Kaplan & Robert C. Merton

2016
Teaching Note

Advanced Leadership Pathways: Richard Fahey and Robert Saudek—Lighting Liberia

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, Tessa Natanay Hamilton and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

Teaching Note for Case 313-032. After successful careers as lawyers and Fellows in Harvard's Advanced Leadership Initiative, Richard Fahey and Robert Saudek set out to tackle a large-scale infrastructure challenge in a complex environment by ultimately using advanced... View Details

30 Oct 2005
Research & Ideas

Tuning Jobs to Fit Your Company

In a recent Harvard Business Review article, professor Robert Simons wrote about how organizations can design jobs for maximum performance. In this excerpt, Simons discusses what he terms the four basic "spans" of a job—control,... View Details

Keywords: by Robert Simons

17 Mar 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Conceptual Foundations of the Balanced Scorecard

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan

30 Aug 2004
Research & Ideas

Mapping Your Board’s Effectiveness

corporate strategy—create value by becoming known for better governance and greater transparency to external providers? Can they lower their cost of capital and perhaps get a valuation premium based on the reputation and performance of... View Details

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan

13 Aug 2014
Lessons from the Classroom

Managing the Family Business: Entrepreneurs Needed for Long-Run Success

generations of the family are supposed to take care of and grow the founder's creation; they are not expected to be entrepreneurs themselves. Even attempting to reinvent the family company can be seen as disloyal by the family. This... View Details

Keywords: by Michael J. Roberts

May 6, 2024
Book Review

Is That What You Really Think?: Book Review of "Third Millennium Thinking" by Saul Perlmutter, John Campbell and Robert MacCoun

By: Michael Luca

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Book Review

Book Review of International Big Business, 1957-67: A Study of Comparative Growth, edited by Robert Rowthorn and Stephen Hymer

By: Louis T Wells Jr

Keywords: Business History; Growth and Development

29 Sep 2008
Research & Ideas

Financial Crisis Caution Urged by Faculty Panel

the importance of risk management and oversight. Robert C. Merton, the John and Natty McArthur University Professor, similarly expressed concern about the unintended consequences of change on Wall Street, closing with the assertion that... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Financial Services

2012
Case

Advanced Leadership Pathways: Richard Fahey and Robert Saudek (A): Lighting Liberia

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Anne Arlinghaus

After successful careers as lawyers Richard Fahey and Robert Saudek set out to tackle a large-scale infrastructure challenge in a complex environment by increasing Liberian citizens’ access to lighting solutions. They developed the Liberian Energy Network, which aimed... View Details