Strategy

- July 2025
- Case
Mitsui & Co., Ltd.

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Akiko Saito

In 2025, Kenichi Hori, President and CEO of Mitsui & Co., Ltd.—one of Japan’s most prominent Sogo Shosha (investment and trading companies with sprawling global footprints)—reflected on the company’s record-breaking profits. Its operations spanned multiple industries—including energy, chemicals, healthcare, and infrastructure—and more than 80% of its profits were generated overseas. The company had evolved from a prewar industrial giant into a globally integrated investment and trading firm. Originally focused on commodity trading, Mitsui gradually shifted toward strategic investments across industries, owning or co-managing businesses across the value chain—from upstream production to downstream distribution. To support this transformation, it restructured its organization, encouraged cross-unit collaboration, and invested heavily in talent development. Since becoming CEO in 2021, Hori had overseen strong financial results and reaffirmed Mitsui’s standing as a global powerhouse. Yet he remained restless. Confronted with a sprawling and increasingly complex portfolio, he saw an urgent need to sharpen the firm’s strategic focus, deepen its presence in key markets, and position it for long-term growth. “Are we making the right choices to build the Mitsui of tomorrow,” Hori asked, “and what exactly should that Mitsui look like?”
- July 2025
- Case
Mitsui & Co., Ltd.

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Akiko Saito

In 2025, Kenichi Hori, President and CEO of Mitsui & Co., Ltd.—one of Japan’s most prominent Sogo Shosha (investment and trading companies with sprawling global footprints)—reflected on the company’s record-breaking profits. Its operations spanned multiple industries—including energy, chemicals, healthcare, and infrastructure—and more than 80% of...
- 2025
- Working Paper
The Extent and Drivers of Internal Agglomeration of U.S. Multi-Unit Firms

By: Juan Alcácer and Jasmina Chauvin

This paper examines the extent and determinants of internal agglomeration—the spatial clustering of establishments within firms. It introduces a novel methodology that benchmarks a firm’s spatial footprint against that of comparable stand-alone firms, yielding a firm-level measure of internal agglomeration. Applied across sectors of the U.S. economy, the approach reveals that internal agglomeration is widespread but varies by industry and firm characteristics. It is more prevalent in service, non-tradable, and labor-intensive industries, and is especially pronounced among diversified firms. Among potential drivers, labor similarity consistently predicts intra-firm colocation, while input-output and knowledge linkages are less influential. These findings bring a spatial lens to corporate strategy, showing that when key resources—particularly labor—face geographic frictions, colocating related activities enhances opportunities for sharing and redeployment.
- 2025
- Working Paper
The Extent and Drivers of Internal Agglomeration of U.S. Multi-Unit Firms

By: Juan Alcácer and Jasmina Chauvin

This paper examines the extent and determinants of internal agglomeration—the spatial clustering of establishments within firms. It introduces a novel methodology that benchmarks a firm’s spatial footprint against that of comparable stand-alone firms, yielding a firm-level measure of internal agglomeration. Applied across sectors of the U.S....
- June 2025
- Case
AI Wars in 2025

By: Andy Wu and Anna Yang

In June 2025, Google leaders in Mountain View, CA convened after its parent company Alphabet shed a quarter-trillion in market capitalization in a matter of months. The immediate spark—the quiet revelation that Google searches had dipped for the first time in 20 years—masked a deeper shift: hundreds of millions were now turning first to generative artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and upstart DeepSeek, asking questions that once flowed automatically to Google Search. After two decades of dominating search, Google’s mission to “organize the world’s information” was now in peril. The company now faced a future in which the world’s queries might bypass it altogether.
- June 2025
- Case
AI Wars in 2025

By: Andy Wu and Anna Yang

In June 2025, Google leaders in Mountain View, CA convened after its parent company Alphabet shed a quarter-trillion in market capitalization in a matter of months. The immediate spark—the quiet revelation that Google searches had dipped for the first time in 20 years—masked a deeper shift: hundreds of millions were now turning first to generative...

About the Unit

The Strategy unit studies firms as competitors in an economic landscape. Key issues include: the development and effectiveness of firm strategy at both a business and corporate level; the analysis of the competitive environment; and the sustainability of strategy over time.

Our research, course development, and teaching draws on multiple disciplines, including economics, sociology, and political science, and focuses on both domestic and global competition. The objective of the work is to generate findings and develop concepts that will help managers improve their strategic decisions while advancing the state of knowledge in the academic study of strategy and related disciplines.

Recent Publications

Mitsui & Co., Ltd.

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Akiko Saito

July 2025 |
Case |
Faculty Research

In 2025, Kenichi Hori, President and CEO of Mitsui & Co., Ltd.—one of Japan’s most prominent Sogo Shosha (investment and trading companies with sprawling global footprints)—reflected on the company’s record-breaking profits. Its operations spanned multiple industries—including energy, chemicals, healthcare, and infrastructure—and more than 80% of its profits were generated overseas. The company had evolved from a prewar industrial giant into a globally integrated investment and trading firm. Originally focused on commodity trading, Mitsui gradually shifted toward strategic investments across industries, owning or co-managing businesses across the value chain—from upstream production to downstream distribution. To support this transformation, it restructured its organization, encouraged cross-unit collaboration, and invested heavily in talent development. Since becoming CEO in 2021, Hori had overseen strong financial results and reaffirmed Mitsui’s standing as a global powerhouse. Yet he remained restless. Confronted with a sprawling and increasingly complex portfolio, he saw an urgent need to sharpen the firm’s strategic focus, deepen its presence in key markets, and position it for long-term growth. “Are we making the right choices to build the Mitsui of tomorrow,” Hori asked, “and what exactly should that Mitsui look like?”

Keywords: Strategy; Management; Operations; Organizations; Japan

Citation

Educators

The Extent and Drivers of Internal Agglomeration of U.S. Multi-Unit Firms

By: Juan Alcácer and Jasmina Chauvin

2025 |
Working Paper |
Faculty Research

This paper examines the extent and determinants of internal agglomeration—the spatial clustering of establishments within firms. It introduces a novel methodology that benchmarks a firm’s spatial footprint against that of comparable stand-alone firms, yielding a firm-level measure of internal agglomeration. Applied across sectors of the U.S. economy, the approach reveals that internal agglomeration is widespread but varies by industry and firm characteristics. It is more prevalent in service, non-tradable, and labor-intensive industries, and is especially pronounced among diversified firms. Among potential drivers, labor similarity consistently predicts intra-firm colocation, while input-output and knowledge linkages are less influential. These findings bring a spatial lens to corporate strategy, showing that when key resources—particularly labor—face geographic frictions, colocating related activities enhances opportunities for sharing and redeployment.

Keywords: Multi-unit Firms; Agglomeration; Spatial Organization; Economies Of Scope; Organizational Design; Diversification; Corporate Strategy; Business Units

Citation

Read Now

Supply and Demand for Strategists

By: Quan Le, Quan Le and Quan Le

July 2025 |
Module Note |
Faculty Research

This module note introduces students to the foundational microeconomic principles of supply and demand. It uses the example of an aluminum plant (specifically, production quantity and shutdown decisions) to discuss short-run vs. long-run decisions, marginal costs, sunk vs. non-sunk costs, and supply curves. It then turns to demand, analyzing buyer behavior through willingness-to-pay and the aggregation of individual preferences into market demand. The note brings these elements together to explain market equilibrium under perfect competition, then discusses reasons that real-world markets deviate from this model, including product and cost differentiation, barriers to entry and exit, and imperfect information.

Citation

Introduction to the RC Strategy Course, Fall 2025

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Jan Rivkin, Josh Baron, John Mulliken, Ashish Nanda, Henrique Castro-Pires, Carolyn Fu and Quan Le

July 2025 |
Course Overview Note |
Faculty Research

Citation

AI Wars in 2025

By: Andy Wu and Anna Yang

June 2025 |
Case |
Faculty Research

In June 2025, Google leaders in Mountain View, CA convened after its parent company Alphabet shed a quarter-trillion in market capitalization in a matter of months. The immediate spark—the quiet revelation that Google searches had dipped for the first time in 20 years—masked a deeper shift: hundreds of millions were now turning first to generative artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and upstart DeepSeek, asking questions that once flowed automatically to Google Search. After two decades of dominating search, Google’s mission to “organize the world’s information” was now in peril. The company now faced a future in which the world’s queries might bypass it altogether.

Citation

Educators