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The Danger of Vaccine Nationalism
Global Business Digital ArticleCountries must deploy a coordinated strategy based on science, not politics. -
The Risky Business of Diversification
Innovation Magazine ArticleOn the basis of a sample from the top 200 of the Fortune “500” and data from the PIMS (Profit Impact of Market Strategies) project, this author gives some guidelines for established companies on what to expect from new ventures. He points out that it takes an average of 10 to 12 years before the […] -
Lessons from Toyota’s Long Drive
Strategy Magazine ArticleAs Toyota becomes the world’s biggest automaker, the company finds its much-heralded ways of managing for the long term to be more important—and under greater pressure—than ever before. -
Look to Consumers to Increase Productivity
Personal productivity Magazine ArticleWhen productivity is a problem in manufacturing, managers turn to the R&D department or operations for help. In services, however, especially ones where there is a lot of contact with the customer, such in-house groups cannot by themselves improve productivity. Because services involve the customer in production, are labor intensive, and are time-bound, consumer behavior […] -
How Smart, Connected Products Are Transforming Competition
Technology and analytics Magazine ArticleInformation technology is revolutionizing products. Once composed solely of mechanical and electrical parts, products have become complex systems that combine hardware, sensors, data storage, microprocessors, software, and connectivity in myriad ways. These “smart, connected products”—made possible by vast improvements in processing power and device miniaturization and by the network benefits of ubiquitous wireless connectivity—have unleashed […] -
A/B Testing and the Benefits of an Experimentation Culture
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Digital ArticleWhat happens when all ideas are suddenly on equal footing. -
Why Innovation Labs Fail, and How to Ensure Yours Doesn’t
Incubators Digital ArticleSetting up a research hub is easy. Setting it up to succeed is harder. -
What's Your Best Innovation Bet?
Strategy & Execution Magazine ArticleWhether you make cars or mattresses, operate a hospital or a grocery store, or are in some other business, successful innovation depends on understanding... -
What You’re Getting Wrong About Customer Journeys
Marketing Magazine ArticleThey shouldn’t always be effortless or predictable. -
It’s Time to Stop Treating R&D as a Discretionary Expenditure
Innovation Digital ArticleFor digital companies, it’s an essential part of operations. -
The Reasons We Buy (and Eat) Too Much Food
Global Business Digital ArticleResearch shows it's all downhill after the first bite. -
Holding Fast
Mergers and acquisitions Magazine ArticleCrescordia’s products are respected the world over. Now, rivals have launched a radical—albeit still buggy—new technology. Can the company afford to sit out the revolution? -
Intuit’s CEO on Building a Design-Driven Company
Design thinking Magazine ArticleTimothy Archibald When Scott Cook cofounded Intuit, in 1983, many other companies were already offering software to help people track their finances. In fact, at least 46 similar products launched before Quicken, the product Cook created, which is why we sometimes joke about how instead of having the first-mover advantage, Intuit had the “47th mover […] -
It's Not Just the Birds Who Might Get Angry
Strategy & Execution Digital Article"What level are you on?" a woman asked me on the train to New York. "I'm on level 12. I just can't get past it. I'm thinking of giving up." "Try pressing... -
When Licensing New Tech Is Better Than Building It In-House
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Digital ArticleR&D isn't always the answer. -
The Power of Product Integrity
Product development Magazine ArticleSome companies consistently develop products that succeed with customers. Other companies often fall short. What differentiates them is integrity. Every product reflects the organization and the development process that created it. Companies that consistently develop successful products—products with integrity—are themselves coherent and integrated. Moreover, this coherence is distinguishable not just at the level of structure […] -
Marketing Performance—What Do You Expect?
Project management Magazine ArticleA good plot, good friends, and full of expectation; an excellent plot, very good friends. Shakespeare, King Henry IV, Part I Special Report When trying to assess performance, there is no business function top executives worry about more than marketing. Most of them look at the marketers in their companies as something between vacuum-cleaner salespeople […] -
Innovation Lessons Found Between Martha's Vineyard and Singapore
Innovation & Leadership Digital ArticleIt started at 4:30 a.m., Eastern Standard Time, last Saturday. The cell phone on my nightstand started ringing with a 336 area code. It was US Airways.... -
American Idol, Open Source, and the Million-Dollar Idea Inside You
Managing yourself Digital ArticleMaybe it’s the ongoing popularity of American Idol. Or perhaps it’s the tale of Paul Potts, who went from mobile-phone salesman to global celebrity with his victory on Britain’s Got Talent. Whatever the reason, more and more people believe that they too possess some “hidden genius” — a flair for design, a knack for writing, […] -
Design Secrets of the iPhone and BlackBerry
Product development Digital ArticleWhy is it that we can get into a rental car and know what 43 out of the 45 buttons do, but we can’t figure out how to use call forwarding on the 12-button phone that has been sitting on our desk for 10 years? This wonderful question was raised many years ago by Donald […]
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Yahoo: Both Sides of the Stamped Deal
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study11.95View Details In 2012, Marissa Mayer became the CEO of Yahoo!, a tech giant with a tumultuous past. When Mayer tries to reinvigorate the company, she hires Jacqueline... -
Caterpillar: Working to Establish "One Voice"
Communication Case Study11.95View Details Discusses moving beyond corporate identity and branding as graphic design to the principle of Voice, defined as an organization's profile that emerges... -
Leader-as-Architect: Alignment
Leadership & Managing People Case Study8.95View Details Part of a leader's job is to equip the organization to transform inputs into outputs by defining organizational strategy, shaping organizational identity,... -
OSI in China
Strategy & Execution Case Study11.95View Details OSI, one of the world's largest suppliers of processed meats to McDonald's and other QSRs, was in the middle of a $400M expansion in China that included... -
The Product Manager
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study8.95View Details Describes the role of product manager (PM) in technology companies, detailing: 1) PMs' responsibilities; 2) different ways to organize the product management... -
BMW: The 7-Series Project (B)
Technology & Operations Case Study5.00View Details Describes the decision made on the 7-Series project with respect to prototyping and its impact on quality. -
Direvo Biotech AG
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study11.95View Details Describes the financing and growth decisions facing Direvo, a young German biotech firm with a customer/partner that wants to become an investor. Also... -
Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.: Target Costing System
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details Describes Nissan's sophisticated target costing system in the context of new product introduction. On the basis of consumer analysis and a life cycle... -
Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy, Epilogue
Sales & Marketing Case Study5.00View Details Supplements the case. -
Design Strategy at Samsung Electronics: Becoming a Top-Tier Company
Strategy & Execution Case Study11.95View Details Samsung Electronics, a successful global company based in South Korea, aspires to "Tier One" status among its competitors through mastering the less tangible,... -
Acer America: Development of the Aspire
Leadership & Managing People Case Study11.95View Details Follows the development, national launch, and global rollout of the Aspire, Acer's first new product developed outside of Taiwan. Implementing a very... -
Nivea (A)
Technology & Operations Case Study11.95View Details The case describes the efforts of Beiersdorf, a worldwide leader in the cosmetics and skin care industries, to generate and commercialize new R&D through... -
Maestro Pizza (D): This Means War
Strategy & Execution Case Study5.00View Details Maestro pizza opened its first store in 2013 after its founder, Khalid Al Omran, recognized an opportunity in Saudi Arabia to offer high quality pizza... -
Katja's Danish Bread: Exercises in Price, Demand, Cost, and Capacity
Sales & Marketing Case Study8.95View Details Through this series of increasingly more sophisticated exercises authored by Aradhna Krishna, students gain a deep understanding of the strong connection... -
Activision: The 'Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer' Project
Technology & Operations Case Study11.95View Details Mike Ward, the producer in charge of developing the Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer game for Activision, must decide whether to launch the game in time for... -
Emotiv Systems, Inc.: It's the Thoughts that Count
Sales & Marketing Case Study11.95View Details Emotiv is getting ready to launch its innovative brain-computer interfacing (BCI) technology. The company has developed a special headset, called EPOC,... -
Marketing Input and Innovation Strategy
Sales & Marketing Case Study8.95View Details This note develops a framework for considering the challenges of incorporating marketing input when setting innovation strategy. The framework lays out... -
Idea Generation and Selection
Technology & Operations Case Study8.95View Details This exercise teaches participants how to generate ideas and brainstorm and helps to remove the perception that idea generation is a process that only... -
Wyeth Pharmaceuticals: Spurring Scientific Creativity with Metrics
Technology & Operations Case Study11.95View Details Describes the reorganization of the drug discovery organization at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and focuses on the decisions to: (1) centralize decision-making... -
Time Distribution and Interaction Patterns for PEARL Project Team: Work Patterns at Ditto (D)
Organizational Development Case Study8.95View Details Provides data to enable students to analyze how software engineers spend their time. A rewritten version of an earlier case.
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The Danger of Vaccine Nationalism
Global Business Digital ArticleCountries must deploy a coordinated strategy based on science, not politics. -
The Risky Business of Diversification
Innovation Magazine ArticleOn the basis of a sample from the top 200 of the Fortune “500” and data from the PIMS (Profit Impact of Market Strategies) project, this author gives some guidelines for established companies on what to expect from new ventures. He points out that it takes an average of 10 to 12 years before the […] -
Yahoo: Both Sides of the Stamped Deal
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study11.95View Details In 2012, Marissa Mayer became the CEO of Yahoo!, a tech giant with a tumultuous past. When Mayer tries to reinvigorate the company, she hires Jacqueline... -
Caterpillar: Working to Establish "One Voice"
Communication Case Study11.95View Details Discusses moving beyond corporate identity and branding as graphic design to the principle of Voice, defined as an organization's profile that emerges... -
Lessons from Toyota’s Long Drive
Strategy Magazine ArticleAs Toyota becomes the world’s biggest automaker, the company finds its much-heralded ways of managing for the long term to be more important—and under greater pressure—than ever before. -
Leader-as-Architect: Alignment
Leadership & Managing People Case Study8.95View Details Part of a leader's job is to equip the organization to transform inputs into outputs by defining organizational strategy, shaping organizational identity,... -
Look to Consumers to Increase Productivity
Personal productivity Magazine ArticleWhen productivity is a problem in manufacturing, managers turn to the R&D department or operations for help. In services, however, especially ones where there is a lot of contact with the customer, such in-house groups cannot by themselves improve productivity. Because services involve the customer in production, are labor intensive, and are time-bound, consumer behavior […] -
How Smart, Connected Products Are Transforming Competition
Technology and analytics Magazine ArticleInformation technology is revolutionizing products. Once composed solely of mechanical and electrical parts, products have become complex systems that combine hardware, sensors, data storage, microprocessors, software, and connectivity in myriad ways. These “smart, connected products”—made possible by vast improvements in processing power and device miniaturization and by the network benefits of ubiquitous wireless connectivity—have unleashed […] -
A/B Testing and the Benefits of an Experimentation Culture
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Digital ArticleWhat happens when all ideas are suddenly on equal footing. -
OSI in China
Strategy & Execution Case Study11.95View Details OSI, one of the world's largest suppliers of processed meats to McDonald's and other QSRs, was in the middle of a $400M expansion in China that included...