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New research on competitive advantage from Harvard Business School faculty on issues including the economic damage caused by America's political dysfunction, the importance of a strong manufacturing sector, and how collaboration serves as a new and important source of competitive advantage.
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How EdTech Firm Coursera Is Incorporating GenAI into Its Products and Services

Re: Suraj Srinivasan

In early 2023, Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO of Coursera, started developing the EdTech firm’s strategy for incorporating GenAI into their offerings. By early 2024, the firm had made significant progress in bringing four key capabilities to market, but GenAI was evolving quickly and Coursera needed to continuously improve its offerings. While the firm had been an early mover, competitors were adapting fast. Was Coursera taking full advantage of the opportunities presented by the technology? What more could it do to remain competitive?

Why Great Ideas Get Stuck in Universities

by Ben Rand

Academic institutions incubate novel ideas and are important innovation partners for companies, but getting products out of universities and onto the market can be challenging. A study by Maria Roche and Justine Boudou illustrates how researchers might be getting in their own way.

How One Insurtech Firm Formulated a Strategy for Climate Change

Re: Lauren H. Cohen

The Insurtech firm Hippo was facing two big challenges related to climate change: major loss ratios and rate hikes. The company used technologically empowered services to create its competitive edge, along with providing smart home packages, targeting risk-friendly customers, and using data-driven pricing. But now CEO and president Rick McCathron needed to determine how the firm’s underwriting model could account for the effects of high-intensity weather events. Harvard Business School professor Lauren Cohen discusses how Hippo could adjust its strategy to survive a new era of unprecedented weather catastrophes in his case, “Hippo: Weathering the Storm of the Home Insurance Crisis.”

3 Ways to Gain a Competitive Advantage Now: Lessons from Amazon, Chipotle, and Facebook

by Michael Blanding

Remember the Sony Librie? Some people considered it superior to Amazon's Kindle, but it didn't end up the market leader. Rebecca Karp breaks down three methods that companies use to create more value than their rivals—an edge that can make all the difference.

The Limitations of Dynamic Capabilities

by David J. Collis and Bharat Anand

This paper explains the role dynamic capabilities play in competitive advantage, identifies the conditions that make them valuable by establishing their relationship to resources and market positioning, and describes two types and various levels of the phenomenon. Developing such capabilities is desirable, but there are limitations to their effectiveness.

If the Key to Business Success Is Focus, Why Does Amazon Work?

Re: Sunil Gupta

Sunil Gupta explores the infiltration of Amazon into dozens of industries including web services, grocery, and movie production. What’s the big plan? Is the company spread too thin? Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Everyone Knows Innovation is Essential to Business Success—Except Board Directors

by Michael Blanding

In a recent survey of 5,000 board members, innovation was not ranked high on their list of priorities. What are they not seeing? ask Boris Groysberg and Yo-Jud Cheng. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Supersmart Manufacturing Tools are Lowering Prices on TVs, Bulbs, and Solar Panels

by Sean Silverthorne

Electronics manufacturers are finding it increasingly difficult to stay ahead of low-cost competitors, says Willy Shih. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

In America, Immigrants Really Do Get the Job Done

by Michael Blanding

Far from being a drain on the US economy, William Kerr’s research finds immigrants are a driver of innovation and entrepreneurship. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Political Dysfunction Makes America Less Competitive

by Dina Gerdeman

The American economy is “failing the test of competitiveness," according to a new Harvard Business School study written by Michael E. Porter, Jan W. Rivkin, and Mihir A. Desai. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Is Leadership an Increasingly Difficult Balancing Act?

by James Heskett

Summing Up: Do we long for the days of the conventional authority figure? Jim Heskett sums up this month's column. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

Kodak: A Parable of American Competitiveness

by Dina Gerdeman

When American companies shift pieces of their operations overseas, they run the risk of moving the expertise, innovation, and new growth opportunities just out of their reach as well, explains HBS Professor Willy Shih, who served as president of Eastman Kodak's digital imaging business for several years. Key concepts include: Outsourcing ends up chipping away at America's "industrial commons"—the collective R&D, engineering, and manufacturing capabilities that are crucial to new product development. If the United States wants to keep from slipping any further in its ability to compete on the industrial stage, the government must increase its support of scientific research and collaborate with the business and academic world. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

The Death of the Global Manager

by Julia Hanna

The "global manager" was a coveted job description sought by many leaders for many years, but times have changed—now we are all global managers, says Harvard Business School professor emeritus Christopher A. Bartlett, coauthor of the classic business book Transnational Management. He reexamines the ever-changing nature of running multinational corporations while confirming that, six editions and 20 years later, some challenges remain the same. Key concepts include: Multinational corporations must pursue three core strategies to build layers of competitive advantage: exploit worldwide operations to build global scale efficiency; develop sensitivity and responsiveness to national differences; and leverage the world for information, knowledge, and expertise. The organizational capability of a company to rapidly develop and diffuse innovation is incredibly important but difficult to cultivate. The term "global manager" is a misnomer—we all operate in a global environment. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

What Loyalty? High-End Customers are First to Flee

by Julia Hanna

Companies offering top-drawer customer service might have a nasty surprise awaiting them when a new competitor comes to town. Their best customers might be the first to defect. Research by Harvard Business School's Ryan W. Buell, Dennis Campbell, and Frances X. Frei. Key concepts include: Companies that offer high levels of customer service can't expect too much loyalty if a new competitor offers even better service. High-end businesses must avoid complacency and continue to proactively increase relative service levels when they're faced with even the potential threat of increased service competition. Even though high-end customers can be fickle, a company that sustains a superior service position in its local market can attract and retain customers who are more valuable over time. Firms rated lower in service quality are more or less immune from the high-end challenger. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

Why Manufacturing Matters

by Roger Thompson

After decades of outsourcing, America's ability to innovate and create high-tech products essential for future prosperity is on the decline, argue professors Gary Pisano and Willy Shih. Is it too late to get it back? From HBS Alumni Bulletin. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

Innovation through Global Collaboration: A New Source of Competitive Advantage

by Alan MacCormack, Theodore Forbath, Peter Brooks & Patrick Kalaher

Collaboration is becoming a new and important source of competitive advantage. No longer is the creation and pursuit of new ideas the bastion of large, central R&D departments within vertically integrated organizations. Instead, innovations are increasingly brought to the market by networks of firms, selected according to their comparative advantages, and operating in a coordinated manner. This paper reports on a study of the strategies and practices used by firms that achieve greater success in terms of business value in their collaborative innovation efforts. Key concepts include: Consider the strategic role of collaboration, organize effectively for collaboration, and make long-term investments to develop collaborative capabilities. Successful firms found that attention to these 3 critical areas generated new options to create value that competitors could not replicate. Successful firms went beyond simple wage arbitrage, asking global partners to contribute knowledge and skills to projects, with a focus on improving their top line. They redesigned their organizations to increase the effectiveness of these efforts. Managing collaboration the same way a firm handles the outsourcing of production is a flawed approach. Production and innovation are fundamentally different activities and have different objectives. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

Your Customers: Use Them or Lose Them

by Martha Lagace

Companies can differentiate on service profitably, says HBS professor Frances X. Frei. Here's how a new-thinking bank, insurance provider, and software company are using customer power to win. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

Operations and the Competitive Edge

by Martha Lagace

Many managers expect operations organizations to fulfill only a support role. But an effective operations strategy can give you a competitive advantage. An interview with professor Robert Hayes. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

Strategy and the Internet

by Michael E. Porter

Don't throw the strategy baby out with the Internet bath water. In this Harvard Business Review article, HBS professor Michael E. Porter urges business planners not to lose focus on strategic development and competitive advantage, but to recognize the Internet for what it is: "an enabling technology." Closed for comment; 0 Comments.