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New research on business and management strategy from Harvard Business School faculty on issues including strategy development, execution, and gauging effectiveness.
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The Value of Intermediation in the Stock Market

by Marco Di Maggio, Mark Egan, and Francesco Franzoni

Despite the rise of alternative trading platforms, high-touch broker trading remains prominent in institutional equity markets. The authors analyze how fees, research, quality of execution, and information can help explain how execution decisions and preferences vary across investors.

Field-Level Paradox and the Co-Evolution of an Entrepreneurial Vision

by Ryan Raffaelli and Richard DeJordy

Swiss watchmaking embodies the classic strategic paradox created by the introduction of new technology: the choice between resisting and defending, or embracing and prospecting. This paper offers a model for how fields and organizational leaders experiencing similar paradoxes can adapt to environmental change while still preserving valuable aspects of their past success.

‘Organizing’, ‘Innovating’, and ‘Managing’ in Complexity Space

by Michael C. Moldoveanu

This paper explores organizational complexity by proposing a two-dimensional framework to help us understand organizational coping mechanisms and failure modes. The framework makes it possible to ask new questions about organizational adaptations to complexity that investigate its underlying structure and dynamics.

Does Facebook's Business Model Threaten Our Elections?

by George Riedel

America's 2016 presidential election was the target of voter manipulation via social media, particularly on Facebook. George Riedel thinks history is about to repeat itself. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

How to Be a Digital Platform Leader

by Martha Lagace

The most valuable companies in the world have one thing in common: all are leaders in the platform economy. In a new book, David Yoffie and colleagues identify key strategies and tactics for success on digital platforms. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Why Do User Communities Matter for Strategy?

by Sonali K. Shah and Frank Nagle

Communities of users are shaping the industrial landscape and contributing to the innovations we use every day. The effects of user communities on firms, industries, and society will continue to grow. This article discusses the relationship between user communities and firms to shed light on avenues for future research in business strategy.

Are Paywalls Saving Newspapers?

by Kristen Senz

Newspapers with reputable brands and unique content are finding success behind paywalls. For most papers, however, the future is not so clear, says Doug J. Chung. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

In the Platform Economy, Upwork Searches for Better Matches in the Cloud

Re: David B. Yoffie

Welcome to the Platform Economy, where business strategists must learn a new form of competition. David Yoffie and Michael Cusumano explain choices facing Upwork, which matches jobs with job hunters in the cloud. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Can Khan Academy Scale to Educate Anyone, Anywhere?

Khan Academy is an online global education nonprofit launched by Sal Khan with the audacious mission to “provide a free world-class education for anyone, anywhere.” Professor Bill Sahlman discusses his case study of the company. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

What Hospitals Must Learn to Compete

by Alumni Bulletin Staff

3QUESTIONS Why is it so difficult for American health care providers to compete for customers? Raffaella Sadun and Leemore Dafny discuss why health care needs a business strategy. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

The Comprehensive Effects of a Digital Paywall Sales Strategy

by Doug J. Chung, Ho Kim, and Reo Song

Many print media firms are switching to a business model requiring readers to pay for online content. This study of media paywall strategies in the US finds that adopting a digital paywall can lead to positive demand substitution from digital to print channels, particularly for large-sized firms and those with unique content.

US Antitrust Law and Policy in Historical Perspective

by Laura Phillips Sawyer

Since the late 19th century, American antitrust law and policy has responded to multiple changes: technological advances that have transformed business structures, political imperatives that have reformed regulations and informed prosecutorial discretion, and economic theories that have reshaped the boundaries of government interventions into the economy. Today, antitrust remains a contested field.

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; Comment(s) posted.

Consumer Inertia and Market Power

by Alexander MacKay and Marc Remer

Consumers are often more likely to buy a product if they have purchased it previously. This paper provides a means to estimate the magnitude of this phenomenon (i.e., consumer inertia) and shows how it affects the prices of firms in competitive settings. Perhaps surprisingly, greater consumer inertia can result in smaller price increases after a merger.

What Should the Leadership of YouTube Do?

by James Heskett

SUMMING UP Readers comment on how YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki should solve its “sustainability” versus "respectability" problem. What should YouTube do? asks James Heskett. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Government Technology Policy, Social Value, and National Competitiveness

by Frank Nagle

This study examines the impact of a French law requiring government agencies to favor open source software (OSS) over proprietary software in technology procurement processes. Results suggest a cost-effective policy lever that countries can use to both create global social value and increase their own national competitiveness.

The Ferrari Way

by Michael Blanding

Secretive sports car maker Ferrari opens up to Stefan Thomke about how it has bucked industry trends to achieve success. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Rocket-tunity: Can Private Firms Turn a Profit in Space?

by Scott Wallask

Private rocket companies are competing to be the first to send paying tourists into space, perhaps even this year. Matthew Weinzierl lays out the strategic roadmap to the stars. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

What’s Really Disrupting Business? It’s Not Technology

by Danielle Kost

Technology doesn't drive disruption—customers do. In a new book, marketing professor Thales Teixeira argues that successful disruptors are faster to spot and serve emerging customer needs than larger competitors. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

The IBM PC

by Carliss Y. Baldwin

The IBM PC was the first computer platform to be open by choice and not because of financial constraints. Initially, this openness kept IBM competitive. But IBM’s control over two strategic bottlenecks— standards embedded in the Basic Input Output System, and system integration and manufacturing of the computer itself—turned out to be weak.