HBR On Strategy

Free products and services are everywhere – from buy-one-get-one-free offers to free office software like Canva and Google docs, and, yes, this very podcast. If your revenue strategy does not include give aways, these free goods and services can put extra pressure on your business. How can you compete? Brigham Young University professor of strategy David Bryce studied give-away strategies across 26 different product markets. He says that companies make two key mistakes when they try to compete with a free entrant: responding too quicky with their own free offering or not responding at all. “Really, the challenge becomes how do established companies think about their own systems in ways that make those systems not become obstacles to launching free but really become facilitators,” he explains. In this episode, you’ll learn which key factors to consider as you decide how to compete with a free entrant. You’ll also learn how to refine your own product mix and consider which of your customers to target with free products. Key episode topics include: strategy, competitive strategy, giveaways, rebates, third-party pay, bundles, advertising revenue, growth, customers.  HBR On Strategy curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock new ways of doing business. New episodes every week. Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: When Competitors Give Away the Store (2011) Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

In the start-up world, when is it possible to grow too fast? Harvard Business School professor Tom Eisenmann and entrepreneur Lindsey Hyde discuss what led to the failure of Hyde’s pet care start-up, Baroo. “Initially, we had set the expectation that this would be a slow growth company,” Hyde tells Cold Call host Brian Kenny. “I think a lot of it is about how the founder manages their own expectations and their own vision for the company.” They also discuss why it’s important for start-ups to tailor their products and services to a wide variety of customers in order to plan growth more accurately. Key episode topics include: growth strategy, venture capital, product-market fit, customer-centricity, market research, business planning, start-ups, entrepreneurship, pet care, long-term growth. HBR On Strategy curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock new ways of doing business. New episodes every week. Listen to the original HBR Cold Call episode: Why Did Pet Concierge Startup Baroo Fail? (August 2021) Find more episodes of Cold Call Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

What role does timing play in strategic thinking — for an organization’s growth, but also for you and your career? New York Times best-selling author Daniel Pink says it can play a big part in how successful your strategy will be. “I think people underestimate timing,” he tells Dear HBR hosts Alison Beard and Dan McGinn. “We’re very intentional in our lives about what we do. But when it comes to when we do things, we don’t take it seriously enough. We’re not intentional. And it has a material effect at very many levels of peoples’ work lives.” In this episode, taped live in Washington, D.C., Pink discusses what to do when your company is slow to seize a market opportunity or the right career opportunity arrives at the wrong time. Whether an opportunity is for your company, your team, or your own career, timing really is everything. Key episode topics include: career planning, decision making and problem solving, psychology, timing, merger, enterprise software, start-ups, when to quit. HBR On Strategy curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock new ways of doing business. New episodes every week. Listen to the original Dear HBR episode: Perfect Timing (Live) (Nov 2019) Find more episodes of Dear HBR Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

To plan for the future, businesses usually look to their past. But what if your company is in uncharted territory? Columbia Business School professor Rita McGrath has a different idea: Design experiments to test your assumptions using “discovery-driven growth.” “The measurement and rewards systems in most companies are antithetical to the kinds of things you need to do to learn. They place a premium on being right. They place a premium on meeting your goals. They place a premium on having lots of facts,” she tells IdeaCast guest host Paul Michelman. “The reality is by the time you have facts, your opportunity for strategic action is very limited.” Key episode topics include: innovation, discovery-driven growth, business planning, new markets, uncertainty, new ventures, business development, learning, experimentation, and gathering insights. HBR On Strategy curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock new ways of doing business. New episodes every week. Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Use Failure to Grow Your Business (April 2009) Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

Since Amazon started as an online retailer in 1994, it has expanded into streaming, cloud computing, content creation, and even groceries. But traditional business strategy tells us that the key to success is focus. So, why does Amazon work? “I think in Amazon’s case, everything is very tightly connected. If you remove one part, the whole becomes less,” says Harvard Business School professor Sunil Gupta. “That’s the key question: are the pieces fitting together nicely, or they just happen to be another business because it’s profitable?” Gupta has studied Amazon’s growth strategy and he tells Cold Call host Brian Kenny how Amazon looks beyond traditional industry boundaries to define their competitors and why connecting products and services with their customers is at the core of their strategy. Key episode topics include: business models, growth strategy, operations and supply chain management, innovation, technology and analytics, online retail, customer-centricity, customer experience, competitive strategy.  HBR On Strategy curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock new ways of doing business. New episodes every week. Listen to the original HBR Cold Call episode: If the Key to Business Success Is Focus, Why Does Amazon Work? (May 2019) Find more episodes of Cold Call. Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

Imagine you’re trying to solve a problem, but none of your options are all that great. You could just walk away. Or you could try to take the best from two inadequate options to reach a solution. “Integrative thinking is this idea of leveraging the tension of opposing ideas to create a great answer that we can achieve consensus around,” says Jennifer Riel, who teaches at the Rotman School of Management in Toronto. She gives examples from the film industry to show how CEOs have put the process to work. Riel is also the chief strategy officer at IDEO and the coauthor, along with Roger Martin, of the book Creating Great Choices: A Leader’s Guide to Integrative Thinking. Key episode topics include: strategy formulation, decision making, problem solving, integrative thinking, negotiation, tradeoffs, hard choices, modeling, creativity, film industry. HBR On Strategy curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock new ways of doing business. New episodes every week. Listen to the full HBR IdeaCast episode: Transcending Either-Or Decision Making (Sept 2017). Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast. Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

How can global businesses best account for local conditions as they grow? Harvard Business School assistant professor Alexander MacKay studied Uber’s strategies as it entered new markets around the world. He wanted to understand how global businesses can scale fast and survive for the long run. He tells Cold Call host Brian Kenny that Uber adjusted its strategies to meet the specific challenges posed by competitors and regulators in six global markets: New York, Bogota, Delhi, Shanghai, Accra, and London. Key episode topics include: competitive strategy, global strategy, government policy, regulation, disruptive innovation, new markets, transportation, competition policy, ridesharing, growth strategy, technology, ethics, antitrust. HBR On Strategy curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock new ways of doing business. New episodes every week. Listen to the original HBR Cold Call episode: Uber’s Strategy for Global Success (Dec 2020) Find more episodes of Cold Call Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

The theory of disruptive innovation, first introduced in a 1995 HBR article, endures as a way to make a complicated and expensive product simpler and more affordable. Think about how Netflix disrupted video rental stores with video streaming. But the originator of disruptive innovation, the late Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen, argued that disruptive innovation isn’t just about simplifying technology — it also requires a new business model to deliver the solution cost-effectively. “If you’re actually trying to create a new business model because the world is changing on you, then you don’t want to leverage what’s already in place,” he told IdeaCast guest host Sarah Cliffe in 2008. “The reason why entrant companies so readily beat the incumbents is [that they don’t] have anything that exists that they are tempted to leverage, and so they just create what needs to be created.” The episode also explains why it’s important to build a disruptive business model that avoids falling into the trap of marginal costs, which can be the difference between success or failure. Key episode topics include: innovation, disruptive innovation, business models, technology, value proposition, marginal costs, new products, incumbents, new entrants, computer industry, IBM. HBR On Strategy curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock new ways of doing business. New episodes every week. Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Reinventing Your Business Model (Nov 2008). Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast. Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

Quitting is often associated with failure — whether it’s a project, job, career, or company. But Annie Duke, an author and former professional poker champion, argues that quitting can sometimes be a strategic success. “Grit is great. Sometimes you see something that other people don’t see,” she tells IdeaCast host Alison Beard. “But sometimes when the world is yelling at you to stop and you ignore them, that’s no longer a virtue. Then it’s folly.” Key episode topics include: risk management, decision making, problem solving, prioritizing,  when to quit, strategic thinking, career planning, business modeling, innovation. HBR On Strategy curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock new ways of doing business. New episodes every week. Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Grit Is Good. Quitting Can Be, Too. (Nov 2022). Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast. Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

Blue ocean strategy is a landmark business idea – first introduced in 2004 in an HBR article. But its co-creator Renée Mauborgne, a professor of strategy and management at INSEAD, tells IdeaCast host Sarah Green Carmichael that it’s not a guaranteed win. “What we’ve found is that managers’ existing mental models, the assumptions about what works in competing in existing industry space — they often apply to their efforts to create new markets. And that creates the failure,” Mauborgne explains. They discuss what specifically can go wrong when you try to implement blue ocean strategy, including the common traps managers fall into. And why it’s so important to know who your non-customers are and include them in your market research. Key topics include: blue ocean strategy, competitive strategy, growth strategy, and innovation, Ralph Lauren, Salesforce, product and service design, making your own market, innovation, sector growth, and strategy canvas. HBR On Strategy curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock new ways of doing business. New episodes every week. Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Blue Ocean Strategy and Red Ocean Traps (March 2015) Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast. Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.