Publications

June 2020
Supplement

Comcast Corporation (B)

By: Sunil Gupta, Henry McGee and Felix Oberholzer-Gee

The (B) case, set in the summer of 2020, highlights the concern of Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, as the streaming war intensifies. In a short period of time several new streaming services, such as Disney+, Apple TV+, Quibi, and HBO Max were launched and cable subscription... View Details

Keywords: Cable Television; Industry Evolution; Television Entertainment; Disruption; Business Model; Competitive Strategy; Media and Broadcasting Industry

July 2006 (Revised March 2010)
Case

Symantec vs. McAfee: Competing in the Consumer Anti-virus Industry

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Jordan Mitchell

Symantec and McAfee hold 53.6% and 18.8% respectively, of the anti-virus software market as of 2006. While the market is concentrated with five firms controlling over 90%, Microsoft is on the eve of releasing a consumer security subscription packed called OneCare Live.... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Market Entry and Exit; Competitive Strategy; Software; Information Technology Industry

June 2024
Teaching Note

Maven Clinic: Women's Health in the Digital Age

By: Ariel D. Stern and Sarah Mehta

Teaching note to accompany “Maven Clinic: Women’s Health in the Digital Age” (case no. 620-035) View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Health; Health Care and Treatment; Strategy; Health Industry; Technology Industry; United States; New York (city, NY)

01 Aug 2014
News

A closer look at the industry of beauty

The global beauty business is a $450 billion industry, yet it received little serious scholarly attention until Geoffrey G. Jones, the Isidor Straus Professor of Business History at HBS, published Beauty... View Details

02 Oct 2013
News

General Motors Takes a Look Under Tesla's Hood

Keywords: Tesla; Motor Vehicle and Parts Dealers; Retail Trade

25 Jul 2012
News

Movie Magic

swipe of a credit card. “Automated retail sounds better,” suggests Gregg Kaplan (MBA 1997). Recruited by McDonald’s to help start new businesses within the fast-food giant, in 2002 Kaplan oversaw the installation of six kiosks in... View Details

Keywords: vending machines; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Arts, Entertainment; General Merchandise Stores; Retail Trade

September 2011 (Revised August 2015)
Case

ScoreBig

By: William A. Sahlman, Jeffrey Glass and Evan W. Richardson

The founding team at ScoreBig, an event ticketing company, is on the verge of a public launch of their product. The company has made great progress in negotiating access to tickets, designing its interface, and building a proprietary architecture. For consumers,... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Business Startups; Business Strategy; Corporate Finance; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

25 Feb 2020
News

From Das’s Desk

reunion model in several ways. First, we are taking a page from the positive response to the Insights program introduced at last year’s reunions. These sessions feature faculty members and other speakers addressing 10 key topics that... View Details

Keywords: Das Narayandas

August 2011 (Revised November 2015)
Case

CFW Clinics in Kenya: To Profit or Not for Profit

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Katharine Lee

Ten years after having launched a chain of non-profit health clinics, its founder is now debating the merits of scaling the operation by converting to a for-profit enterprise. View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Business Model; Social Enterprise; Nonprofit Organizations; Transformation; For-Profit Firms; Health Industry; Kenya

01 Dec 2014
News

Ask the Expert: A Fair Share

learn how to support these sorts of shared business models? If you were the CEO of an insurance company, how would you address the conflicts between this model (splitting ownership and usage) and the... View Details

02 Mar 2023
News

Carbon's Second Act

market which is expected over the next 20 or 30 years. DM: And that business opportunity is vital, believes Brix. TB: Because if you don't have an economically sustainable business model, the environmentally... View Details

09 Mar 2016
Lessons from the Classroom

In This Classroom, Beer Can Improve Your Grade

In a large circular classroom called The Hives, Ramon Casadesus-Masanell is roaming the floors this week as he oversees the second running of Strategic Brew, a computerized business simulation designed for first-year MBA students at... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Education; Food & Beverage

January 2016 (Revised December 2016)
Case

Airbus versus Boeing (A)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell

Looks at the development of the competitive actions between Airbus and Boeing from 1992 to 2006. Begins with the question of whether Airbus and Boeing should collaborate on the development of a VLCT (Very Large Commercial Transport) or whether Airbus should develop... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Decision Choices and Conditions; Competition; Cooperation; Strategy; Air Transportation Industry

March 1998 (Revised March 2001)
Case

Concordia Electronic Systems Test

By: Thomas R. Piper

The management of an electronics company must decide whether to use a single hurdle rate for all projects or to move to a system of different hurdle rates for each of its two divisions. The divisions differ substantially in terms of risk and seem to have substantially... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Risk and Uncertainty; Cost of Capital; Valuation; Business Divisions; Electronics Industry

March 2001 (Revised July 2002)
Case

WingspanBank.com (B): Should This Bird Still Fly?

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Stacy McManus

WingspanBank.com is launched to critical acclaim, but its fate is hardly certain. Bank One's new CEO, Jamie Dimon, must decide what to do with what is now a second Web site for the bank's current and prospective customers. View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Startups; Customers; Innovation and Management; Organizations; Complexity; Web Sites; Financial Services Industry

Fall 2020
Article

Competing on Customer Outcomes

By: Marco Bertini and Oded Koenigsberg

Customers ultimately want to pay for meaningful outcomes, not the products and services that presumably deliver them. Today, companies can be increasingly accountable for those outcomes with three kinds of technologically-enhanced revenue models. Adopt one to better... View Details

Keywords: Market Positioning; Revenue Strategy; Customer Satisfaction; Marketing Strategy; Business Model; Value Creation

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July 2014 (Revised December 2016)
Case

EcoMotors International

By: John D. Macomber and Hermes Alvarez

Eco-Motors, funded in part by Khosla Ventures, has to decide how to go to market with a new technology for internal combustion engines for automotive and industrial use. The OPOC engine has opposed pistons and is a two-stroke engine, as compared to a more traditional... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Business Model; Customer Value and Value Chain; Engineering; Manufacturing Industry; Green Technology Industry; Auto Industry