Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(2,865)
- Faculty Publications (1,395)
- January 2015 (Revised May 2018)
- Case
$19B 4 txt app WhatsApp...omg!
By: David Collis, Ashley Hartman and Aakash Mehta
In February 2014, Facebook announced the acquisition of WhatsApp for $19 billion. WhatsApp, founded in 2009, was a relatively young company that employed only 50 people and earned merely $10 million in revenue in 2013. It was one of many mobile messaging services that... View Details
Keywords: WhatsApp; Facebook; Mobile Messaging; Social Network; Acquisitions; Value Added; Strategy Alignment; Monetization; Social Platforms; Technology; Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Acquisition; Communication Technology; Social and Collaborative Networks; Value Creation; Social Media; Applications and Software; Digital Platforms; Communications Industry; Information Technology Industry
- January 2015 (Revised July 2019)
- Case
Rebranding Godiva: The Yıldız Strategy
By: Rohit Deshpande and Esel Çekin
This case concerns Yıldız Holding’s acquisition of Godiva Chocolatier from its previous owner, Campbell Soup, and its salient strategy in preserving Godiva’s “made in Belgian” brand position. Provenance Paradox, a problem faced by companies in emerging countries trying... View Details
Keywords: Branding; Internationalization; Provenance Paradox; Acquisitions; Positioning; Innovation; Customer-centricity; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Emerging Markets; Product Positioning; Change Management; Innovation and Management; Customer Focus and Relationships; Food and Beverage Industry; North America; Turkey; Japan
- 2015
- Working Paper
Cashing Out: The Rise of M&A in Bankruptcy
By: Stuart Gilson, Edith Hotchkiss and Matthew Osborn
The use of M&A in bankruptcy has increased dramatically in recent years, leading to concerns that the Chapter 11 process has shifted toward excessive liquidation of viable firms. In this paper, we argue that the rise of M&A has blurred traditional distinctions between... View Details
Keywords: M＆A; Chapter 11; Distress; Bankruptcy; Mergers and Acquisitions; Insolvency and Bankruptcy
- January 2015
- Article
Competing with Privacy
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Andres Hervas-Drane
We analyze the implications of consumer privacy for competition in the marketplace. We consider a market where firms set prices and disclosure levels for consumer information, and consumers observe both before deciding which firm to patronize and how much information... View Details
- December 2014 (Revised April 2018)
- Case
Dalian Wanda Group: The AMC Entertainment Acquisition (A)
By: Willy Shih
When Dalian Wanda Group of China announced its plan to acquire the AMC Entertainment theatrical exhibition chain in the United States, many people in the U.S. were mystified. Unlike China where theatrical exhibition was experiencing rapid growth, the U.S. market was... View Details
Keywords: Dalian Wanda Group; AMC Entertainment; Wang Jianlin; Theater Entertainment; Film Entertainment; Acquisition; Mergers and Acquisitions; Foreign Direct Investment; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; China; United States
- December 2014 (Revised August 2024)
- Case
HomeAway: Organizing the Vacation Rental Industry
By: Rory McDonald, Feng Zhu and Cheng Gao
In less than 10 years, cofounders Brian Sharples and Carl Shepherd had transformed HomeAway from just another Internet startup into the world's leading vacation-rental marketplace—a global online platform that links customers seeking vacation-home rentals to the... View Details
- December 2014 (Revised May 2015)
- Case
Growth Hacking at Bazaart (A)
By: Jeffrey Bussgang and Matthew G. Preble
The four founding members of Bazaart—a young Israeli company whose sole product was its eponymous mobile application (app) which allowed users to create collages from photographs and other images—face an important strategic decision in June 2014. Since its founding... View Details
- December 2014 (Revised May 2015)
- Supplement
Growth Hacking at Bazaart (B)
By: Jeffrey Bussgang and Matthew G. Preble
"Growth Hacking at Bazaart (B)" provides a brief update of what has transpired at Bazaart since the timing of "Growth Hacking at Bazaart (A)". View Details
- December 2014 (Revised January 2018)
- Background Note
Troubled Marriages
By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Daniel Fox
Compilation of articles looking at merger integration strategies: "business marriages." Problems of culture, management style, and business goals are revealed. View Details
- 2014
- Other Teaching and Training Material
Marketing Reading: Customer Management
By: Sunil Gupta
This Reading on customer management sheds light on how companies should evaluate and manage their customers in order to grow profitably. Customer management allows marketing managers to inform investment decisions by drilling down into each customer's profitability or... View Details
- December 26, 2014
- Article
Mergers & Acquisitions: Before a Merger, Consider Company Cultures Along with Financials
By: David G. Fubini
Not everything can be accounted for on a spreadsheet. View Details
- December 2014
- Article
Private Equity, Jobs, and Productivity
By: Steven J. Davis, John Haltiwanger, Kyle Handley, Ron Jarmin, Josh Lerner and Javier Miranda
Private equity critics claim that leveraged buyouts bring huge job losses. To investigate this claim, we construct and analyze a new dataset that covers U.S. private equity transactions from 1980 to 2005. We track 3,200 target firms and their 150,000 establishments... View Details
- October 2014 (Revised April 2023)
- Case
Gilead: Hepatitis C Access Strategy (A)
By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Vikram Rangan and David E. Bloom
Gilead had come up with an innovative drug for Hepatitis C, which affected 180 million people worldwide. The drug was priced at $1,000 a pill for the US market. Gilead had to decide how to price and market the pill in developing countries that bore the brunt of the... View Details
- October 2014 (Revised May 2017)
- Teaching Note
Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A) & (B)
By: John A. Quelch
- October 2014 (Revised November 2016)
- Technical Note
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) vs. Customer Lifetime Return on Investment (CLROI)
By: Elie Ofek
This note presents two related measures for assessing the financial value of a customer to the firm. The first is the well-known measure of Customer Lifetime Value, or CLV for short. The second, which has received much less attention, treats the acquisition of a... View Details
- October 2014
- Article
Industrial Policy and the Creation of New Industries: Evidence from Brazil's Bioethanol Industry
By: Santiago Mingo and Tarun Khanna
Industrial policy programs are frequently used by governments to stimulate economic activity in particular sectors of the economy. This study explores how an industrial policy program can affect the creation and evolution of an industry and, ultimately, the long-term... View Details
- September 2014
- Supplement
Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (B)
By: John A. Quelch and James Weber
This (B) case provides a brief description of the outcome of the (A) case. View Details
- September 2014
- Case
Havas: Change Faster
By: Karim R. Lakhani and Michael L. Tushman
As of 2013, Havas was the 6th largest global advertising, digital, and communications group in the world. Headquartered in Paris, France, the group was highly decentralized, with semi-independent agencies in more than 100 countries offering a variety of services. The... View Details
- September 2014 (Revised February 2015)
- Case
Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A)
By: John A. Quelch and James Weber
In 2014, Pfizer proposed a friendly acquisition of AstraZeneca, but the AstraZeneca board resisted over price and strategy concerns. Was this good for pharmaceutical consumers? Pfizer, like pharmaceutical companies in general, faced difficulties in growing sales due to... View Details
- September 2014
- Case
Victors & Spoils: 'Born Open'
By: Karim R. Lakhani and Michael L. Tushman
Victors & Spoils (V&S), located in Boulder, Colorado, was the first advertising agency built on open innovation and crowdsourcing principles from the ground-up. V&S was co-founded in 2009 by John Winsor, Claudia Batten and Evan Fry, all former members of the... View Details