Publications

September 2000 (Revised January 2016)
Case

Netflix (2000)

By: E. Scott Mayfield

The CEO of a successful Internet start-up must decide whether to delay the company's initial public offering following a significant decline in the NASDAQ market during the spring of 2000. The company's CFO is asked to reevaluate the company's projected cash flow needs... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Contracts; Initial Public Offering; Cash Flow; Service Delivery; Financial Strategy; Web Services Industry

October 2003 (Revised February 2004)
Case

Dividend Policy at Linear Technology

By: Malcolm P. Baker and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

In 1992, Linear Technology, a designer and manufacturer of analog semiconductors, initiated a dividend. The firm increased its dividend by approximately $0.01 per share each year thereafter. In fiscal year 2002, Linear experienced its first significant drop in sales... View Details

Keywords: Financial Strategy; Investment Return; Financial Condition; Taxation; Initial Public Offering; Financial Management; Semiconductor Industry

February 2017 (Revised November 2021)
Case

Digitalization at Siemens

By: David J. Collis and Tonia Junker

The case discusses the digitalization strategy of Siemens AG, a German-based company operating in manufacturing and electronics. The increasing impact of digital technologies on all of its business units had prompted CEO Joe Kaeser and his team to put digitalization at... View Details

Keywords: Company Management; Digital Technologies; Corporate Strategy; Competition; Information Technology; Information Infrastructure; Manufacturing Industry; Electronics Industry

February 2020 (Revised April 2021)
Case

StockX: The Stock Market of Things

By: Chiara Farronato, John J. Horton, Annelena Lobb and Julia Kelley

Founded in 2015 by Dan Gilbert, Josh Luber, and Greg Schwartz, StockX was an online platform where users could buy and sell unworn luxury and limited-edition sneakers. Sneaker resale prices often fluctuated over time based on supply and demand, creating a robust... View Details

31 Oct 2023
Research & Ideas

Beyond the 'Business Case' in DEI: 6 Steps Toward Meaningful Change

disconnect between a company’s stated argument for diversity and the psychological reality of decision-making. “Your employees, future employees, customers and investors are watching.” As some CEOs weigh the future of their company’s DEI efforts amid recent legal... View Details

Keywords: by Katherine Hutt Scott and Barbara DeLollis

20 Nov 2017
Research & Ideas

How Independent Bookstores Have Thrived in Spite of Amazon.com

other local businesses, for example. The ABA also strengthened the collective identity of indie bookstores by helping its members share best practices, such as how to use social media to promote special events. Raffaelli plans to release a study that will View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel (with video by Amelia Kunhardt); Retail

08 Sep 2022
Book

Gen Xers and Millennials, It’s Time To Lead. Are You Ready?

Bill George boasts long and successful executive stints at Honeywell, Litton Industries, and Medtronic—plus, he coined the term “authentic leadership.” Now, he says he and his fellow Baby Boomers need to pass the torch to a new generation... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

November 2012
Teaching Note

Groupon (TN)

By: Sunil Gupta, Ray Weaver and Yien Hao Lock

On November 4, 2011, Groupon, a marketing services company that promoted local businesses by selling deeply discounted vouchers for their products and services, completed its initial public offering that valued the company at $17 billion. Within a year Groupon's share... View Details

Keywords: Social Networking; Media; Technology; Strategy; Business Growth and Maturation; Marketing Strategy; Marketing; Internet and the Web; Social Media; Retail Industry; Service Industry; Technology Industry; North America; United States

March 2011 (Revised August 2012)
Case

Groupon

By: Sunil Gupta, Ray Weaver and Dharmishta Rood

On November 4, 2011, Groupon, a marketing services company that promoted local businesses by selling deeply discounted vouchers for their products and services, completed its initial public offering that valued the company at $17 billion. Within a year Groupon's share... View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Customers; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development; Marketing Channels; Competitive Strategy; Value Creation

April 2006 (Revised September 2009)
Case

BYD Company, Ltd.

By: Robert S. Huckman and Alan D. MacCormack

Considers whether BYD Co., Ltd., the largest Chinese maker of rechargeable batteries, should enter the Chinese automobile industry by acquiring Qinchuan Auto, a state-owned car manufacturer. Set just after BYD's initial public offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Labor; Production; Competitive Advantage; Diversification; Auto Industry; Battery Industry; Manufacturing Industry; China

08 Sep 2014
Research & Ideas

The Strategic Way To Hire a Sales Team

candidate's task behaviors before a full-time offer is extended. After immersion in the job's requirements, the firm and candidate are in a better position to select. Procter & Gamble and Met-Life provide sales candidates, days before... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

07 Dec 2021
Op-Ed

Want to Build Better Leaders? Focus on Mindset, Skills, Knowledge

the Day, Harrison, and Halpin’s view of leader development, which argues that improving leaders’ knowledge, skill, and attitudes will increase their capacity. The pyramid shaped MSK Framework takes these principles a step further, View Details

Keywords: by Hise Gibson and Shawnette Rochelle

December 2012
Article

How Much Is Sweat Equity Worth?

By: Christopher Marquis and Joshua D. Margolis

The article presents a case study of a business decision related to the valuing of sweat equity in a start-up business. One man starts a premium vodka business, bringing in his cousin at an early stage, but with no initial discussion of the eventual split of equity or... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Ownership Stake; Business Startups

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14 Mar 2022
Research & Ideas

Lessons from COVID-19: The Business Skills Doctors Need

to begin with getting additional training in leadership skills, the paper offers a roadmap for what medical professionals might glean from the COVID pandemic. “There’s a thirst for this type of information among clinicians,” says Huckman.... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Health

January 2002
Case

Intrinsix: Managing Growth at an Electronic Design Service Company

By: H. Kent Bowen and Courtney Purrington

Intrinsix is a 15-year-old semiconductor design services company that wants to continue its growth and market reach and appears to be ready for an initial public offering (IPO). This case leads up to this strategic decision point by tracing the growth of Intrinsix from... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Initial Public Offering; Growth Management; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Management Style; Marketing Strategy; Problems and Challenges; Competitive Strategy; Electronics Industry

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February 2024 (Revised June 2024)
Case

Can Families Conquer Private Equity? Pritzker Private Capital

By: Lauren Cohen and Sophia Pan

Anthony (Tony) Pritkzer, Paul Carbone, and the Pritzker Private Capital (PPC) team wondered how to approach the firm’s next phase of growth. PPC was a private equity firm that offered a differentiated approach to the family capital market. Back in 2016, the partners... View Details

March 1996
Case

Ernst & Young United Kingdom (A) (Abridged)

By: John J. Gabarro and Samantha Graff

Intended to be a robust example of the challenges encountered during the early stages of a large-scale organizational transformation effort in a professional service firm. Describes a massive change program initiated and led by the new managing partner along with a... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Leading Change; Management Teams; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Restructuring; Problems and Challenges; United Kingdom; London

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2019
Working Paper

Does Public Ownership and Accountability Increase Diversity? Evidence from IPOs

By: Rembrand Koning and John-Paul Ferguson

Does public ownership improve employment diversity? Organizational researchers theorize that increased transparency to regulators and the public should lead firms to conform to legal and social norms—but that social closure and decoupling should preserve the status... View Details

Keywords: IPO; Initial Public Offering; Employees; Diversity; Gender; Race; Entrepreneurship; United States