Publications
Publications
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(118,362)
- Faculty Publications (232)
- June 2016
- Teaching Note
$19B 4 txt app WhatsApp...omg!
By: David J. Collis
Teaching note for HBS No. 715-441 on Facebook's $22 billion acquisition of WhatsApp. View Details
- March 2016 (Revised August 2018)
- Case
JPMorgan Chase after the Financial Crisis: What Is the Optimal Scope of the Largest Bank in the U.S.?
By: David Collis and Ashley Hartman
When Jamie Dimon took over as CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPMorgan Chase) in 2005, he reaffirmed the commitment to pursue a "universal bank" strategy—providing a full range of products and services to both retail and wholesale clients. Yet the merits of the universal... View Details
- Article
Lean Strategy
By: David Collis
Strategy and entrepreneurship are often seen as polar opposites. Yet the two desperately need each other: strategy without entrepreneurship is central planning; entrepreneurship without strategy leads to chaos. The two approaches can be reconciled through the Lean... View Details
- August 2015 (Revised September 2015)
- Case
Shareholder Activists and Corporate Strategy
By: David Collis and Ashley Hartman
By 2015, there had been an upsurge in activist shareholders arguing for radical changes in companies' corporate strategies. Personalities like Carl Icahn, Bill Ackman, and Daniel Loeb were feared and loathed in some quarters, celebrated in others. With nearly $120... View Details
Keywords: Scope; Activist Investors; Spin-offs; Synergy; Diversification; Consolidation; Hedge Fund; Corporate Strategy
- 2015
- Article
The Corporate Headquarters in the Contemporary Corporation: Advancing a Multimarket Firm Perspective
By: Markus Menz, Sven Kunisch and David J. Collis
The corporate headquarters (CHQ) is the central organizational unit in the contemporary corporation and is critical for value creation in the overall firm. Since the early 1960s, a significant body of research on the CHQ has evolved along two separate but related... View Details
- 2015
- Chapter
The Value of Breadth and the Importance of Differences
By: David J. Collis
Honoring Pankaj Ghemawat's receipt of an Academy of Management award, this chapter examines his contribution to the global strategy field. It notes the continuing importance of country differences to international strategy and how geographic scope contributes to... View Details
- April 2015 (Revised June 2016)
- Case
The Transformation of NCR
By: David Collis, Raffaella Sadun and Matthew Shaffer
During his tenure as CEO since 2005, Bill Nuti had moved NCR Corporation (originally National Cash Register) from its historical competence in hardware to become a provider of hardware and software for managing transactions across a range of industries and payments... View Details
- March 2015 (Revised April 2015)
- Case
The Heat Is On: Emerging Ecosystems in the Thermostat Industry
By: David Collis and Ashley Hartman
Beth Wozniak, President of Honeywell Environmental and Combustion Controls (ECC) at Honeywell International Inc., spun around in her office chair, reflecting about how the classic, mature thermostat industry was rapidly evolving. In February 2014, Google paid $3.2... View Details
Keywords: Honeywell; Thermostats; Internet Of Things; Smart Thermostats; Google; Nest; Apple; HomeKit; SmartThings; Partnerships; Platforms And Ecosystems; Linkages; Communication Protocols; Strategy; Technology; Home Automation; Connected Home; Buildings and Facilities; Energy; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Internet and the Web; Digital Platforms; Partners and Partnerships; Manufacturing Industry; Industrial Products Industry; Energy Industry; Electronics Industry; Consumer Products Industry
- February 2015 (Revised June 2017)
- Case
Intrapreneurship at DaVita HealthCare Partners
By: Joseph B. Fuller, David J. Collis and Matthew G. Preble
Josh Golomb, president and general manager of DaVita Rx (Rx), was about to meet with Kent Thiry, CEO of Rx's corporate parent, DaVita Healthcare Partners Inc. (DaVita), in August 2013. The two would discuss whether Golomb should lead a new DaVita venture, Paladina... View Details
- 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 October 2018)
- Case
Nasty Gals Do It Better
By: David Collis, Diane Chang, Matthew Shaffer and Ashley Hartman
In 2006, Sophia Amoruso started Nasty Gal, an eBay boutique selling vintage clothes. With a strong sense of style and personality, Amoruso poured herself into building the brand and developing relationships with her customers—typically the slightly edgy 18–24 year old.... View Details
Keywords: Business Growth; Brand Management; Online Retail; Clothing; Apparel; Expansion; Growth and Development Strategy; Brands and Branding; Management; Marketing Strategy; Strategic Planning; Social Media; E-commerce; Digital Marketing; Retail Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States
- December 2014 (Revised February 2016)
- Case
Group Functions at the Maersk Group
By: David Collis and Matthew Shaffer
In 2014, seven years after he was appointed CEO of the Danish shipping and oil conglomerate A.P. Møller Maersk (the Maersk Group), Nils Andersen was reexamining the size and role of corporate headquarters in the company he had reshaped as a "premium conglomerate."... View Details
- 2014
- Book
International Strategy: Context, Concepts and Implications
By: David J. Collis
This book is designed for every student who will be involved in managing and advising companies that compete internationally or face international competitors. Designed around the course at Harvard Business School, Collis' new text takes the firm that operates across... View Details
Keywords: Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Global Strategy; Globalized Economies and Regions; Globalized Firms and Management; Multinational Firms and Management; Globalized Markets and Industries; Alignment; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Corporate Strategy; Diversification; Horizontal Integration; Vertical Integration
- September 2014 (Revised June 2016)
- Case
edX: Strategies for Higher Education
By: David Collis, Matthew Shaffer and Ashley Hartman
In May 2012, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) founded edX, a new non-profit joint venture that would provide a platform for massive open online courses (MOOCs). edX did not produce original courses or instructional content—it made... View Details
- August 2013 (Revised December 2014)
- Case
Taking Dell Private
By: David J. Collis, David B. Yoffie and Matthew Shaffer
In July 2012, Michael Dell, CEO and founder of Dell, Inc., met with a representative of Silver Lake Partners to explore taking his company private. The company, which he had founded in his dorm room as a college freshman and which had made him the youngest Fortune 500... View Details
Keywords: Strategy; Going Private; The PC Market; Market For Corporate Control; Corporate Strategy; Leveraged Buyouts; Change Management; Private Equity; Market Entry and Exit; Private Ownership; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Internet and the Web; Computer Industry; Technology Industry; United States
- 2013
- Working Paper
What Do We Know About Corporate Headquarters? A Review, Integration, and Research Agenda
By: Markus Menz, Sven Kunisch and David J. Collis
During the past five decades, scholars have studied the corporate headquarters (CHQ)—the multidivisional firm's central organizational unit. The purpose of this article is to review the diverse and fragmented literature on the CHQ and to identify the variables of... View Details
- April 2013
- Case
The Walt Disney Company: The Entertainment King (Abridged)
By: Michael G. Rukstad and David J. Collis
The first ten pages of this case are comprised of the company's history, from 1923 to 2001. The Walt years are described, as is the company's decline after his death and its resurgence under Eisner. The last five pages are devoted to Eisner's strategic challenges in... View Details