Publications

20 Oct 2011
Research & Ideas

Getting the Marketing Mix Right

assistant professor of marketing at Purdue University, and Sachin Gupta, the Henrietta Johnson Louis Professor of Management and professor of marketing at Cornell University. Steenburgh believes that the model could help brand managers determine which marketing... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

23 Nov 1999
Research & Ideas

What’s Your Strategy for Managing Knowledge?

her team consulted with expert partners regularly in meetings and through phone calls and e-mail. In the process of developing a unique growth strategy, the team tapped into a worldwide network of colleagues' experience. To make their View Details

Keywords: by Morten T. Hansen, Nitin Nohria & Thomas Tierney; Consulting

November 1994
Case

Spectrum Equity Investors, L.P.

Brion Applegate and Bill Collatos had already started a fund-raising campaign for their new venture-capital fund when the principals of a prestigious Wall Street investment bank asked them to become the two senior partners of an in-house $150 million fund. The case... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Personal Development and Career; Entrepreneurship

October 2008 (Revised January 2011)
Case

Lawrence Trinh: Venturing to Vietnam

By: Joshua D. Margolis and Rachel Gordon

Should Lawrence Trinh pursue his aspiration of working in Vietnam—and if so, what set of principles and practices should he adopt if he encounters corruption? These are questions that reverberate for many students who wish to work in emerging markets and other contexts... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Ethics; Investment; Leadership Development; Emerging Markets; Personal Development and Career; Welfare; Financial Services Industry

July 2014
Article

Smart Money? The Effect of Education on Financial Outcomes

By: Shawn A. Cole, Anna Paulson and Gauri Kartini Shastry

Household financial decisions are important for household welfare, economic growth and financial stability. Yet, our understanding of the determinants of financial decision-making is limited. Exploiting exogenous variation in state compulsory schooling laws in both... View Details

Keywords: Personal Finance; Investment; Decisions; Behavior; Financial Condition

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April 2008 (Revised September 2008)
Case

Shareholder Activists at Friendly Ice Cream (A)

By: Fabrizio Ferri, V.G. Narayanan and James Weber

Two activist investors, one a founder and one a hedge-fund manager, seek to improve board oversight at a chain restaurant company. Prestley Blake founded Friendly Ice Cream in 1935 with his brother, and the two created a chain of full-service restaurants. In 1979 they... View Details

Keywords: Investment Activism; Governing and Advisory Boards; Lawsuits and Litigation; Business or Company Management; Business and Shareholder Relations; Conflict of Interests; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

01 Dec 2003
What Do You Think?

Is This the Twilight Era for the Managed Mutual Fund?

creation in the 1920s, mutual funds have progressively become the cornerstone of most individuals' investment portfolios, providing the diversity that is generally agreed to be an important element of any View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

April 1998
Case

Jim Lyons and GenRad

Lyons, currently CEO of Harry Gray Associates, a consulting and investment firm, had just been approached by an executive recruiter representing GenRad, a 78-year-old electronics company headquartered in Concord, MA. The company, which manufactured integrated software... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Management Succession; Personal Development and Career; Consulting Industry; Massachusetts

June 2024
Case

Alignvest Student Housing: Keep Building or Time to Sell?

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Patrick Sanguineti

Sanjil Shah, Managing Partner of Alignvest Student Housing REIT (ASH), faces the most significant decision thus far in his career: is it the right time to sell the company? Together with his partner Reza Satchu, Shah had developed ASH into the largest student housing... View Details

Keywords: Exit Strategy; Real Estate; Founder; Equity Valuation; Decisions; Entrepreneurial Finance; Interest Rates; Health Pandemics; Housing; Partners and Partnerships; Expansion; Entrepreneurship; Business Exit or Shutdown; Canada

August 2020 (Revised November 2024)
Case

NextView Ventures

By: Jo Tango and Nori Gerardo Lietz

David Beisel, Rob Go, and Lee Hower are non-partners at different-and-established venture capital (VC) firms. They decide to leave their positions to start a new seed-stage VC firm. The case covers the genesis of the firm, the formulation of its strategy and... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Business Startups; Strategy

August 2015 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Amazon.com, 2021

By: John R. Wells, Benjamin Weinstock, Gabriel Ellsworth and Galen Danskin

In February 2021, Amazon announced 2020 operating profits of $22,899 million, up from $2,233 million in 2015, on sales of $386 billion, up from $107 billion five years earlier (see Exhibit 1). The shareholders expressed their satisfaction (see Exhibit 2), but not all... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Analysis; Retail; E-commerce; Amazon; Internet; Amazon.com; AmazonFresh; Jeff Bezos; Cloud Computing; Marketplaces; Streaming; E-reader Market; Digital Media; Mobile App; Online Retail; Shipping; Database; Tablet; Kindle; Kindle Fire; Smartphone; Delivery; Digital Platforms; Competition; Internet and the Web; Corporate Strategy; Digital Marketing; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Business Organization; For-Profit Firms; Film Entertainment; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Music Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Profit; Revenue; Global Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Taxation; Business History; Human Resources; Resignation and Termination; Books; Human Capital; Working Conditions; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Management Practices and Processes; Industry Growth; Industry Structures; Media; Distribution; Distribution Channels; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Infrastructure; Logistics; Product Development; Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Organizational Culture; Public Ownership; Work-Life Balance; Problems and Challenges; Labor and Management Relations; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Diversification; Expansion; Integration; Horizontal Integration; Vertical Integration; Information Infrastructure; Information Technology; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Price; Applications and Software; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Working Capital; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Value and Value Chain; Retail Industry; Advertising Industry; Distribution Industry; Electronics Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Information Technology Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; Music Industry; Publishing Industry; Shipping Industry; Technology Industry; Video Game Industry; Web Services Industry; United States; Washington (state, US); Seattle

06 Nov 2006
Research & Ideas

How South Africa Challenges Our Thinking on FDI

More than one decade after the fall of apartheid, and despite ambitious economic reforms by the ANC government, foreign direct investment flows into South Africa averaged around two-thirds less than View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

April 2022
Article

Consumers Value Effort over Ease When Caring for Close Others

By: Ximena Garcia-Rada, Mary Steffel, Elanor F. Williams and Michael I. Norton

Many products and services are designed to make caregiving easier, from premade meals for feeding families to robo-cribs that automatically rock babies to sleep. Yet, using these products may come with a cost: consumers may feel they have not exerted enough effort.... View Details

Keywords: Effor; Caregiving; Close Relationships; Symbolic Meaning; Signaling; Relationships; Consumer Behavior; Perception

January 31, 2019
Article

The Backlash to Larry Fink's Letter Shows How Far Business Has to Go on Social Responsibility

By: Mark R. Kramer

Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, the world’s largest investor with $6 trillion under management, evoked heated controversy with his remarks last week that his company would change its hiring and potentially its compensation structure to advance diversity and ensure that... View Details

Keywords: Diversity; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose

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15 Nov 2011
First Look

First Look: November 15

PublicationsTrue North Groups: A Powerful Path to Personal and Leadership Development Authors:Bill George and Doug Baker Publication:Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 2011 Abstract All too often, we find ourselves forced to confront... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

10 Jan 2005
What Do You Think?

Public Pension Reform: Does Mexico Have the Answer?

certainly fail for lack of adequate education and reflection. Responses ranged from those suggesting that the reform should be labeled a tax and approached head-on, to those proposing that it be regarded as an investment program. Typical... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Financial Services

March 2010 (Revised March 2010)
Case

Looking for Opportunity in Adversity: Iqbal Quadir and Grameenphone (A)

By: Bhaskar Chakravorti and David Lane

Iqbal Quadir, a former New York investment banker, set about to bring universal telecommunications to his native Bangladesh. He was convinced that, GSM, the same advanced wireless technology that penetrated developed countries in Europe was also the right solution for... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Personal Development and Career; Entrepreneurship; Problems and Challenges; Wireless Technology; Telecommunications Industry; Bangladesh