Publications

February 2010 (Revised June 2014)
Supplement

CityCenter (D): Financial Crisis, Grand Opening, and a New Paradigm

By: John D. Macomber and Griffin James

"CityCenter (D)" follows the (A), (B), and (C) cases with subsequent chronological events through CityCenter's grand opening in December 2009 and financial results through March 2010. The case includes a simple valuation exercise intended to explore CEO Jim Murren's... View Details

Keywords: Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Private Equity; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Decision Choices and Conditions; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Nevada; New Jersey

2023
Working Paper

Personalized Game Design for Improved User Retention and Monetization in Freemium Games

By: Eva Ascarza, Oded Netzer and Julian Runge

One of the most crucial aspects and significant levers that gaming companies possess in designing digital games is setting the level of difficulty, which essentially regulates the user’s ability to progress within the game. This aspect is particularly significant in... View Details

Keywords: Freemium; Retention/churn; Field Experiment; Field Experiments; Gaming; Gaming Industry; Mobile App; Mobile App Industry; Monetization; Monetization Strategy; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Customers; Retention; Product Design; Strategy

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02 Sep 2016
Op-Ed

The Twitter Election

trouble but project an authenticity welcomed by many voters. He is keeping his marketing powder dry until after Labor Day, gambling that Clinton's August advertising blitz will not yet have sealed his fate.Trump is clearly more... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch and Thales Teixeira

08 Aug 2023
Research & Ideas

The Rise of Employee Analytics: Productivity Dream or Micromanagement Nightmare?

With more data available than ever before, why would any executive gamble on a hunch—especially for decisions that involve their own employees? An emerging field that uses data to study human behavior at work, “people analytics” is... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

2012
Working Paper

Private and Public Decisions in Social Dilemmas: Evidence from Children's Behavior

Substantial research with adult populations has found that selfish impulses are less likely to be pursued when decisions are publicly observable. To the best of our knowledge, however, this behavioral regularity has not been systematically explored as potential... View Details

Keywords: Research; Age Characteristics; Behavior; Decisions; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Announcements; Situation or Environment

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January 2020
Case

Ninja: Which Platform Wins Esports' Biggest Star?

By: Anita Elberse and Michal T. Leszczynski

It is July 2019, and the business of esports and gaming is booming. Tyler Blevins—better known as Ninja—has risen to stardom playing the immensely popular shooter game Fortnite. He has become the most followed streamer in the world and, helped by his management company... View Details

Keywords: Esports; Platforms; Superstar; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Internet and the Web; Personal Development and Career; Decision Making; Digital Platforms; Video Game Industry; Technology Industry

11 Jun 2001
Research & Ideas

E-Commerce Unplugged

behavior. Good examples of such companies are leaders in the consumer packaged-goods industry such as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble and Kraft Foods—or retail organizations such as Wal-Mart and Best Buy. Consider the following... View Details

Keywords: by Nitin Nohria & Marty Leestma

08 Mar 2011
First Look

First Look: March 8

the company's revenues, high gaming revenue still raised some questions. Between now and when Ben-Gacem had first submitted a bid of 60 million for Moneybookers back in November 2006, the U.S. Congress had enacted the Unlawful Internet View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

30 Oct 2007
First Look

First Look: October 30, 2007

Harvard Business School Case 707-519 In response to a huge crisis in 2000, the new CEO of Procter & Gamble has to decide whether to continue with an unusual organizational design or to revert to the old matrix organization. Describes... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

17 Sep 2001
Research & Ideas

Why E-commerce Didn’t Die With the Fall of Webvan

consumers. Webvan was perhaps unrealistically imagined to be such a channel. The difference between Dell and Proctor & Gamble is that Dell can supply all your computing needs, but Proctor & Gamble... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Consumer Products; Retail

June 2024 (Revised September 2024)
Case

Major League Baseball: Changing the Rules of America's Pastime

By: Stephen A. Greyser, Mac Levin and Brent Schwarz

This case describes the efforts of Major League Baseball (MLB) to make meaningful changes in the rules affecting the ways the game is played. These changes are intended to speed the pace of the game and make it more appealing to younger fans. The principal changes... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Age; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Leading Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Demand and Consumers; Sports Industry

17 Apr 2017
HBS Case

This Turkish Debt Collector Is Customer-friendly

Turkasset began opening physical branches around the country to service customers who preferred to talk in person. Despite these additional outlays, the gamble paid off for the company by allowing it to collect a much higher percentage of... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

January 2008 (Revised March 2008)
Case

Glass Egg Digital Media

Glass Egg is an outsource games development firm in Vietnam. They are able to offer brand-name publishers-Microsoft EA, Atari-significant cost savings in the development of art assets for their video games. However, the firm's management find themselves at a point at... View Details

Keywords: Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Demand and Consumers; Product Development; Organizational Structure; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

22 Apr 2002
Research & Ideas

Profits and Prophets: The Role of Values in Investment

restrictions over what they invest in, staying clear of alcohol and gambling companies, for example, and businesses that derive a significant portion of their income from interest. With such a constrained investment environment,... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

November 2024
Case

AlphaGo (A): Birth of a New Intelligence

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Shweta Bagai

This case, the first of a three-part series, traces DeepMind's evolution from its 2010 founding through its acquisition by Google in 2014. Often referred to as the "Apollo project" of artificial intelligence, DeepMind used games as a testing ground to develop AI... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Technology Adoption; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Technological Innovation; Creativity; Technology Industry; South Korea; China; United States

June 2024 (Revised March 2025)
Case

Wemade: (Re)Establishing Trust in Blockchain Games (A)

By: Jung Koo Kang, Charles C.Y. Wang, David Allen and Kwangmoon So

This case explores the fundamental challenges and accounting issues arising from the integration of blockchain technology into traditional business models. It features Wemade, a South Korean online gaming company that has staked its future on blockchain-based games.... View Details

Keywords: Blockchain; Cryptocurrency; Video Games; Accounting; Financial Reporting; Revenue Recognition; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Corporate Disclosure; Information Technology; Technology Adoption; Accounting Industry; Information Technology Industry; Video Game Industry; South Korea