Publications

03 Mar 2003
What Do You Think?

Are Conditions Right for the Next Accounting Scandal?

Summing Up Responses to this month's column lead one to conclude that we can expect that more major accounting scandals are in our future. Causes, according to these thoughtful comments, range from the consolidation of the major global... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Accounting; Financial Services

January 2006
Article

Hospital Integration and Vertical Consolidation: An Analysis of Acquisitions in New York State

By: Robert S. Huckman

Keywords: Integration; Health; Consolidation; Theory; Mergers and Acquisitions

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18 Apr 2005
Research & Ideas

Tips to Reinvent the Department Store

Here's a snapshot of department stores today: Regional brands have all but disappeared; larger players like Federated and May are merging their multi-brand companies, and consolidation continues. Meanwhile, all sorts of retailers from... View Details

Keywords: by Julie Jette; Retail

October 2013
Supplement

Alcoa's Bid for Alcan (B)

By: Paul Healy and Penelope Rossano

In spring 2007, Alcoa CEO Alain Belda was concerned about the company's market position in light of increased competition from developing markets. China's recent entry into the aluminum market was affecting both supply and demand. Furthermore, downstream and upstream... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Acquisitions; Alcoa; Alcan; Rio Tinto; Aluminum Industry; Accounting; Financial Analysis; Consolidation; Market Participation; Financial Statements; Acquisition; Mining; Mining Industry; Canada; United States

September 1988 (Revised January 1989)
Case

Unisys: The Merger of Burroughs and Sperry

Mike Blumenthal, CEO of Burroughs, successfully executes the merger of Burroughs and Sperry in 1986. The case discusses the putting together of the two firms in a fast time period in order to achieve cost savings, high earnings, and an integrated culture. Blumenthal... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Organizational Structure; Mergers and Acquisitions; Consolidation

04 Aug 2014
Op-Ed

Why Small-Business Lending Is Not Recovering

Structural barriers also appear to be impeding bank lending to small businesses, including consolidation within the banking industry, high search costs, and higher transaction costs associated with small business lending. A decades-long... View Details

Keywords: by Karen Mills; Banking; Financial Services

15 Feb 2000
Research & Ideas

Growing Pains: Prescriptions for U.S. Health Care

realize the potential threat posed by these new technologies, they invariably enter a downward spiral of cost-cutting and consolidation in a futile effort to become competitive again at the market's low end. Ironically, this 'thumbscrew... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Health

02 Oct 2000
Research & Ideas

The Dubious Logic of Global Megamergers

Think of Maytag and Lloyd's Bank; both companies have prospered by focusing on their home markets of the United States and Great Britain, respectively. Telefónica de España, a midsize telecommunications company, has rejected the role of global View Details

Keywords: by Pankaj Ghemawat & Fariborz Ghadar

19 Jul 2007
Research & Ideas

Podcast: Rupert Murdoch and the Wall Street Journal

worsen. The industry is now going through full-scale consolidation and reorganization in the face of competition from Internet properties. The trend begs the question: Is Murdoch overpaying for Dow Jones? Harvard Business School professor... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner; Journalism & News; Publishing

July 2018
Case

LIXIL Group Corporation: Building a New Company in an Old Industry

By: Boris Groysberg and Akiko Kanno

In the spring of 2018, Kinya Seto, president and CEO of LIXIL Group Corporation, a major housing and building products and services company, called a meeting at the company’s head office in central Tokyo to discuss how to implement the new three-year strategic plan.... View Details

Keywords: Turnaround; Leadership And Change Management; Consolidation; Change Management; Leadership; Global Strategy; Business Model; Consumer Products Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Japan

April 2016
Teaching Note

Whither the Weather (Company): Forecasting 2016

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jonathan Cohen

This Note was created for the purpose of aiding classroom instructors in the use of the Harvard Business School case, "Whither the Weather (Company): Forecasting 2016." As chairman and CEO, David Kenny guided the Weather Company's transformation from a cable television... View Details

Keywords: Weather Company; IBM; Digital; Technology; David Kenny; Television; Weather Channel; Legacy Business; Mainstream; Newstream; Reorganization; Acquisitions; Transformation; Information Technology; Television Entertainment; Acquisition; Consolidation; Change; Leadership

January 2016 (Revised March 2016)
Case

Whither the Weather (Company): Forecasting 2016

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jonathan Cohen

CEO David Kenny led the transformation of the Weather Company from a television business to a Big Data technology company from 2012 until 2016, when IBM acquired its digital assets. This case discusses major decisions taken by Kenny starting in 2014 as he sought to... View Details

Keywords: Weather Company; IBM; Digital; Technology; David Kenny; Television; Weather Channel; Legacy Business; Mainstream; Newstream; Reorganization; Acquisitions; Transformation; Information Technology; Television Entertainment; Acquisition; Consolidation; Change; Leadership

January 2017 (Revised October 2018)
Case

Novartis: A Transformative Deal

By: David Collis and Ashley Hartman

When Joe Jimenez became CEO of Swiss-based Novartis in 2010, replacing longtime CEO Dan Vasella, he assumed control of one of the top pharmaceutical companies in the world. Vasella, an avowed advocate of diversification, had expanded the scope of the company and... View Details

Keywords: Novartis; GlaxoSmithKline; Asset Swap; Acquisitions; Divestiture; Strategy Alignment; Pharmaceuticals; Strategy; Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Diversification; Consolidation; Mergers and Acquisitions; Pharmaceutical Industry

January 1998 (Revised November 2003)
Case

Morgan Stanley and S.G. Warburg: Investment Bank of the Future (A)

By: James K. Sebenius and David T. Kotchen

Describes secretive negotiations that took place between the top executives of Morgan Stanley and S.G. Warburg in the fall of 1994, when the two firms were contemplating a merger that would create one of the world's most powerful investment banks. By December, in order... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Investment Banking; Mergers and Acquisitions; Consolidation; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry

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March 2006
Case

Bringing OTC back to the Exchange: Euronext.liffe's launch of ABC

Euronex.liffe, a derivatives trading exchange, launches matching, clearing, and confirmation services for the over-the-counter market. This combination of services creates a new platform for a market that potentially cannibalizes its current exchange-based services. Is... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Digital Platforms; Consolidation; Financial Markets; Network Effects