Publications

10 Feb 2016
Blog Post

Combining an Interest in Music and Business

supposed to not have a day job? Should I actively avoid having a stable income and the safety of working for a large company? Coming from Perú, where the music industry is still in a very incipient stage, I... View Details

22 Feb 2023
Blog Post

Meet the Disability Advocacy and Affinity Group (DAAG)

inclusion initiatives at Capital One and working as a field organizer on Stacey Abrams’ 2018 gubernatorial campaign. I hold a B.S. in Industrial and Labor Relations from... View Details

August 2022
Course Overview Note

Arts and Cultural Entrepreneurship

By: Rohit Deshpandé

Keywords: Cultural Entrepreneurship; Arts; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

November 2007 (Revised March 2010)
Case

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and Tom Cruise

By: Anita Elberse and Peter Stone

In November 2006, Harry Sloan, chairman and CEO of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. (MGM) offers movie star Tom Cruise and his business partner Paula Wagner a chance to run United Artists (UA), a dormant studio within MGM's portfolio. Just over two months earlier, Viacom... View Details

Keywords: Business Units; Talent and Talent Management; Film Entertainment; Brands and Branding; Partners and Partnerships; Value Creation; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

May 2016 (Revised September 2016)
Case

Hillside Beach Club: Delivering the Ultimate Family Vacation in the Mediterranean

By: Rajiv Lal and Gamze Yucaoglu

In 2015, Edip Ilkbahar, HBC’s founder and CEO, was looking over the plans for a new branch in Cyprus. Since the inception of the company by the Alarko Group of companies in 1994, Ilkbahar’s company had enjoyed high occupancy, high guest satisfaction, and high... View Details

January 2008 (Revised March 2013)
Teaching Note

Friendster (TN) (A) and (B)

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski

Teaching Note for [707409] and [707410]. View Details

Keywords: Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

May 2017
Supplement

Betfair (B)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, John Heilbron and Neil Campbell

Buoyed by success in the market for gambling contracts, Betfair attempts to enter the market for financial products using its exchange model. View Details

Keywords: Betfair; Exchange; Business Model; Betting; Leisure Industry; Market Design; Digital Platforms; Diversification; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; Europe

25 Aug 2010
News

Games, Parties, Pranks, and Celebrations

(sent in by class-notes secretaries) Games 1972J. Section A started our bingo game in the second term of our first year (1971). Cards had the names of roughly a third of the class (24 of 75) on them (5 each for B, I, G, and O View Details

Keywords: Amusement, Gambling, and Recreation Industries; Amusement, Gambling, and Recreation Industries

May 2019 (Revised January 2020)
Case

The Video-Streaming Wars in 2019: Can Disney Catch Netflix?

By: Anita Elberse and Monica Cody

Bob Iger, CEO of entertainment conglomerate Disney, thrilled investors with details about Disney’s upcoming foray into video streaming in April 2019. Disney’s move was only the latest in a series of actions taken by new and established entertainment companies in a... View Details

Keywords: Television; Entertainment; Media; Television Entertainment; Management; Strategy; Disruption; Information Technology; Competition; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry

May 2000 (Revised August 2000)
Case

Service and Value in e-Commerce

This collection of readings illustrates the importance of service and logistics in e-commerce, focusing on e-Toys' disastrous 1999 holiday season. View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Internet and the Web; Service Operations; Logistics; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry

April 1997 (Revised July 2003)
Case

Viacom, Inc.: Video Supplement

By: Joseph L. Bower, Thomas R. Eisenmann and Sonja Ellingson Hout

Viacom reached a powerful position in the global entertainment industry through skillful and very bold acquisitions. Now its further expansion is challenged by the moves of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. Different businesses within Viacom have contradictory positions on... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Cost vs Benefits; Decisions; Entertainment; Competition; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

17 Aug 2021
Op-Ed

Dispensing Justice: The Case for Legalizing Cannabis Nationally

beneficial effects of its various constituents has been stymied. Federal legalization would give a fillip to research, leading to evidence-based policies on whether and how to regulate the industry to foster... View Details

Keywords: by Ashish Nanda and Tabatha Robinson

21 Jan 2016
Blog Post

HBS and the Arts

my time at the Metropolitan Museum as a teenager. At HBS, I am constantly learning from my classmates, who are eager to share their experiences across industries and from around the world. My first year gave... View Details

Keywords: Entertainment / Media / Sports; Entertainment / Media / Sports

13 Oct 2013
News

Why blockbusters are taking over the arts

December 2016 (Revised January 2018)
Case

The Rise and Fall of the Circus

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Karen Elterman

This case describes the origins of the traditional circus, including its rise to popularity in the United States in the 1800s, and examines the factors that led to its decline in the 20th and 21st centuries. View Details

Keywords: Blue Ocean Strategy; Circus; Strategy; Entertainment; History; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

2016
Chapter

Navigating Natural Monopolies: Market Strategy and Nonmarket Challenges in Radio and Television Audience Measurement Markets

By: Hillary Greene and Dennis Yao

This paper explores how firms within the audience measurement industry, specifically its radio and television markets, have navigated myriad market and nonmarket challenges. The market strategies and the nonmarket forces that constrain those strategies are largely... View Details

Keywords: Measurement and Metrics; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Monopoly; Television Entertainment; Public Opinion; Geographic Scope; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

March 2011
Teaching Note

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and Tom Cruise

By: Anita Elberse

Teaching Note for 508057. View Details

Keywords: Partners and Partnerships; Behavior; Motivation and Incentives; Talent and Talent Management; Creativity; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

November 2002
Background Note

Strategy and Sources of Motion Picture Finance, The

By: Mihir A. Desai, Gabriel J. Loeb and Mark Veblen

This case considers the alternative financing mechanisms for film financing, the evolution of film finance in the United States, and the nature of tax-motivated film financing in the United States and around the world. It develops the strategy driving motion picture... View Details

Keywords: Film Entertainment; Financial Instruments; Financial Strategy; Financing and Loans; Globalized Markets and Industries; Taxation; Motivation and Incentives; Competitive Strategy; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States

December 1994
Case

Being There: Sony Corporation and Columbia Pictures

By: Debora L. Spar

In September 1989, Sony Corp. of Japan bid $3.4 billion for Columbia Pictures. It was the highest bid ever by a Japanese company for any U.S. property. The case examines the validity of Sony's objectives in making this purchase, and also the political uproar that the... View Details

Keywords: Foreign Direct Investment; Film Entertainment; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Japan; United States