Publications

July 2005 (Revised September 2016)
Case

24 Hour Fitness (A): The Rise, 1983–2004

By: John R. Wells, Elizabeth A. Raabe and Gabriel Ellsworth

In October 2004, Mark S. Mastrov, CEO of 24 Hour Fitness, reflected on how far his company had come in just over 20 years. From humble beginnings in 1983 in San Leandro, California, 24 Hour Fitness had grown to become the largest privately-owned health-club chain in... View Details

Keywords: 24 Hour Fitness; Mark Mastrov; Health Clubs; Fitness; Gyms; Chain; Weight Loss; Exercise; Personal Training; Retention; Sales Force Compensation; Incentive Systems; Buildings and Facilities; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Customers; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Private Equity; Revenue; Geographic Scope; Multinational Firms and Management; Nutrition; Business History; Employees; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Human Capital; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing; Operations; Service Operations; Private Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Sales; Salesforce Management; Sports; Strategy; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Segmentation; Information Technology; Internet; Technology Platform; Web; Web Sites; Capital Structure; Performance; Organizational Structure; Organizational Culture; Health Industry; United States; California; San Francisco

18 May 2010
First Look

First Look: May 18

PublicationsTechnology Manager's Journey: An Extended Narrative Approach to Educating Technical Leaders Authors:Robert D. Austin, Richard L. Nolan, and Shannon O'Donnell Publication:Academy of Management Learning & Education 8, no.... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

22 Apr 2014
First Look

First Look: April 22

account for secular changes in how payouts are made over the last 30 years, during which repurchases have replaced dividends as the prime vehicle for corporate payouts. Other payout motives such as changes in compensation practices and View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

24 Dec 2013
First Look

First Look: December 24

Working Papers Managing the Family Firm: Evidence from CEOs at Work By: Bandiera, Oriana, Andrea Prat, and Raffaella Sadun Abstract—CEOs affect the performance of the firms they manage, and family CEOs seem to weaken it. Yet little is... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

November 2012
Case

New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc. (Abridged)

By: H. Kent Bowen, Robert S. Huckman, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Matthew Preble

Considers whether New Balance, one of the world's five largest manufacturers of athletic footwear, should respond to Adidas' planned acquisition of Reebok—a transaction that would join the second- and third-largest companies in the industry. Highlights the unique... View Details

Keywords: Production; Competitive Strategy; Supply Chain; Brands and Branding; Sports Industry; Sports Industry; Sports Industry; Asia; United States

09 Apr 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, April 9, 2019

demonstrates the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of an intervention even without perfectly predicting a firm’s response still has enormous value for setting policy. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=55959 2019 The Oxford Handbook of... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

21 Feb 2012
First Look

First Look: Feb. 21

corporate archives to explore the fine details of how firms actually operated. It also includes work by those who have been influenced by evolutionary, transaction cost, and resource-based theories of the firm. The book will be an essential source of reference for... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

10 Apr 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research, April 10, 2018

Spring 2018 MIT Sloan Management Review The Store Is Dead—Long Live the Store By: Bell, David R., Santiago Gallino, and Antonio Moreno Abstract—In this article, we pursue two interconnected themes: the expansion of online-first retailers... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

12 Jan 2009
Research & Ideas

The Value of a ‘Portable’ Career

Lagace: Your work highlights the pros and cons of hiring high-performing or "star" employees. How and why did studying the career trajectories of star football players give you a window on better management of organizations and careers?... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Sports

29 Oct 2013
First Look

First Look: October 29

Managers Become Influential? A Field Study in Two Financial Institutions By: Hall, Matthew, Anette Mikes, and Yuval Millo Abstract—This paper, based on a five-year longitudinal study at two UK-based banks, documents and analyzes the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

16 Oct 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, October 16, 2018

Grushka-Cockayne Abstract—We introduce an exponential smoothing model that a manager can use to forecast the demand of a new product or service. The model has five features that make it suitable for accurately forecasting product life... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

November 2009 (Revised September 2010)
Supplement

Discovering Hidden Gems: The Story of Daryl Morey, Shane Battier, and the Houston Rockets (B)

By: Frances X. Frei and Matthew Todd Perlberg

Supplement to the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Sports; Talent and Talent Management; Sports Industry

June 2019
Teaching Note

The National Hockey League

By: Robert F. Higgins and John Masko

Teaching Note for HBS No. 819-036. View Details

Keywords: Sports; Media; Multinational Firms and Management; Expansion; Strategy; Sports Industry; United States; Canada

28 Aug 2012
First Look

First Look: August 28

mandate and management of international trade negotiations. Historically, legitimacy for GATT and later the WTO was understood to derive from expanding membership and success at major trade round negotiations. In the past decade, and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2003 (Revised January 2005)
Case

San Francisco Giants

By: William A. Sahlman and Elizabeth Kind

Larry Baer, executive vice-president and COO, was eager to improve profitability for the San Francisco Giants baseball team. Over the last few years, the Giants have had a number of successes. They successfully built the first privately financed ball park in over 30... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Business or Company Management; Success; Sports; Sports Industry; San Francisco

August 2005 (Revised October 2005)
Case

Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots (A)

By: John R. Wells and Travis Haglock

What happens when an MBA buys a football team and hires a bunch of MBAs and a coach with an economics degree to run it? In this case, a historic three Super Bowls in five years. The end run Bob Kraft (HBS '65) used to acquire the New England Patriots. Why Kraft ignored... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Management Style; Motivation and Incentives; Leading Change; Management Practices and Processes; Leadership Style; Sports; Management Teams; Sports Industry; United States

February 1999 (Revised July 2004)
Case

Life as a Minor League CEO Frank Burke and The Chattanooga Lookouts

By: Stephen A. Greyser and Kirk A. Goldman

A "slice of life" depiction of the range of issues and activities experienced by Frank Burke (HBS MBA 1987), the president of a minor league baseball team (the Chattanooga Lookouts). Raises questions of the applicability of MBA skills in this role and the "quotient of... View Details

Keywords: Happiness; Managerial Roles; Entrepreneurship; Business or Company Management; Marketing; Cost Management; Cost vs Benefits; Operations; Sports; Business Education; Sports Industry; Tennessee

December 2009 (Revised March 2010)
Teaching Note

LeBron James

By: Anita Elberse

Teaching Note for [509050]. View Details

Keywords: Sports; Talent and Talent Management; Sports Industry