Publications

24 Aug 2017
News

Jeffrey Immelt: How I Remade GE

“For the past 16 years GE has been undergoing the most consequential makeover in its history,” departing CEO Jeff Immelt (MBA 1982) writes in Harvard Business Review. “We were a classic conglomerate. Now people are calling us a 125-year-old start-up—we’re a digital... View Details

09 Jul 2019
News

Nestlé’s CEO Sees Future in Plant-Based Burgers, Chicken, Sausage, and Bacon

Keywords: Food Manufacturing; Manufacturing

01 Mar 2023
News

The Latest Model

broader economy. Prysm was retained recently by a large conglomerate to help design a crypto token, in a highly regulated jurisdiction. “They came to us and said, we need a token economic model that does the things we want to achieve and... View Details

Keywords: Alexander Gelfand; blockchain; cryptocurrency; economic models; innovation; consulting; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

20 May 2014
News

Managing the Family Business: Survival’s Secret Sauce

September 2020 (Revised June 2021)
Supplement

Eaton Corporation: Portfolio Transformation and The Cost of Capital

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Scott Mayfield and Daniel Fisher

In 2000, Eaton Corporation was a broadly diversified industrial conglomerate. But its strategy was evolving and its focus was narrowing around “power management” and more recently on “intelligent power,” the use of digitally enabled products and services designed to... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Conglomerates; Business Divisions; Cost of Capital; Corporate Finance; Value; Valuation; Industrial Products Industry; United States; Denmark; Republic of Ireland

2008
Working Paper

Communication (and Coordination?) in a Modern, Complex Organization

By: Adam M. Kleinbaum, Toby E. Stuart and Michael L. Tushman

This is a descriptive study of the structure of communications in a modern organization. We analyze a dataset with millions of electronic mail messages, calendar meetings and teleconferences for many thousands of employees of a single, multidivisional firm during a... View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Interpersonal Communication; Organizational Structure; Social Issues; Boundaries

Read Now

November 2003 (Revised June 2004)
Case

Samsung and Daewoo: Two Tales of One City

By fiscal year 2000, Samsung had pulled far ahead of other "chaebols," Korean conglomerates. For example, the market value of Samsung affiliates listed on the Korea Stock Exchange exceeded the sum of the market value of listed affiliates of second, third, and fourth... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Business Conglomerates; Corporate Strategy; Emerging Markets; Crisis Management; Electronics Industry; South Korea

19 Jun 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, June 19, 2018

Japan's Dream Machine: Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd. Recruit Holdings, an advertising media, staffing, and business support conglomerate was founded in 1960 by Hiromasa Ezoe. Recruit was built on the principle that the company should add... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

03 Mar 2015
First Look

First Look: March 3

this case: https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/product/815070-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 715-432 Group Functions at the Maersk Group In 2014, seven years after he was appointed CEO of the Danish shipping and oil conglomerate A.P.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

06 Nov 2017
Research Event

Who is Responsible for the Future of Cities?

over a period of months.” With or without government support or collaboration, technology will continue to disrupt cities. “Autonomous driving, electric cars, it’s all happening,” said Christian Irmisch, sales manager for commuter and regional trains at the German... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

April 1993
Teaching Note

Grupo Industrial Alfa, S.A.,1982 (TN)

By: Timothy A. Luehrman

Teaching Note for (9-292-008). View Details

Keywords: Cash Flow; Borrowing and Debt; Restructuring; Rights; Business Strategy; Negotiation; System; Business Conglomerates; Currency Exchange Rate; Energy Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Mexico

March 2001
Case

Sime Darby Berhad (B): The Asian Crisis Begins

By: Tarun Khanna and Danielle Melito Wu

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Business Conglomerates; Economy; Capital Markets; Emerging Markets; Business and Government Relations; Corporate Strategy; Value Creation; Financial Services Industry; Malaysia

June 1991 (Revised April 1993)
Case

General Electric: Jack Welch's Second Wave (A)

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

By the mid 1980's Jack Welch had completely transformed General Electric with more than 300 divestitures and acquisitions since the beginning of the decade. Welch insisted that his business units be number one or number two in their markets, and have the strength of... View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Transformation; Employee Relationship Management; Planning; Corporate Strategy

20 Sep 2018
Cold Call Podcast

Did Entrepreneur Ernesto Tornquist Help or Hurt Argentina?

Keywords: Re: Geoffrey G. Jones; Manufacturing

Blog

Emerging from the Pandemic: Insights from South Asia and ASEAN

program in Boston. One recent success story of which we are particularly proud is Kasturi Wilson, who attended SELPI three years ago and was recently promoted to serve as the first female CEO of a conglomerate in Sri Lanka. We try to... View Details

01 Dec 1996
News

Laurel without Hardy? A Lesson for Business

isolation. You have to look at the whole picture. What businesses should you be in? With the fallout from the conglomerate era fresh in people's minds, the prevailing wisdom is not to expand beyond your core business. People say, "Stick... View Details

May 2007
Case

Free the Grapes--Direct-to-Consumer Shipping in the Wine Industry

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee, Dennis A. Yao, Patricia Wu and Libby Cantrill

While wine tourism in the United States was booming, the majority of consumers who tasted a Cabernet Sauvignon in one of Napa Valley's tasting rooms were not permitted to ship the wine directly to their home. In 2002, direct-to-consumer shipping was either banned or... View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Lawsuits and Litigation; Agreements and Arrangements; Business and Government Relations; Corporate Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

February 2004 (Revised April 2007)
Case

Random House

By: Bharat N. Anand, Kyle F. Barnett and Elizabeth Lea Carpenter

On June 12, 2003, the proposed merger of Random House and Time Warner Book Group was called off by the CEO of Random House's parent company, Bertelsmann. The announcement was welcomed by several critics who had questioned the logic of further consolidation in the book... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Conglomerates; Information Publishing; Problems and Challenges; Relationships; Business Strategy; Commercialization; Competition; Vertical Integration; Internet; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Publishing Industry

January 2021 (Revised June 2021)
Supplement

Eaton Corporation: Portfolio Transformation and The Cost of Capital (Abridged)

By: Benjamin C. Esty, E. Scott Mayfield and Daniel Fisher

In 2000, Eaton Corporation was a broadly diversified industrial conglomerate. But its strategy was evolving and its focus was narrowing around “power management” and more recently on “intelligent power,” the use of digitally enabled products and services designed to... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Conglomerates; Business Divisions; Cost of Capital; Corporate Finance; Value; Valuation; Industrial Products Industry; United States; Denmark; Republic of Ireland