Publications

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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

01 Mar 2010
News

Alumni Books

the bill. Moguls have propagated a myth that justifies their poor performance: since they manage creative talent and artistic product, traditional strategic, financial, and operational appraisal metrics do not apply to them. But since 2000, the largest media View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Finance; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

September 2001 (Revised October 2002)
Case

Virgin Group, The: Filling in the Value Gap

By: Frances X. Frei, Hanna Rodriguez-Farrar and Corey B. Hajim

Chronicles the successes and failures of the Virgin Group. By examining these examples, students discover attributes of Virgin's overall service concept, which, at its core, competes on quality rather than on price. Students are challenged to consider how Virgin might... View Details

Keywords: Quality; Competition; Price; Business Conglomerates; Service Operations; Service Delivery; Market Entry and Exit

Web

Israel - Global Activities 2021

scale drip irrigation systems to customers. Netafim’s digital farming platform, Netbeat, was designed to “empower farmers to monitor, analyze, and control their irrigation systems,” but the firm, which was acquired by global conglomerate... View Details

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

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

20 Sep 2018
Cold Call Podcast

Did Entrepreneur Ernesto Tornquist Help or Hurt Argentina?

Keywords: Re: Geoffrey G. Jones; Manufacturing

Web

Modern Corporate Strategy: Revitalizing the Corporation - Course Catalog

corporate strategy, ranging from conglomerates and private equity firms to tightly related corporate entities and startups. It demonstrates that the same "better off" and "ownership" tests apply to every effective corporate strategy. This... View Details

01 Jun 2016
News

Up by the Roots

start to finish,” he says. “That’s something I picked up from General Mills: We had to be able to have that kind of traceability and accountability to consumers.” That reputation attracted the attention of the luxury conglomerate LVMH,... View Details

Keywords: Francis Storrs

October 2019 (Revised February 2020)
Case

Thermax—Changing of the Guard

By: Christina R. Wing and Inakshi Sobti

Thermax is an engineering company in India that provides integrated solutions in energy, environment, and chemicals. The Aga family along with family trusts owns 62% of the company. Post a restructuring exercise in 2000, Thermax transforms itself from a small family... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Transformation; Business Conglomerates; Strategy; Management Succession; Selection and Staffing; Organizational Culture

August 2004 (Revised December 2005)
Case

Li Ka-Shing

By: Nitin Nohria and Bridget Gurtler

From his humble beginnings in China as a teacher's son, a refugee, and later as a salesman, Li provides a lesson in integrity and adaptability. Through hard work, and a reputation for remaining true to his internal moral compass, he was able to build a business empire... View Details

Keywords: Leadership Development; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Leadership Style; Success; Business Conglomerates; Ethics; Values and Beliefs; China

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