Publications

November 1998 (Revised July 2012)
Case

Explo Leisure Products

By: Richard G. Hamermesh

Tim Trowac and Dave Rahall, two former investment bankers, skillfully execute the leveraged buyout of a golf ball recycling company after working intensely on their due diligence, writing a business and financial plan, and developing the investment memorandum. Six... View Details

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Leveraged Buyouts; Business Plan; Performance; Management Teams; Business Strategy; Financial Strategy; Business and Shareholder Relations; Sports Industry; Sports Industry

04 Mar 2014
First Look

First Look: March 4

http://ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/login?url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-031413-091305?nosfx=y August 2013 Harvard Business Review Manage Your Work, Manage Your Life By: Groysberg, Boris, and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

07 May 2013
First Look

First Look: May 7

publicly announced their intention to sell their 76.7% stake in Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A., an iconic Italian producer of sport performance motorcycles. The decision followed a six-year turnaround during which Ducati returned to... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

01 Jun 2023
News

Curb Appeal

Jessica Tisch (JD/MBA 2008) has a problem. And she couldn’t be happier about it. It’s a chilly February morning in Lower Manhattan, and Tisch, who was appointed commissioner of the Department of Sanitation (DSNY) last April, has only hours to pivot the world’s largest... View Details

Keywords: Alexander Gelfand; photography by Vance Jacobs; Justice, Public Order, and Safety Activities; Government

01 Mar 2024
News

Unlocking the Power of Community

these customer-friendly terms: “Let’s make this experience first. The explanation can come later. Or never,” Fung says. For sports media brand Bleacher Report and the basketball fans who watch the cable channel TNT, that Web3-enabled... View Details

Keywords: April White

September 1998 (Revised July 1999)
Case

Spyder Active Sports, Inc. and CHB Capital Partners (A)

By: John A. Davis, Louis B. Barnes and Peter K. Botticelli

After establishing a small but profitable skiwear business, an entrepreneur decides to sell a minority stake in the firm to outside investors. His goal is to acquire the capital needed to grow the business, even though this will entail a substantial transformation of... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Private Equity; Family Business; Business Growth and Maturation; Entrepreneurship; Sports Industry; Sports Industry

30 Jun 2014
Lessons from the Classroom

The Role of Emotions in Effective Negotiations

could Kate have done differently to get a better outcome? "We spend a lot of time talking both about what emotions we elicit in others based on our behavior, and what we need to do to manage our own emotions. There are lessons on... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Sports; Sports

01 Jun 2024
News

Again and Again

it from now on. The kids have to go along with it. You have an interesting power dynamic, where it’s easier to create a new ritual. In the workplace, rituals tend to be better received when they come from the bottom up and reflect the company’s values. When a View Details

Keywords: Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

11 Oct 2023
News

Soldier On

Subscribe on iTunes Subscribe on Spotify More Skydeck episodes In November of 2022, 33-year-old Phillip Jones (MPA/MBA 2021) was elected mayor of Newport News, Virginia, where he had spent part of his childhood. The son of two Air Force veterans, he served six years in... View Details

01 Jun 2024
News

Quantum Leap

digital computer, a room-sized behemoth that sported 18,000 vacuum tubes and resembled the unholy offspring of a fuse box and a telephone exchange when it was unveiled in 1943. “This is the complexity you need to run five qubits,” Levy... View Details

Keywords: Alexander Gelfand; photographed by Chris Sorensen; quantum computing; innovation; leadership; Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing; Manufacturing

December 2019
Case

Small-Market Teams and Big Stars: The Milwaukee Bucks and Giannis Antetokounmpo

By: Anita Elberse and Melcolm Ruffin

In October 2019, National Basketball Association (NBA) team the Milwaukee Bucks are about to tip off their first home game in the 2019–2020 NBA season. Peter Feigin, president of the Milwaukee Bucks, and Jon Horst, the league’s youngest general manager, could look back... View Details

Keywords: Superstars; Talent and Talent Management; Sports; Strategy; Sports Industry

21 Aug 2017
Lessons from the Classroom

Companies Love Big Data But Lack the Strategy To Use It Effectively

Source: peterhowell Big data has shifted the ground under every business, enough so that many managers are waking up to the fact that they are already behind in developing a smart data strategy. Data has always been important in business,... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

23 Apr 2012
Research & Ideas

How to Brand a Next-Generation Product

very deliberate effort to market the iPad as a sibling to the Mac. Macs keep their names with each successive upgrade, analysts noted, while iPhones sport sequential numbers and letters to indicate improvements. “Consumers don't... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

27 Jun 2019
Blog Post

Dance to the Music: How Noa Torok Found Her Dream Job at SoundCloud

Noa Torok, MBA 2019, came to HBS with a blank slate. “I arrived with zero expectations,” she says. “I had no idea what I wanted to do.” Her prior experience had shown her the opposite – what she did not want to do. After studying both law and business View Details

Keywords: Entertainment / Media / Sports

August 2015 (Revised May 2017)
Case

TSG Hoffenheim: Football in the Age of Analytics

By: Feng Zhu, Karim R. Lakhani, Sascha L. Schmidt and Kerry Herman

In 2015, Dietmar Hopp, owner of Germany's Bundesliga football team TSG Hoffenheim and co-founder of the global enterprise software company SAP, was considering how to ensure long-term sustainability and competitiveness for TSG Hoffenheim. While historically a small... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Measurement and Metrics; Sports; Sports Industry

16 Jun 2020
Research & Ideas

Your Customers Have Changed. Here's How to Engage Them Again.

management and digital marketing tools for entertainment venues and sports teams (largely unused during the pandemic), switched to targeting small- and medium-sized traditional businesses struggling to... View Details

Keywords: by Rohit Deshpandé, Ofer Mintz, and Imran S. Currim; Retail; Service

October 2016
Case

The Quiet Ascension of LA Fitness

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

In 2016, LA Fitness was the largest chain of non-franchised fitness clubs in North America, operating 676 clubs, serving 4.9 million members, and generating revenues of over $1.9 billion. Founded by Chinyol Yi, Louis Welch, and Paul Norris in 1984, the privately held... View Details

Keywords: LA Fitness; Health Clubs; Fitness; Gyms; Chain; Exercise; Personal Training; Retention; Bally Total Fitness; 24 Hour Fitness; Planet Fitness; Buildings and Facilities; Acquisition; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Customers; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Demographics; Age; Gender; Income; Residency; Borrowing and Debt; Capital; Capital Structure; Cash; Cash Flow; Cost; Private Equity; Financial Condition; Financial Liquidity; Financing and Loans; Investment Return; Price; Profit; Revenue; Geographic Location; Geographic Scope; Multinational Firms and Management; Business History; Employees; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Human Capital; Contracts; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Operations; Service Operations; Leasing; Private Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Sales; Salesforce Management; Situation or Environment; Opportunities; Sports; Strategy; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Segmentation; Information Technology; Mobile Technology; Technology Platform; Health Industry; United States; California; Los Angeles