Publications

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

01 Jun 1997
News

Short Takes

with the ungainly conglomerates assembled in the 1960s and 1970s that provided a variety of seemingly mismatched products and services. And while many consultants and investors are seeking to extend this focused model into emerging... View Details

Keywords: Judith A. Ross

December 2004 (Revised April 2006)
Case

Nestle and Alcon--The Value of a Listing

By: Mihir A. Desai, Vincent Dessain and Anders Sjoman

In response to a perceived undervaluation by the capital markets, Nestle is considering divesting a part of its ophthalmology subsidiary, Alcon, and must decide on a listing location. In the process, students are challenged to wrestle with the valuation of a... View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; International Finance; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Markets; Taxation; Business Subsidiaries; Valuation; Food and Beverage Industry; Health Industry; Europe; United States

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

18 Apr 2017
First Look

First Look at New Ideas, April 18

It was hardly the first industrial conglomerate to spin off major divisions; Tyco International PLC, ITT Corporation, Illinois Tool Works, Johnson Controls, and Ingersoll-Rand PLC had made similar moves in recent memory. However, its... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

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

January 2013
Supplement

Wanxiang Group: A Chinese Company's Global Strategy (B)

By: William C. Kirby, Nancy Hua Dai and Erica M. Zendell

Supplements the A Case 308-058. With an almost forty-year history as a business in China, the Wanxiang Group has navigated through the significantly different political and economic changes in China to succeed as a global leader in the auto parts industry, and to... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Global Strategy; Business Conglomerates; Vertical Integration; Goals and Objectives; Mergers and Acquisitions; Auto Industry; China; United States

20 Sep 2018
Cold Call Podcast

Did Entrepreneur Ernesto Tornquist Help or Hurt Argentina?

Keywords: Re: Geoffrey G. Jones; Manufacturing

01 Dec 2022
News

The State of Play

with Meow Wolf before and after a visit. “It takes a lot to get people out of the house,” concedes Tolosa, who worked previously at the entertainment conglomerate ViacomCBS. In an era when new films are released straight to streaming and... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Arts, Entertainment

February 2010
Teaching Note

Wanxiang Group: A Chinese Company's Global Strategy (TN)

By: Regina M. Abrami, William C. Kirby, F. Warren McFarlan and Keith Chi-ho Wong

Teaching Note for [308058]. View Details

Keywords: Business History; Global Strategy; Business Conglomerates; Vertical Integration; Goals and Objectives; Mergers and Acquisitions; Auto Industry; China; United States

January 2021 (Revised June 2021)
Case

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