Publications

March 2009 (Revised April 2009)
Case

AFSCME vs. Mozilo...and "Say on Pay" for All! (A) (Abridged)

By: Fabrizio Ferri and James Weber

Richard Ferlauto, director of pensions and benefits policy at the AFSCME, the largest public sector workers union in the U.S., was responsible for protecting the pensions of its members. Because pensions were invested for decades, Ferlauto wanted the companies in which... View Details

Keywords: Voting; Investment; Investment Activism; Corporate Governance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Governing and Advisory Boards; Executive Compensation; Ownership Stake; Business and Shareholder Relations; United States

01 Sep 2016
News

Behind the Apple Tax Situation, an Unprecedented Financial Policy

01 Sep 2016
Video

Behind the Apple Tax Situation, an Unprecedented Financial Policy

2024
Article

A Universal In-Place Reconfiguration Algorithm for Sliding Cube-Shaped Robots in Quadratic Time

By: Zachary Abel, Hugo A. Akitaya, Scott Duke Kominers, Matias Korman and Frederick Stock

In the modular robot reconfiguration problem we are given n cube-shaped modules (or "robots") as well as two configurations, i.e., placements of the n modules so that their union is face-connected. The goal is to find a sequence of moves that reconfigures the modules... View Details

Keywords: Robots; Mathematical Methods

Read Now

November 2006
Case

Santander's Acquisition of Abbey: Banking across Borders

Banco Santander, Spain's largest commercial bank, announced in July 2004 the acquisition of Abbey National Bank, the fifth largest U.K. commercial bank. This transaction was the largest ever cross-border acquisition in European banking and would result in the... View Details

Keywords: Integration; Value Creation; Mergers and Acquisitions; Globalization; Commercial Banking; Banking Industry; United Kingdom; European Union; Spain

March 1987 (Revised July 1996)
Case

Kansas City Zephyrs Baseball Club, Inc.

By: Kenneth A. Merchant, Krishna G. Palepu and Joseph P. Mulloy

Describes a dispute between the owners of the major league baseball teams and the players' union about the profitability of the baseball teams. The issue is important because of the ongoing collective bargaining negotiations. A consultant is brought in to decide... View Details

Keywords: State Ownership; Compensation and Benefits; Entrepreneurship; For-Profit Firms; Accounting; Activity Based Costing and Management; Resource Allocation; Cost Accounting; Cost Management; Labor and Management Relations; Financial Management; Sports; Sports Industry; Kansas

21 Jun 2021
News

How Traffic Congestion In Chicago Is Backing Things Up In Los Angeles: Pipeline Inventory Is Now A Big Logistics Problem

10 Feb 2023
Video

50th AASU Conference Honors the Past and Challenges the Future

January 2018 (Revised March 2018)
Case

Portugal: Can Socialism Survive?

By: Richard H.K. Vietor and Haviland Sheldahl-Thomason

Portugal was not ready to join the European Monetary Union in 1999. With strong unions, weak competitiveness, and a legacy of socialism, it could not compete with north-European countries. After borrowing extensively to fund deficits, Portugal went into debt crisis in... View Details

Keywords: Economy; Financial Crisis; Economic Systems; Portugal

August 2015 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Amazon.com, 2021

By: John R. Wells, Benjamin Weinstock, Gabriel Ellsworth and Galen Danskin

In February 2021, Amazon announced 2020 operating profits of $22,899 million, up from $2,233 million in 2015, on sales of $386 billion, up from $107 billion five years earlier (see Exhibit 1). The shareholders expressed their satisfaction (see Exhibit 2), but not all... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Analysis; Retail; E-commerce; Amazon; Internet; Amazon.com; AmazonFresh; Jeff Bezos; Cloud Computing; Marketplaces; Streaming; E-reader Market; Digital Media; Mobile App; Online Retail; Shipping; Database; Tablet; Kindle; Kindle Fire; Smartphone; Delivery; Digital Platforms; Competition; Internet and the Web; Corporate Strategy; Digital Marketing; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Business Organization; For-Profit Firms; Film Entertainment; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Music Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Profit; Revenue; Global Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Taxation; Business History; Human Resources; Resignation and Termination; Books; Human Capital; Working Conditions; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Management Practices and Processes; Industry Growth; Industry Structures; Media; Distribution; Distribution Channels; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Infrastructure; Logistics; Product Development; Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Organizational Culture; Public Ownership; Work-Life Balance; Problems and Challenges; Labor and Management Relations; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Diversification; Expansion; Integration; Horizontal Integration; Vertical Integration; Information Infrastructure; Information Technology; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Price; Applications and Software; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Working Capital; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Value and Value Chain; Retail Industry; Advertising Industry; Distribution Industry; Electronics Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Information Technology Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; Music Industry; Publishing Industry; Shipping Industry; Technology Industry; Video Game Industry; Web Services Industry; United States; Washington (state, US); Seattle

15 Oct 2018
News

Venezuela’s Meltdown Creates a Nation of Desperate Capitalists

May 2018 (Revised February 2020)
Case

Jason Blum's Blumhouse Productions

By: Anita Elberse

In March 2017, Jason Blum, the founder and chief executive officer of film and television production company Blumhouse Productions, has another blockbuster on his hands with the movie Get Out, produced for just $4.5 million. Remarkable returns for its micro-budget... View Details

April 1999 (Revised March 2002)
Background Note

Aluminum Industry in 1994, The

After reaching all-time highs in excess of $2,500 per ton in 1988 and 1989, aluminum prices fall dramatically in the early 1990s as the former Soviet Union begins exporting far larger quantities of metal. By the beginning of 1994, the price has hit all-time lows (in... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Demand and Consumers; Price; Supply and Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Soviet Union

February 2016 (Revised July 2017)
Case

A Nation Divided: The United States and the Challenge of Secession

By: David Moss and Marc Campasano

Americans elected Abraham Lincoln as the nation's first Republican president in November of 1860. Northern political leaders had formed the Republican Party only a few years before, in large measure to combat the spread of slavery. Southerners had long been wary of... View Details

Keywords: Governance; War; Government and Politics; History; United States

11 Mar 2021
Blog Post

A Year as Co-Presidents: Q+A with AASU's Bukie Adebo (MBA 2021) and Alexis Jackson (MBA 2021)

or normal term for African American Student Union (AASU) Co-Presidents Bukie Adebo (MBA 2021) and Alexis Jackson (MBA 2021). We talked to the two second-year students about how 2020 affected their term, highlights from their time as... View Details

September 2013 (Revised June 2014)
Supplement

Rana Plaza: Workplace Safety in Bangladesh (B)

By: John A. Quelch and Margaret L. Rodriguez

In the aftermath of the Rana Plaza building collapse, a group of international retailers and labor unions partnered to create a proposal for more stringent inspections and enforcement of safety standards in Bangladesh garment factories. The proposal was met by... View Details

Keywords: Retail Trade; Corporate Social Responsibility; Apparel; Bangladesh; Worker Safety; Government And Business; International Business; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Bangladesh

December 2002 (Revised June 2003)
Case

A Wider Europe: The Challenge of EU Enlargement

By: Rawi E. Abdelal and Kimberly A. Haddad

By 2002, the euphoria that accompanied the grandest achievement to date of Europe's 50-plus years of integration--full monetary union--was fading fast. European policy makers completed the historically unprecedented monetary integration of 12 countries, and then they... View Details

Keywords: History; Cost vs Benefits; Expansion; Decision Choices and Conditions; Problems and Challenges; European Union; Europe

June 2022
Case

Business Implications from Regulating Carbon Emissions in the EU

By: George Serafeim and Benjamin Maletta

In the beginning of the 21st century, the European Union (the EU) had led the global fight against climate change with a wide array of policy measures. The EU’s primary approach to climate policy had been taxation via the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU... View Details

Keywords: Regulation; Carbon Emissions; Trade; Sustainability; Decarbonization; Performance; Climate Change; Analysis; Strategy; Taxation; Policy; Environmental Regulation; Industry Structures; European Union