Publications

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01 Jun 2024
News

Decoding the Promise and Perils of Generative AI

ChatGPT burst into the public consciousness on November 30, 2022. Within two months, the generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) software, which leverages a large language model (LLM) to produce human-like, text-based conversations,... View Details

Keywords: April White

2020
Working Paper

Building the Professional Firm: McKinsey & Co.: 1939-1968

By: Amar Bhidé

This case history analyzes how the founders of McKinsey & Co. built one of the world's leading management consulting firms by developing a “system” of professional norms, approach to serving clients, personnel policies, organization, governance, and ownership. The... View Details

Keywords: McKinsey ＆ Co.; Company History; Professional Norms; Vision; Organizations; Business History; Business Model; Strategy; Consulting Industry

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01 Dec 2015
News

Case Study: Bionic Banking

new to the firm: A majority of the team are computer programmers and developers, employing sophisticated algorithms to manage more than $275 million in assets. This active model would pit Alpha Architect against big banks, but with an... View Details

March 2013 (Revised March 2014)
Case

C12 Energy

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and James McQuade

C12 aimed to build not only a company, but an entire industry around carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). "You change the world by building a market, and you build a market by building a profitable company that other people copy," said Dawe, C12 Energy's CEO. "In... View Details

Keywords: Carbon Sequestration; Sustainability; Cleantech; Oil And Gas; Business Model; Energy; Entrepreneurship; Environmental Sustainability; Green Technology Industry; Energy Industry; North America

December 2011 (Revised February 2012)
Case

Doug Rauch: Solving the American Food Paradox

By: Jose B. Alvarez and Ryan Johnson

Keywords: Food; Policy; Social Issues; Business Model; Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; Retail Industry; United States

January 2014 (Revised April 2025)
Teaching Note

The PGA Tour

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Cole Magrath

Teaching Note for HBS Case Nos. 714-442, 714-443, 714-444, 714-445, 714-446, 714-447. View Details

Keywords: PGA Tour; Tim Finchem; Deane Beman; Golf; Professional Golf; Business Model; Value Creation; Adaptation; Sports; Business Strategy; Sports Industry; United States

October 2011 (Revised February 2012)
Case

One Game to Rule Them All: Lord of the Rings Online and the MMO Market

Keywords: Competition; Strategy; Business Model; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Video Game Industry

March 2011 (Revised March 2014)
Teaching Note

IP Intermediaries & Intellectual Ventures

By: Andrei Hagiu

Teaching Note for 710423 and 711486. View Details

Keywords: Intellectual Property; Business Model; Innovation and Invention; Revenue; Sales

March 2011 (Revised March 2014)
Teaching Note

Intellectual Ventures

By: Andrei Hagiu

Teaching Note for 710423. View Details

Keywords: Patents; Business Model; Innovation and Invention; Revenue

25 Jul 2012
News

Movie Magic

swipe of a credit card. “Automated retail sounds better,” suggests Gregg Kaplan (MBA 1997). Recruited by McDonald’s to help start new businesses within the fast-food giant, in 2002 Kaplan oversaw the installation of six kiosks in... View Details

Keywords: vending machines; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Arts, Entertainment; General Merchandise Stores; Retail Trade

01 Sep 2005
News

Ideas: Books

emerging technologies, new business models resulting from broadband deployment, security concerns, regulatory obstacles, and other subjects. In Their Time The Greatest Business... View Details

Keywords: Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training

19 Jul 2011
News

Brightening the Future

in the Philippines, Jaime “Jim” Ayala (MBA ’88) decided to put his considerable business experience to work improving the lives of some of his native country’s poorest citizens. Explaining his 2009 decision to leave Ayala Land, which had... View Details

Keywords: Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations; Personal Services

Fall 2020
Article

Competing on Customer Outcomes

By: Marco Bertini and Oded Koenigsberg

Customers ultimately want to pay for meaningful outcomes, not the products and services that presumably deliver them. Today, companies can be increasingly accountable for those outcomes with three kinds of technologically-enhanced revenue models. Adopt one to better... View Details

Keywords: Market Positioning; Revenue Strategy; Customer Satisfaction; Marketing Strategy; Business Model; Value Creation

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May 2017
Supplement

Betfair (D)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, John Heilbron and Neil Campbell

Betfair reconsiders its approach to international gambling markets amid regulatory uncertainty. View Details

Keywords: Betfair; Exchange; Betting; Leisure Industry; Laws and Statutes; Business Model; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Europe

February 2004
Case

Aspire Public Schools

Set in the fall of 2003, covers managerial challenges facing the CEO and COO of Aspire Public Schools, a nonprofit charter school management company. In operation since 1999 and funded by prominent national foundations and venture philanthropies, Aspire operates 10... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business or Company Management; Expansion; Social Entrepreneurship; Education; Education Industry; California

Summer 2025
Article

Dynamic Competition for Customer Memberships

By: Cristian Chica, Julian Jimenez-Cardenas and Jorge Tamayo

A competitive two-period membership (subscription) market is analyzed. Two symmetric firms charge a “membership” fee that allows consumers to buy products or services at a given unit price for both periods. Firms can choose between long- or short-term memberships. When... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Price Discrimination; Membership; Dynamic Competition; Competition; Price; Consumer Behavior; Business Model

October 2024
Supplement

NOW PT (A)

By: George A Riedel, Allison J. Wigen and Dave Habeeb

Pre-Abstract: Instructors should consider the timing of making videos available to students, as they may reveal key case details.

Abstract: In fall 2021, a team of students from the HBS Impact Investing Fund considered Neurologic Optimal Wellness Physical... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Medical Specialties; Investment; Business Model; Health Industry; United States