Publications

February 1997 (Revised July 2004)
Case

Walden Woods

By: William J. Poorvu and Arthur I Segel

In 1984, Mortimer Zuckerman and Ed Linde, through their firm, Boston Properties (BP), acquired land in Concord, MA to build a 147,000-square-foot, first-class suburban office building. BP proceeded to go through the permitting and approval process with the town and was... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Decision Choices and Conditions; Entrepreneurship; Property; Environmental Sustainability; Conflict and Resolution; Real Estate Industry; Massachusetts

August 1992 (Revised June 1993)
Case

Compania de Telefonos de Chile

By: W. Carl Kester, Enrique Ostale and Charles McHugh La Follette

The newly privatized Chilean telephone company, Compania de Telefonos de Chile (CTC) must raise substantial new funds externally in order to finance its expansion program. This task is complicated by Chile's small, illiquid capital markets and the skeptical view of... View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Financing and Loans; Managerial Roles; Privatization; Expansion; Telecommunications Industry; South America; Chile

December 2007 (Revised July 2008)
Case

MINI USA: Finding a New Advertising Agency (A)

Selling an intangible like advertising services is a difficult task. The first step is to understand how brands buy these services. What are they looking for? What do they need to learn? How do they go about assessing things like creativity, trust, and loyalty? This... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Advertising; Sales; Advertising Industry

05 Apr 2010
Research & Ideas

HBS Cases: iPads, Kindles, and the Close of a Chapter in Book Publishing

question. For his part, Olson endorses a strategy of cooperation over confrontation. Macmillan may have won the pricing war, but what have they lost? After all, Amazon can retaliate by promoting other publishers' titles more. "I... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Information; Publishing; Entertainment & Recreation

21 Jun 2007
Working Paper Summaries

Merchant or Two-Sided Platform?

Keywords: by Andrei Hagiu; Technology

April 1993 (Revised December 1994)
Case

American Express TRS Charge-Card Receivables

By: Andre F. Perold and Kuljot Singh

American Express (TRS) Co. is considering a proposal to securitize a portion of their consumer charge-card receivables portfolio. In the past, they have relied exclusively on a captive finance subsidiary, Credco, to perform this function. The proposed securitization... View Details

Keywords: Credit Cards; Restructuring; Borrowing and Debt; Financial Management; Financial Strategy; Debt Securities; Travel Industry

Web

Skydeck - Alumni

Marketing Help Halt the Heroin Epidemic? Jim Langford (MBA 1984) , executive director of the Georgia Prevention Project, on his group’s anti-opioid advertising strategy Skydeck Live: The Science of a... View Details

November 1999
Case

Adam Opel AG (A) and (B) (Condensed)

By: Joseph L. Bower

Focuses on the strategic issue of how to approach the East German market after the Berlin wall came down in late 1989. Within an unusually rich economic-political and organizational-personal context, the chairman of GM's German subsidiary has to respond to Volkswagen's... View Details

Keywords: Adoption; Decision Choices and Conditions; Situation or Environment; Risk and Uncertainty; Auto Industry; Germany

15 Jun 2010
First Look

First Look: June 15

to $426 billion, accounting for nearly 70% of the jump in total syndicated loan issuance over the same period. Did the inflow of institutional funding in the syndicated loan market lead to mispricing of credit? To understand this... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

05 Dec 2018
Working Paper Summaries

The Salary Taboo: Privacy Norms and the Diffusion of Information

Keywords: by Zoë B. Cullen and Ricardo Perez-Truglia

June 2020 (Revised October 2020)
Case

What Went Wrong with Boeing's 737 Max?

By: William W. George and Amram Migdal

This case describes the development of the Boeing 737 Max airplane model and the events leading up to two tragic plane crashes, in which a total of 346 people died: the crash of Lion Air flight 610 on October 29, 2018, in Indonesia, and the crash of Ethiopian Airlines... View Details

Keywords: Communication; Communication Intention and Meaning; Communication Strategy; Forms of Communication; Announcements; Decision Making; Decision Choices and Conditions; Judgments; Ethics; Moral Sensibility; Values and Beliefs; Globalization; Global Strategy; Governance; Corporate Accountability; Governance Controls; Human Resources; Resignation and Termination; Leadership; Leadership Style; Management; Business or Company Management; Crisis Management; Management Practices and Processes; Management Skills; Management Style; Management Systems; Risk Management; Time Management; Markets; Demand and Consumers; Digital Platforms; Supply and Industry; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Industry Structures; Operations; Product Development; Organizations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Outcome or Result; Failure; Success; Planning; Strategic Planning; Problems and Challenges; Relationships; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Risk and Uncertainty; Safety; Strategy; Transportation; Air Transportation; Aerospace Industry; Air Transportation Industry; Africa; Ethiopia; Asia; Indonesia; North and Central America; United States; Seattle; Chicago

06 Dec 2013
News

The Blockbuster Movie Model That Ate Hollywood

June 1994 (Revised September 1994)
Background Note

Beating the Commodity Magnet

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and George T. Bowman

All markets follow a cycle of growth and maturity, then commoditization and decline. This note argues that while commoditization of an industry may seem inevitable, the better managed firms find a way to make money in the commodity cycle. These firms know how and when... View Details

Keywords: Goods and Commodities; Financial Markets; Competitive Strategy; Financial Services Industry

February 2008
Case

Cincom Systems, Inc.

By: Tom Nicholas and David Chen

Tom Nies, charismatic CEO of Cincom Systems, is considering a public offering of his software enterprise, but the 1987 stock market crash checks his plans. Nies reflects that capital for expansion will keep Cincom at the frontier of technological development in a... View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Capital; Initial Public Offering; Organizational Culture; Going Public; Corporate Strategy; Information Technology Industry

September 2002 (Revised July 2012)
Case

Athleta

By: William A. Sahlman and Taslim Pirmohamed

The management team at Athleta is attempting to raise equity capital for the company in March 2002. Athleta is a catalog and online retailer of women's athletic clothing. The company has made substantial progress, with anticipated 2002 sales over $20 million, but has... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Financing and Loans; Business Model; Business Strategy; Equity; Capital; Retail Industry

21 Feb 2018
Research & Ideas

When a Competitor Abandons the Market, Should You Advance or Retreat?

opportunity to redouble their efforts and grab more market share, or take it as a warning that it might be time to get out while the getting was good? A new research study suggests that more companies than expected see a half-empty glass... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Pharmaceutical; Health

Web

HBS - The year in Review

Marketing Faculty Promotions Two faculty members were promoted. Full Professor Full Professor Scott Duke Kominers Entrepreneurial Management Associate Professor Associate Professor Mark L. Egan Finance Faculty & Staff Demographics HBS has... View Details

August 2023
Case

Floward

By: Krishna Palepu and Namrata Arora

In 2022, Abdulaziz B. Al Loughani, CEO and co-founder of Floward, an online flower and gifting company established in Kuwait in 2017, contemplated the firm's growth trajectory. Floward, an e-commerce enterprise that offered fresh-cut flowers sourced directly from... View Details

Keywords: Initial Public Offering; Expansion; Growth and Development Strategy; E-commerce; Information Technology Industry; Middle East; North Africa; Saudi Arabia; Kuwait; United Arab Emirates; Jordan