Publications

Teaching Interest

Overview

Globalization and Emerging Markets (Elective Course) The world order has changed significantly in the last two decades. The influence of western-style varieties of capitalism has been challenged by new forms of capitalism that rely less on private enterprise and on the... View Details

April 1999
Case

Trexel

Describes an interesting plastics technology and an entrepreneur's attempts to build a business around it. Highlights issues around managing technical and market risk. Teaching purpose: Highlights difficult decisions around building a business off of an unproven... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Business Startups; Risk Management; Risk and Uncertainty; Information Technology; Corporate Entrepreneurship

July 1982 (Revised July 2004)
Case

Esmark, Inc. (B)

By: William E. Fruhan Jr.

Esmark's management sells its most valuable business and its most unattractive business in an effort to reposition itself and maximize shareholder value. View Details

Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Product Positioning; Business and Shareholder Relations; Reputation; Value

February 2021 (Revised April 2024)
Case

Shopify: The Conquest for Chinese E-Commerce

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Avani Patel, Samantha Lin and Ariel Yang

In mid-2020, Tobias Lütke, CEO of Shopify, faced a critical decision on how to time potential expansion into the China market. Over the prior 15 years, his Canadian software-as-a-service company had grown from a small e-commerce solutions provider to a full service... View Details

02 Aug 2006
Research & Ideas

Investor Protection: The Czech Experience

victory from the Czech Republic. Železný somehow managed to turn the loss to his advantage and ended up a member of the European Parliament. For business managers and... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Media & Broadcasting; Entertainment & Recreation

September 2006 (Revised October 2007)
Supplement

BT Plc: The Broadband Revolution (B)

By: Michael L. Tushman, David Kiron and Adam M. Kleinbaum

In early 2003, CEO Ben Verwaayen and Chief Broadband Officer Alison Ritchie of BT Plc. are trying to transform the former British Telecom from a stodgy telephone company into a 21st century broadband company. Their efforts to focus the firm on broadband issues within... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Innovation and Invention; Management Teams; Problems and Challenges; Telecommunications Industry; United Kingdom

11 Apr 2019
News

The DNA of Sustained Innovation

December 1999
Case

Brierley Investments Limited

By: Paul M. Healy

Brierley's is an investment company that has performed poorly in the New Zealand market. Management has prepared a report of the intrinsic value of the company's investments. View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Corporate Disclosure; Financial Strategy; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Performance Evaluation; Investment; Business Strategy; Financial Services Industry; New Zealand

25 Jan 2016
Research & Ideas

When Negotiating a Price, Never Bid with a Round Number

interviewed 10 senior investment bankers at the managing director or executive director level who each had several years of M&A experience. None of the bankers was aware of the academic literature on bid... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

2014
Other Teaching and Training Material

Marketing Reading: Segmentation and Targeting

By: Sunil Gupta

This Reading introduces two of the integral parts of any marketing strategy: segmentation and targeting. It covers, first, all of the methods, techniques, and variables with which a business first uncovers the full range of its potential customers and then... View Details

Keywords: Behavioral Segmentation; Conjoint Analysis; Demographic Segmentation; Geographic Segmentation; Market Opportunities; Market Segmentation; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Psychographic Segmentation; Unethical Marketing Practices; United States

June 29, 2022
Other Article

Strategic Complexity? Using Experiments to Understand and Overcome Obfuscation

By: Michael Luca, Ginger Zhe Jin and Daniel Martin

Credit card companies must decide what product features to disclose to consumers, such as payment schedules, penalties, and fees--and also whether to present them clearly or bury them in the fine print. Firms face similar choices in settings ranging from privacy... View Details

Keywords: Obfuscation; Credit Cards; Strategic Incentives; Complexity; Agreements and Arrangements; Customers; Consumer Behavior; Financial Services Industry

Register to Read

February 2003 (Revised March 2004)
Case

Store24

By: Susan L. Kulp, V.G. Narayanan and Dennis Campbell

Illustrates how nonfinancial performance measures can be used to manage a business and evaluate the success of a strategy. View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Balanced Scorecard; Performance Evaluation; Strategy; Retail Industry

12 Feb 2008
First Look

First Look: February 12, 2007

sharing networks, Danone had helped managers connect with each other and share good practices peer-to-peer, rather than relying on traditional hierarchical lines of communication or IT repositories. From... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

09 Feb 2021
Cold Call Podcast

Developing Resilience on the Path to Becoming a CEO

Keywords: Re: Tsedal Neeley; Information Technology; Technology

June 2021
Case

uBiome

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Olivia Graham

uBiome provided clinical tests that sequenced the DNA of human microbiome samples, providing data on health conditions directly to consumers or to prescribing physicians. Founded in 2012, the San Francisco-based startup raised $105 million from top-tier venture capital... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Crime and Corruption; Insolvency and Bankruptcy

23 May 2021
News

Psychological Safety

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

August 2006 (Revised October 2012)
Case

Natura: Global Beauty Made in Brazil

By: Geoffrey G. Jones and Ricardo Reisen de Pinho

Explores the globalization strategies of Natura, Brazil's largest cosmetics company. Founded in 1969, Natura grew using a direct selling model. Led by its three founders, the firm made distinctive use of Brazil's diversity and became characterized by high ethical and... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Globalized Firms and Management; Globalized Markets and Industries; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Brazil