Publications

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July 2015 (Revised January 2020)
Case

Horst Dassler, Adidas, and the Commercialization of Sport

By: Geoffrey Jones, Michael Norris and Sophi Kim

The case focuses on the career of Horst Dassler, the son of the founder of the German-based sports shoe manufacturer Adidas. The origins of the firm were in the interwar years, and it rose to public prominence after it provided spikes for Jesse Owens, the famous... View Details

16 Jun 2023
News

On the Move: Adam Laitsas (MBA 2016)

Laitsas will oversee PFL’s expansion plans and grow the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA) throughout the Middle East with the launch of PFL MENA in 2024. Laitsas was previously SVP of Marketing Strategy for Madison Square Garden Sports.... View Details

Keywords: marketing; career changes; mixed martial arts; sports; MENA; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries

Video

Mallika Sarabhai

Mallika, Sarabhai, co-Director of Darpana Academy of Performing Arts based in Gujarat, India, discusses why arts need financial support from governments and corporate insitutuions. View Details

Video

Mallika Sarabhai

Mallika, Sarabhai, co-Director of Darpana Academy of Performing Arts based in Gujarat, India, discusses how her performance as Draupadi in the Mahabharata, influenced her to begin choreography and direction. View Details

Video

Mallika Sarabhai

Mallika Sarabhai, co-Director of Darpana Academy of Performing Arts based in Gujarat, India, talks about her initiatives Darpana for Development and Janavak. While Darpana for Development explores how arts can contribute to social change, the department Janavak (The... View Details

Video

Mallika Sarabhai

Mallika Sarabhai,co-Director of Darpana Academy of Performing Arts based in Gujarat, India, narrates the story of her family’s protest against caste and gender discrimination in pre-independent India. View Details

January 2007 (Revised October 2011)
Case

Roppongi Hills: City Within a City

By: Anita Elberse, Andrei Hagiu and Masako Egawa

Minoru Mori is the CEO of Mori Building, which has built Roppongi Hills, an ambitious large-scale, mixed-use development in Tokyo, Japan that includes high-end retail, restaurants, hotel, office, library, and art museum. A destination site for tourists and local... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Development Economics; Brands and Branding; Urban Development; Competition; Real Estate Industry; Tokyo

June 2018
Case

Candor at Clever

By: Ethan Bernstein and Om Lala

Clever, a high-growth EdTech company based in San Francisco, had grown quickly in market share and headcount. As with many high-growth companies, however, early employees (many of whom had never managed people before) had been given the opportunity to manage teams, and... View Details

Video

Mallika Sarabhai

Mallika Sarabhai, co-Director of Darpana Academy of Performing Arts based in Gujarat, India, shares how her mother started the Darpana Academy in the 1946. Due to its disrepute of being associated with the Devadasi tradition and the British rule, Bharatanatayam had a... View Details

September 2013 (Revised August 2015)
Background Note

Leadership and Teaming

By: Ethan Bernstein

Small differences in the leadership of teams can have large consequences for the success of their efforts. Many initiatives fail not because of a fatal error in judgment or insufficient ideas, knowledge, motivation, or capabilities to deliver a solution. They fail... View Details

29 Sep 2016
News

On Pointe with Leslie John

June 2010 (Revised January 2012)
Case

Blue Man Group: Creativity, Life and Surviving an Economic Meltdown

In 2008, Blue Man Group's three co-founders are facing the prospect of losing not just a business but a way of life they have built together. The case follows the story of Chris Wink, Matt Goldman, and Phil Stanton as they pursue their creative passion and build the... View Details

Keywords: Arts; Financial Crisis; Entrepreneurship; Crisis Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Brands and Branding; Personal Development and Career; Creativity; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

14 Jun 2013
Talk

Why Business Can Be Good at Solving Social Problems

By: Michael E. Porter

Why do we turn to nonprofits, NGOs and governments to solve society's biggest problems? Michael Porter admits he's biased, as a business school professor, but he wants you to hear his case for letting business try to solve massive problems like climate change and... View Details

Keywords: Creating Shared Value; Strategy; Value Creation; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Profit; Scotland

Debora Spar is the Jaime and Josefina Chua Tiampo Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and Senior Associate Dean for Business and Global Society. Her current research focuses on issues of gender and technology, and the interplay between... View Details

Keywords: biotechnology; broadcasting; communications; entertainment; federal government; health care; information; internet; music; pharmaceuticals

December 1996 (Revised February 1998)
Case

Colorscope, Inc.

By: V.G. Narayanan and Joseph Cha

A small company in the graphic arts business faces severe price competition. The company must respond by cutting costs and making process improvements. View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Price; Business Processes; Performance Improvement; Competition; Fine Arts Industry

19 May 2009
First Look

First Look: May 19, 2009

"fallacies" that sometimes enter into discussions of art in relation to money. This, in turn, leads us to propose a framework to support more productive discussion and to describe a direction for management research that might... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

September 24, 2024
Article

4 Steps That Can Optimize Your Sales Process

By: Frank V. Cespedes, Scott Peterson and Daniel Weinfurter

Sales is a performance art where outcomes matter, so most advice here focuses on closing the sale. But a close is the result of actions and choices that occur earlier in the process: how much time and effort to spend on customer discovery (understanding what and to... View Details

Keywords: Sales; Customer Satisfaction; Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Advantage

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