Publications

September 1991
Case

All American Pipeline

By: Timothy A. Luehrman

Goodyear is nearing its first major capital commitments for the largest investment project in its history, the All American Pipeline. The pipeline will transport heavy crude oil from California to Texas. It is the centerpiece of a major program by Goodyear to diversify... View Details

Keywords: Capital; Financial Strategy; Business Startups; Diversification; Valuation; Standards; Supply Chain; Resource Allocation; Cash Flow; Mining Industry; California; Texas

October 2009 (Revised March 2011)
Case

Qualcomm Incorporated 2009

By: David B. Yoffie, Andrei Hagiu and Elizabeth A. Kind

Paul Jacobs, chairman and CEO of Qualcomm Incorporated, smiled as he reflected on the success of Qualcomm's code division multiple access (CDMA) technology. By the summer of 2009, CDMA was the basis for all third generation technologies available for cellular... View Details

Keywords: Business Units; Diversification; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Growth and Development Strategy; Telecommunications Industry

March 2006 (Revised April 2006)
Case

Geeli

By: Li Jin, Kenneth A. Froot and Si Ping May Yu

A well-performing Chinese manufacturer faces major impediments raising funding to grow. Highlights various imperfections that shape the financing decision. View Details

Keywords: Capital Costs; International Finance; Diversification; Financial Instruments; Cost of Capital; Global Strategy; Financial Strategy; Manufacturing Industry; Hong Kong

May 2017
Supplement

Betfair (B), (C), and (D) Case Slides

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and John Heilbron

Contains slides related to the Betfair B, C, and D cases.
Abstracts:
B) Buoyed by success in the market for gambling contracts, Betfair attempts to enter the market for financial products using its exchange model.
C) Prompted by a takeover bid from... View Details

Keywords: Betfair; Exchange; Betting; Leisure Industry; Betting Markets; Market Design; Digital Platforms; Diversification; Business Model; Laws and Statutes; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Financial Services Industry; Europe

2008
Working Paper

Economic Factors Underlying the Unbundling of Advertising Agency Services

By: Mohammad Arzaghi, Ernst R. Berndt, James C. Davis and Alvin J. Silk

This paper addresses a longstanding puzzle involving the unbundling of services that has occurredover more than two decades in the U.S. advertising agency industry: How can the shift from the bundling to the unbundling of services be explained and what accounts for the... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Framework; Service Operations; Decisions; Relationships; Price; Diversification; Geography; Cost; Advertising Industry; United States

Read Now

May 2004 (Revised April 2005)
Case

Prudential Securities

By: Boris Groysberg, Paul M. Healy and Amanda Cowen

Prudential Insurance Co. attempted to diversify into financial services by building an investment banking franchise. Prudential's initial foray into the industry was its acquisition of The Bache Group in 1982. In 2000, the company decided to exit investment banking.... View Details

Keywords: Investment Banking; Corporate Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Diversification; Mergers and Acquisitions; Financial Services Industry; Insurance Industry

05 Oct 2015
Research & Ideas

What Companies Should Not Do in the Next Banking Crisis

economy, but look for more diversification in terms of their financing sources.” In addition, firms should consider when investments will come to maturity, and spread out financing so all debt doesn’t expire in the same year. That way,... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Banking

26 Aug 2013
Lessons from the Classroom

Built for Global Competition from the Start

cross-border roaming), but it had also lowered the potential diversification benefits that many students highlighted as a key Celtel advantage when operating in Africa. Another LGV case centers on 2011 HBS alum Rebeca Minguela's model for... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard; Education

May 1995
Teaching Note

Adam Opel AG (A) and (B) TN

By: Hugo Uyterhoeven

Teaching Note for (9-392-100) and (9-392-101). View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Diversification; Success; Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Germany

Keywords: Oil; Gas

18 Nov 2010
Research & Ideas

GM’s IPO: Back to the Future

requires careful structuring of the transaction, cautious pricing of the shares, and wide diversification of the pockets of demand by the underwriters. These elements explain the concurrent convertible preferred stock offering, the... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Auto

August 2009 (Revised August 2009)
Case

Intel NBI: Radio-Frequency Identification

By: Willy C. Shih and Thomas Thurston

The Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) group was a start-up that was part of Intel's New Business Initiatives. It sought initially to develop and sell a high performance Rf fast read rate module targeted at fixed position readers that might be found in loading docks... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Organizational Structure; Failure; Diversification; Integration; Semiconductor Industry

Find at Harvard

March 2009 (Revised May 2011)
Case

Addleshaw-Goddard LLP

By: Robert G. Eccles, Amy C. Edmondson and James Weber

Addleshaw-Goddard (AG), the 15th largest law firm in the U.K., is seeking ways to serve larger clients on more important legal matters. Part of this strategy involves its "Client Development Centre (CDC)," an innovative idea and set of services launched by Dr. Jim... View Details

Keywords: Price; Innovation and Invention; Service Operations; Partners and Partnerships; Competitive Advantage; Diversification; Legal Services Industry; United Kingdom

April 2005 (Revised March 2007)
Case

eAccess, Ltd.

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Masako Egawa and Ariko Ota

The managers of eAccess, Japan's third largest provider of digital subscriber line (DSL) service, must decide whether to enter the mobile communications business. Japan's mobile services are among the world's most expensive, and incumbent carriers' profits are high. To... View Details

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Diversification; Policy; Business Startups; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Communications Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Japan

Find at Harvard

13 Sep 2011
First Look

First Look: September 13

questions at the upcoming shareholder meeting about Ping An's financial strategy for diversification within China and globally. Ping An had been founded by Ma in 1988 and had since grown into China's second largest life insurer. While... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 May 2009
What Do You Think?

Do Innovation and Entrepreneurship Have to Be Incompatible with Organization Size?

R&D spending; premature diversification from "core" activities; and a "talent bench shortfall." In the stalled companies, innovation suffered from a concentration on smaller and smaller niche opportunities, brand... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

December 1980 (Revised December 1984)
Case

Hudepohl Brewing Co.

By: Malcolm S. Salter

Presents the problem of how an established regional brewer can survive the onslaught of national breweries, some of which are being cross-subsidized by diversified parent companies. Requires detailed analysis of what operations are profitable and unprofitable for... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Profit; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Industry Growth; Private Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Competition; Diversification