Publications

January 2008 (Revised March 2008)
Case

Glass Egg Digital Media

Glass Egg is an outsource games development firm in Vietnam. They are able to offer brand-name publishers-Microsoft EA, Atari-significant cost savings in the development of art assets for their video games. However, the firm's management find themselves at a point at... View Details

Keywords: Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Demand and Consumers; Product Development; Organizational Structure; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

01 Feb 1997
News

Shaping the Future of Business: Entrepreneurial Evolution at HBS

consumer technology - no matter how amazing or elegant - means nothing unless it is useful, convenient, and readily accepted by customers. The fact that his wife's MBA degree didn't ease the drudgery of tracking the family's finances gave Cook, a veteran of Procter &... View Details

Keywords: Nancy O. Perry and Susan Young; profiles by Garry Emmons

10 Dec 2014
News

Front-Row Seat

doing them. It would be easier to love gambling casinos in China, which are going to grow a lot more than magazines, but I love journalists, editors, and advertisers. Journalists are wired to be in the game, striving, trying...there’s... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; digital media; Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices; Management

October 2009
Case

Digital Chocolate

By: Linda A. Hill and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

Trip Hawkins founded Digital Chocolate in Silicon Valley in 2003 to develop outstanding games for mobile devices. By 2008, the company had expanded its operations into four countries, and Digital Chocolate was one of the top developers of soloplayer games for standard... View Details

Keywords: Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Innovation and Management; Leading Change; Product Development; Groups and Teams; Creativity; Telecommunications Industry; Video Game Industry

17 Jun 2013
Research & Ideas

Advertising Symbiosis: The Key to Viral Videos

Old Spice's Twitter campaign. In 2010, Procter & Gamble launched a campaign where Facebook and Twitter users were encouraged to send messages to Isaiah Mustafa, the strapping spokesman for Old Spice who markets the idea that if men... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Advertising

01 Apr 1998
News

New Releases

including Hewlett-Packard, Ford Motor Company, Kirin Brewery Co., and Procter & Gamble - that have successfully implemented such systems. Cost & Effect describes systems that help frontline employees to improve their daily operations and... View Details

January 2018
Case

Peak Games: Hiring Priorities in Times of Rapid Growth (A)

By: William R. Kerr and Gamze Yucaoglu

Sidar Şahin, founder and CEO of Peak Games, a Turkey-based global mobile gaming company, must decide on the final list of candidates for the critical global marketing director position the company has been trying to fill for over a year. Since its founding in 2010,... View Details

Keywords: Recruiting; Staffing; Emergent Countries; Entrepreneurial Management; Private Sector; Business Strategy; Decision; Growth Management; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Selection and Staffing; Talent and Talent Management; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Value Creation; Organizational Culture; Decision Choices and Conditions; Technology Industry; Turkey

17 Apr 2017
HBS Case

This Turkish Debt Collector Is Customer-friendly

Turkasset began opening physical branches around the country to service customers who preferred to talk in person. Despite these additional outlays, the gamble paid off for the company by allowing it to collect a much higher percentage of... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

01 Dec 2011
News

Alumni Book Briefs

’01) (Harvard Business Review Press) Anthony draws on stories from his research and fieldwork with companies like Procter & Gamble to demystify innovation. He presents a simple definition of innovation, breaks down the essential... View Details

Keywords: Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Arts, Entertainment; Finance; Miscellaneous Manufacturing; Manufacturing

17 Feb 2010
News

Harrah's CFO Plans a Recovery

Keywords: Amusement, Gambling, and Recreation Industries; Arts, Entertainment

05 Feb 2009
Research & Ideas

In Praise of Marketing

defined consumer segments or, indeed, of individual consumers. Engaged Consumers The interactive nature of the Internet means that customers are now engaged more than ever in the co-creation of brand meaning and the development of marketplace offerings. Procter &... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Advertising

December 2024
Case

Tencent Games

By: Rebecca Karp, Billy Chan and Nancy Hua Dai

For years, Tencent Games, a division of China’s largest internet company, had taken the lion’s share of revenue in the global gaming market with blockbuster titles such as “League of Legends” and “PUBG: Battlegrounds.” These games defined the game genres that they... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Development; Organizational Culture; Business Strategy; Investment; Competitive Strategy; Video Game Industry; Europe; China

January 2009 (Revised March 2009)
Case

A Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com

By: William C. Kirby, F. Warren McFarlan and Tracy Manty

Now into their third year at the helm of an Internet start-up in China, Ken Pao and Bill Li were managing a totally different company (with a new name) from the one they first founded in 2006. Having changed their business model from a social networking site to an... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Investment Funds; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; China

25 Aug 2011
News

An Opportunity to Learn Something New

Keywords: Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services; Professional Services; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services; Retail Trade

02 Jun 2003
Research & Ideas

Why Have Marketers Ignored America’s Man-of-Action Hero?

found that the underlying organizational principles run contrary to the conventional procedures of the blue-chip marketers like Procter & Gamble and The Coca-Cola Company, companies that other companies typically imitate. These... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls

August 2014 (Revised August 2015)
Supplement

Opening the Valve: From Software to Hardware (B)

By: Ethan Bernstein, Francesca Gino and Bradley Staats

Valve, one of the world's top video game software companies, has also become an iconic example of an organization with virtually no hierarchy. A 400-person organization, Valve's unique organizational form (described in detail in the case and accompanying employee... View Details

January 2004 (Revised October 2006)
Case

Electronic Arts in Online Gaming

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Justin Wong

Electronic Arts (EA), the world's largest independent video-game publisher, must decide whether to support Microsoft's initiatives in online gaming. Historically, EA has been platform-agnostic, releasing versions of its titles for all major console platforms. However,... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Digital Platforms; Network Effects; Policy; Customer Focus and Relationships; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Revenue; Segmentation; Sales; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Electronics Industry

30 Oct 2005
Research & Ideas

Tuning Jobs to Fit Your Company

external markets. In many companies, widening the span of influence counteracts the rigidity of organizational structures based on boxes and silos. For example, although global companies like Procter & Gamble need to be responsive to... View Details

Keywords: by Robert Simons

July 2024
Case

Wizards of the Coast and Magic: The Rebounding

By: Boris Groysberg and Tom Quinn

This case traces the history and growth of the Magic: The Gathering trading card game. From its development in 1993 by tiny studio Wizards of the Coast, to Wizards’ acquisition by toy giant Hasbro in 1999, to its evolution into a billion-dollar brand in 2023,... View Details