Publications

August 2015 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Amazon.com, 2021

By: John R. Wells, Benjamin Weinstock, Gabriel Ellsworth and Galen Danskin

In February 2021, Amazon announced 2020 operating profits of $22,899 million, up from $2,233 million in 2015, on sales of $386 billion, up from $107 billion five years earlier (see Exhibit 1). The shareholders expressed their satisfaction (see Exhibit 2), but not all... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Analysis; Retail; E-commerce; Amazon; Internet; Amazon.com; AmazonFresh; Jeff Bezos; Cloud Computing; Marketplaces; Streaming; E-reader Market; Digital Media; Mobile App; Online Retail; Shipping; Database; Tablet; Kindle; Kindle Fire; Smartphone; Delivery; Digital Platforms; Competition; Internet and the Web; Corporate Strategy; Digital Marketing; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Business Organization; For-Profit Firms; Film Entertainment; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Music Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Profit; Revenue; Global Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Taxation; Business History; Human Resources; Resignation and Termination; Books; Human Capital; Working Conditions; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Management Practices and Processes; Industry Growth; Industry Structures; Media; Distribution; Distribution Channels; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Infrastructure; Logistics; Product Development; Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Organizational Culture; Public Ownership; Work-Life Balance; Problems and Challenges; Labor and Management Relations; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Diversification; Expansion; Integration; Horizontal Integration; Vertical Integration; Information Infrastructure; Information Technology; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Price; Applications and Software; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Working Capital; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Value and Value Chain; Retail Industry; Advertising Industry; Distribution Industry; Electronics Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Information Technology Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; Music Industry; Publishing Industry; Shipping Industry; Technology Industry; Video Game Industry; Web Services Industry; United States; Washington (state, US); Seattle

20 Dec 2006
Working Paper Summaries

The Demise of Cost and Profit Centers

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan

June 2014 (Revised January 2017)
Case

Focus Financial Partners and the U.S. RIA Industry in 2014

By: Luis Viceira and Emily A. Chien

In the Spring of 2014, Rudy Adolf, CEO and founder of Focus Financial, and the two other co-founders of the firm are considering alternative growth strategies to solidify Focus Financial's position as a leading aggregator of independent wealth management firms in the... View Details

Keywords: Financial Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Model; Financial Services Industry

November 2004 (Revised April 2005)
Case

Deutsche Bank: Finding Relative Value Trades

Deutsche Bank's Fixed Income Research Group is looking for yield curve trades to pitch to clients as well as for their proprietary trading desk. The group has data on recent bond trades and a proprietary term structure model, which they can use to develop trading... View Details

Keywords: Bonds; Capital Markets; Investment Banking; Institutional Investing; Banking Industry; Germany

04 Apr 2018
Op-Ed

Op-Ed: Why Private Investors Must Fund 'New Nuclear' Power Right Now

Drbouz In June 2016, I gave a TED Talk called We Need Nuclear Power to Solve Climate Change. The talk discussed the world’s realistic options for reducing fossil CO2 emissions soon enough to contain climate change’s more severe effects. To my surprise, that talk has... View Details

Keywords: by Joseph Lassiter; Energy; Green Technology

06 Nov 2006
Research & Ideas

How South Africa Challenges Our Thinking on FDI

concentrated market structure and the high profits of the firms that would be among the several operating there, I think it's not surprising that we should see investments into already successful companies... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

January 2001 (Revised May 2001)
Case

Return Logic, Inc. (A)

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Michele Lutz

Follows three graduating HBS students as they build a business-to-business Internet venture and highlights the challenges they confront in structuring financing terms with venture capitalists. Requires students to carefully read a six-page term sheet to identify which... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Investment Funds; Private Equity; Internet and the Web; Negotiation Deal; Entrepreneurship

27 Apr 2010
First Look

First Look: April 27

expenditures. In doing so, we show that fiscal spending shocks appear to significantly dampen corporate sector investment and employment activity. These corporate reactions follow both Senate and House committee chair changes, are present... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

January 31, 2019
Article

The Backlash to Larry Fink's Letter Shows How Far Business Has to Go on Social Responsibility

By: Mark R. Kramer

Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, the world’s largest investor with $6 trillion under management, evoked heated controversy with his remarks last week that his company would change its hiring and potentially its compensation structure to advance diversity and ensure that... View Details

Keywords: Diversity; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose

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March 1992 (Revised March 1998)
Case

Adam Opel AG (B)

By: Hugo Uyterhoeven

Should General Motors make a strategic manufacturing investment in East Germany after becoming number one in this market through an aggressive marketing strategy? The proposal, dependent on government assistance and based on a number of uncertain economic assumptions,... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Investment; Government and Politics; Leadership; Marketing Strategy; Production; Organizational Structure; Strategy; Germany

20 Oct 2011
Research & Ideas

Getting the Marketing Mix Right

assistant professor of marketing at Purdue University, and Sachin Gupta, the Henrietta Johnson Louis Professor of Management and professor of marketing at Cornell University. Steenburgh believes that the model could help brand managers determine which marketing... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

May 2002
Case

Venture Capital Fund Restructuring Vignettes (Abridged)

By: Paul A. Gompers

This case examines the changes in fund structures proposed by four venture capital firms in 2002: Accel Partners, Battery Ventures, Charles River Ventures, and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The venture capital market has experienced a major downturn, and these... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Restructuring; Financial Crisis; Motivation and Incentives; Business and Shareholder Relations; Investment Funds; Financial Services Industry

April 2004
Case

D-Wave Systems: Building a Quantum Computer

By: Alan D. MacCormack, Ajay Agrawal and Rebecca Henderson

D-Wave Systems is a start-up seeking to commercialize a quantum computer. Its business model is unique: as of 2003, it had very few technical resources within the firm. Instead, it financed a series of projects undertaken at universities and government labs. In return... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Startups; Engineering; Investment; Intellectual Property; Product Development; Research and Development; Commercialization; Computer Industry

31 Mar 2009
First Look

First Look: March 31, 2009

Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/09-105.pdf Earnings Quality and Ownership Structure: The Role of Private Equity Sponsors Author:Sharon P. Katz Abstract This study explores how firms' ownership structures affect their... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

2025
Working Paper

Management and Firm Dynamism

By: Nicholas Bloom, Jonathan S. Hartley, Raffaella Sadun, Rachel Schuh and John Van Reenen

We show better-managed firms are more dynamic in plant acquisitions, disposals, openings and closings in U.S. Census and international data. Better-managed firms also birth better-managed plants, and improve the performance of the plants they acquire. To explain these... View Details

Keywords: Management Practices; Productivity; Management Practices and Processes; Mergers and Acquisitions; Competition; Business or Company Management; Performance Productivity

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January 2019 (Revised December 2020)
Case

Angola Starts Now

By: Jeremy Friedman and Sophus A. Reinert

After five centuries of colonialism, four decades of civil war, an extended experiment with Marxism-Leninism, and nearly four decades of rule by a single man, José Eduardo Dos Santos, Angola finally has a chance to realize its enormous economic potential. A country... View Details

Keywords: Development Economics; Government and Politics; History; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Social Issues; Angola

January 15, 2019
Article

Is Your Company's Strategy Aligned with Your Ownership Model?

By: Josh Baron

The legacy of Vanguard founder John Bogle has brought attention to the transformative influence of ownership structures within the business world. Bogle's revolutionary insight into the limitations of active fund management led to the widespread adoption of index... View Details

Keywords: Ownership Type; Business Strategy; Organizational Structure; Strength and Weakness; Competitive Advantage

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