Publications

October 2010
Case

Narragansett Brewing Company

By: Tom Nicholas, Lindsey Marshall and Charles Anthony Miller

Mark Hellendrung, CEO of Narragansett Brewing Company, is deciding whether to partner with a local television station for the upcoming NHL Winter Classic outdoor hockey game between New England's own Boston Bruins and the Philadelphia Flyers at Fenway Park. He had... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Business Strategy; Sports; Financial Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Investment; United States

14 Apr 2020
News

Fortnite Was a Blockbuster for Epic Games, What’s the Encore?

March 2024
Teaching Note

'Storrowed': A Generative AI Exercise

By: Mitchell Weiss

Teaching Note for HBS Exercise No. 824-188. “Storrowed” is an exercise to help participants raise their proficiency with generative AI. It begins by highlighting a problem: trucks getting wedged underneath bridges in Boston, Massachusetts on the city’s Storrow Drive.... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Government Administration; Transportation Industry; Public Administration Industry

September 2015
Case

Deflategate and the National Football League

By: Marco Iansiti and Christine Snively

On January 18, 2015, the New England Patriots faced the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship game. In the second quarter, a Colts player intercepted a pass from Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. Colts equipment personnel alerted NFL officials that the ball's air... View Details

Keywords: ＂Deflategate＂; Analytics; National Football League; NFLPA; Roger Goodell; Tom Brady; Operations; United States

November 1981 (Revised December 1992)
Case

Gotham Giants

The owner of a professional baseball team is trying to figure out if promotions are having an effect on ticket sales, and if televising games is hurting attendance. He considers renegotiating the television contract. View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Sports; Television Entertainment; Sports Industry

April 1996 (Revised August 2005)
Case

Jedi Bank

By: William J. Poorvu and John H. Vogel Jr.

Major Insurance Co. is a $15 billion insurance company that is an active, multi-family mortgage leader. This case is part of a negotiation game simulation that also includes Sunshine Villas, Silver Lane Apartments, and Jason Bosworth. View Details

Keywords: Mortgages; Interest Rates; Financing and Loans; Property; Negotiation Tactics; Management; Real Estate Industry; Banking Industry

28 Feb 2005
Research & Ideas

Amazon, eBay and the Bidding Wars

Beware of competitors lying in the grass, says Harvard Business School professor Alvin E. Roth. His study of bidding practices on eBay suggest that those who wait until the last minute to bid—a practice called sniping—is an effective way to not only get what you want,... View Details

Keywords: by Sara Grant; Web Services; Technology

August 2010 (Revised October 2012)
Exercise

To Catch a Vandal: A Power & Influence Exercise

By: Amy J.C. Cuddy, Ruwan Tharindu Gunatilake and Meredith Hodges

This exercise is based on the "Mafia" game created by psychologist Dimma Davidoff, and is designed to give students a broad introduction to multiple theories of influence and to challenge their instincts about which techniques are the most powerful and how they may be... View Details

Keywords: Nonverbal Communication; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Management Skills; Groups and Teams; Power and Influence; Trust

Article

A Choice Prediction Competition for Market Entry Games: An Introduction

By: Ido Erev, Eyal Ert and Alvin E. Roth

A choice prediction competition is organized that focuses on decisions from experience in market entry games (http://sites.google.com/site/gpredcomp/ and http://www.mdpi.com/si/games/predict-behavior/). The competition is based on two experiments: An estimation... View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Decision Choices and Conditions; Forecasting and Prediction; Learning; Market Entry and Exit; Game Theory; Behavior; Competition

Read Now

April 2010 (Revised January 2013)
Case

Southwest Airlines: In a Different World

By: James L. Heskett and W. Earl Sasser Jr.

This is the fourth in a 35-year series of HBS cases on an organization that has changed the rules of the game globally for an entire industry by offering both differentiated and low-price service. The focus of the case is on whether Southwest Airlines should buy gates... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Organizational Culture; Competitive Strategy; Air Transportation Industry; New York (city, NY)

25 Jul 2012
News

Summer Venture in Management Program Introduces College Students to Harvard MBA Experience

07 Jun 2014
Video

Christina Hsu - Making A Difference

2016
Book

Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice

By: Clayton M. Christensen, Taddy Hall, Karen Dillon and David S. Duncan

The foremost authority on innovation and growth presents a path-breaking book every company needs to transform innovation from a game of chance to one in which they develop products and services that customers want to buy and are willing to purchase at a premium price.... View Details

Keywords: Disruptive Innovation; Consumer Behavior

Find at Harvard

March 2006 (Revised February 2007)
Case

Massive Incorporated (A)

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III, Clark Gilbert and Victoria Winston

How do you go to market with a brand new product in a new industry? How does a business develop an opportunity and then adapt its strategy to ensure success? Who are the early adopters and how does a business work with them? Katherine Hays, chief operating office at... View Details

Keywords: Emerging Markets; Product Launch; Digital Marketing; Business Startups; Advertising Industry

November 2013 (Revised June 2014)
Case

E-Cigarettes: Marketing Versus Public Health

By: John A. Quelch and Margaret L. Rodriguez

Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) were heralded by some as a healthcare game changer, enabling smokers to switch to a new product which carried lower risk of cancer. However, there were concerns about the public health risk of e-cigarettes, particularly the chance... View Details

Keywords: Public Health; Tobacco; Smoking; Cigarettes; Electronic Cigarettes; Cancer; Lung; Lorillard; Philip Morris; Safety; Technological Innovation; Conflict of Interests; Market Entry and Exit; Marketing; Health; Advertising; Consumer Products Industry; Health Industry

March 1992
Case

Merv Griffin's Resorts

Discusses a management team that used computer-based information to micro market and provide superior products and service in a highly competitive market. The company is a leading firm in the gaming industry, and their extensive internal systems allowed them to track... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Marketing