Publications

March 2011 (Revised January 2015)
Case

H Partners and Six Flags

By: Robin Greenwood and Michael Gorzynski

Rehan Jaffer, the founder of hedge fund H Partners, is considering what to do with his investment in Six Flags. H Partners had invested a significant amount of the firm's capital in the senior bonds of U.S.-based Six Flags, following that company's bankruptcy filing. View Details

Keywords: Behavioral Finance; Private Equity; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Debt Securities; Bonds; Investment; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States

01 Dec 1997
News

Multimedia Martha: Sharon Patrick Cooks Up A Winner

Martha? Yes, I've given parties and cooked and she's come. It's funny how people get nervous when they cook for or entertain Martha; she's really a delightful and interested guest. View Details

October 2009 (Revised June 2010)
Case

Hulu: An Evil Plot to Destroy the World?

By: Anita Elberse and Sunil Gupta

In July 2009, Jason Kilar, the chief executive officer of Hulu, is debating whether the online video aggregator should move away from a purely advertising-supported model, and whether it should participate in an industry-wide initiative to develop and test... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Business Model; Television Entertainment; Distribution Channels; Service Operations; Internet and the Web; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

17 Sep 2018
Research & Ideas

Welcome to Retirement. Who Am I Now?

FatCamera In an interview with Harvard Business School Professor Teresa Amabile for a study on retirement, one man on the cusp of exiting his career spoke openly about how the transition was making him question his identity. “After I retire, I’m going to have to... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Entertainment & Recreation

April 2015 (Revised June 2020)
Case

Comcast Corporation (A)

By: Sunil Gupta, Henry McGee, Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Margaret L. Rodriguez

In March 2015, the U.S. television industry received a major wake-up call. HBO, a premium cable channel with over 30 million subscribers, had announced it would begin offering a standalone streaming service. This new service would allow customers to bypass the cable... View Details

Keywords: Cable Television; HBO; Industry Evolution; Television Entertainment; Disruption; Business Model; Competitive Strategy; Media and Broadcasting Industry

Earl Sasser is a Baker Foundation Professor at Harvard Business School and has been a member of the faculty there since 1969. He received a B.A. in Mathematics from Duke University in 1965, an MBA from the University of North Carolina in 1967, and a Ph.D. in... View Details

Web

Marketing Awards & Honors - Faculty & Research

for "contributions within the sports and entertainment industry," voted on by female sports and entertainment industry professionals, in 2018. Sunil Gupta : Finalist for the 2018 Paul E. Green Award from the... View Details

27 Feb 2006
Research & Ideas

When Rights of First Refusal Are a Bad Deal

that this was a bad clause—that was something that Brit and I showed. (That isn't to say that right holders may have noticed the clause was no good once it was too late.) But there's a good chance clauses like that have been eliminated in more recent View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Entertainment & Recreation; Entertainment & Recreation; Entertainment & Recreation

10 Feb 2016
HBS Seminar

Hong Luo of Harvard Business School and Julie Mortimer of Boston College, Department of Economics

04 Jan 2022
What Do You Think?

Firing McDonald’s Easterbrook: What Could the Board Have Done Differently?

place there I predict that the metaverse will soon be used to achieve business ends. It will be interesting to see what unforeseen applications arise in management for this fascinating new entertainment medium.” Do you agree? What do you... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

August 2014
Case

Opening the Valve: From Software to Hardware (A)

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

November 2018 (Revised April 2019)
Case

Nike: Changing the Sneakers Game

By: Anita Elberse, Bryce Aiken and Howard Johnson

“Our goal is to be the kind of start-up that would terrify Nike—if Nike didn’t already own us.” Ron Faris, general manager of S23NYC, a Manhattan-based digital studio owned by sports apparel giant Nike, is on the phone with Adam Sussman, Nike’s chief digital officer.... View Details

Keywords: Digital Technology; Apparel; Fashion; Superstar; Innovation; General Management; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Innovation and Invention; Management; Sports; Entertainment; Digital Strategy; Apparel and Accessories Industry

26 Jul 2022
Research & Ideas

Burgers with Bugs? What Happens When Restaurants Ignore Online Reviews

There’s a saying in hospitality: The customer is always right. In fact, customers might be more influential than ever, according to a study of online restaurant reviews. Yelp, the website where consumers share their service experiences, often amplifies pest problems... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin; Entertainment & Recreation; Entertainment & Recreation; Entertainment & Recreation

01 Dec 2009
News

One Man Crime Wave

in upstate New York with his father, a business executive, his mother, a homemaker, and a younger sister. When MacDonald was 12, he fell ill for many months with scarlet fever and mastoiditis. Confined to his home, he survived the boredom and loneliness by reading... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons; fiction writing; Arts, Entertainment; Arts, Entertainment; Arts, Entertainment

February 2002 (Revised October 2005)
Case

BMWFilms

By: Youngme E. Moon and Kerry Herman

Jim McDowell, VP of marketing at BMW North America, is debating how to follow up the success of his latest marketing campaign, "BMWFilms." This campaign features five short films for the Internet, directed by some of the hottest young directors in Hollywood. By all... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Behavior; Internet and the Web; Marketing Strategy; Film Entertainment; Innovation and Invention; Auto Industry; North and Central America

01 Apr 2000
News

Student "Treks" Lead to Jobs and Opportunities

Angeles for the premier Hollywood Trek, where they joined a total of 45 HBSers interested in the entertainment industry and the Internet. Meanwhile, in London, more than 90 students from the School were experiencing a full agenda of... View Details

11 Mar 2019
Research & Ideas

Branding Sells Cereal, Handbags, and Vacations. Can It Sell a Country?

world stage. Armed with a $74 million branding fund, the President’s Council on Nation Branding began a multiprong effort in 2009 to position South Korea as an important global player, showcase its welcoming culture, and boost quality perceptions of its products and... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Tourism

November 2017
Teaching Note

Amazon.com, 2016

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

Teaching Note for HBS No. 716-402. On January 28, 2016, Amazon announced record 2015 operating profits of $2.2 billion on $107 billion of sales, and the markets responded with cautious optimism. For years, founder and CEO Jeffrey Bezos had prioritized growth and... View Details

October 2016
Case

Supercell

By: William R. Kerr, Benjamin F. Jones and Alexis Brownell

Supercell is a young Finnish smartphone game company with an unusual team structure and company philosophy. It is already one of Finland’s most valuable companies, and despite being only six years old, it has put up some impressive numbers: as of 2016, it has released... View Details

Keywords: Supercell; Finland; Video Games; Firm Structure; Startups; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Groups and Teams; Video Game Industry; Finland