Publications

August 2002 (Revised August 2003)
Case

Electronic Arts Introduces The Sims Online

By: Youngme E. Moon

Electronic Arts (EA), the world's largest independent game publisher, is preparing to launch an online, subscription-based version of the most popular PC game in history: The Sims. The new game is called "The Sims Online" and it differs from the original game in two... View Details

Keywords: Fair Value Accounting; Decision Making; Price; Product Launch; Market Entry and Exit; Internet; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

March 2025
Teaching Plan

Wasabi Technologies (A) and (B)

By: N. Louis Shipley and Stacy Straaberg

Teaching Plan for HBS Case Nos. 823-021 and 825-035. Set in 2019, the “Wasabi Technologies (A)” case centers on Wasabi Technologies (Wasabi), a successful hot cloud storage company based in Boston, Massachusetts. Founder and CEO David Friend is ready to scale the... View Details

Keywords: Sales; Product Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Divisions; Business Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Distribution Channels; Information Technology Industry; United States; Massachusetts; Boston

Program

Leading Change and Organizational Renewal

challenges and career decisions Who Should Attend This program is designed for senior executives at companies of all sizes and stages—from current market leaders to... View Details

November 2012 (Revised August 2014)
Case

Cisco in 2012: Reorganizing for Efficiency and Flexibility

By: Ranjay Gulati, Alison Berkley Wagonfeld and Luciana Silvestri

In 2012, Cisco was under intense pressure to show results: growth in its core business was decelerating and a number of exploratory ventures and acquisitions had not proven as profitable as expected. CEO John Chambers vowed to restore the company's health in a way that... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Restructuring; Adaptation; Performance Efficiency; Emerging Markets; Information Technology Industry

June 2020
Case

Big Hit Entertainment and Blockbuster Band BTS: K-Pop Goes Global

By: Anita Elberse and Lizzy Woodham

Bang Si-Hyuk (‘Hitman Bang’) is the founder and co-chief executive officer of Big Hit Entertainment, the company behind BTS, a ‘K-pop’ band that has found unparalleled success around the globe—a remarkable feat given that most of their songs are in Korean. It is March... View Details

Keywords: Music; Entertainment; Superstars; Talent; Talent Development; Labor Economics; General Management; Music Entertainment; Media; Talent and Talent Management; Labor; Contracts; Marketing; Strategy; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

October 1990 (Revised August 2009)
Case

Cambridge Software Corporation

Cambridge Software Corp. must decide whether or not to offer multiple versions of a new software product. The firm has identified five market segments for the software and is deciding which, if any, of three product versions (a high end "industrial" version, a... View Details

Keywords: Software; Decision Making; Product Marketing; Information Technology Industry

19 Dec 2017
First Look

New Research and Ideas, December 19, 2017

successfully increase immigrants' political participation, even when they do not specifically target their communities and concerns. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=53575... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

June 2004
Case

Medical Technology Industry and Japan (A), The

In a five-year effort, the Health Industry Manufacturers Association (HIMA) tried to influence government health policy in Japan. In 1993, HIMA mobilized in response to fears the Japanese government was planning to target the U.S. medical devices industry. The case... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Policy; Globalized Markets and Industries; Government and Politics; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Japan; United States

May 2020 (Revised July 2020)
Teaching Note

Brand Activism: Nike and Colin Kaepernick

By: Jill Avery and Koen Pauwels

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 519-046. Nike’s selection of politically polarizing Colin Kaepernick as the spokesperson for the thirtieth anniversary of its iconic “Just Do It” campaign catapulted the brand into the media spotlight and made it a political flashpoint... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Brands and Branding; Advertising; Advertising Campaigns; Marketing Strategy; Marketing Communications; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Consumer Products Industry; Sports Industry; United States; North America

Program

Strategy: Building and Sustaining Competitive Advantage

Summary In the fight for market leadership and the continuous drive toward improved returns, your company needs to devise an effective strategy—and execute it flawlessly. This program prepares you to tackle... View Details

March 2025 (Revised March 2025)
Case

Good for the Seller, Good for the Buyer and Good for Society: Sampo-yoshi, Sustainability and Trust at ITOCHU

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Bethelehem Y Araya

In 2024, ITOCHU CEO Masahiro Okafuji was at a crossroads. As the thirteenth CEO since ITOCHU’s founding in 1858, he had fueled the company’s growth since 2011 by bringing ITOCHU’s founding philosophy of Sampo-yoshi (good for the seller, good for the buyer and... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Trust; Profit; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Mission and Purpose; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Japan

22 May 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, May 22, 2018

economic force is the selection between high- and low-type firms, which differ in terms of their innovative capacity. We estimate the parameters of the model using U.S. Census microdata on firm-level output,... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

28 Nov 2005
Research & Ideas

Unilever: Transformation and Tradition

possessed, first, strong capabilities in branding and marketing. It understood local markets, and it knew how to market to them. It was at the frontier of View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones; Consumer Products

June 2014
Article

Pitfalls and Fraud in Online Advertising Metrics: What Makes Advertisers Vulnerable to Cheaters, and How They Can Protect Themselves

By: Benjamin Edelman

How does online advertising become less effective than advertisers expect and less effective than measurements indicate? The current research explores problems that result, in part, from malfeasance by outside perpetrators who overstate their efforts to increase their... View Details

Keywords: Online Advertising; Measurement; Mismeasurement; Fraud; Invisible; Digital Marketing; Misleading and Fraudulent Advertising; Marketing Strategy

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Program

The Business of Entertainment, Media, and Sports

driving revenue and success in today's entertainment environment. Through an up-close examination of why some creative businesses thrive while others fail to survive, you will learn when to make smaller versus blockbuster bets, the best... View Details

Keywords: Media & Entertainment; Media & Entertainment

2008
Chapter

Corporate Honesty and Business Education: A Behavioral Model

By: Rakesh Khurana and Herbert Gintis

Since the mid-1970s neoclassical economic theory has dominated business school thinking and teaching in dealing with the nature of human motivation. However valuable in understanding competitive product and financial markets, neoclassical economic theory employs an... View Details

Keywords: Business Education; Ethics; Managerial Roles; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Organizational Culture; Business and Shareholder Relations; Mathematical Methods; Behavior

2011
Book

Translating Empire: Emulation and the Origins of Political Economy

By: Sophus A. Reinert

Historians have traditionally used the discourses of free trade and laissez-faire to explain the development of political economy during the Enlightenment. But from Sophus Reinert's perspective, eighteenth-century political economy can be understood only in the context... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Government and Politics

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2025
Working Paper

Discrimination, Rejection, and Job Search

By: Anne Boring, Katherine Coffman, Dylan Glover and María José González-Fuentes

We investigate how candidates’ willingness to apply responds to (potential) discrimination and rejection using a simulated labor market. Past work has shown that “blinding” job applications reduces discrimination and increases the rate at which women are hired. Our... View Details

Keywords: Job Search; Prejudice and Bias; Selection and Staffing; Demographics