Publications

09 Feb 2004
Research & Ideas

Got a New Strategy? Now Make it Happen

for the most part. And private conversations, by their nature, can't mobilize an organization to address the gaps between its business strategy and the structure, capabilities, and market realities it faces. In our experience, the... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Beer & Russell A. Eisenstat

02 Jul 2015
Op-Ed

The Future of the Greek Economy

L.E. Simmons Faculty Fellow at HBS. He joined the HBS faculty after holding leadership positions in the European capital markets groups of Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Merrill Lynch and has broad experience in the areas of corporate... View Details

Keywords: by Laura Alfaro, Dante Roscini & George Serafeim; Banking

07 Jan 2015
Research & Ideas

The Quest for Better Layoffs

pursue market changes. And leaders need ways to respond to business cycle changes. We want people to learn about the forces they unleash in the firm when they institute layoffs. We want to change the way layoffs are done." The Case... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Manufacturing

31 Jan 2017
Research & Ideas

Why These Business School Professors Oppose Trump's Executive Order on Immigration

hope that this President will do the same. Christine Exley, an assistant professor in the Negotiation, Organization, & Marketing Unit: Donald Trump's recent executive order is indefensible. We must welcome the brightest students,... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

December 1980 (Revised December 1984)
Case

Hudepohl Brewing Co.

By: Malcolm S. Salter

Presents the problem of how an established regional brewer can survive the onslaught of national breweries, some of which are being cross-subsidized by diversified parent companies. Requires detailed analysis of what operations are profitable and unprofitable for... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Profit; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Industry Growth; Private Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Competition; Diversification

September 1986 (Revised July 2001)
Case

Eastern Electric Apparatus Repair Company (A)

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin and Harry Gruner

As principals engaged in structuring leveraged buyouts for a well-capitalized risk arbitrage firm, Bob Meehan and George Schwartz are preparing to bid for the business and assets of a Westinghouse subsidiary. The case focuses on the value of the opportunity, methods of... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Bids and Bidding; Opportunities; Business Subsidiaries; Strategy; Valuation; Equity; Electronics Industry

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April 2008 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Flying J (A)

By: Rohit Deshpande and Lauren Barley

The largest retailer of diesel fuel in the U.S., Flying J, is rethinking its growth strategy as the economy goes into a recession. Its major customer base, owner-operated truck drivers, are facing increasing costs of doing business. Yet Flying J is considering whether... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Growth and Development Strategy; Price; Consumer Behavior; Non-Renewable Energy; Energy Industry; United States

23 Mar 2016
Research & Ideas

Researchers Prove C-Suite Gender Gap—but Can’t Explain It

they are—unless they can figure out a way to thwart discrimination. That’s the frustrating takeaway of the new research paper “Equal Opportunity? Gender Gaps in CEO Appointments and Executive Pay,” written by Matti Keloharju, a visiting scholar at Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

June 2012 (Revised August 2014)
Supplement

Foreign Direct Investment and South Africa (B)

By: Eric Werker and Ian McKown Cornell

Incoming and outgoing foreign direct investment in an environment of politics, geography, globalization, and history. Updates the 2006 case to 2012. The subsequent six years only reinforce the message of the original case. Since the end of apartheid, South Africa had... View Details

Keywords: Global Business; Developing Countries; Business Government Relations; Economic Growth; Foreign Direct Investment; Globalized Markets and Industries; Developing Countries and Economies; Business and Government Relations; South Africa

March 2002 (Revised October 2002)
Case

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston/Fleet Financial Group Sponsorship of Monet in the 20th Century

By: Stephen A. Greyser and David Crockett

The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and Fleet Financial Group's sponsored the Monet in the 20th Century exhibition, the world's largest, in 1998. The case chronicles the solicitation of a large corporate sponsor, as well as the growth and development of their... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Finance; Product Development; For-Profit Firms; Partners and Partnerships; Arts; Brands and Branding; Innovation and Invention; Fine Arts Industry; Financial Services Industry; Massachusetts

2008
Working Paper

The Internalization of Advertising Services: An Inter-Industry Analysis

By: Sharon Horsky, Steven C. Michael and Alvin J. Silk

The common perception appears to be that vertical integration of advertising services is more the exception than the rule in the U.S. advertising industry. This study investigates the extent of such outsourcing and examines inter-industry variation in the use of... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Cost; Analytics and Data Science; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Service Operations; Creativity; Perception; Vertical Integration; Information Technology; Advertising Industry; United States

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February 2003 (Revised October 2003)
Case

Cable Data Systems

By: Paul W. Marshall and Todd H Thedinga

Describes the operating challenges of Cable Data Systems (CDS), a minority-owned cable installation company with a dual mission of maximizing profits and providing employment opportunities to minorities in urban markets. Following the merger of two cable installation... View Details

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Employment; Forecasting and Prediction; Urban Scope; Cost Management; Infrastructure; Labor Unions; Demand and Consumers; Demographics; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Boston

Find at Harvard

28 Aug 2006
Research & Ideas

Online Match-Making with Virtual Dates

an assistant professor at HBS in the marketing unit while Ariely is a professor of management science at MIT. Even when we have well-articulated stories about the kind of person we want to meet, we’re often wrong.—Michael Norton While... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Publishing

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

Building Bridges: New Dimensions in Negotiation

differences in their forecasts of future events (such as the profitability of a business being sold), attitudes toward risk and time, tax and regulatory status, market and technological knowledge and access, and so on. The third dimension... View Details

Keywords: by Anita M. Harris

07 Feb 2005
Research & Ideas

How “Career Imprinting” Shapes Leaders

about equally (un)likely. Comparing the career imprints and career paths of people who worked at these two firms shows that those who left Baxter and Abbott to join biotech firms had a differential impact on this new and emerging field of... View Details

Keywords: by Mallory Stark

February 2017
Case

Clear Channel (A): The Rise, 1972–2003

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

At the end of 2003, Clear Channel Communications, Inc., a diversified media group with revenues of $8.9 billion, could claim leadership positions in all three of its main businesses. Clear Channel Broadcasting was the largest radio-station operator in the world, with... View Details

Keywords: Clear Channel; Clear Channel Outdoor; Radio; Outdoor Advertising; Concert Industry; Lowry Mays; Federal Communications Commission; Regulation; Regulations; Regulatory Environment; JCDecaux; Media; Growth Management; Consolidation; Competitive Strategy; Fair Value Accounting; Advertising; Acquisition; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Growth and Maturation; For-Profit Firms; Entertainment; Music Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Public Equity; Profit; Revenue; Geographic Scope; Multinational Firms and Management; Government Legislation; Business History; Laws and Statutes; Business or Company Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Channels; Industry Structures; Public Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Sales; Opportunities; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Commercialization; Competition; Competitive Advantage; Corporate Strategy; Diversification; Expansion; Wireless Technology; Valuation; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Advertising Industry; Music Industry; United States; Texas

27 Feb 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, February 27, 2018

for hiring, the concept of a slot is absent from virtually all of economics. Macroeconomic studies of vacancies and search come closest, but the implications of slot-based hiring for individual worker outcomes has not been analyzed in a View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

20 Sep 2011
First Look

First Look: September 20

examine whether multi-location firms increase internal ties when they face appropriability risks from direct competitors. Our empirical analysis of the global semiconductor industry shows that when leading firms co-locate with direct View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2011
Case

ABICI

By: Mukti Khaire, Elena Corsi and Elisa Farri

The co-founder of an Italian, design based bicycle manufacturer evaluates if reducing costs by outsourcing would impact its brand. The company was founded in 2005 in Italy by three friends and in its first five years, it had enjoyed steady growth and built a strong... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Entrepreneurship; Profit; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Brands and Branding; Product Design; Product Development; Production; Bicycle Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Italy