Publications

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January 2010 (Revised August 2011)
Case

United Breaks Guitars

By: John A. Deighton and Leora Kornfeld

When social media propagate a complaint about poor customer service, an international media event ensues. How do viral videos spread and what can firms do about them? This case dissects an incident in which a disgruntled customer used YouTube and Twitter to spread a... View Details

Keywords: Communication Technology; Customer Satisfaction; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Network Effects; Service Delivery; Social and Collaborative Networks; Internet; Air Transportation Industry

April 2009
Case

Brummer and the bracNet Investment

By: Alnoor Ebrahim, Michael Pirson and Patricia Mangas

bracNet, a for-profit/nonprofit partnership, aims to establish Internet connectivity throughout Bangladesh. Venture capitalist Patrik Brummer invested in a first round of funding to connect major cities. Should he invest again, this time in a rural roll-out, which may... View Details

Keywords: For-Profit Firms; Venture Capital; Investment; Investment Return; Rural Scope; Partners and Partnerships; Nonprofit Organizations; Internet; Telecommunications Industry; Bangladesh

July 2000 (Revised October 2000)
Case

Cisco Systems: Are You Ready? (A)

By: James L. Heskett and John P. Morgridge

An Internet service provider, INS, in which Cisco Systems has a minority ownership stake, receives an offer of $3.1 billion from Cisco's rival Lucent. Cisco's management has to decide whether to act on a request from INS management that Cisco make a counteroffer. The... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Ownership Stake; Strategic Planning; Innovation and Management; Technology; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry

15 Jun 2009
Research & Ideas

GM: What Went Wrong and What’s Next

opportunities missed. Why I Don't Want to Own General Motors June 1, 2009 - Harvard Business Publishing Rosabeth Moss Kanter comments on the bankruptcy of GM, calling it a "dangerous precedent." The Past and Future of General... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Auto

January – February 2011
Article

'Bricks and Clicks': The Impact of Product Returns on the Strategies of Multichannel Retailers

By: Elie Ofek, Zsolt Katona and Miklos Sarvary

The Internet has increased the flexibility of retailers, allowing them to operate an online arm in addition to their physical stores. The online channel offers potential benefits in selling to customer segments that value the convenience of online shopping, but it also... View Details

Keywords: Price; Profit; Marketing Channels; Consumer Behavior; Online Technology; Retail Industry

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March 1998 (Revised June 1998)
Case

Coming to Grips with Deregulation: Bay State Gas

In 1995, CEO Roger Young made a surprising decision to bring in Joel Singer, an outsider with an MBA, to lead Bay State through the upcoming turmoil of deregulation. Singer was convinced that in this situation where the boundaries of the industry were being defined,... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Corporate Strategy; Emerging Markets; Energy Industry; Massachusetts

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March 2024
Case

Katharine Graham: Changing the World

By: Robert Simons and Shirley Sun

This case traces the life of Katharine Graham from housewife to publisher of the Washington Post. Born into a family of wealth, Graham described herself as a “doormat wife” after she married Phil Graham and stayed at home to raise their children. His unexpected death... View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Values and Beliefs; Power and Influence; Personal Characteristics; Leadership Style; Success; Work-Life Balance; News; Newspapers; Media; Gender; Publishing Industry

16 Aug 2006
Research & Ideas

Is MySpace.com Your Space?

Research, a leading journal publishing interdisciplinary studies of consumer behavior. Sean Silverthorne: Who is using MySpace to advertise? John Deighton: Fox created a profile page for X-Men: The Last Stand. Disney ran a contest to... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Publishing; Publishing; Publishing

September–October 2023
Article

Prospective Evaluation of the Cost of Performing Breast Imaging Examinations Using Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing Method: A Single Center Study

By: Aamir Ali, Jordana Phillips, Damir Ljuboja, Syed S. Shehab, Etta D. Pisano, Robert S. Kaplan and Ammar Sarwar

We use time-driven activity-based costing (TDABC) to measure the cost of performing breast imaging using different modalities: full-field digital mammography (FFDM), digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT), contrast-enhanced mammography (CEM), US and MRI exams, and... View Details

Keywords: Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing; Health Care; Breast Cancer; Health Care and Treatment; Cost; Cost Accounting; Health Industry

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Paul Healy is the James R. Williston Professor at the Harvard Business School. His research covers a broad range of topics, including white collar crime, governance, business ethics, financial analysis, and Wall Street research. He joined the HBS faculty in 1998,... View Details

Keywords: accounting industry; accounting industry; accounting industry

March 1986 (Revised November 1990)
Case

Valerie Morgan

By: Howard H. Stevenson

Presents interviews and conversations with a woman who recently started a publishing house. Primarily concerns her immediate future regarding harvesting options: IPO, sell out, step up to chairman, venture capital, etc. Also deals with the excitement and thrill of... View Details

Keywords: Interactive Communication; Decision Choices and Conditions; Entrepreneurship; Cash; Initial Public Offering; Business or Company Management; Strategic Planning; Publishing Industry

February 1997 (Revised July 1997)
Case

Vermeer Technologies (A): A Company Is Born

By: Ashish Nanda

Charles Ferguson has just heard from a venture capital (VC) consortium that it is willing to finance Vermeer Technologies, a company he has cofounded for developing Internet software. The funds are sorely needed, but the VCs have imposed some onerous conditions,... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Selection and Staffing; Applications and Software; Entrepreneurship; Information Technology Industry

02 Dec 2002
Research & Ideas

The Secret of How Microsoft Stays on Top

attractive alternatives to Microsoft technologies as they did when the Internet first emerged—it's not long before the tools division starts to hear about it.—Marco Iansiti and Alan MacCormack We also evaluated Microsoft's response to a... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

January 2007 (Revised October 2011)
Case

Roppongi Hills: City Within a City

By: Anita Elberse, Andrei Hagiu and Masako Egawa

Minoru Mori is the CEO of Mori Building, which has built Roppongi Hills, an ambitious large-scale, mixed-use development in Tokyo, Japan that includes high-end retail, restaurants, hotel, office, library, and art museum. A destination site for tourists and local... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Development Economics; Brands and Branding; Urban Development; Competition; Real Estate Industry; Tokyo

June 2016
Article

Understanding Online Hotel Reviews Through Automated Text Analysis

By: Shawn Mankad, Hyunjeong "Spring" Han, Joel Goh and Srinagesh Gavirneni

Customer reviews submitted at Internet travel portals are an important yet underexplored new resource in obtaining feedback on customer experience for the hospitality industry. These data are often voluminous and unstructured, presenting analytical challenges for... View Details

Keywords: Hotel Reviews; Natural Language Processing; Information Technology; Service Operations; Accommodations Industry; Moscow

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