Publications

26 Jul 2016
First Look

July 26, 2016

education. After observing regulator leniency, beneficent hospitals demonstrate higher upcoding. Our results suggest that lenient enforcement assists beneficent nonprofits to obtain higher revenues in price-regulated markets. Publisher's... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 2024 (Revised March 2025)
Supplement

Wemade: (Re)Establishing Trust in Blockchain Games (B)

By: Jung Koo Kang, Charles C.Y. Wang, David Allen and Kwangmoon So

This supplement reviews Wemade's efforts to rebuild confidence in its business after its WEMIX coin was delisted from the major South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges on December 8, 2022. It outlines Wemade's strategy of transparency, which included partnerships with... View Details

Keywords: Blockchain; Cryptocurrency; Crypto Economy; Accounting; Financial Reporting; Revenue Recognition; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Corporate Disclosure; Information Technology; Financial Markets; Governance; Accounting Industry; Video Game Industry; South Korea

May 2011 (Revised March 2012)
Case

InterfaceRAISE: Sustainability Consulting

By: Michael W. Toffel, Robert G. Eccles and Casey Taylor

InterfaceRAISE is a sustainability management consulting firm created to leverage the capabilities of its parent company Interface Inc., a carpet manufacturer recognized as a global leader in corporate environmental sustainability. This case illustrates the challenges... View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Entrepreneurship; Performance; Environmental Accounting; Profit; Marketing Strategy; Human Resources; Business Model; Leveraged Buyouts; Salesforce Management; Consulting Industry; Manufacturing Industry

05 Jun 2007
First Look

First Look: June 5, 2007

brand mix that would be carried. Results from the pilot store (a remodeled hypermarket in Beijing) were encouraging, with revenues and profits up and customers spending more on each visit. The company must decide how quickly to roll out... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

March 2011 (Revised February 2012)
Case

Innovation and Growth at Actelion Ltd.

By: Gary P. Pisano, Daniela Beyersdorfer and Ruth Dittrich

In late 2010, Jean-Paul Clozel, CEO of the Swiss biotech pharmaceuticals firm Actelion, looks back on a successful decade. The small venture that he had started with a few of his scientist colleagues in the late 1990s to discover novel medicine in a research-driven... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Talent and Talent Management; Innovation and Management; Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Development; Organizational Culture; Research and Development; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Switzerland

October 2022
Case

Ethena: A Go-to-Market Dilemma

By: Rembrand Koning and Stacy Straaberg

In November 2021, Roxanne Petraeus and Anne Solmssen, founders of Brooklyn-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) startup Ethena, were looking to expand their compliance training business. The founders hired Arnie Gullov-Singh, an outside revenue consultant, to advise on... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Judgments; Growth and Development Strategy; Business or Company Management; Business Strategy; Expansion; Segmentation; Technology Industry; United States; New York (state, US)

14 Feb 2018
Blog Post

Meet HBS Leadership Fellows: Verdell Walker, Sesame Workshop

HBS, I worked as an equity research analyst at Goldman Sachs and as a strategy analyst in the advertising sales division of The Wall Street Journal. My stint in finance helped me develop my analytical and research capabilities. Working at... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit / Government

Article

Young and No Money? Never Mind: The Material Impact of Social Resources on New Venture Growth

By: Mukti Khaire

Although growth is a desirable outcome for new ventures due to the many advantages of large size, most new firms fail to grow, largely due to their limited resources and adaptability. This paper addresses the question of how new ventures grow despite their limited... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Status and Position; Advertising Industry; Chicago; New York (city, NY)

Find at Harvard

2007
Working Paper

Exclusivity and Control

By: Andrei Hagiu and Robin S. Lee

We analyze platform competition for content in the presence of strategic interactions between content distributors and content providers. We provide a model of bargaining and price competition within these industries, and show that whether or not a piece of content... View Details

Keywords: Price; Revenue; Governance Controls; Digital Platforms; Competition

Read Now

January 1999 (Revised March 2001)
Case

MindSpring

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

In a business environment where Internet Service Providers (ISP) has become increasingly commodity-like, Charles Brewer, founder and CEO of MindSpring, the nation's sixth largest ISP and the recognized leader in customer satisfaction, ponders a proposed merger with... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Mergers and Acquisitions; Customer Satisfaction; Growth and Development Strategy; Web Services Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

April 2015 (Revised October 2017)
Teaching Note

Buffett's Bid for Media General's Newspapers

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Annelena Lobb

On May 12, 2012, BH Media Group, a subsidiary of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, announced an offer to buy Media General's (MEG) newspaper division for $142 million in cash and provide debt financing to the struggling firm. Reactions from investors and industry... View Details

Keywords: Mergers ＆ Acquisitions; Bankruptcy; Mergers and Acquisitions; Valuation; Capital Structure; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financial Strategy; Risk Management; Executive Compensation; Cash Flow; Business Exit or Shutdown; Media; Advertising; Restructuring; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Publishing Industry; United States

June 2013 (Revised April 2015)
Case

Buffett's Bid for Media General's Newspapers

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Aldo Sesia

On May 12, 2012, BH Media Group, a subsidiary of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, announced an offer to buy Media General's (MEG) newspaper division for $142 million in cash and provide debt financing to the struggling firm. Reactions from investors and industry... View Details

Keywords: Mergers ＆ Acquisitions; Bankruptcy; Mergers and Acquisitions; Valuation; Capital Structure; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financial Strategy; Risk Management; Executive Compensation; Cash Flow; Business Exit or Shutdown; Media; Advertising; Restructuring; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Publishing Industry; United States

November 2000 (Revised May 2002)
Case

FleetBoston Financial: Online Banking

By: Frances X. Frei and Hanna Rodriguez-Farrar

As the ninth largest bank holding company in the United States in 2000, FleetBoston Financial Corp. provided a myriad of financial services, including retail banking, loan origination, and brokerage accounts. This case explores how FleetBoston responded to the Internet... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Borrowing and Debt; Cost Management; Banks and Banking; Consumer Behavior; Service Operations; Competition; Online Technology; Banking Industry; United States

20 Jan 2015
First Look

First Look: January 20

They recommend a more coherent strategy that divides CSR efforts into three categories including those related to philanthropy, operational effectiveness, and shaping the firm's business model to better create shared value. Consideration... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 2015
Case

Pricing in a Digital World (2015)

By: John Gourville

Dynamic pricing, especially as practiced by Uber and Lift, seems to be all the rage. In this case, we look at five interesting applications of dynamic price and price customization, each made possible by advances in digital technology. These range from the online... View Details

Keywords: Pricing; Marketing; Dynamic Pricing; Price Customization; Information Technology; Price; Entrepreneurship; Customization and Personalization; Product Marketing

Research Summary

Land in China's Political Economy

By: Meg Rithmire

Land Bargains and Chinese Capitalism: The Politics of Property Rights under Reform

Published October 2015

China since the 1980s has been the scene of unprecedented efforts at urban construction and growth, even in the absence of privatization... View Details

24 Apr 2007
First Look

First Look: April 24, 2007

Note on U.S. Public Education Finance (A): Revenues Harvard Business School Note 307-069 Describes the revenue structure of U.S. public education. Covers funding by federal, state, and local governments.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

July 2002 (Revised September 2002)
Case

Competition in Japanese Financial Markets, 2002 (Abridged)

By: Tarun Khanna

In early 2002, Japan, the world's largest economy, had been mired in a decade-long recession. A range of stimulus packages had failed to work their magic. The "Big Bang" financial deregulation reforms announced in 1998 had not quite produced the economic boom that the... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Financial Markets; Global Strategy; Financial Crisis; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry; Japan