Publications

October 2023 (Revised November 2023)
Case

Recycle & Re-Match: The Future of Soccer Turfs

By: George Serafeim, Lena Duchene and Carlota Moniz

By August 2023, Re-Match, an artificial turf waste-to-value company, had operations in Denmark and the Netherlands and had recycled over 160,000 tons of waste and plastic fiber. With recent capital injection from the VC firm Verdane and a dual revenue business model,... View Details

February 2010 (Revised June 2010)
Case

Arup: Building the Water Cube

By: Robert G. Eccles, Amy C. Edmondson and Dilyana Karadzhova

Arup, an engineering firm, collaborated with PTW Architects and China Construction Design Institute to develop a design for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics Aquatics Center design competition. Their winning concept for the Water Cube combined elements of Chinese... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Environmental Sustainability; Design; Construction; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Projects; Groups and Teams; Real Estate Industry; Sports Industry; Beijing; Sydney

June 2025
Case

Vail Resorts: Responding to Activist Pressure (A)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Edward A. Meyer

On January 27, 2025, the head of a relatively small hedge fund named Late Apex Partners sent a highly critical letter to the board of directors of Vail Resorts, the world’s largest ski resort operator. In his letter, and the 88-slide presentation that accompanied his... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Finance; Capital Budgeting; Corporate Governance; Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Leading Change; Valuation; Investment Activism; Climate Change; Management Succession; Financial Management; Risk Management; Business and Shareholder Relations; Sports Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Travel Industry; United States; Australia; Canada

August 1994 (Revised December 1996)
Case

Astra Sports, Inc. (B)

By: John A. Quelch

Astra executives meet to discuss their options with a Venezuelan company that, for seven years, manufactured and marketed athletic shoes under the Astra name without authorization from Astra. View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Crime and Corruption; Brands and Branding; Sports Industry; Sports Industry; Sports Industry; Venezuela

04 Mar 2014
First Look

First Look: March 4

Vadim, and Stephen A. Greyser Abstract—Over the past two years, conference realignment has taken a front seat in the college sports landscape. Economic incentives were too attractive to overlook for some universities. College football... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

05 Sep 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, September 5, 2017

sports television network in the U.S., Street League President Brian Atlas had become impatient with the network’s lack of support. Atlas planned to meet with network representatives in the coming months to discuss their 2014 contract,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

30 Dec 2013
HBS Case

HBS Cases: What Warren Buffett Saw in Newspapers

numbers, industry trends, strategy considerations, shareholder interests, and several other financing options and come up with a plan to save his company. With Amazon.com's Jeff Bezos's recent acquisition of the Washington Post and sports... View Details

Keywords: by Deborah Blagg; Journalism & News; Publishing

02 Apr 2015
Research & Ideas

Digital Initiative Summit: Big Messages, Small Screens, Many Choices

live TV, the play might soon reappear on a sports network's Twitter feed. According to Brown, users' attention spans are somewhat proportional to the size of the screens they use. That means they're less willing to sit through an... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Advertising

21 Mar 2012
Op-Ed

Finding the Right Jeremy Lin Storyline

professional sports a "legitimate" career path in Asian-American families? Or how many Asian-American families might steer their children away from basketball because they see it as a "black" thing? Or to what extent... View Details

Keywords: by Lakshmi Ramarajan; Entertainment & Recreation

07 Apr 2014
Research & Ideas

Excerpt: ‘The Art of Negotiation’

weeds. Let's recap what we've agreed upon so we can put this particular issue in context." You can also build your confidence by seeking out ideas and techniques beyond your usual experience. If you run a supply chain, for example, read the View Details

Keywords: Re: Michael A. Wheeler

17 Oct 2011
Research & Ideas

How ‘Hybrid’ Nonprofits Can Stay on Mission

possibility that hiring managers would be swayed by their own backgrounds, meaning that sporting either a finance degree or a social work degree didn't result in preferential treatment for a potential candidate. But Battilana's research... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

11 Oct 2010
Research & Ideas

It Pays to Hire Women in Countries That Won’t

accepting and educating women. Hence, the country sports a large number of highly educated, highly qualified women with advanced degrees in business, engineering, economics, and foreign languages-all useful in corporate management.... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

August 1967 (Revised January 1973)
Case

Brunswick Corp.: The Snurfer (A)

By: Paul A. Vatter

Keywords: Sports Industry; Sports Industry

Find at Harvard

September 2014 (Revised July 2018)
Case

adidas Group: IT Multi-Sourcing

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Martin Wiener, Carol Saunders and Grandon Gill

This case describes the design and implementation of an IT-multi-sourcing strategy at a large global sportswear company, the adidas Group, which is headquartered in Germany. To help increase the benefits and reduce the risks of its sourcing arrangements, adidas... View Details

Keywords: IT Strategy; Outsourcing; Organizational Structure; Information Technology; Strategy; Sports Industry; Sports Industry; Germany

September 2010 (Revised November 2013)
Supplement

Aspen Skiing Company (B)

By: Michael W. Toffel and Stephanie van Sice

Having begun improving the environmental performance of its own operations, Aspen Skiing Company is considering "greening" its supply chain and lobbying for greenhouse gas regulations. A world renowned ski resort vulnerable to global climate change, Aspen's activities... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Supply Chain; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Sports Industry; Aspen

March 2007 (Revised August 2009)
Case

Will RacingThePlanet Ltd. Reach the Finish Line?

Mary Gadams, founder and CEO of RacingThePlanet is facing one of the many logistical crises that her young Hong Kong-based venture faces as it stages its popular 4Deserts(tm) adventure marathon series in Atacama Chile, Gobi Desert Mongolia, Sahara Desert Egypt, and... View Details

Keywords: Global Range; Business or Company Management; Logistics; Entrepreneurship; Globalization; Sports Industry; Sports Industry; Hong Kong; Egypt; Mongolia; Chile; Antarctica

October 1984
Case

NIKE (E1): The Announcement

Details changes in the senior management roster at Nike, focusing on the appointment of Robert Woodell as the company's new president. View Details

Keywords: Management Succession; Management Teams; Sports Industry; Sports Industry

October 1984 (Revised March 1999)
Case

NIKE (B)

Describes Nike's corporate culture and looks closely at individual key senior and middle managers, outlining the processes by which the management group conducts its business and noting the values which bind the management group together. The teaching objective is to... View Details

Keywords: Values and Beliefs; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Culture; Management Teams; Sports Industry; Sports Industry

March 2025
Teaching Note

Seattle's Climate Pledge Arena: Ticket to a Greener Future

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jacob A. Small

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 325-110. CEO Tim Leiweke reviewed the process by which his newly formed Oak View Group had managed a major rebuild of a landmark arena in Seattle which attracted a National Hockey League franchise and major entertainers concerned about... View Details

Keywords: Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Leadership; Bids and Bidding; Standards; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Green Buildings; Construction; Partners and Partnerships; Sports Industry; Sports Industry; Seattle