Publications

February 2025
Supplement

Kwame Spearman at Tattered Cover

By: Ryan Raffaelli

Keywords: Retail; Leadership; Leading Change; Competitive Strategy; Personal Development and Career; Publishing Industry; Retail Industry; United States

June 2023
Supplement

Applied Intuition (A)

By: Andy Wu

Applied Intuition CEO Qasar Younis provides an overview of the automotive industry and the role of simulation software in the development of autonomous vehicles. View Details

Keywords: Autonomous Vehicles; Software; Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Valuation; Auto Industry; Technology Industry; California; Detroit

February 2019 (Revised September 2019)
Case

Amazon in Fashion

By: John R. Wells, Benjamin Weinstock and Gabriel Ellsworth

According to many analysts and industry observers, in 2018 Amazon became the largest retailer of apparel in the United States and the second largest in the world, behind Alibaba. Much of Amazon’s apparel was made by third-party retailers on its platform, but Amazon had... View Details

January 2017
Case

Bayer AG: Bidding to Win Merck's OTC Business

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Marc Baaij and Arjen Mulder

Shortly after submitting their best and final offer to acquire Merck's Consumer Care Division (a collection of "over-the-counter" (OTC) products with sales totaling $2 billion), the Bayer M&A team was given a chance to revise their bid because another potential... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Bidding Strategy; Valuing Synergies; Negotiations; Corporate Strategy; Business Unit Strategy; Bidding Process; Discounted Cash Flow; Cross-border M＆A; Tax Shields; Valuation; Competitive Strategy; Auctions; Bids and Bidding; Germany; United States; United Kingdom

March 2016 (Revised October 2017)
Case

Salesforce.com vs. Siebel (Abridged)

By: David B. Yoffie

Explores the phenomenon of software becoming a service. Salesforce.com has catapulted into the lead for offering a customer relationship management (CRM) solution as a Web-based service. Siebel, the leader in CRM packaged software sales, has to devise a strategy to... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Competitive Strategy; Software

July 2005 (Revised April 2008)
Case

The Rise of Kmart Corporation 1962-1987

By: John R. Wells and Travis Haglock

Tracks the development of the Kmart discount store chain from its inception in 1961 to its peak in 1990 and examines the contribution of each Kmart chief executive to the chain's success. In, parallel, compares the performance of Wal-Mart over the same period along a... View Details

Keywords: History; Strategic Planning; Leadership; Competitive Strategy; Performance Evaluation; Retail Industry; United States

May 2024
Case

LinkedIn Corporation, 2024

By: David B. Yoffie, George Gonzalez and Emily Grandjean

By 2024, the LinkedIn profile was well established as the professional identity of record on the Internet. Following a multi-year effort to expand the platform’s user base, as well as a period of rapid growth during the COVID-19 pandemic, LinkedIn’s membership had... View Details

Keywords: Platform; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Goals and Objectives; Social Media; Network Effects; Growth and Development Strategy; Performance Evaluation; Technology Industry; Employment Industry; Sunnyvale

January 2019
Case

Arrow Electronics—The Apollo Integration

By: Stephen P. Kaufman

Having already made 10 acquisitions of competitors in the last decade, the CEO and Senior Vice President of Arrow are evaluating the acquisition of another small competitor to boost sales, become #1 in a niche market segment, and achieve economies of scale. They are... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Integration; Valuation; Performance Evaluation; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Strategic Planning; Growth and Development Strategy; Electronics Industry; United States

May 2004 (Revised April 2005)
Case

Prudential Securities

By: Boris Groysberg, Paul M. Healy and Amanda Cowen

Prudential Insurance Co. attempted to diversify into financial services by building an investment banking franchise. Prudential's initial foray into the industry was its acquisition of The Bache Group in 1982. In 2000, the company decided to exit investment banking.... View Details

Keywords: Investment Banking; Corporate Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Diversification; Mergers and Acquisitions; Financial Services Industry; Insurance Industry

February 2002
Case

Strategy of the Firm Under Regulatory Review: The Case of Chilectra

By: Rafael M. Di Tella and Alexander Dyck

Discusses the largest electric distribution company in Chile and one of the five largest private Chilean companies. Introduces the exercise of operating control in order to improve the profitability of the investments, privatization, and international expansions. View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Corporate Accountability; Growth and Development Strategy; Privatization; Emerging Markets; Competitive Strategy; Expansion; Global Strategy; Governance Compliance; Utilities Industry; Chile

24 Jun 2008
First Look

First Look: June 24, 2008

plants are a significant determinant of cross-country differences in income per worker. For this purpose, we use a standard version of the neoclassical growth model augmented to incorporate monopolistic competition among heterogeneous... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

01 Apr 1996
News

Wake-Up Call: Farewell to the American Dream?

flexible, fragmented, and intensely competitive environment. To me, belief in a new frontier of digital prosperity is an act of faith that underscores how much denial exists in America today. You seem to see View Details

June 2013
Case

Olympic Rent-A-Car U.S.: Customer Loyalty Battles

By: John Deighton and James T. Kindley

The marketing and operations managers for Olympic Rent-A-Car meet to decide how to respond to changes in the loyalty rewards program at the market-leading competitor. The competitor's program gives awards based on dollars spent instead of days rented and eliminates... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Competitive Strategy; Marketing; Operations; Auto Industry; Service Industry

January 1996 (Revised April 1996)
Case

Digital Imaging in 1995: Opportunities in the Descent to the Desktop

The dramatic shifts of the imaging industry from analog to digital technology is creating emerging markets in 1995. How can a competitor position itself to enter the market successfully? This case describes the key technologies, market segments, competitors, and... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Consumer Products Industry

May 1992
Case

Sunday River Ski Resort

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger and Martha Epstein

Sunday River is a ski area in Bethel, ME which has been run by entrepreneur Les Otten since 1980. The year before Otten purchased the area, it posted a loss of $235,000 on revenues of $541,000. Under Otten's leadership, however, Sunday River posted year after year of... View Details

Keywords: Service Delivery; Competitive Advantage; Entrepreneurship; Success; Transformation; Tourism Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Maine