Publications

October 1971 (Revised June 1985)
Case

Fisher-Price Toys, Inc.

Reviews new product introduction and pricing decisions for a riding toy designed for preschool children. Designed to provide background in buyer behavior, market analysis, and corporate strategy. View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Product Launch; Consumer Products Industry

February 2008 (Revised September 2010)
Case

LeapFrog Enterprises

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Elizabeth Collins

Explores the success factors leading to the company's rise to the number three ranking in the aggressively competitive toy industry. LeapFrog has made the strategic decision to expand beyond the toy industry and enter the educational technology and services industry.... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Expansion; Consumer Products Industry; Education Industry

July 2012
Case

LEGO

By: Jan W. Rivkin, Stefan Thomke and Daniela Beyersdorfer

LEGO has emerged as one of the most successful companies in the toy industry. The case describes LEGO's gradual rise, rapid decline, and recent revitalization as it is keeping up with a changing market place. Central to LEGO's management model is the ability to find... View Details

Keywords: Innovation Management; Innovation; Operations Management; Organizational Change And Transformation; Operations; Competitive Strategy; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

Awards

Academy of Management. Organization and Management Theory Division. Best Student Paper Award

Winner of the 2023 Best Student Paper Award from the Organization and Management Theory Division of the Academy of Management for "Moral Escalation: Contested Category Emergence and Its Consequences in the Toy Industry." View Details

18 Mar 2013
News

HBS Cases: LEGO

September 2003 (Revised June 2005)
Case

Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Christopher Dede and Susan Saltrick

Explores the success factors leading to one's company's rise to the number three ranking in the aggressively competitive toy industry. LeapFrog has made the strategic decision to exploit its educational model in two industry sectors: consumer toys and educational... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Decisions; Education; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Growth Management; Media; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Research; Value Creation

05 Jun 2018
News

Howard Schultz has tremendous skills that would transfer to politics

13 Feb 2019
News

Medicare for All, plus Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Amazon HQ2, Marie Kondo, Toys, Spotify and Podcasting, and More

December 2004 (Revised October 2005)
Case

Hasbro Games -- POX (A)

By: David B. Godes and Elie Ofek

Hasbro's newest toy is so unique it requires a unique launch strategy. Comparing traditional media (TV, print) with a non-traditional viral campaign, Matt Collins must weigh the risks and benefits of doing things the way they've always been done or blazing a new path... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Cost vs Benefits; Marketing Strategy; Advertising Campaigns; Product Launch; Innovation and Invention; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

2004
Case

Hasbro Interactive

By: Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble

In the mid 1990s, Hasbro created Hasbro Interactive, a new business unit chartered to develop video games for PCs and other gaming systems based on Hasbro's many toy and game brands. After a few successful years, ambitions for Hasbro Interactive escalated dramatically.... View Details

Keywords: Expansion; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Video Game Industry

March 2009 (Revised November 2021)
Case

The Walt Disney Company and Pixar Inc.: To Acquire or Not to Acquire?

By: Juan Alcacer, David J. Collis and Mary Furey

Soon after Robert Iger took over as CEO of the Walt Disney Company in late 2005, he turned his attention toward Pixar, the animation studio with which Disney had worked since 1991 and was responsible for producing hits such as Toy Story and Finding Nemo. Disney's own... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Decision Making; Animation Entertainment; Film Entertainment; Contracts; Distribution; Partners and Partnerships; Vertical Integration; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

01 Oct 2012
News

James E. Burke, Johnson & Johnson CEO during Tylenol poisonings 30 years ago, dies at 87

June 2008
Case

Mattel's Long Hot Summer

In the summer of 2007, Mattel performed three major recalls of toys, mostly due to lead paint and other manufacturing issues in China. This case examines specifically how those recalls were perceived by consumers, and responded to by Mattel, as well as what effect they... View Details

Keywords: Safety; Quality; Production; Price; Manufacturing Industry; Consumer Products Industry; China

06 Apr 2011
News

'More leaders are made than born'

25 Nov 2013
News

Does successful viral marketing lead to a successful product?

March 1999 (Revised February 2000)
Case

Ken Hakuta: AllHerb.com

By: Teresa M. Amabile and Nicole Tempest

Ken Hakuta had been an entrepreneur all his life. Having started a number of consumer-oriented ventures, he became well-known as "Dr. Fad," the initiator of the "Wacky Wallwalker" toy craze in the 1980s. Wishing to strike out in an exciting new direction in 1998, he... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Health; Information Publishing; Leadership Style; Problems and Challenges; Web Sites

Find at Harvard

July 2019
Case

Christmas Inc. (A)

By: Susanna Gallani, Gregory Sabin, Lexor Adams and Nicholas Haberling

Santa Claus is facing increasing pressures to contain costs. The economic model that has worked for centuries is starting to show some cracks, to the point that he is considering outsourcing part of its toy production. Evaluating the bids his team collected from... View Details

Keywords: Costing; Production; Cost; Analysis; Decision Making; Strategy