Publications

November 2005
Supplement

Playgrounds and Performance: Results Management at KaBOOM! (C)

By: Herman B. Leonard, Marc J. Epstein and Laura Winig

Keywords: Performance; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

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

November 2004 (Revised October 2005)
Supplement

Leading the Josie Esquivel Franchise (B)

By: Boris Groysberg and Laura Morgan Roberts

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Entertainment and Recreation Industry

October 2003 (Revised December 2003)
Case

Strategic Inflection: TiVo in 2003 (B)

By: David B. Yoffie, Pai-Ling Yin and Christina L. Darwall

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Entertainment and Recreation Industry

August 2003 (Revised November 2005)
Teaching Note

Electronic Arts Introduces The Sims Online (TN)

By: Youngme E. Moon

Teaching Note for (9-503-008). View Details

Keywords: Entertainment and Recreation Industry

July 1997
Case

Walt Disney's Dennis Hightower: Weaving Together the European Operations

By: Ashish Nanda

The case describes the actions taken by Dennis Hightower as president of Disney Consumer Products in Europe and the Middle East from 1988 to 1994. It focuses on how he has gone about establishing a regional office and knitting local operations closer together, the... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business or Company Management; Multinational Firms and Management; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Middle East; Europe

October 1989
Case

Dennis Hightower and the Walt Disney Co. in Europe

Describes the initial entry challenges faced by Dennis Hightower after being assigned the task to revitalize and reposition Walt Disney Co. of Europe in preparation for 1992. Allows students to consider the challenges of cultural heterogeneity, Disney traditions, and... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States; Europe

July 1994 (Revised January 1997)
Case

Steamboat Ski & Resort Corporation

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

The largest ski resort in Colorado must determine how to select customer segments to focus its promotional and service-delivery efforts. Making segmentation work depends on reordering its pricing policy and "service packages." View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Service Delivery; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Colorado

March 2024 (Revised September 2024)
Case

Supercell 2.0: Clash of Plans

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and George Gonzalez

Founded in 2010, Supercell was a Helsinki, Finland-based mobile gaming company that had developed and launched five global hit mobile games: Clash of Clans, Clash Royale, Hay Day, Brawl Stars, and Boom Beach. The company’s early philosophy was that it could produce... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Restructuring; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Corporate Strategy; Video Game Industry; Finland

November 2006
Background Note

Technical Game Theory Note #6: Multiple-Round Games and Reputations

By: Dennis A. Yao

Provides a game theory-based interpretation of reputations and reputation building. View Details

Keywords: Game Theory; Mathematical Methods; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Reputation; Debates; Strategy; Performance Consistency; Performance Improvement; Strategic Planning; Education Industry

October 2009
Case

Digital Chocolate

By: Linda A. Hill and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

Trip Hawkins founded Digital Chocolate in Silicon Valley in 2003 to develop outstanding games for mobile devices. By 2008, the company had expanded its operations into four countries, and Digital Chocolate was one of the top developers of soloplayer games for standard... View Details

Keywords: Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Innovation and Management; Leading Change; Product Development; Groups and Teams; Creativity; Telecommunications Industry; Telecommunications Industry

30 Apr 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, April 30, 2019

Evidence from the Hospital Industry By: Dafny, Leemore S., Katherine Ho, and Robin S. Lee Abstract—We consider the effect of mergers between firms whose products are not viewed as direct substitutes for the same good or service but are... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

April 1959
Case

Acoustic Research, Inc. (C)

By: Bruce R. Scott

Keywords: Entertainment and Recreation Industry

Find at Harvard

March 1988 (Revised July 1990)
Case

Walt Disney Productions: Greenmail

Considers a firm whose investment strategies have essentially run out. Walt Disney's original visions and goals have all been fulfilled and after his death no new ones are forthcoming. Disney faces repeated takeover attacks and is forced to either set new corporate... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Crisis Management; Acquisition; Financial Strategy; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States

November 2015 (Revised February 2020)
Teaching Note

IDEO: Human-Centered Service Design

By: Ryan W. Buell

The case describes IDEO, one of the world's leading design firms, and its human-centered innovation culture and processes. It is an example of what managers can do to make their own organizations more innovative. In reaction to a rapidly changing competitive landscape,... View Details

Keywords: Design Thinking; Innovation; Service Management; Service; Design; Service Delivery; Innovation and Management; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Peru

(Revised May 2024)
Teaching Note

Lyric Dinner Theater (A) and (B)

By: Richard G. Hamermesh, Jim Sharpe and Noah Fisher

This teaching note is associated with HBS cases 813-043 and 813-044. View Details

Keywords: Turnarounds; Turnaround; Operations Management; Family Business; Family-owned Business; Hiring; Careers; Sales; Operations; Entrepreneurship; Negotiation; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Saint Louis

May 1993
Teaching Note

San Bernadino YWCA (A) TN

By: Regina E. Herzlinger

Keywords: Entertainment and Recreation Industry; California

June 2010
Supplement

Blue Man Group: Creativity, Life, and Business (Video)

This video complements the case "Blue Man Group: Creativity, Life and Surviving an Economic Crisis." (810108) With extensive clips from live performances, Blue Man's three co-founders offer their perspective on creativity, life and business; and describe the birth and... View Details

Keywords: Creativity; Entrepreneurship; Financial Crisis; Entertainment and Recreation Industry