Publications

Read Now

November 2013 (Revised August 2015)
Case

Janet Yellen and the Bernanke Fed

By: Matthew Weinzierl and Katrina Flanagan

The unelected Federal Reserve Chairman exerts exceptional influence over the U.S., in fact global, economy. As Janet Yellen prepared to take over the position, she would look back on Chairman Bernanke's tenure during the Great Recession. During that time, Bernanke was... View Details

Keywords: Monetary Policy; Nominal Rigidity And Aggregate Demand/Aggregate Supply; Phillips Curve; Taylor Rule; Central Bank Independence; Central Banking; Money; Policy; Financial Crisis; Power and Influence; Banking Industry; Banking Industry; United States

June 1997 (Revised February 2000)
Case

Walker and Company: Profit Plan Decisions

By: Robert L. Simons and Ramsey Walker

Ramsey Walker, a second-year MBA student, must decide how to control a family business as an absentee owner. After providing background details on the publishing industry, the case requires the reader to: 1) make a product segmentation decision; 2) prepare a profit... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Structure; Family and Family Relationships; Market Design; Management Systems; Planning; Profit; Performance Evaluation; Segmentation; Corporate Strategy; Investment Return; Publishing Industry

July 2000 (Revised November 2001)
Case

Catalyst Medical Solutions

By: Amy C. Edmondson, Richard M.J. Bohmer and Naomi Atkins

Faced with a drop in the NASDAQ, four eHealth entrepreneurs must decide between two distribution strategies for their new company's technology. The team, comprised of three full-time resident physicians and an MBA, has developed software to enable electronic... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Health Care and Treatment; Distribution; Strategy; Venture Capital; Applications and Software; Partners and Partnerships; Borrowing and Debt; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry

August 2000 (Revised November 2001)
Case

Edmunds.com (A)

By: Stephen P. Bradley and Christina Akers

Edmund's began in 1966 as a publisher of new and used vehicle guides and grew into one of the leading third-party automotive web sites of today. This case explores how Edmunds.com gained a competitive edge using strategic partnerships and alliances, as well as careful... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; Success; Product Positioning; Partners and Partnerships; Competitive Advantage; Auto Industry; Auto Industry

April 2011
Case

Shell Nigeria: The WikiLeaks Cables

By: Sandra J. Sucher, Rebecca M. Henderson and Matthew Preble

In November 2010, WikiLeaks began releasing the first of hundreds of thousands of U.S. diplomatic cables that it had obtained. Among the thousands of cables published by early 2011, were several that shed light on Royal Dutch Shell's operations in Nigeria and its... View Details

Keywords: Business and Government Relations; Energy Generation; Operations; Communication Technology; Crime and Corruption; Metals and Minerals; Ethics; Energy Industry; Nigeria

Joshua Margolis is James Dinan and Elizabeth Miller Professor of Business Administration and the Unit Head for the Organizational Behavior unit. He is also Faculty Chair of the Program for Leadership Development. His research and teaching revolve around leadership... View Details

Keywords: insurance industry; insurance industry; insurance industry; insurance industry; insurance industry

Maria P. Roche

Maria Roche is an Assistant Professor in the Strategy Unit. She teaches the MBA elective Innovating at Scale and contributes to teaching in executive education programs. Her research examines how specialized knowledge is commercialized and how... View Details

Keywords: education industry; education industry; education industry

2019
White Paper

Impact-Weighted Financial Accounts: The Missing Piece for an Impact Economy

By: George Serafeim, T. Robert Zochowski and Jennifer Downing

Reimagining capitalism is an imperative. We need to create a more inclusive and sustainable form of capitalism that works for every person and the planet. Massive environmental damage, growing income and wealth disparity, stress, and depression within developed... View Details

Keywords: Impact-Weighted Accounts; IWAI; Background; Economic Systems; Economy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Measurement and Metrics; Financial Statements

Read Now

2010
Article

Competing against Online Sharing

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Andres Hervas-Drane

This paper aims to explore online sharing of copyrighted content over peer-to-peer (p2p) file sharing networks and its impact on the music industry and to assess the viable business models for the industry in the future. View Details

Keywords: Consumers; Computer Networks; Resource Sharing; Online Operations; Internet and the Web; Copyright; Networks; Business Model; Music Industry

August 2000 (Revised September 2000)
Case

Extraprise

By: Srikant M. Datar, Krishna G. Palepu and Sarah S. Khetani

In the three years since it was founded, the Boston-based Internet strategy consulting firm, Extraprise, has changed its strategy three times. Jennifer Gabler, the CFO, considers what kinds of control systems she can put in place to ensure the company can continue to... View Details

Keywords: Information Management; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Mathematical Methods; Information Technology; Outcome or Result; Business Growth and Maturation; Growth and Development Strategy; Web Services Industry; Web Services Industry; Boston

June 1995 (Revised September 1996)
Case

Union Carbide's Bhopal Plant (A)

By: Debora L. Spar

In December 1984, a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, sprung a leak, releasing thousands of gallons of highly toxic gas into the atmosphere. By the time the leak was sealed, over 2,000 people had died. In a series of three excerpts from published accounts, the case... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Chemicals; Foreign Direct Investment; Chemical Industry; United States; India

Luis M. Viceira is the George E. Bates Professor in the Finance Unit and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. His research, course development, and teaching focus on the areas of investment management... View Details

Keywords: education industry; education industry; education industry; education industry; education industry

October 2021 (Revised February 2022)
Case

Newsweek: Driving a Digital First Strategy

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Suraj Srinivasan

The case describes the transformation at Newsweek, the storied news magazine that had fallen from its commanding position as a premier print publication unable to find its footing in the fast changing digital media landscape. After buying Newsweek and taking over as... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Strategy; Internet and the Web; Analytics and Data Science; Performance Evaluation; Partners and Partnerships

January 15, 2021
Article

Social Media Companies Should Self-Regulate. Now

By: Michael A. Cusumano, Annabelle Gawer and David B. Yoffie

We argue that social media firms should ramp up self-regulation of content in 2021. This argument is based on research on numerous industries where firms and/or industry associations devised self-regulatory strategies that successfully limited or forestalled more... View Details

Keywords: Self-regulation; Internet and the Web; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business and Government Relations; Social Media

Read Now

February 2012 (Revised July 2012)
Supplement

Caijing Magazine (B)

By: Karthik Ramanna and G.A. Donovan

In late 2009, Wang Boming, publisher of Caijing Magazine, widely regarded as China's most independent newsmagazine, gathered his core team for an urgent meeting. His pioneering editor Hu Shuli, described for her fiercely independent journalism as "the most dangerous... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Corporate Accountability; Restructuring; Corporate Disclosure; Organizations; Publishing Industry; China