Publications

November 2012
Case

New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc. (Abridged)

By: H. Kent Bowen, Robert S. Huckman, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Matthew Preble

Considers whether New Balance, one of the world's five largest manufacturers of athletic footwear, should respond to Adidas' planned acquisition of Reebok—a transaction that would join the second- and third-largest companies in the industry. Highlights the unique... View Details

Keywords: Production; Competitive Strategy; Supply Chain; Brands and Branding; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Sports Industry; Retail Industry; Asia; United States

April 2020 (Revised June 2020)
Case

Oriental Land Co., Ltd.—Tokyo Disney Resort

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Akiko Kanno

This case describes the history of Oriental Land Co. Ltd.’s (OLC's) Tokyo Disney Resort (TDR), its operations, the extent of vertical integration, and the challenges it faced in 2018 as OLC's chairman and CEO, Toshio Kagami, contemplated how best to deal with... View Details

Keywords: Strategy For Multi-business Firm; Business Models; Growth; Theme Parks; Disney; Disney Parks; Licensing; Royalties; Two-part Tariffs; Oriental Land Co.; Tokyo Disneyland; Tokyo DisneySea; Tokyo Disney Resort; Tokyo Disney; Growth Strategy; Hotels; Hotel Industry; Partnership; Development; Attractions; Rides; Urayasu; Kagami; Congestion; Pricing; Amusement Parks; Amusement Park Industry; Brand; Branding; History; OLC; Corporate Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Business History; Price; Retention; Growth and Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Brands and Branding; Agreements and Arrangements; Contracts; Operations; Vertical Integration; Problems and Challenges; Partners and Partnerships; Business Strategy; Expansion; Rail Transportation; Transportation Networks; Accommodations Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Tourism Industry; Asia; Japan; Tokyo; United States

February 2015 (Revised June 2017)
Case

Intrapreneurship at DaVita HealthCare Partners

By: Joseph B. Fuller, David J. Collis and Matthew G. Preble

Josh Golomb, president and general manager of DaVita Rx (Rx), was about to meet with Kent Thiry, CEO of Rx's corporate parent, DaVita Healthcare Partners Inc. (DaVita), in August 2013. The two would discuss whether Golomb should lead a new DaVita venture, Paladina... View Details

Keywords: Intrapreneurship; Entrepreneurial Organizations; Startup Management; Startup; Strategic Positioning; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Corporate Strategy; Business Startups; Strategic Planning; Competitive Strategy; Health Industry; United States

Program

Mergers and Acquisitions

Summary Across the globe, mergers and acquisitions are reshaping the corporate and competitive landscape. To help companies gain a strategic advantage and expand market share, this M&A program takes you inside the process—from strategy... View Details

June 2022 (Revised January 2023)
Case

Buurtzorg

By: Ethan Bernstein, Tatiana Sandino, Joost Minnaar and Annelena Lobb

As co-founders of home nursing company Buurtzorg, Jos de Blok and Gonnie Kronenberg prized both self-management and organizational learning. Buurtzorg’s 10,000 nurses across 950 neighborhood nursing teams in the Netherlands were empowered to manage themselves, both in... View Details

11 Jan 2021
Working Paper Summaries

Accounting for Product Impact in the Airlines Industry

Keywords: by George Serafeim and Katie Trinh; Air Transportation; Transportation

September 2019 (Revised October 2019)
Case

Bill Connors and The Farm, a Comcast NBCUniversal Innovation Hub (Powered by Boomtown)

By: Linda A. Hill and Eric Mankin

In 2017, Bill Connors, the President of Comcast’s Central Division, launched a startup accelerator in Comcast’s new Atlanta Regional headquarters. Comcast was America's largest cable and internet service provider, having built a profitable business bundling television... View Details

July 2014
Article

Diasporas and Outsourcing: Evidence from oDesk and India

By: Ejaz Ghani, William R. Kerr and Christopher Stanton

This study examines the role of the Indian diaspora in the outsourcing of work to India. Our data are taken from oDesk, the world's largest online platform for outsourced contracts, where India is the largest country in terms of contract volume. We use an ethnic name... View Details

Keywords: Diaspora; Outsourcing; oDesk; Networks; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Diasporas; Internet and the Web; Ethnicity; Service Industry; South Asia; India

Read Now

Program

Finance for Senior Executives

compensation incentives, and play a bigger role in helping your company optimize its financial resources and strengthen its bottom line. Details Apply strategic financial insight Make informed strategic decisions regarding capital... View Details

04 Jun 2007
Research & Ideas

Is Health Care Making You Better—or Dead?

independently. On the other hand, I'm sure it's going to happen. There are four big hospital companies in India, and I've talked with their CEOs, with these teams of students. They're very focused on this market. And one of the things... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Health

December 2020
Case

XP: Dual Track Financing Alternatives

By: Marco Di Maggio, Pedro Levindo and Carla Larangeira

XP, an investment platform, was on the verge of defining whether to do an IPO or selling off a majority stake to Itaú Unibanco, Brazil´s largest financial conglomerate. Under the leadership of Guilherme Benchimol, XP´s co-founder and CEO, XP had risen to become the... View Details

Keywords: Financing Decisions; Expansion; Decision Choices and Conditions; Latin America; Brazil

June 2017 (Revised May 2019)
Supplement

Kjell and Company: Motivating Salespeople with Incentive Compensation (B)

By: Doug J. Chung

Kjell & Company was a Swedish retail electronics chain founded in 1988 by brothers Marcus, Mikael and Fredrik Dahnelius. The company operated 84 stores, all company-owned, located mainly in the metropolitan areas of Sweden’s most popular cities: Stockholm, Gothemburg... View Details

Keywords: Salesforce Management; Compensation and Benefits; Motivation and Incentives; Change Management; Behavior; Electronics Industry; Sweden

Program

Preparing to Be a Corporate Director

your awareness of current and emerging issues facing boards and companies Balance the demands of shareholders with those of other stakeholders in driving long-term corporate performance Interact more effectively with your company's board... View Details

October 2004 (Revised July 2011)
Case

AT&T 2000-2004

By: Stephen P. Bradley and Kerry Herman

Provides an update on CEO Michael Armstrong's "Project Grand Slam" strategy to build the value of AT&T by offering a complete, integrated telecommunications solution to both corporate and residential customers, including wireless and wire line telephone, Internet,... View Details

Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Customers; Business or Company Management; Failure; Business and Shareholder Relations; Networks; Corporate Strategy; Internet; Wireless Technology; Value Creation; Telecommunications Industry

29 Oct 2014
Research & Ideas

Inventing Products is Less Valuable Than Inventing Ideas

origins of one of the most successful companies on the planet, but are also a commentary on the origins of any invention. "Anytime you invent something, you have really invented two things—the thing itself, and an idea," says... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Technology

Das Narayandas

Das Narayandas is the Edsel Bryant Ford Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. His academic credentials include a Bachelor of Technology degree in Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IITB), a Post-Graduate... View Details

Keywords: transportation; transportation; transportation; transportation; transportation; transportation; transportation; transportation; transportation; transportation; transportation; transportation; transportation; transportation; transportation; transportation; transportation; transportation; transportation

30 Apr 2013
First Look

First Look: April 30

Julie, and Tiziana Casciaro Abstract—We propose a relational theory of how change agents in organizations use the strength of ties in their network to overcome resistance to change. We argue that strong ties to potentially influential... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2015
Case

BOLT: Seed Venture Capital Firm

By: William A. Sahlman and Robert F. White

BOLT is a different kind of seed venture capital firm built to serve the needs of early-stage startups at the intersection of hardware and software.

In the past decade, the cost of entrepreneurial experimentation has dropped dramatically, particularly in web... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Finance; Accelerator; Entrepreneurship; Finance; Venture Capital; Applications and Software; Information Infrastructure; Strategy