Publications

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01 Sep 2013
News

The New Rules of E-Commerce

thing. Shoppers want value but also a stimulating experience, or "discovery shopping." Rakuten helps its vendors, many of them small-shop owners, use social media to offer unique content, such as the fashion shop that chronicles its buyers' global adventures, or the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne; e-commerce; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; Information; Miscellaneous Store Retailers; Retail Trade

January 2008 (Revised March 2008)
Case

Glass Egg Digital Media

Glass Egg is an outsource games development firm in Vietnam. They are able to offer brand-name publishers-Microsoft EA, Atari-significant cost savings in the development of art assets for their video games. However, the firm's management find themselves at a point at... View Details

Keywords: Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Demand and Consumers; Product Development; Organizational Structure; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

May 2025
Case

The Future of the BBC: Public Ownership vs. Privatization

By: Henry McGee

With viewership of the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) in decline, the country’s Culture Minister must recommend a new funding model for the venerated public institution which will allow the broadcaster to succeed in an increasingly competitive media environment. View Details

Keywords: Television Entertainment; Cooperative Ownership; State Ownership; Privatization; Public Ownership; Competition; Business Model; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United Kingdom

01 Jun 2009
News

Crisis and Creativity

JetBlue, and Ryanair all grew during recessions, as did Charles Schwab, Home Depot, and Trader Joe’s. A second customer hook is affordable indulgence. As consumers pare back, they also need ways to entertain themselves and indulge in... View Details

Keywords: Bhaskar Chakravorti

Profile

Brian T. Bedol

industry has different characteristics. In the entertainment business there are a lot more entrepreneurs who aren’t called entrepreneurs. These are the television and film producers. They are called... View Details

William Fox

Fox pioneered the vertical integration of the film industry by merging production, distribution, and exhibition under single ownership. Fox, along with Adolph Zukor, of Paramount Pictures, is largely recognized for making Hollywood the... View Details

Keywords: Entertainment & Broadcast Media

December 2022 (Revised September 2024)
Teaching Note

Leonard Bernstein: Changing the World

By: Robert Simons and Shirley Sun

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 122-056. The case traces the rise of Leonard Bernstein from a middle-class family in Boston to the conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. The case describes how he studied music intensely as a young man and developed mentors to... View Details

Keywords: Entertainment; Personal Characteristics; Work-Life Balance; Entrepreneurship; Success; Values and Beliefs; Mission and Purpose; Personal Development and Career; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

01 Sep 2013
News

Faculty Books

policymakers and the public on how capture can be mitigated and the public interest protected. Blockbusters: Hit-Making, Risk-Taking, and the Big Business of Entertainment by Anita Elberse (Henry Holt) What's behind the success of View Details

Keywords: Publishing Industries (except Internet); Publishing Industries (except Internet); Publishing Industries (except Internet); Publishing Industries (except Internet)

28 Jan 2002
Research & Ideas

Read All About It! Newspapers Lose Web War

Division.Silverthorne: Your work examines how the newspaper industry responded to the perceived threat of the Internet, and how that response matched—or failed to match—what might be expected from models of disruptive technology and other... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Entertainment & Recreation; Entertainment & Recreation; Entertainment & Recreation

01 Jun 2000
News

Priceline's Jay Walker: The Future is Wow

information, and savings. "An entire industry imploded," he asserted. "Now the industry is driven by the retail marketplace. And [online traders] are having fun." Indeed the "fun," or View Details

01 Apr 1997
News

Facing the Music

it may be that the music industry will once again turn to new technology to amp itself up, much as it did in the early 1980s with the CD. Last year, entertainment companies experimented with the enhanced CD... View Details

Keywords: Marguerite Rigoglioso

February 2006
Supplement

Gary Loveman of Harrah's at Harvard Business School: Harrah's Total Rewards

By: John A. Deighton

Keywords: Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Accommodations Industry

July 2004 (Revised March 2007)
Case

Sony EyeToy

By: Anita Elberse and Youngme E. Moon

In early 2004, less than a year after its launch, Sony's EyeToy, a unique video gaming concept, had become a tremendous success across Europe. Developed for use with Sony's PlayStation 2 console, the revolutionary technology allowed users standing in front of a small... View Details

Keywords: Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Growth and Development Strategy; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Product Development; Performance Improvement; Software; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Europe

June 1989 (Revised July 1994)
Case

Babbage's: America's Software Headquarters

By: Walter J. Salmon

Keywords: Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Video Game Industry; United States

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February 1999
Case

Tele-Communications, Inc. (A): Cascading Miracles

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann

John Malone, CEO of Tele-Communications, Inc. (TCI), the largest U.S. cable television company, is in the midst of a strategic and operational turnaround. TCI has been losing market share to direct-to-home satellite broadcasters, and Malone is considering a bold new... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Operations; Television Entertainment; Business Strategy; Volatility; Telecommunications Industry; United States

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29 Jan 2025
Blog Post

Finding professional purpose: Building an impactful career that reflects your values with Lisa Tanzer (MBA 1993)

entertained. I’ve always been someone who wants to brighten peoples’ day, and I sought to integrate that into my career. I took on roles that combined creative development and strategic leadership, working my up to CMO, and then President and CEO roles. I worked on... View Details

01 Dec 2011
News

Inside MTV’s Global Fame

Related Links Watch Bill Roedy describe his approach to taking MTV global In 1989, Bill Roedy (MBA ’79) was told to transform the American success story MTV into a global presence. Twenty years later, Roedy had built the largest View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries

March 2010 (Revised November 2010)
Case

Pandora Radio: Fire Unprofitable Customers?

By: Willy C. Shih and Halle Alicia Tecco

Pandora Radio is at a crossroads. Founder Tim Westergren has just been told by a well known VC to get rid of his unprofitable customers in order to get his costs down, but Westergren is not sure that such actions are consistent with his company's business model.... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Customer Satisfaction; Music Entertainment; Venture Capital; Profit; Growth and Development Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Internet; Media and Broadcasting Industry