Publications

November 1997 (Revised December 1999)
Case

Cinemex

By: James L. Heskett

The founders of Cinemex, the largest capitalized venture start-up in Mexican history, are debating several issues concerning the operations of their new chain of motion picture theatres in Mexico City. The first concerns whether some seats should be left unsold to... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Service Operations; Debates; Venture Capital; Customer Satisfaction; Advertising; Investment; Theater Entertainment; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Mexico City

January 2009 (Revised March 2009)
Case

A Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com

By: William C. Kirby, F. Warren McFarlan and Tracy Manty

Now into their third year at the helm of an Internet start-up in China, Ken Pao and Bill Li were managing a totally different company (with a new name) from the one they first founded in 2006. Having changed their business model from a social networking site to an... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Investment Funds; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; China

01 Mar 2011
News

Heard in the Chapel

performance to a packed house. The HBS men’s original a cappella group, The Tycoons, was formed in 1947 and entertained campus gatherings for more than 25 years before disbanding. Heard on the Street, which... View Details

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

Web

Harvard Business School

programming, film acquisition, and international co-production. Named president of HBO Home Entertainment in 1995, McGee received numerous industry awards View Details

25 Aug 2014
News

Jonathan M. Nelson, MBA 1983

companies, VoiceStream Wireless (now called T-Mobile USA), and also launched Hulu and the Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network (although... View Details

Keywords: Susan Young

February 2001
Case

ALWAYSi

By: Paul A. Gompers and Sergio Rattner

Anthony Soohoo, COO at ALWAYSi, an independent film distributor, is preparing projections for the company. Soohoo must decide which revenue streams the company should pursue. The firm is faced with a variety of attractive opportunities. View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Business Strategy; Revenue; Film Entertainment; Strategic Planning; Business Startups; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

Find at Harvard

Profile

Ann Chao

different countries and industries to learn with and learn from. As a Social Studies/East Asian Studies concentrator with a strong interest in disability rights View Details

Keywords: Entertainment / Media

October 2006 (Revised September 2007)
Teaching Note

Electronic Arts in Online Gaming (TN)

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann

Keywords: Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Arts; Technology; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

November 2002 (Revised November 2006)
Case

Tax-Motivated Film Financing at Rexford Studios

By: Mihir A. Desai, Gabriel J. Loeb and Mark Veblen

The head of production for Rexford Studios must analyze the terms and value consequences of an international financing involving a German film fund. The financing involves a sale-leaseback structure where international tax rules give rise to a sizable economic pie that... View Details

Keywords: International Finance; Financing and Loans; Taxation; Cash Flow; Financial Strategy; Financial Management; Competition; Film Entertainment; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Germany

July 2019 (Revised November 2022)
Case

Backstage at Boston Ballet

By: David G. Fubini, Ryan Raffaelli, Begum Agca Okutgen and Julia Kelley

This case asks students to consider how to prioritize goals when placed in a new leadership role. In August 2014, Meredith “Max” Hodges became the youngest Executive Director (ED) in the Boston Ballet’s 51-year history. In her first year, she was able to claim several... View Details

01 Dec 2007
News

Hollywood Squared

In an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal (September 4, 2007), Sony Pictures Entertainment chairman and CEO Michael Lynton (MBA ’87) declared that from his perspective “the global economy in general —... View Details

Keywords: Arts, Entertainment

March 2025
Case

Taylor Guitars: Making Employee Ownership Work the Taylor Way

By: Dennis Campbell, Petros Kusmu and Stacy Straaberg

In 2013, guitar manufacturer Taylor Guitars’ co-founders Bob Taylor and Kurt Listug were considering several exit options including selling to a competitor or to a private equity firm. The co-founders decided, instead, to embark on a seven-year process to transfer 100%... View Details

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

02 May 2011
Research & Ideas

Casino Payoff: Hands-Off Management Works Best

management structures. So casino hosts in some units are more tightly watched than others, allowing the researchers to evaluate results in both loosely and tightly monitored environments. In what appears to be an View Details

Keywords: by Dennis Fisher; Entertainment & Recreation

01 Jun 2003
News

Portraits from the Class of 2003

New England Conservatory, piano; Yale, psychobiology Speaks: French, Hebrew HBS Show: musical director (2002); writer (2003) Last Summer: associate producer, A Hole in One, Beech Hill Films Previous Career: engagement manager, McKinsey’s Media View Details

Keywords: Arts, Entertainment

12 Dec 2016
HBS Case

Business Lessons from Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson

his wallet and saw he only had seven dollars left. That stuck with him, and it has fueled him ever since. “The power in the entertainment View Details

Keywords: Re: Anita Elberse; Entertainment & Recreation; Entertainment & Recreation

June 2001 (Revised October 2003)
Case

Sampa Video, Inc.

A video rental store is considering offering home delivery service. Management must value the project under different financing strategies and methods, specifically adjusted present value (APV) and weighted average cost of capital (WACC). View Details

Keywords: Expansion; Cost of Capital; Entertainment; Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Strategy; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

June 1997 (Revised September 2000)
Teaching Note

Lynton V. Harris & Madison "Scare" Garden (A), (B) TN

By: Michael A. Wheeler and Georgia Levenson

Teaching Note for (9-897-143) and (9-897-144). View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Contracts; Profit Sharing; Risk and Uncertainty; Negotiation Participants; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Australia; New York (city, NY)