Publications

May 2017
Article

The Reference Wars: Encyclopædia Britannica's Decline and Encarta's Emergence

By: Shane Greenstein

The experience of Encyclopædia Britannica provides the canonical example of the decline of an established firm at the outset of the digital age. Competition from Microsoft’s Encarta in 1993 led to sharp declines in the sales of books, which led to the distressed sale... View Details

Keywords: Digital; Britannica; Diseconomies; Encyclopedias; Applications and Software; Books; Competition; Publishing Industry

Article

What Makes a Critic Tick? Connected Authors and the Determinants of Book Reviews

By: Loretti I. Dobrescu, Michael Luca and Alberto Motta

This paper investigates the determinants of expert reviews in the book industry. Reviews are determined not only by the quality of the product, but also by the incentives of the media outlet providing the review. For example, a media outlet may have the incentive to... View Details

Keywords: Quality; Media; Relationships; Marketing Reference Programs; Books; Publishing Industry

Read Now

March 2012 (Revised March 2015)
Supplement

Claude Grunitzky, Founder & CEO of TRACE Magazine, In-class Comments, February 2, 2012

By: Julie Battilana, Lakshmi Ramarajan and James Weber

Keywords: Publishing Industry

Sep 2008 - 2008
Keynote Speech

Revisiting the Long Tail: Implications for the Book Industry

By: Anita Elberse

Keywords: Books; Publishing Industry

July 1986 (Revised December 1986)
Case

McGraw-Hill Book Co. (Condensed)

By: James I. Cash Jr.

Keywords: Publishing Industry

February 1995
Teaching Note

Time Inc. and New Magazine Development (A) TN

By: David J. Collis

Keywords: Journals and Magazines; Publishing Industry

June 1995
Teaching Note

Time Life Inc. (A) and (B)TN

By: David A. Garvin and Artemis March

Teaching Note for (9-395-012) and (9-395-013). View Details

Keywords: Publishing Industry

November 1988 (Revised December 1988)
Teaching Note

Valerie Morgan, Teaching Note

Teaching Note for (9-386-164). View Details

Keywords: Publishing Industry

05 Mar 2014
What Do You Think?

When Will the Next Dot.com Bubble Burst?

Summing Up Is "Collateral Damage" from Economic Bubbles Inevitable, Necessary, and Useful? According to the old saw, markets are made by differences of opinion. If that's the case, there is a real market around the question of whether we are approaching... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Publishing; Publishing

29 Apr 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Exclusive Preferential Placement as Search Diversion: Evidence from Flight Search

Keywords: by Benjamin G. Edelman & Zhenyu Lai; Publishing; Publishing

April 1973
Case

Gruner & Jahr AG & Co.

By: Steven C. Wheelwright

Keywords: Publishing Industry

April 2012 (Revised March 2013)
Case

Social Strategy at Harvard Business Review

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski and David Chen

The Harvard Business Review (HBR) Group was an early adopter of social media, boasting a robust presence on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Now the company is seeking to evolve the Group's efforts from social media to social strategy—and start moving both revenue... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Advantage; Social and Collaborative Networks; Web; Publishing Industry; United States

August 2011
Supplement

Better World Books Video

By: Michael I. Norton, Fiona Wilson, Jill Avery and Thomas Steenburgh

This video contains an interview with David Murphy, CEO of Better World Books. Topics discussed include: the opportunities and constraints offered by having a social mission, an update on the company, and the future of Better World Books. View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development; Management Teams; Business Model; Social Enterprise; Publishing Industry

August 2010 (Revised September 2011)
Case

Driving Sustainability at Bloomberg L.P.

By: Christopher Marquis, Daniel Beunza, Fabrizio Ferraro and Bobbi Thomason

Describes the addition of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance indicators to the Bloomberg terminal. The initiative grew out of Bloomberg's broader sustainability initiatives and is an example of how committed employees can create positive social... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Knowledge Dissemination; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Organizational Culture; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Environmental Sustainability; Publishing Industry; New York (city, NY)

June 2010 (Revised April 2011)
Case

Continental Media Group: Business Highlights

By: Robert L. Simons and Kathryn Rosenberg

Continental Media Group has a series of business reviews struggling to achieve profitability. This case focuses on the use of management control systems to identify emerging opportunities and the formulation of new strategies. The interactive system used by top... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Governance Controls; Management Systems; Risk Management; Business Strategy; Publishing Industry

March 2007 (Revised October 2008)
Case

The New York Times Co.

The Sulzberger family owns 20% of the New York Times Co. (NYT) but controls 70% of the board through a dual-class share structure. At the company's April 2006 annual shareholder meeting, Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) and other investors, holding 28% of... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Investment Activism; Corporate Governance; Governance Controls; Governing and Advisory Boards; Business and Shareholder Relations; Publishing Industry; New York (city, NY)

September 2006
Teaching Note

The Pellegrins (TN) (A) and (B)

By: John A. Davis and Courtney Sampson

Teaching Note to (899-009) and (899-010). View Details

Keywords: Publishing Industry

February 2001
Case

BarnesandNoble.com (B)

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Dickson Louie and William A. Sahlman

At the end of 1998, Jonathan Bulkeley, the newly-named CEO of barnesandnoble.com, is faced with a challenge. As the second leading online bookseller behind Amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com must build its market share. With Forrester Research predicting that the online... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Marketing Strategy; Publishing Industry