Publications

September 2024
Case

Faena: Magic in Mid-Miami Beach

By: Robin Greenwood, Denise Han, Dave Habeeb and Ruth Page

The link to this multimedia case should be provided to students in advance as preparation for classroom case discussion.

This multimedia case follows real estate developer Alan Faena as he expanded his luxury development business from Argentina to the... View Details

June 1980 (Revised November 2006)
Case

Southwest Lumber Distributors

By: David E. Bell

Concerns a lumber wholesaler who has been asked to give a forward price commitment. The market price has been volatile and the type of wood is different from that traded on the futures market. The question is: What to do about customer's request? View Details

Keywords: Customers; Markets; Price; Forest Products Industry

Research Summary

Competing Platforms

This paper focuses on platform-intermediated markets where there are a small number of firms on one side and analyzes the strategic competition among platforms to get the oligopolistic side on-board. Due to the prevalence of both same and cross-side externalities,... View Details

August 2009 (Revised January 2012)
Case

Steel Street

By: Arthur I Segel, William J. Poorvu, Ben Creo and Justin Seth Ginsburgh

The case involves repositioning an old 6-story warehouse in Pittsburgh and many of the issues of rehabilitation and selecting and managing the development team especially in a world of capital market uncertainty. The case also demonstrates the alignment of interests of... View Details

Keywords: Construction; Capital Markets; Financial Management; Investment; Property; Urban Development; Real Estate Industry; Pittsburgh

August 1973 (Revised September 1986)
Case

DAAG Europe (A)

By: Francis Aguilar

Company must decide whether to raise prices and tighten consumer credit in light of its strategy to rationalize production, introduce a new line of model elevators and increase its market share. Points up the interrelationships of the different functional areas within... View Details

Keywords: Change; Credit; Price; Policy; Business or Company Management; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Business Strategy; Industrial Products Industry; Europe

December 1997 (Revised September 1998)
Case

Yale University Investments Office: November 1997

By: Josh Lerner

David Swensen, chief investment officer at Yale University, reviews the $6 billion endowment strategy, which places an unusually heavy emphasis on private equity and other illiquid securities. Changing market conditions in November 1997 cause him to rethink... View Details

Keywords: Change; Private Equity; Financial Liquidity; Investment; Marketing Strategy; Strategy; Education Industry

15 May 2015
Blog Post

How to Get a Global Perspective at HBS

Though HBS is based in Boston, the MBA program is inherently a global experience. Traveling to an emerging market is part of the first year curriculum, over 70 countries are represented in of our diverse student body, View Details

14 Jun 2013
News

Auto-Repair Shops Tend to Overcharge Women, Except When They Don't

January 2021
Exercise

E-Commerce Analytics for CPG Firms (B): Optimizing Assortment for a New Retailer

By: Ayelet Israeli and Fedor (Ted) Lisitsyn

The E-Commerce Analytics group at the traditional CPG firm was in charge of compiling various online sales reports, as well as making data-driven recommendations for sales and marketing tactics. In a series of exercises, students address different data challenges for... View Details

22 May 2024
HBS Case

Banned or Not, TikTok Is a Force Companies Can’t Afford to Ignore

you. It doesn’t rely on what you say. It observes what you do and choose not to do and builds a model of who you are.” Ghosh’s analysis debuts at a time when TikTok is drawing fresh scrutiny related to how... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Technology

16 Nov 2016
News

Turning One Thousand Customers into One Million

April 2000
Article

The Fable of Fisher Body

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Daniel F. Spulber

General Motors' (GM) acquisition of Fisher Body is the classic example of market failure in the literature on contracts and the theory of the firm. According to the standard account, GM merged vertically with Fisher Body in 1926, a maker of auto bodies, because of... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Failure; Contracts; Vertical Integration; Market Transactions; Investment; Trust; Production; Assets; Supply Chain; Opportunities; Technology; Auto Industry

Read Now

May 1997 (Revised July 1997)
Case

Vermeer Technologies (B): Realizing the Dream

By: Ashish Nanda

The Vermeer team works day and night to develop its software offering, unforeseen difficulties and internal tensions notwithstanding. In less than a year, the product is ready. The Vermeer team waits anxiously for the market to pronounce its verdict. View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Applications and Software; Business Startups; Product Development; Information Technology Industry

December 2021 (Revised May 2022)
Case

Troverie (A)

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Lindsay N. Hyde and Olivia Graham

Six months after the August 2018 launch of Troverie, a U.S.-based online retailer of luxury watches, the average cost of acquiring a customer is much higher than originally projected, and the startup is incurring a substantial loss on each sales transaction. Could... View Details

Keywords: Startup; Luxury Goods; Customer Acquisition; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Luxury; Failure; Internet and the Web; Revenue; Fashion Industry; United States

May 2017 (Revised March 2018)
Case

Predicting Consumer Tastes with Big Data at Gap

By: Ayelet Israeli and Jill Avery

CEO Art Peck was eliminating his creative directors for The Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic brands and promoting a collective creative ecosystem fueled by the input of big data. Rather than relying on artistic vision, Peck wanted the company to use the mining of big... View Details

October 2009 (Revised December 2010)
Case

GE Money Bank: The M-Budget Card Initiative

By: Michael L. Tushman, Sebastian Raisch and Christian Welling

The M-Budget Card case study is about mastering the challenges of an exploratory strategic initiative in a context marked by time pressure and frequent change. M-Budget was the first of a series of highly successful projects that established GE Money Bank as a leader... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Credit Cards; Leading Change; Product Launch; Product Development; Groups and Teams; Banking Industry; Switzerland

August 2000 (Revised December 2001)
Background Note

Emerging Networked Business Models: Lessons from the Field

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Meredith Collura

Provides an overview of the networked models that are revolutionizing market industries and the organizations that compete and do business within them. Teaching Purpose: To introduce students and executives to emerging networked models and to provide a foundation for... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Decision Making; Networks; Strategy

Article

The Dark Side of Strategic Alliances: Lessons from Volvo-Renault

By: Robert Bruner and Robert Spekman

This article explores sources of failure in strategic alliances drawing on field research into one of the most prominent alliance collapses in recent years. The alliance of Volvo and Renault married the two largest enterprises in their respective countries for economic... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Alliances; Failure; Auto Industry; Europe