Publications

February 2023
Supplement

Astyanax Kanakakis at norbloc: A Founder's Experience with the DIFC Fintech Hive

By: Linda A. Hill and Lydia Begag

norbloc was founded in 2016 in Stockholm, Sweden, by Astyanax Kanakakis and his co-founders, Vitalii Demianets and Sam Saatchi. Kanakakis and Demianets got to work to address a key gap in the industry: Know Your Customer (KYC) data sharing. As the first distributed KYC... View Details

December 2017 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Tesla's Bid for SolarCity

By: Charles C.Y. Wang and Raaj Zutshi

In October 2016, Tesla asked its shareholders to ratify their $2.4 billion bid for SolarCity. Tesla had announced a series of large projects in the preceding months including the unveiling of the Model 3, the new Solar Roof, and pushing forward the opening of the... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business and Shareholder Relations; Project Finance

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

03 Oct 2023
Research Event

Build the Life You Want: Arthur Brooks and Oprah Winfrey Share Happiness Tips

And for a day I allowed myself to feel the feelings. I allowed myself to-- I didn't go down the rabbit hole of reading them all. So I was so excited when we initially announced the fund. I was like, wow, this is going to be great. And... View Details

Keywords: by HBS Staff

November 2017
Supplement

Merging American Airlines and US Airways (B)

By: David G. Fubini, David A. Garvin and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Exhibit to Merging American Airlines and US Airways (A) case. In February 2013, US Airways announced that it would merge with American Airlines to create the world’s largest airline. Doug Parker, the CEO of US Airways, would become CEO of the new American Airlines... View Details

Keywords: Airlines; Merger; Takeover; Integration Strategy; Merger Integration; Mergers and Acquisitions; Decision Making; Governance; Management Teams; Operations; Organizational Culture; Air Transportation Industry; United States

October 2013 (Revised September 2014)
Case

The TELUS Share Conversion Proposal

By: Lucy White, Benjamin C. Esty and Lisa Mazzanti

On February 21, 2013, TELUS announced a proposal to convert the firm's non-voting shares into voting shares on a one-to-one basis, thereby eliminating the firm's dual class structure. Shareholders were scheduled to vote on the proposal at the firm's annual general... View Details

June 2013 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Inditex: 2000

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

In 2000, Inditex was one of the largest specialty apparel retailers in the world, with $2.4 billion in sales from 1,080 stores across 33 countries. Zara, Inditex's main brand, produced popular designer items at a fraction of design-house prices and could push an item... View Details

Keywords: Fashion; Fashion Industry; Succession; IPO; Competition; Initial Public Offering; Multinational Firms and Management; Management Succession; Growth and Development Strategy; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Retail Industry

November 1992 (Revised June 1993)
Case

International Paper (A)

Concerns the decision of International Paper, the world's largest pulp and paper corporation, about when to adopt the provisions of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards 106 (SFAS 106), "Employers' Accounting for Postretirement Benefits Other than Pensions." SFAS... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Compensation and Benefits; Pulp and Paper Industry

Find at Harvard

October 2004 (Revised July 2013)
Case

Making China Beautiful: Shiseido and the China Market

By: Geoffrey G. Jones, Akiko Kanno and Masako Egawa

Describes the multinational growth of Shiseido, the world's fourth-largest cosmetics company, with a focus on its strategy in China since 1981. Explores the challenges facing firms in the globalization of a culturally specific industry such as cosmetics. The Japanese... View Details

Keywords: Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Globalized Firms and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Resource Allocation; Competition; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; China; Japan

July 2002 (Revised September 2002)
Case

Competition in Japanese Financial Markets, 2002 (Abridged)

By: Tarun Khanna

In early 2002, Japan, the world's largest economy, had been mired in a decade-long recession. A range of stimulus packages had failed to work their magic. The "Big Bang" financial deregulation reforms announced in 1998 had not quite produced the economic boom that the... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Financial Markets; Global Strategy; Financial Crisis; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry; Japan

Find at Harvard

11 Aug 2009
First Look

First Look: August 11, 2009

insiders strategically sell shares prior to the disclosure of goodwill impairment losses. We provide evidence that insiders of goodwill impairment firms engage in abnormal selling of their shares quarters prior to the announcement of such... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Web

Advancing Racial Equity

structural racism has been ignored for too long. We hear the calls for the School to move swiftly to address the impacts of racism on our campus and in higher education. Two-Year Action Plan Update School Stories HBS Announces Latest RISE... View Details

01 Apr 2024
In Practice

Navigating the Mood of Customers Weary of Price Hikes

your budget on electricity, or you bought a new car in the last couple of years, you must have experienced significant price hikes, very likely way above the publicly announced inflation numbers. Similarly, if you live in Miami or... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Retail; Consumer Products

03 Oct 2022
Research & Ideas

Why a Failed Startup Might Be Good for Your Career After All

In August, mega venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz announced a $350 million investment in residential real estate company Flow—the single largest investment the VC titan had ever made. But a bigger surprise than the investment... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

January 2021
Supplement

Bespoken Spirits: Disrupting Distilling

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher

On October 7, 2020, Bespoken Spirits publicly announced it had received $2.6 million of seed funding for its “sustainable maturation process,” a process that could produce award-winning whiskeys in just days rather than years using a novel technology and data science. ... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Business Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Disruption; Entrepreneurship; Environmental Sustainability; Cash Flow; Disruptive Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Brands and Branding; Business Model; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Service Industry; United States; California

June 2010 (Revised July 2012)
Supplement

Dubai: Debt, Development, and Crisis (C)

By: Aldo Musacchio, Andrew Christopher Goodman and Claire K. Qureshi

On November 25, 2009, the city state of Dubai stunned markets by announcing that Dubai World, its flagship state holding company, would seek a six month "standstill" on at least $4 billion U.S. dollars of its $26 billion in debt obligations. This case describes Dubai's... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Investment; Emerging Markets; Trade; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Development Economics; Financial Crisis; State Ownership; Sovereign Finance; Business Strategy; Dubai

June 2007 (Revised April 2009)
Case

Intel 2006: Rising to the Graphics Challenge

By: Willy C. Shih and Elie Ofek

Examines the evolution of the PC hardware industry over the span of two and a half decades. The open architecture design of the IBM Personal Computer followed by the rapid appearance of clones drove a high level of standardization and modularity in the industry, and... View Details

Keywords: History; Customer Value and Value Chain; Decision Choices and Conditions; Information Infrastructure; Competitive Strategy; Mergers and Acquisitions; Technology Industry

October 2005 (Revised February 2007)
Case

Red Flag Software Co.

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee, Tarun Khanna, David Lane and Elizabeth Raabe

In 2005, just five years after its formal launch, Beijing-based Red Flag Software was the world's second-largest distributor of the Linux operating system and was expecting its first annual profit. On a unit basis, Red Flag led the world in desktops (PCs) shipped with... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Competitive Advantage; Applications and Software; Business Startups; Globalized Markets and Industries; Information Technology Industry; Distribution Industry; Beijing; United States