Publications

July 2024
Case

Wizards of the Coast and Magic: The Rebounding

By: Boris Groysberg and Tom Quinn

This case traces the history and growth of the Magic: The Gathering trading card game. From its development in 1993 by tiny studio Wizards of the Coast, to Wizards’ acquisition by toy giant Hasbro in 1999, to its evolution into a billion-dollar brand in 2023,... View Details

August 1991 (Revised February 1992)
Case

Gain Sharing at Star Cablevision Group

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger and Sarah Ann Greene

Describes Star's experiment with gain sharing over a three-year period. Background on the industry and company's history are provided to establish the context for the shift to pay-for-performance. Describes the three different gain sharing programs, the resulting... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Service Delivery; Performance Productivity; Television Entertainment; Compensation and Benefits; Media and Broadcasting Industry

1988
Chapter

The Expected Utility of Playing a Game

By: A. E. Roth

Keywords: Game Theory; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Motivation and Incentives

Article

Digital Chess

By: D. B. Yoffie

Keywords: Information Technology; Games, Gaming, and Gambling

March 1975
Article

Optimal Strategies in Repeated Games with Incomplete Information

By: Elon Kohlberg

Keywords: Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Strategy; Information

21 Oct 2024
Research & Ideas

What Happens in Vegas Could Shape the Metaverse

company’s investment in the online social entertainment world. The researchers started playing Fortnite during the pandemic “to break the monotony of constant Zoom meetings,” Wu says. But soon, they found themselves spending real money on... View Details

Keywords: by Scott Nover; Computer; Information Technology

07 Jun 2010
Research & Ideas

Improving Brand Recognition in TV Ads

searching for valuable information that is relevant to them. They also want to be entertained, and the 'hard sell' that turns them off can be at the level of simply presenting the brand's logo for more than a few seconds." Mystery ads try to View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Entertainment & Recreation; Entertainment & Recreation

April 2016 (Revised February 2018)
Teaching Note

Riot Games: Can Culture Survive Growth?

By: Boris Groysberg and Michael Norris

This teaching note gives instructors a guide for a discussion of Riot Games, a fast growing videogames firm with a strong, player-centric culture. It also offers references to research on culture that will allow students to decide whether or not Riot Games’ culture... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Growth and Development Strategy; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Video Game Industry

01 Dec 2011
News

Professors Recognized with New Chair Appointments

McKinsey & Company, where he was cohead of the media and entertainment practice. He is course head of The Entrepreneurial Manager in the Required Curriculum. The Stevenson Professorship was established by alumni and colleagues who sought... View Details

May 2017 (Revised April 2020)
Case

Raj Kapoor: The Socialist Showman

By: Geoffrey Jones and Snigdha Sur

This case examines the career of Raj Kapoor, the legendary Bollywood filmmaker of the postwar decades. It explores how Kapoor built RK studios after 1948 by releasing a series of movies that combined romance with social messages focused on the fate of the common man in... View Details

Keywords: Film Entertainment; History; Personal Development and Career; Social Issues; Gender; Problems and Challenges; Values and Beliefs; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; India; Soviet Union

June 2013 (Revised November 2013)
Case

Bluefin Labs: The Acquisition by Twitter

By: John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld

What is the value of Bluefin Labs's social listening data to Twitter? Acquired by Twitter in 2013, Bluefin had built a system that gathered millions of online comments in an effort to develop new metrics for TV programs and brand advertising. With data from Twitter... View Details

Keywords: Measurement and Metrics; Data and Data Sets; Internet; Software; Communication Technology; Advertising; Social and Collaborative Networks; Acquisition; Television Entertainment; Advertising Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States

December 2000 (Revised March 2001)
Background Note

Strategic Use of Music in Marketing, The: A Selective Review

By: Gerald Zaltman and Nancy Puccinelli

Summarizes selected research on music and its impact on mood and shopping behavior, and its impact on the communication of ideas. View Details

Keywords: Communication Intention and Meaning; Music Entertainment; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Behavior

24 Feb 2009
First Look

First Look: February 24, 2009

restaurants. This case examines four such services: Entertainment Book, Restaurant.com, Rewards Network, and OpenTable. Despite key functional similarities, each of the services chooses an importantly different approach—different pricing,... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

April 1978
Article

Equilibrium Behavior and Repeated Play of the Prisoners' Dilemma

By: A. E. Roth and J. K. Murnighan

Keywords: Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Behavior

July 2020 (Revised May 2021)
Case

Oxygen Esports

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

On May 4, 2020, a press release from Boston, Massachusetts, announced the launch of Oxygen Esports (Oxygen), a new organization that hoped to dominate the rising esports scene in New England. Oxygen was created from a merger between Helix eSports (Helix), an owner and... View Details

Keywords: Esports; Sports; Online Technology; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Entrepreneurship; Strategy

November 2017
Teaching Note

Reinventing Best Buy

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

Teaching Note for HBS No. 716-455. On March 1, 2017, Best Buy Company, Inc., North America’s largest retailer of consumer electronics and appliances, announced a third year of comparable-store sales increases and a 20.8% increase in domestic comparable online sales.... View Details