Publications

04 Feb 2020
Video

Güler Sabancı

Güler Sabancı, head of the Turkey-based diversified business group Sabancı Holding, discusses her strategy of managing risk when doing business in another country by focusing on having a local partner,... View Details

15 Jan 2020
Video

Rahmi M. Koç

Rahmi Koç, former Chair of of Koç Holding, the largest diversified business group in Turkey, relates how difficult it is to bring foreign investments to Turkey, in part due to its location in a volatile region... View Details

Article

Business Groups, Entrepreneurship and the Growth of the Koç Group in Turkey

By: Geoffrey Jones and Asli M. Colpan

This article examines the emergence and development of what became the largest business group in Turkey, the Koç Group. This venture was an important factor in the emergence of modern business enterprise in the new state of the Republic of Turkey from the 1920s. After... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Governance; History; Strategy; Auto Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Service Industry; Turkey

Find at Harvard

November 2020 (Revised March 2021)
Case

Amazon: Cult or Culture?

By: Boris Groysberg, Sarah L. Abbott and Tricia Gregg

Amazon was one of the first entrants in e-commerce. Under the leadership of founder Jeff Bezos, Amazon had expanded beyond books to manufacturing and selling a wide range of products and services globally. Bezos had built a customer-centric culture that permeated all... View Details

Keywords: Culture; Technology Companies; Retail; Human Resource Practices; Growth; Founder; Leadership; Organizational Culture; Growth Management; Information Technology; Human Resources; Talent and Talent Management; Retail Industry; Technology Industry

30 Oct 2019
Video

Kutayba Alghanim

Kutayba Alghanim, Chairman of Kuwait-based Alghanim Industries, a highly diversified business group, discusses how to create a corporate culture which motivates employees of many different nationalities to be... View Details

March 1992 (Revised April 1995)
Case

Saatchi & Saatchi Co. PLC: Corporate Strategy

By: David J. Collis

Saatchi & Saatchi, founded in 1970, became the world's largest advertising agency in 1986. It then diversified into consulting and other managerial areas before crashing in 1989. Under a new CEO, the company restructured and refocused on its advertising agencies. View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Globalized Firms and Management; Corporate Strategy; Diversification; Advertising Industry

01 Nov 2019
Video

José Alejandro Cortés

José Alejandro Cortés, President of the Colombia-based diversified business group Grupo Bolìvar, discusses the diversification of his business from insurance to other financial services, especially banking, and... View Details

June 2005 (Revised January 2006)
Case

Microsoft in 2005

By: David B. Yoffie, Darmesh M Mehta and Rudina I Seseri

Focuses on Microsoft's strategy for sustaining competitive advantage in the global software industry. Also, explores Microsoft's history and its current position, as it tries to diversify its product and service revenue streams. View Details

Keywords: Diversification; Business History; Marketing Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Applications and Software; Globalized Markets and Industries; Information Technology Industry

30 Oct 2019
Video

Kutayba Alghanim

Kutayba Alghanim, Chairman of Kuwait-based Alghanim Industries, a highly diversified business group, discusses the strategies of his son Omar (the group’s current CEO) to recruit more Kuwaitis and more women... View Details

12 Nov 2019
Video

Christoph Schiess

Christoph Schiess, President of TANICA, a Chilean business group with diversified activities in real estate, tourism and hotels, mineral water, and other activities, explains that diversification is his... View Details

04 Apr 2000
Research & Ideas

The Right Way to Restructure Conglomerates in Emerging Markets

businesses and governments in emerging economies have all been pressing for a closer convergence of first- and third-world business models for the private sector. The details differ, but the advice boils down to the same thing in virtually every emerging economy:... View Details

Keywords: by Tarun Khanna & Krishna Palepu

April 1971 (Revised February 1984)
Case

Gould, Inc.: Graphics Division

Describes the decision of a battery manufacturer to diversify into the computer field through acquisition and the development of a new product. Among the issues to be discussed are the company product fit, phases in new product introduction, product positioning, and... View Details

Keywords: Diversification; Market Entry and Exit; Acquisition; Product Development; Computer Industry; Battery Industry

February 2023 (Revised March 2024)
Case

Saudi Arabia: A Vision in Progress

By: Kristin Fabbe, Adel Hamaizia and Tom Quinn

In 2016, when Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced a long-range economic and social transformation plan called Vision 2030, he faced Western skepticism about how the oil-rich and religiously conservative country would accomplish its ambitious goals.... View Details

Keywords: Economic Growth; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Globalized Economies and Regions; Government Administration; International Relations; Leading Change; Privatization; Religion; Public Opinion; Saudi Arabia

27 Sep 2019
Video

Ronnie Screwvala

Ronnie Srewvala, who founded the Indian media conglomerate UTV in 1990, discusses how UTV diversified into new areas as it searched for gaps for audiences which could be filled, seeking to pre-empt trends... View Details

January 2009 (Revised July 2009)
Case

Alibaba's Taobao (A)

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Julie M. Wulf

This case examines the decision of Alibaba Group to diversify from an international business-to-business (B2B) exchange (Alibaba.com) into a B2C and C2C exchange (Taobao.com) for Chinese retailers and consumers. In China, Taobao had managed to displace the once... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Demand and Consumers; Market Transactions; Service Operations; Diversification; Internet and the Web; China