Publications

March 2016 (Revised May 2018)
Case

Reinventing Best Buy

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

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. These results were in marked contrast... View Details

February 2016 (Revised March 2019)
Case

Bankruptcy at Caesars Entertainment

By: Kristin Mugford and David Chan

Caesars Entertainment was a large casino operator in the United States that had been purchased in a 2008 leveraged buyout by Apollo and TPG. In January 2015, Caesars Entertainment Operating Company (CEOC), its largest subsidiary, filed for Chapter 11. This set up a... View Details

Keywords: Gaming; Chapter 11; Fraudulent Conveyance; Apollo; TPG; Bankruptcy; Leveraged Buyouts; Restructuring; Capital Structure; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Private Equity; Financial Management; Lawsuits and Litigation; Negotiation; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Las Vegas

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Amusement, Gambling, and Recreation Industries; Amusement, Gambling, and Recreation Industries; Amusement, Gambling, and Recreation Industries; Amusement, Gambling, and Recreation Industries; Amusement, Gambling, and Recreation Industries; Amusement, Gambling, and Recreation Industries

07 Apr 2015
News

Warrior Spirit

On a Friday night in November, a capacity crowd of 12,000 spectators is settling in at Singapore Indoor Stadium, shaking off the rain from an early evening downpour typical for the start of monsoon season. They’re here for ONE Fighting Championship’s “Battle of Lions,”... View Details

01 Sep 2023
News

Turning Point: Listen to the Music

Marnie Tattersall: (MBA 1972) (Illustration by Gisela Goppel) Marnie Tattersall: (MBA 1972) (Illustration by Gisela Goppel) I was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and came to the United States in 1958 with my parents and my brother because my parents thought it was... View Details

Keywords: music; film; purpose; career

February 2023
Case

Roblox: Virtual Commerce in the Metaverse

By: Ayelet Israeli and Nicole Tempest Keller

In 2022, Roblox had 58.8 million daily active users, including over half of all children and teens under the age of 16 in the United States. Roblox, a free-to-use “co-experience platform”, allowed users to come together in immersive 3D experiences to socialize, work,... View Details

22 Sep 2023
News

Capital Connection

well as value-add multifamily buildings in the Bronx, Detroit, and Houston. The firm is currently partnering with an operator of extended stay hotels in the Southeast, as well as a church in Prince George’s County, Maryland, to build a new sanctuary as well as... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley; Real Estate

17 Aug 2021
Op-Ed

Dispensing Justice: The Case for Legalizing Cannabis Nationally

legalizing cannabis has been growing steadily over the years. According to the Pew Research Center, as of April 2021, 91 percent of adults in the United States supported legalization; 60 percent supported legalization for both medical and View Details

Keywords: by Ashish Nanda and Tabatha Robinson

May 2019 (Revised January 2020)
Case

The Video-Streaming Wars in 2019: Can Disney Catch Netflix?

By: Anita Elberse and Monica Cody

Bob Iger, CEO of entertainment conglomerate Disney, thrilled investors with details about Disney’s upcoming foray into video streaming in April 2019. Disney’s move was only the latest in a series of actions taken by new and established entertainment companies in a... View Details

Keywords: Television; Entertainment; Media; Television Entertainment; Management; Strategy; Disruption; Information Technology; Competition; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

20 Dec 2017
Lessons from the Classroom

How to Design a Better Customer Experience

Click HereHarvard Business School Professor Stefan Thomke describes how his Executive Education students use LEGO blocks to design customer experiences. (Video by Executive Education) Why do some product or service experiences have enough pizzazz to wow customers,... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Entertainment & Recreation; Entertainment & Recreation

March 2001 (Revised January 2009)
Case

Walt Disney Company, The: The Entertainment King

By: Michael G. Rukstad, David J. Collis and Tyrell Levine

The first ten pages of this case are comprised of the company's history, from 1923 to 2001. The Walt years are described, as is the company's decline after his death and its resurgence under Eisner. The last five pages are devoted to Eisner's strategic challenges in... View Details

Keywords: History; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Managerial Roles; Creativity; Corporate Strategy; Boundaries; Brands and Branding; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

March 2017 (Revised December 2018)
Case

Reawakening the Magic: Bob Iger and the Walt Disney Company

By: David Collis and Ashley Hartman

Mickey Mouse, Snow White, and Buzz Lightyear strolled down Main Street at the grand opening of Hong Kong Disney in the fall of 2005, pausing to snap selfies with enthusiastic children in Mickey Mouse ears. Bob Iger, newly appointed CEO of The Walt Disney Company,... View Details

Keywords: Franchise Management; Brand Management; Culture Change; Business Units; Acquisition Strategy; Technological Change; Disney; ESPN; Cord-cutting; Bob Iger; Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Diversification; Integration; Media; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

09 Nov 2016
Op-Ed

6 Lessons from Donald Trump's Winning Marketing Manual

promising to recreate it as the better tomorrow. The word "Again" is no accidental addition to the Make America Great slogan. Remember the famous Kellogg's Corn Flakes campaign to recover lost consumers: “Try Us Again for the... View Details

Keywords: by John A. Quelch

July 2020 (Revised November 2020)
Case

Pricing at Netflix

By: Elie Ofek, Marco Bertini, Oded Koenigsberg and Amy Klopfenstein

Since its launch in 1998 as “the Amazon.com of DVDs,” Netflix had evolved from a DVD rental company to a video streaming platform and producer of original films and television shows. As the company matured, it regularly increased prices and adjusted its product... View Details

01 Jun 2004
News

Runner-Up and Lovin’ It

Jackson Photo courtesy NBC Sometimes losing really pays off big time. Just ask Kwame Jackson (MBA ’00), runner-up in reality TV’s latest hit series, The Apprentice. Jackson chucked his job at Goldman Sachs to make a run at besting fifteen other would-be apprentices for... View Details

Keywords: The Apprentice; Corporate Services

01 Sep 2010
News

Now Starring: Single Dad

WAND: With Robby, at HBS. Courtesy John Wand John Wand (MBA ’81) was about to enroll in Harvard College when his high-school sweetheart in Boise, Idaho, told him she was pregnant. The couple married and moved to Cambridge, but after a couple of years, Wand’s wife left... View Details

Keywords: single parents; fatherhood; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

September 1997 (Revised August 2007)
Case

Bankruptcy and Restructuring at Marvel Entertainment Group

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Jason Auerbach

Marvel Entertainment Group is the leading comic book publisher in the United States, with superheros like Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, the X-Men, and Captain America. It is also one of the leading manufacturers of sports and entertainment trading cards under the... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Decision Choices and Conditions; Borrowing and Debt; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Governance Controls; Courts and Trials; Planning; Entertainment and Recreation Industry