Publications

December 2003 (Revised April 2004)
Case

Blockbuster Inc. & Technological Substitution (D): The Threat of Direct Digital Distribution

Examines the emergence of technologies for delivering video content to consumer homes via direct digital distribution and investigates the strategic options facing video rental giant Blockbuster Inc. as it tries to respond to the new technological substitutes. Examines... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Risk and Uncertainty; Decisions; Technological Innovation; Competition; Change Management; Service Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

07 Feb 2012
First Look

First Look: February 7

appetite for social media companies, LinkedIn is the lamp bearer among U.S. companies in that industry that are considering tapping into public markets. The case can serve to illustrate the challenges of valuing an early-stage high-growth company with a great deal of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2002 (Revised November 2003)
Case

Satellite Radio

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Alastair Brown

In early 2002, XM and Sirius were fighting for control of the emerging U.S. market for satellite radio. Each company targeted consumers in automobiles, providing 100 channels of CD-quality audio for a monthly subscription fee of $10-$13. Wall Street analysts predicted... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Price; Risk and Uncertainty; Problems and Challenges; Network Effects; Partners and Partnerships; Information Technology; Business Model; Investment Return; Auto Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States

November 1993 (Revised April 2007)
Case

Continental Airlines--1992 (Abridged)

By: Stuart C. Gilson

The CEO is preparing a recommendation to the board regarding several potential outside investments in the company, which is currently operating in bankruptcy. In making his decision, the CEO has to consider various financial and strategic factors, including possible... View Details

Keywords: Capital Structure; Cash Flow; Cost of Capital; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Investment; Taxation; Risk and Uncertainty; Valuation; Aerospace Industry; United States

20 Jan 2015
First Look

First Look: January 20

https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/product/415032-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 115-001 Quiet Logistics (A) This two-part case focuses on how to identify and manage strategic uncertainties in an... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

05 Feb 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, February 5, 2019

emerge, control and protect one or more strategic bottleneck, and prevent others from gaining control of any system-wide strategic bottleneck. I use this framework to understand how IBM initially succeeded... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

14 Feb 2022
Research & Ideas

Curiosity, Not Coding: 6 Skills Leaders Need in the Digital Age

learning, pivoting all along the way. Though it won’t be easy, even perfectionist Type-A personalities must open their minds to a more experimental approach. Those who rely on traditional strategic thinking—an approach one roundtable... View Details

Keywords: by Linda A. Hill, Ann Le Cam, Sunand Menon, and Emily Tedards; Technology

2007
Working Paper

What Have We Learned From Market Design?

By: Alvin E. Roth

This essay discusses some things we have learned about markets, in the process of designing marketplaces to fix market failures. To work well, marketplaces have to provide thickness, i.e. they need to attract a large enough proportion of the potential participants in... View Details

Keywords: Market Design; Market Participation; Market Transactions; Risk and Uncertainty; Safety

Read Now

April 2025
Case

Breezm: Innovative 3D-Printed Eyewear (A)

By: Juan Alcácer, Brian Mao Fu and Adina Wong

In 2023, Breezm, a South Korean startup, faced a strategic decision about how to grow its innovative 3D-printed, custom-fit eyewear business. Co-founded in 2017 by Zenma Park and Wooseok Sung, Breezm combined facial scanning, AI, and in-house production to solve the... View Details

Keywords: 3D Printing; Eyeyewear; Growth; Business Startups; AI and Machine Learning; Technological Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Risk and Uncertainty; Expansion; South Korea

September 2024 (Revised December 2024)
Case

Sona Comstar and Blackstone: Unlocking Value Through Business Transformation

By: Ranjay Gulati and Kanika Jain

Private equity firm Blackstone’s majority investment in automotive systems manufacturer Sona Comstar had culminated in the largest IPO in the Indian auto components industry in 2021, with stellar returns for all involved. This EV supplier was the result of a 2019... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Decision Making; Engineering; Management; Risk and Uncertainty; Private Equity; Mergers and Acquisitions; Initial Public Offering; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Technology Industry; Asia; Southeast Asia

09 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

It’s Time to Reset Decision-Making in Your Organization

actual problem.” Thus, diagnosis of the situation is a prerequisite to crafting a response. They argue that volatility should be met with agility; uncertainty with information; complexity with restructuring (with internal operations... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Sarah Abbott

09 Sep 2008
First Look

First Look: September 9, 2008

of simple quantitative forecasting techniques—share similar consequences: both can result in an increase in internal costs and in the uncertainty and volatility of the system's replenishment orders. Further results of this paper provide... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

15 Jan 2008
First Look

First Look: January 15, 2008

locations that are most critical to their own strategic position. Fair (and Not So Fair) Division Author:John W. Pratt Peridical:Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 35, no. 3 (December 2007) Abstract Drawbacks... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

09 Feb 2016
First Look

February 9, 2016

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=50562 forthcoming Strategic Management Journal Entrepreneurial Beacons: The Yale Endowment, Run-ups, and the Growth of Venture Capital By: Bermiss, Y. Sekou, Benjamin J. Hallen, Rory... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

02 Apr 2020
What Do You Think?

What Are Lessons for Leaders from This Black Swan Crisis?

leaders in this one. It leads to a syndrome of always preparing for the last Black Swan, a somewhat chimerical chase in search of the nonexistent. But stick with me while I throw some candidate lessons into the pot. For example, think of all the wasted time spent in... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

15 May 2012
First Look

First Look: May 15

PublicationsThe Two Facets of Collaboration: Cooperation and Coordination in Strategic Alliances Authors:Ranjay Gulati, Franz Wohlgezogen, and Pavel Zhelyazkov Publication:The Academy of Management Annals (forthcoming) Abstract This... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

24 Jan 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: January 24, 2017

Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=52122 January 2017 Strategic Finance Managing Healthcare Costs and Value By: Kaplan, Robert S., Michael E. Porter, and Mark L. Frigo Abstract—Rising health care costs are a... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2021
Case

P.F. Chang's

By: Ashish Nanda, Nitin Nohria and Margaret Cross

Excited yet apprehensive after being named CEO of P.F. Chang’s beginning July 1st, 2020, Damola Adamolekun was well aware of the extraordinary challenges facing the firm. The closure of businesses deemed “nonessential” owing to the COVID-19 pandemic had devastated the... View Details

Keywords: Restaurants; COVID-19 Pandemic; Scenario Planning; Scenarios; Health Pandemics; Risk and Uncertainty; Strategy

November 2019 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Russia: A Drama In Three Acts

By: Rawi Abdelal, Rafael Di Tella, Galit Goldstein, Sogomon Tarontsi and Lavinia Teodorescu

The collapse of central authority in the Soviet Union in 1991 ushered in a period of revolutionary transformations for the states that emerged in its wake. The leaders of Russia, the USSR's successor, struggled to reestablish central authority while also seeking to... View Details