Publications

10 Sep 2012
HBS Case

HBS Cases: Branding Yoga

Harvard Business School Professor Rohit Deshpandé often asks his marketing students a show-stopping question: Is everything brandable—and should everything be brandable? So when he read a November 2010 New York Times piece on the tensions between traditional... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard; Entertainment & Recreation

November 2002 (Revised January 2003)
Case

Mount Everest-1996

Describes the events that transpired during the May 1996, Mount Everest tragedy. Examines the flawed decisions that climbing teams made before and during the ascent. View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Groups and Teams; Crisis Management; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Nepal

02 Apr 2007
Lessons from the Classroom

Making the Move to General Manager

when they have to recreate themselves as generalists. In this new generalist role, they end up knowing less and less about more and more. This is an extremely difficult and potentially very risky transition, and it can easily derail a... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

27 Feb 2006
Research & Ideas

When Rights of First Refusal Are a Bad Deal

Rights of first refusal are contract clauses common in such industries as entertainment. In 2001, Paramount Studios and the National Broadcasting Company negotiated the broadcasting rights for the hit show "Frasier." NBC held a right of first refusal that... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Entertainment & Recreation; Entertainment & Recreation; Entertainment & Recreation

December 2018
Case

DraftKings and the Future of Fantasy Sports

By: Robert F. Higgins and Julia Kelley

Founded in 2012, DraftKings helped change the fantasy sports landscape by popularizing daily fantasy sports (DFS), or short-term fantasy sports tournaments that offered big cash prizes to winners. The company’s valuation exceeded $1 billion by 2015, but DraftKings soon... View Details

07 Nov 2012
HBS Case

HBS Cases: Sir Alex Ferguson--Managing Manchester United

Anita Elberse, a Professor of Business Administration in the Marketing unit at Harvard Business School, studies high performers in creative industries—from basketball superstar LeBron James to pop diva Lady Gaga, from actor Tom Cruise to tennis powerhouse Maria... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Entertainment & Recreation; Entertainment & Recreation

03 Oct 2005
Research & Ideas

The Box Office Power of Stars

We all understand at some level that stars in the worlds of film, sports, and even business create results. If you want big box office for Pirates of the Caribbean, it probably pays to sign Johnny Depp to play the lead. But Harvard Business School professor Anita... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Entertainment & Recreation; Entertainment & Recreation

October 2021
Case

Financial Reporting at Mattel

By: Aiyesha Dey, Trung Nguyen, Marshal Herrmann and Julia Kelley

In September 2020, Diana Ferguson was nearing her first Audit Committee meeting as the newly appointed Audit Committee chair of Mattel, Inc. Mattel was just recovering from an accounting scandal which had revealed the company’s poor internal controls and weak board... View Details

August 2019 (Revised August 2024)
Case

The Walt Disney Company: Theme Parks

By: Rory McDonald, Allison Mnookin and Iuliana Mogosanu

As he seeks to place the division he leads on a firm footing for the future, Tom Staggs, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, is considering a range of investments designed either to upgrade the guest experience in the company’s existing parks or to expand access... View Details

Keywords: Entertainment; Investment; Expansion; Decision Making; Customer Satisfaction; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

January 2015 (Revised April 2018)
Case

CJ E&M: Creating a K-Culture in the U.S.

By: Elie Ofek, Sang-Hoon Kim and Michael Norris

Buoyed by the success of K-pop music and K-drama television shows in Asian countries, Chairman Jay Lee, of the South Korean conglomerate CJ Group, believed that the time was ripe for taking Korean cultural content to the West. One initiative, carried out by the Group's... View Details

Keywords: Cultural Consumption; Media Businesses; International Marketing; Event Marketing; Creative Industries; Cross-cultural Adaptation; Ethnic Marketing; South Korea; Marketing Strategy; Entertainment; Global Strategy; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States; South Korea

June 2009 (Revised February 2010)
Case

Cirque du Soleil -- The High-Wire Act of Building Sustainable Partnerships

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Maxime Aucoin

The case describes the history and business model of Cirque du Soleil (CdS). The case allows for a rich discussion and analysis of Cirque du Soleil's business model with an emphasis on how it interacts with that of MGM Mirage. Le Cirque and MGM's business models... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Investment; Profit; Globalized Markets and Industries; Growth and Development Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Partners and Partnerships; Trust; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

April 2020 (Revised June 2020)
Case

Oriental Land Co., Ltd.—Tokyo Disney Resort

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Akiko Kanno

This case describes the history of Oriental Land Co. Ltd.’s (OLC's) Tokyo Disney Resort (TDR), its operations, the extent of vertical integration, and the challenges it faced in 2018 as OLC's chairman and CEO, Toshio Kagami, contemplated how best to deal with... View Details

Keywords: Strategy For Multi-business Firm; Business Models; Growth; Theme Parks; Disney; Disney Parks; Licensing; Royalties; Two-part Tariffs; Oriental Land Co.; Tokyo Disneyland; Tokyo DisneySea; Tokyo Disney Resort; Tokyo Disney; Growth Strategy; Hotels; Hotel Industry; Partnership; Development; Attractions; Rides; Urayasu; Kagami; Congestion; Pricing; Amusement Parks; Amusement Park Industry; Brand; Branding; History; OLC; Corporate Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Business History; Price; Retention; Growth and Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Brands and Branding; Agreements and Arrangements; Contracts; Operations; Vertical Integration; Problems and Challenges; Partners and Partnerships; Business Strategy; Expansion; Rail Transportation; Transportation Networks; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Asia; Japan; Tokyo; United States

May 2002 (Revised May 2003)
Case

Performance Indicator

Performance Indicator is a start-up that holds patents on the use of color-change technology to indicate when golf balls have been damaged by exposure to water. Because golfers put two to five used golf balls into play for every one new ball they buy, the used golf... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Patents; Entrepreneurship; Sports; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

August 2022 (Revised March 2023)
Case

Pricing at Netflix: The Sequel

By: Elie Ofek and Amy Klopfenstein

This case continues the themes discussed in "Pricing at Netflix" (Case 521-004). Following the conclusion of the original case, Netflix developed new, high-profile original content, added millions of subscribers, and introduced another price increase in January 2022.... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Advertising; Marketing Strategy; Entertainment; Film Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Finance; Strategy; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Business Strategy; Adaptation; Internet and the Web; Customers; Customer Satisfaction; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; North and Central America; United States

07 Feb 2019
Book

How Big Companies Can Outrun Disruption

project fails, you probably go out of business and lose your job. Just putting people into small teams, cool spaces, and allowing them to dress any way they want does not recreate a startup environment. The other mistake companies make... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

14 Jul 2003
Research & Ideas

Understaffed and Overworked: What Now?

Reinvent Your Work: How to Rejuvenate, Revamp, or Recreate Your Career and principal of Dallas-based Zimmerman Communication. If you take the time to really understand your team's responsibilities, you can bring a fresh perspective on how... View Details

Keywords: by Paul Michelman

October 2016 (Revised April 2018)
Case

ASICS: Chasing a 2020 Vision

By: Elie Ofek, Nobuo Sato and Akiko Kanno

In early 2016, Motoi Oyama, president and CEO of ASICS, a major sports apparel and footwear manufacturer based in Japan, lays out his company’s growth plan for the upcoming 5 years. The new plan set ambitious goals in terms of revenue and profit increases. At the heart... View Details

Keywords: Brand Management; Sports Apparel; Competitive Positioning; Direct To Consumer Marketing; Retail Formats; Lifestyle Brands; Information Technology; Competition; Brands and Branding; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Digital Platforms; Product Positioning; Marketing Channels; Sports; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry