Publications

November 2020 (Revised February 2021)
Case

Integrating Beam Suntory (A)

By: David G. Fubini, Rawi Abdelal and David Lane

The spring 2014 acquisition of U.S. alcoholic spirits maker Beam Inc. by Japan’s Suntory Holdings vaulted Suntory from 15th to third-largest international spirits company in the world. Yet Suntory had borrowed nearly the entire $16 billion purchase price, and relied on... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Communication; Borrowing and Debt; Globalization; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Retention; Leadership; Supply Chain; Organizational Structure; Ownership; Relationships; Conflict and Resolution; Integration; Value Creation; Food and Beverage Industry; Japan; United States; Chicago

2005
Chapter

Learning for Leadership: The 'Engineering' and 'Clinical' Approaches

Meaningful leadership development requires a deeper and more fundamental approach than is usually deployed in university classrooms and corporate training centers. It needs to incorporate difficult emotions and unconscious forces, and provide a safe place for their... View Details

Keywords: Leadership Development; Behavior; Cognition and Thinking; Emotions

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Rajiv Lal, is the Stanley Roth, Sr. Professor of Retailing at Harvard Business School. He is currently teaching an elective MBA course on the Business of Smart Connected Products/IOT. He has been responsible for the retailing curriculum and has served as the course... View Details

July 2011 (Revised June 2013)
Case

Foxconn Technology Group (A)

By: Robert G. Eccles, George Serafeim and Beiting Cheng

In 2010, Foxconn Technology Group, the largest and fastest growing multinational company in the Electronic Manufacturing Services (EMS) industry, came under public scrutiny after a string of employee suicides reached the international press. Although the company was... View Details

Former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Best Buy
Author of The Heart of Business– Leadership Principles for the Next Era of Capitalism

Hubert Joly is a senior lecturer in the General Management unit and... View Details

January 2007
Case

AMD: A Customer-Centric Approach to Innovation

By: Elie Ofek and Lauren Barley

AMD's launch of the Opteron microprocessor in 2003 has allowed the company to make inroads into the lucrative server segment. A long-time follower to Intel, AMD management felt it was in a position to lead the microprocessor industry in new directions. However, in 2006... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Price; Leadership; Brands and Branding; Product Launch; Product Development; Competitive Strategy; Customization and Personalization; Semiconductor Industry

December 2009
Article

Catering Through Nominal Share Prices

By: Malcolm Baker, Robin Greenwood and Jeffrey Wurgler

We propose and test a catering theory of nominal stock prices. The theory predicts that when investors place higher valuation on low-price firms, managers will maintain share prices at lower levels, and vice-versa. Using measures of time-varying catering incentives... View Details

Keywords: Stocks; Stock Shares; Investment; Investment Return; Price; Theory; Valuation

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2008
Working Paper

Catering through Nominal Share Prices

By: Malcolm Baker, Robin Greenwood and Jeffrey Wurgler

We propose and test a catering theory of nominal stock prices. The theory predicts that when investors place higher valuation on low-price firms, managers will maintain share prices at lower levels, and vice-versa. Using measures of time-varying catering... View Details

Keywords: Stocks; Stock Shares; Investment; Investment Return; Price; Theory; Valuation

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September 2000
Case

Intellectual Property Exchange (A), The

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Gavin Clarkson

As the marketplace for intellectual assets explodes, the mechanisms for liquidity and exchange have not kept pace. Bryan Benoit, partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), believes that he has a solution. Working initially with a shoestring development budget, he has... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Intellectual Property; Knowledge Management; Brands and Branding; Problems and Challenges; Networks; Internet

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September 1991 (Revised March 2005)
Case

WPP Group and Its Acquisitions

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

WPP Group acquired J. Walter Thompson and Ogilvy & Mather, paying high premiums in relation to earnings. In each acquisition the goodwill acquired was immediately charged off against owners' equity. Then, WPP Group established a value for the brand names of the two... View Details

Keywords: Goodwill Accounting; Accounting; Brands and Branding; Product Positioning; Market Transactions; Equity; Private Equity; Relationships; Mergers and Acquisitions; Management Style; Consumer Products Industry; United States; United Kingdom

2017
Article

Natural Environmental Responsibility in Indian Corporations: A Mixed Method Study

By: Shashank Shah

The world is going through unprecedented environmental crisis. The type of destruction and dissolution of natural resources and elements by individuals and institutions that has been witnessed in the last century is much more than that witnessed in the previous... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Natural Environment; Management Practices and Processes; Research; Framework; India

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01 Sep 2020
News

Action Plan: Finding Fluency

Dunaway, the pandemic meant rethinking all of the company’s marketing plans. A veteran of established brands such as Frito-Lay, Yahoo, and Nintendo, Dunaway joined Duolingo in... View Details

Keywords: April White; foreign language; education and technology; digital marketing; change management; COVID-19; Educational Services

February 2008 (Revised April 2009)
Case

Citigroup: Re-Branding in 2007 (A)

By: Rohit Deshpandé and Carin-Isabel Knoop

With its history of growth through acquisition, Citigroup has a conglomeration of sub-brands that need to be integrated and rationalized. Ajay Banga, CEO of Citi's Global Consumer Group International, chairs a task force to work through the process of re-branding the... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Conglomerates; Customer Focus and Relationships; Globalization; Growth Management; Brands and Branding; Organizational Culture; Competitive Strategy; Financial Services Industry

March 2020
Technical Note

Influencer Marketing

By: Jill Avery and Ayelet Israeli

Despite a heavy barrage of advertising, most consumers declare that their purchases are most influenced by the experiences, advice, and recommendations of others, and not by marketers. Interpersonal communication between and among consumers serves as a potent path for... View Details

Keywords: Influencers; Marketing; Marketing Communications; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Advertising Industry; Consumer Products Industry

27 Nov 2023
Blog Post

Creating Emerging Markets Sustainability Series - Opportunities for Green Entrepreneurship in the Face of Policy Inaction

Creating Emerging Markets Sustainability Series –Opportunities for Green Entrepreneurship in the Face of Policy Inaction Cover image features Adenike Ogunlesi This year’s annual UN conference on climate change, COP28, will take View Details

December 2010 (Revised January 2012)
Case

Zespri

By: Jose B. Alvarez and Mary Louise Shelman

Grower-owned Zespri is the sole exporter of New Zealand-grown kiwifruit outside of Australia and New Zealand. Facing growing international competition, Zespri invested in consumer branding and innovation, which has led to new types of kiwifruit that taste better and... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Globalized Firms and Management; Innovation and Invention; Patents; Brands and Branding; Cooperative Ownership; Competition; Corporate Strategy; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; New Zealand

February 2022 (Revised May 2022)
Case

Buddy Valastro: Cake Boss

By: Boris Groysberg, Evan M.S. Hecht and Katherine Connolly Baden

Buddy Valastro, celebrity baker and business owner, inherited his father’s bakery—Carlo’s Bake Shop of Hoboken, New Jersey—at the age of seventeen. He had willed the shop to survive and gone on to fame through his television show, “Cake Boss”—the name most people now... View Details