Publications

March 2008 (Revised April 2008)
Case

Sony PlayStation 3: Game Over?

By: Elie Ofek

Outlines the challenges faced by Sony with the launch of its PlayStation 3. Information on the 2006 and 2007 holiday seasons and the success of rival consoles is outlined. In addition, the case allows examining the costs and revenues associated with a business model... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Cost; Revenue; Product Launch; Sales; Competition; Hardware; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

Research Summary

Reverse Innovation

VG and Chris Trimble reveal a bold discovery with far-reaching implications in REVERSE INNOVATION: Create Far From Home, Win Everywhere (Harvard Business Review Press; April 10, 2012;... View Details

10 Dec 2021
Research & Ideas

Truth Be Told: Unpacking the Risks of Whistleblowing

In 2018, HBS associate professors Aiyesha Dey and Jonas Heese wrote a case about a whistleblower at a multi-national gambling company who exposed financial misstatements, first to his manager and later to the US Securities and Exchange... View Details

Keywords: by April White

November 2023
Case

Team Liquid: Fueling the Business of Fandom

By: Youngme Moon and Kerry Herman

In 2023, the co-CEOs of Team Liquid, one of the world's most prominent Esports organizations, are deciding whether and how to evolve their business model to include (1) a greater focus on enterprise revenue; and (2) more direct-to-consumer activity. Team Liquid has one... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Customer Focus and Relationships; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Revenue; Organizational Culture; Business and Community Relations; Video Game Industry

01 Oct 2007
Research & Ideas

Encouraging Dissent in Decision-Making

future and the past, and 'exploit and explore,' all at the same time. That's a relatively rare accomplishment," he says. Tushman cites organizations such as Analog Devices, British Telecom, IBM, and Procter & Gamble as achieving... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons

2006
Book

3-D Negotiation: Powerful Tools to Change the Game in Your Most Important Deals

By: David Lax and James K. Sebenius

Keywords: Negotiation; Change; Games, Gaming, and Gambling

Find at Harvard

08 Sep 2014
Research & Ideas

The Strategic Way To Hire a Sales Team

candidate's task behaviors before a full-time offer is extended. After immersion in the job's requirements, the firm and candidate are in a better position to select. Procter & Gamble and Met-Life provide sales candidates, days before... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

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

03 Oct 2005
Research & Ideas

The Truck Driver Who Reinvented Shipping

$160 million. When he set out to gamble on his idea of containerized cargo, McLean probably did not realize that he was revolutionizing an industry. McLean's vision gave the shipping industry the jolt that it needed to survive for the... View Details

Keywords: by Anthony J. Mayo & Nitin Nohria; Manufacturing; Transportation; Aerospace

14 Jul 2014
Research & Ideas

Pay Attention To Your ‘Extreme Consumers’

little money, it wasn't worth saving." What these consumers did do, students found, was spend those extra few dollars on the lottery. When it came time to develop the strategy for their client, the students experimented with including elements of View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

24 Jul 2017
Research & Ideas

People Have an Irrational Need to Complete 'Sets' of Things

Red Cross, who decided to collaborate with the research team after meeting Norton through a colleague. “Ultimately, it speaks to how powerful that framing is.” People incur the cost of a bad gamble just so they can complete a pseudo-set... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

14 Jan 2019
Op-Ed

These 4 CEOs Created a New Standard of Leadership

leadership roles at Procter & Gamble and Nestlé before becoming CEO of Unilever in 2009. Observing the dangers of global warming, Polman focused on sustainability, introducing Unilever’s Sustainable Living Plan and applying it to... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George; Health; Banking; Food & Beverage; Consumer Products

03 Jan 2023
Cold Call Podcast

Wordle: Can a Pandemic Phenomenon Sustain in the Long Term?

Keywords: Re: Christina M. Wallace; Entertainment & Recreation; Media & Broadcasting

01 Oct 2012
Research & Ideas

Better by the Bundle?

Sales can soar when companies bundle products together into one cheaper package—Happy Meal, anyone? Yet a buyer's affinity for such deals comes with a big caveat, according to new research: These groupings are often successful only if the consumer is given the option... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

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

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

Keywords: Best Buy; Hubert Joly; Renew Blue; Showrooming; Webrooming; E-commerce; E-Commerce Strategy; Online Retail; Multichannel Retailing; Omnichannel; Marketplaces; Turnaround; Consumer Electronics; Consumer Electronics Accessories; Appliances; Stores-within-stores; Store Experience; Store Size; Store Pickup; Store Management; Delivery; Delivery Models; Amazon; Amazon.com; Pricing Strategy; Business Subsidiaries; Business Units; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Entertainment; Film Entertainment; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Music Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Theater Entertainment; Price; Profit; Revenue; Geographic Scope; Multinational Firms and Management; Business History; Cost; Selection and Staffing; Reports; Technological Innovation; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Human Capital; Leading Change; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Teams; Brands and Branding; Product Marketing; Consumer Behavior; Demand and Consumers; Media; Distribution; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Distribution Channels; Infrastructure; Product; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Public Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Programs; Groups and Teams; Sales; Salesforce Management; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Information Technology; Information Infrastructure; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Internet and the Web; Applications and Software; Internet and the Web; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Resource Allocation; Computer Industry; Electronics Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Information Technology Industry; Retail Industry; Service Industry; Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Video Game Industry; United States; Minnesota; Minneapolis; Saint Paul; St. Paul