Publications

June 2022
Teaching Note

Katie Couric Media: Landing the First Client

By: N. Louis Shipley, William R. Kerr and Paige Boehmcke

Developed for teaching Entrepreneurial Sales, the Katie Couric Media case supports class discussion on client selection, sales strategy, and scaling a startup media firm. View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Marketing; Mergers And Acquisitions; Start-up; Entrepreneurship; Sales; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Media and Broadcasting Industry

Research Summary

The "New" Corporate Communications

By: Stephen A. Greyser

Stephen A. Greyser continues to explore the issues and problems organizations face as they attempt to communicate effectively with a variety of constituencies. Greyser's work and the course to which it contributes are structured around the business-media-publics... View Details

August 2012 (Revised August 2013)
Background Note

Competency-Destroying Technology Transitions: Why the Transition to Digital Is Particularly Challenging

By: Willy Shih

Some technology transitions are exceedingly difficult for incumbent firms to execute. The bankruptcy filing by the Eastman Kodak Company highlighted the difficulty companies faced when their core business transitioned from an analog to a digital world. Kodak's business... View Details

21 Aug 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, August 21, 2018

multiple business contexts, the field of operations and supply chain management have not yet explored the possibilities it offers in improving firms' operational decisions. This study attempts to do that by empirically studying whether... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

February 2008 (Revised September 2008)
Case

Apple Inc., 2008

By: David B. Yoffie and Michael Slind

In January 2007, three decades after its incorporation, Apple Computer shed the second word in its name and became Apple Inc. With that move, the company signaled a fundamental shift away from its historic status as a vendor of the Macintosh personal computer (PC)... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Leadership; Industry Growth; Corporate Strategy; Information Infrastructure; Internet and the Web; Consumer Products Industry; Electronics Industry; Technology Industry

November 1998 (Revised August 1999)
Case

Mickey Maurer: IBJ Corp. and MyStar Communications

By: Paul W. Marshall and Jeremy Dann

Mickey Maurer is a successful entrepreneur who retired in the late 1980s and then reentered the business world with the purchase of two media companies. In the radio industry he faces competition from large national players. In his publishing enterprise, Maurer... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Competition; Business Growth and Maturation; Entrepreneurship; Management Teams; Media and Broadcasting Industry

19 Mar 2014
Research & Ideas

A Brand Manager’s Guide to Losing Control

a connected group of very passionate supporters” "The way brands came in to social media wasn't sensitive to the medium," says Jill Avery, a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School, who spent a... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Advertising

January 2007 (Revised July 2007)
Case

Clear Channel Communications, Inc.

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Carole Winkler

Discusses the rise of Clear Channel Communications, Inc. (CC) as the most important radio broadcasting company in the United States. While CC can look back on a glorious past, it faces a multitude of business issues: radio listenership is in decline, media deregulation... View Details

Keywords: History; Media; Performance Effectiveness; Public Opinion; Business and Government Relations; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States

01 Jun 2015
Research & Ideas

The Surprising Benefits of Oversharing

On Facebook and a myriad of other social media platforms, you can find out who your friends are dating, see pictures of their last vacation, and even know what they had for lunch yesterday. It is now becoming more unusual when someone... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

September 2019 (Revised September 2019)
Case

Facebook Fake News in the Post-Truth World

By: John R. Wells, Carole A. Winkler and Benjamin Weinstock

In August 2019, Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, was surrounded by controversy. The first major storm of protest followed the surprise election of Donald Trump as President of the United States on November 8, 2016; many put the blame at the door of fake... View Details

May 2020
Case

Big Boom Beverages: Fight or Flight?

By: Stephen A. Greyser and William Ellet

Four college friends market a beverage that combines ingredients like those in a drink they consumed in college bars. It includes a caffeinated energy drink, malt liquor, and a soft drink flavoring. They launch the business, Big Boom Beverages (BBB), with their own... View Details

Keywords: Alcoholic Beverages; Energy Drinks; Regulation; Entrepreneurship; Ethics; Marketing Communications; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Reputation; Communication Strategy; Decision Making

18 Mar 2019
Research & Ideas

Stuck in Commuter Hell? You Can Still Be Productive

media on the train, may actually interfere with people’s ability to transition into work mode smoothly—which makes them feel gloomier about their jobs and more likely to quit. “I was surprised with this finding myself,” Harvard View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

July 2021
Case

Kevin D. Johnson: To Be a Venture Capitalist or an Operator?

By: Jo Tango and Alys Ferragamo

In May of 2021, Kevin D. Johnson had just graduated from a rigorous Executive MBA program, and he quickly needed to decide on his next career move. Johnson was the founder and CEO of a successful media company, Johnson Media Inc., but his career goals had shifted while... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Goals and Objectives; Race; Wealth; Decisions; Venture Capital; Personal Development and Career; United States

February 2017
Supplement

JCDecaux, 2016: Global Leader ... Again

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

In 2016, JCDecaux was number one in the world in outdoor advertising. This was a far cry from the situation in 2003; at that time, JCDecaux had been unseated by Clear Channel from the number-one spot that it had held for decades, and it was fighting for second place... View Details

Keywords: JCDecaux; Clear Channel Outdoor; OUTFRONT Media; Lamar Advertising Company; Jean-François Decaux; Jean-Charles Decaux; Outdoor Advertising; Street Furniture; Airports; Billboards; Bicycles; Digital Devices; Digital Marketing; Bidding; Advertising; Advertising Campaigns; Acquisition; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Business Organization; Family Business; For-Profit Firms; Joint Ventures; Design; Price; Profit; Revenue; Geographic Location; Geographic Scope; Global Range; Globalization; Global Strategy; Globalized Firms and Management; Multinational Firms and Management; Globalized Markets and Industries; Government Legislation; Business History; Human Resources; Laws and Statutes; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Marketing Channels; Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Demand and Consumers; Supply and Industry; Operations; Distribution; Infrastructure; Logistics; Product; Product Design; Production; Organizational Structure; Property; Public Ownership; Renting or Rental; Problems and Challenges; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Family and Family Relationships; Sales; Situation or Environment; Luxury; Strategy; Business Strategy; Commercialization; Competition; Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Consolidation; Corporate Strategy; Customization and Personalization; Expansion; Segmentation; Mobile Technology; Wireless Technology; Air Transportation; Bicycle Transportation; Rail Transportation; Transportation Networks; Advertising Industry; France; Paris