Publications

07 Jul 2021
Book

Good News for Disgraced Companies: You Can Regain Trust

between 43 and 53 percent during the previous decade. While trust in business in the 2021 barometer [pdf] increased to 61 percent, the majority of those surveyed did not deem CEOs as credible, nor did they trust them to do what is right.... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

18 Apr 2011
Research & Ideas

It’s Not Nagging: Why Persistent, Redundant Communication Works

industries (computing, telecommunications, and health care) by shadowing them at their jobs. The team recorded every activity in the managers' workday, collecting a total of... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard

June 1992
Case

Arundel Partners: The Sequel Project

By: Timothy A. Luehrman and William A. Teichner

A group of investors is considering buying the sequel rights for a portfolio of feature films. They need to determine how much to offer to pay and how to structure a contract with one or more major U.S. film studios. The case contains cash flow estimates for all major... View Details

Keywords: Rights; Debt Securities; Contracts; Cash Flow; Valuation; Capital Budgeting; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States

18 Jul 2023
News

The First Five Years: Brooke Biederman (MBA 2019)

eye-opening glimpse under the hood of an industry I love. Coupled with my time on movie sets and in production offices, I saw the industry’s huge potential for innovation. During business school, I also... View Details

Keywords: Robert Bochnak

02 Sep 2015
What Do You Think?

What's Wrong With Amazon’s Low-Retention HR Strategy?

painted too attractive a picture of high-retention organizations (Costco, Zappos) in competition with those characterized by low retention (Sam’s Club, Amazon). Both apparently can provide good service and... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Web Services; Retail; Apparel & Accessories; Consumer Products; Fashion

24 Nov 2008
Research & Ideas

Harvard Business School Discusses Future of the MBA

render the most complete contemporary picture of MBA education. "The level of cross-school cooperation was unprecedented," Datar said afterward. For Datar and Garvin, the two-day session was a... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson & HBS Bulletin; Education

Web

Leadership Initiative - Leadership

Planning at Walt Disney Animation Studios. In this highly creative environment, she supported the studio through a fundamental digital transformation process while supporting continued business growth and innovation. In 2018, Ann became a... View Details

01 Dec 2001
News

Film School

volunteer in Africa before attending HBS; thinking back to that time made him want to do "something useful and outrageous" once again. Particularly concerned about violence among young people, Seder decided that he wanted to "make a... View Details

Keywords: Motion Picture and Sound Recording Industries; Motion Picture and Sound Recording Industries

04 May 2021
Book

Best Buy: How Human Connection Saved a Failing Retailer

shareholders and is a money-making machine,” he says. “But no, a company is a human organization made up of individuals working together in pursuit of a goal.” Leading with purpose and humanity Based on his... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Retail

Web

2023 Reunion Presentations - Alumni

constrained business growth for hundreds of years. From Airbnb to Ant Financial, research shows how AI-driven processes are vastly more scalable than traditional processes, enable companies to straddle industry boundaries, View Details

10 Jan 2023
Op-Ed

Time to Move On? Career Advice for Entrepreneurs Preparing for the Next Stage

drove you to develop these behaviors, why they did or didn’t serve you in your role and how they will or won’t serve you going forward. NOTE: The act of physically releasing things can be very healing. Start by writing a few sentences or... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Austin

01 Mar 2024
News

Game On

momentum, as well as the uncanny levels of enthusiasm for the game, it’s no surprise that billions of dollars are being poured into the industry in the shape of pro teams and tournaments, franchises,... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; photographed by Edward Linsmier; Amusement, Gambling, and Recreation Industries; Amusement, Gambling, and Recreation Industries

October 2009 (Revised June 2010)
Case

Hulu: An Evil Plot to Destroy the World?

By: Anita Elberse and Sunil Gupta

In July 2009, Jason Kilar, the chief executive officer of Hulu, is debating whether the online video aggregator should move away from a purely advertising-supported model, and whether it should participate in an industry-wide initiative to develop and test... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Business Model; Television Entertainment; Distribution Channels; Service Operations; Internet and the Web; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry

August 2014
Case

Netflix: Designing the Netflix Prize (A)

By: Karim R. Lakhani, Wesley M. Cohen, Kynon Ingram, Tushar Kothalkar, Maxim Kuzemchenko, Santosh Malik, Cynthia Meyn, Greta Friar and Stephanie Healy Pokrywa

In 2006, Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, was looking for a way to solve Netflix's customer churn problem. Netflix used Cinematch, its proprietary movie recommendation software, to promote individually determined best-fit movies to customers. Hastings determined that a... View Details

Keywords: Crowdsourcing; Prizes; Digitization; Algorithms; Recommendation Software; Disruption; Transformation; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Technological Innovation; Knowledge Sharing; Applications and Software; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; United States

June 2022 (Revised March 2024)
Case

Netflix's Culture: Binge or Cringe?

By: Hubert Joly, Leonard A. Schlesinger, James Barnett and Stacy Straaberg

In May 2022, streaming entertainment company Netflix lost customers for the first time in more than 10 years. Once a first mover in the streaming landscape, Netflix was facing competition from Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, HBO Max, and others. A key component of... View Details