Publications

William Sahlman is a Baker Foundation Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.

Mr. Sahlman received an A.B. degree in Economics from Princeton University (1972), an M.B.A. from Harvard University (1975), and a Ph.D. in Business... View Details

27 Sep 2006
Research & Ideas

Report From Egypt: Studying Global Influences

multinationals that move people across locations, expect frequent travel outside the country, and emphasize abundant training and Web-based process tools. Part of the mission of all three companies in Egypt is to transmit these standards... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

September 2020 (Revised May 2021)
Case

The Indian Premier League, 2020

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

Since its founding in 2008, the Indian Premier League (IPL), India’s eight-week Twenty20 (T20) cricket competition, had become one of the most popular and lucrative sporting leagues in the world. In 2019, the IPL attracted 462 million TV viewers and 300 million digital... View Details

Keywords: Sports; Organizational Structure; Marketing; Health Pandemics; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Growth and Development Strategy; Sports Industry; India

19 Apr 2017
Blog Post

7 Ways MBA Students Use Baker Library

As members of the Curriculum & Learning Services (CLS) team at Baker Library, we have the opportunity to work closely with MBA students: in the library, online, and in the classroom. In a typical year we answer over 2,000 research... View Details

October 2006 (Revised September 2014)
Case

Summit Partners - The FleetCor Investment (A)

By: Michael J. Roberts

Part of a 3-case series in which students get to see the unfolding of due diligence on private equity (buy out) deal. In this, the A case, the deal team has negotiated a letter of intent with FleetCor, a firm that operates a fuel payment network for vehicle fleets.... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Preparation; Private Equity; Leveraged Buyouts; Investment; Negotiation Offer; Service Industry

03 Nov 2003
What Do You Think?

Can Investors Have Too Much Accounting Transparency?

auditing and particularly large amounts of consulting services from the same supplier. And now, by means of Section 404, it will: (1 require senior executives to certify that their companies have financial... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

July 2008
Case

eHarmony

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, Hanna Halaburda and Troy Smith

eHarmony's CEO needs to decide how to react to imitations of its business model, encroachment by competing models, and ascendance of free substitutes. The case provides four options to address these threats and asks students to choose one after they analyzed the... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Decision Choices and Conditions; Growth and Development Strategy; Industry Structures; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Service Industry

September 2011 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Brightcove, Inc. in 2007

By: Andrei Hagiu and David B. Yoffie

Brightcove, a technology and services provider to content owners in the Internet television field, aimed to become a media distribution company in its own right. On October 30, 2006, it relaunched its Website—and, in effect, its business. With its new, consumer-facing... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Entrepreneurship; Investment; Diversification; Digital Platforms; Business Strategy; Internet and the Web; Business Model; Distribution; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

09 Jun 2003
Research & Ideas

The Benefits of “Not Invented Here”

internally focused manner. Innovation today must be managed as an open system, with a far greater external focus. Q: Which companies today are the best examples of open innovation, and why? A: IBM, Intel, and Procter & Gamble all... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

23 Jan 2015
Research & Ideas

Oil Price Fallout: What Happens Next?

U.S.-Canada relations. "Every Republican and most Democrats in the Midwest want to approve Keystone," Vietor said. "It will create 7,000 temporary jobs, 400 permanent jobs, and 2,000 related jobs as well as provide a million barrels of oil every day to... View Details

Keywords: Re: Richard H.K. Vietor; Energy; Utilities

18 Mar 2001
Research & Ideas

Want to Be an Entrepreneur? [Part I]

role (himself MBA '75, PhD '82, he is D'Arbeloff MBA Class of 1955 professor of business administration and cochair of the school's entrepreneurship and service management unit), he pointed out that none of these ideas was a business.... View Details

Keywords: by John S. Rosenberg

November 2003 (Revised March 2004)
Case

Drilling South: Petrobras Evaluates Pecom

By: Mihir A. Desai and Ricardo Reisen de Pinho

The Brazilian oil company, Petrobras, is evaluating the acquisition of an Argentine oil company, the Perez Companc Group (Pecom). The acquisition would increase Petrobras' oil reserves and expand its interests outside Brazil, a significant step for the largest company... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Forecasting and Prediction; Financial Crisis; Non-Renewable Energy; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Corporate Governance; Risk Management; Emerging Markets; State Ownership; Performance Evaluation; Risk and Uncertainty; Valuation; Energy Industry; Argentina; Brazil

04 Aug 2006
What Do You Think?

What Happens When the Economics of Scarcity Meets the Economics of Abundance?

terms of where value is added in the supply chain . The value is created through the service of helping customers find what they want within the sea of choice . It is ironic that the Internet, which is supposedly the key driver of... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

2009
Working Paper

Informed and Interconnected: A Manifesto for Smarter Cities

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Stanley S. Litow

The need for a fresh approach to U.S. communities is more urgent than ever because of the biggest global economic crisis since the Great Depression. Through examination of the barriers to solving urban problems (and the ways they reinforce each other), this paper... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Investment; Urban Scope; Leadership; Safety; Civil Society or Community; Technology Networks; United States

Read Now

03 Jul 2012
Research & Ideas

HBS Faculty on Supreme Court Health Care Ruling

The Supreme Court has spoken, and its ruling last Friday has evoked myriad responses from across the United States—from the far right to the far left, from small businesses to giant corporations, from pundits to the person on the street. We asked three Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: Re: Multiple Faculty; Health

21 Feb 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Do Legal Origins Have Persistent Effects Over Time? A Look at Law and Finance around the World c. 1900

Keywords: by Aldo Musacchio; Legal Services

January 2004 (Revised June 2004)
Case

Citigroup 2003: Testing the Limits of Convergence (A)

By: Lynda M. Applegate

Examines Citigroup's strategic transition and highlights issues that its newly announced CEO Charles Prince will face as he assumes leadership of this global financial corporation upon the retirement of its charismatic CEO, Sandy Weill. View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Globalized Firms and Management; Management Succession; Transformation; Banks and Banking; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry