Publications

29 Aug 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Patent Trolls

Keywords: by Lauren Cohen, Umit G. Gurun & Scott Duke Kominers

11 Apr 2023
Research & Ideas

Is Amazon a Retailer, a Tech Firm, or a Media Company? How AI Can Help Investors Decide

We used to be in the world of conglomerates 30 or 40 years ago, and those changed over time. We started having much more pure-play companies. And so for a period of time, these industry classifications meant something. It was not perfect,... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Consumer Products; Real Estate; Financial Services; Retail

29 Mar 2022
Book

5 Qualities That Help Companies Thrive for Decades—Even Centuries

Group, formed in 1945 as a builder of utility vehicles and now a conglomerate spanning a number of industries, helps educate 90,000 girls in schools each year. “That's a very important thing,” says Jones, “that a company can allocate... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

08 Aug 2005
Research & Ideas

Decision Rights: Who Gives the Green Light?

How a company decides who is authorized to make what types of decisions can have a profound effect on its business, both in terms of everyday effectiveness and the bottom line. Consider the experience of one global conglomerate that... View Details

Keywords: by Peter Jacobs

November 2022 (Revised February 2024)
Case

The Globalization of Manchester City Football Group

By: Maria P. Roche, Tiona Zuzul, Exequiel Hernandez and Amy Klopfenstein

This case describes the efforts of City Football Group (CFG) to purchase Esporte Clube Bahia (Bahia), a Brazilian professional soccer club. CFG’s strategy was to acquire under-performing clubs worldwide, invest money in high-profile players, and improve the teams’... View Details

08 Apr 2019
Sharpening Your Skills

The Life of Luxury and How to Sell It

Aesthetics to Budding Business LeadersPauline Brown, a former top executive with French luxury goods conglomerate LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, teaches a course called The Business of Aesthetics. Stella McCartney Combines High Fashion... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Auto; Retail; Fashion

28 Nov 2005
Research & Ideas

Unilever: Transformation and Tradition

problems valuing the business, which seemed at times to resemble more of a holding company or conglomerate than anything else, nor that most consumers barely knew that Unilever as such existed. There was, in fact, coherence to Unilever... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones; Consumer Products

15 Nov 2018
Book

Can the Global Food Industry Overcome Public Distrust?

JamesBrey Food is the largest segment of the global economy. It is also widely recognized as more critical for human health than any pharmaceutical drug on the planet. But significant changes in the industry are making people lose trust in many institutions involved in... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Agriculture & Agribusiness

May 2022
Case

Honeywell: Transforming a Century Old Industrial

By: William W. George, Michael Norris and John Masko

In late 2021, Darius Adamczyk, Chairman and CEO of Honeywell is considering the changes he has made to the company since he took over the top leadership position in 2017. The company he had inherited from his predecessor, David Cote, was seen by most as a... View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Transformation; Technological Innovation; Leading Change; Business Strategy; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Organization; Aerospace Industry; Chemical Industry; Electronics Industry; Green Technology Industry; Industrial Products Industry; Technology Industry; North Carolina; New Jersey

February 2008 (Revised July 2008)
Case

Wanxiang Group: A Chinese Company's Global Strategy

By: Regina M. Abrami, William C. Kirby, F. Warren McFarlan, Keith Chi-ho Wong and Tracy Manty

With an almost forty-year history as a business in China, the Wanxiang Group has navigated through the significantly different political and economic changes in China to succeed as a global leader in the auto parts industry and to develop into a broad business... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Conglomerates; Global Strategy; Business History; Growth and Development Strategy; Vertical Integration; Auto Industry; Hangzhou; United States

03 Oct 2005
Research & Ideas

The Box Office Power of Stars

event study to analyze HSX traders' response to those announcements. In an extension of the study, to examine the impact on movie companies' profitability, I also analyzed whether those announcements affected the valuation of movie studios (or the media View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Entertainment & Recreation; Motion Pictures & Video

10 Sep 2020
Research & Ideas

The COVID Two-Step for Leaders: Protect and Pivot

Danaher, a conglomerate with brands in diagnostics, life sciences, and environmental and applied solutions. "Stars practice, and they keep practicing long after they become stars." Toyota employs a system known as the Toyota Production... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Katherine Connolly Baden

05 Nov 2021
Op-Ed

Is the Business World Finally Ready for the Wisdom of Shibusawa?

of Japan and its society as a whole. He envisaged an open system, quite unlike the family–owned zaibatsu or diversified conglomerates such as Mitsubishi and Mitsui, which also flourished during his lifetime. A forerunner to stakeholder... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones and Rei Morimoto; Financial Services; Retail

25 Jul 2016
Research & Ideas

Who is to Blame for 'The Great Training Robbery'?

the context matters. Corporate training is most effective when leadership has prepared the organization for change. Source: MonkeyBusinessImages Take the example of Swedish industrial conglomerate Cardo. The CEO commissioned a training... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Education

September 2017
Case

Tencent

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

Tencent had undergone many transformations since it was founded in 1998 as a simple messaging service. In 2017, it was the largest online games provider in China with a wide range of game types, China’s largest social networking service provider with several of the... View Details

Keywords: Tencent; Tencent Holdings; WeChat; Social Networking; Social Networks; Gaming; Gaming Industry; Video Games; Computer Games; Mobile Gaming; Portals; Payments; Mobile Payments; O2O; Online-to-offline; E-commerce; Messaging; Subscription Model; Freemium; Mobile App Industry; Smartphone; PC; Monetization Strategy; Antitrust; Streaming; Cloud Computing; Artificial Intelligence; Big Data; Alibaba; Facebook; JD.com; Tesla; Bundling; Synergies; Digital Strategy; Imitation; Licensing; Agility; Entry Barriers; Online Platforms; Advertising; Digital Marketing; Business Ventures; Acquisition; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Conglomerates; Business Units; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Organization; For-Profit Firms; Joint Ventures; Restructuring; Communication; Communication Technology; Blogs; Interactive Communication; Interpersonal Communication; Entertainment; Film Entertainment; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Music Entertainment; Investment; Investment Portfolio; Price; Profit; Revenue; Geographic Scope; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Global Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Globalized Markets and Industries; Business History; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Positioning; Social Marketing; Network Effects; Emerging Markets; Market Entry and Exit; Digital Platforms; Industry Growth; Monopoly; Media; Distribution Channels; Product Development; Service Delivery; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Public Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Business and Government Relations; Groups and Teams; Networks; Opportunities; Social and Collaborative Networks; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Commercialization; Competition; Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Cooperation; Corporate Strategy; Diversification; Expansion; Horizontal Integration; Vertical Integration; Segmentation; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Internet and the Web; Applications and Software; Information Infrastructure; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Value Creation; Communications Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Financial Services Industry; Information Industry; Information Technology Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; Music Industry; Service Industry; Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Video Game Industry; Web Services Industry; Asia; China; Canton (province, China)