Publications

February 2010 (Revised August 2010)
Case

Digital Media Group: The Shanghai Bid

By: G. Felda Hardymon and Ann Leamon

In December 2008, Thomas G. Tsao, acting CEO of Digital Media Group (DMG), a venture-backed provider of technology and media used primarily in subways, must decide how to structure the company's bid for the advertising concession in Shanghai's 13 existing and planned... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Corporate Accountability; Business or Company Management; Bids and Bidding; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Competitive Strategy; Advertising Industry; Technology Industry; Shanghai

April 2007
Case

The Boeing Company: Moonshine Shop

By: Robert D. Austin, Richard L. Nolan and Shannon O'Donnell

Describes how the "Moonshine Shop," a group of plant-savvy creative generalists, is helping a great industrial company become more innovative. Chronicles the history of the Moonshine Shop, its successes and failures, and describes innovations they've helped put in... View Details

Keywords: History; Business Model; Saving; Programs; Creativity; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Research and Development; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Business Processes; Aerospace Industry

August 2006 (Revised September 2012)
Case

Arrow Electronics--The Apollo Acquisition

By: Stephen P. Kaufman

Having already made 10 acquisitions of competitors in the last decade, the CEO of Arrow is evaluating the acquisition of another small competitor to boost sales, become #1 in a niche market segment, and achieve economies of scale. He is struggling with whether the deal... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Integration; Valuation; Performance Evaluation; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Strategic Planning; Growth and Development Strategy; Electronics Industry; United States

October 1991 (Revised August 2000)
Case

Becton Dickinson & Company: VACUTAINER Systems Division (Condensed)

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Frank V. Cespedes

Becton Dickinson, a phenomenally successful company with an 80% market share in the blood collection needles and syringes market faces a change in the customer buying environment (cost containment pressures at hospitals). This forces a reevaluation of the company's... View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Customer Satisfaction; Demand and Consumers; Market Participation; Distribution Channels; Success; Corporate Strategy; Value Creation; Health Industry

January 2002 (Revised March 2004)
Case

Computer Associates International, Inc.

In late 2000, Computer Associates (CA) changed its business model and the way it recognized revenue, ostensibly to better serve its stakeholders. The new subscription-based license model offered customers greater flexibility. Clients could subscribe to any CA software... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Valuation; Corporate Disclosure; Revenue Recognition; Corporate Governance; Technology Industry

Find at Harvard

06 Dec 2011
First Look

First Look: Dec. 6

corporate governance literature of the past decade has focused on identifying drivers of superior or deficient corporate governance. One of the most rigorous methodologies uses firms' reactions to industry... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

26 Sep 2006
First Look

First Look: September 26, 2006

received extraordinary support from its oversized Scientific Advisory Board; it had developed and secured a strong intellectual property portfolio that creates high barriers to entry for any new market entrants; and, it had $13 million of View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

10 Jun 2014
First Look

First Look: June 10

examines the evolution of corporate environmentalism in the West German chemical industry between the 1950s and the 1980s. It focuses on two companies, Bayer and Henkel, that have been identified as "green giants," and traces... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

August 1976
Case

Norman Machinery Products, Inc. (C)

Presents the estate plan worked out by the son to deal with an estate planning issue. The plan involves the use of deferred compensation employment contract with the family business, a key-man life insurance policy, and a split-dollar life insurance policy. View Details

Keywords: Machinery and Machining; Family Business; Personal Finance; Corporate Finance; Manufacturing Industry

October 1996 (Revised December 1997)
Case

American Cyanamid (A): Boardroom Response to a Hostile Takeover Offer

American Home Products' (AHP) $9 billion hostile takeover of American Cyanamid (Cyanamid) was the largest mergers and-acquistions transaction in 1994, and made AHP the fourth largest pharmaceutical firm in the United States. At the time of AHP's offer, Cyanamid had... View Details

Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Mergers and Acquisitions; Corporate Governance; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States

26 Feb 2001
Research & Ideas

David, Goliath, and Disruption

innovation right now," even a surplus of technology, added Schreck. In Schreck's opinion, so much venture capital and corporate capital is pouring into technology for technology's sake, he said, that... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

February 2006
Case

Bumble and bumble: Building a Successful Business in Beauty and Fashion

By: Nancy F. Koehn and Erica Helms

Explores the creation and subsequent rise of Bumble and bumble, a trend-setting hair-care company. Analyzes the vision and achievements of the founding entrepreneur, Michael Gordon, and charts the evolution of the company within the $230 billion global beauty industry.... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Brands and Branding; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Strategy; Financial Condition; Business Growth and Maturation; Success; Distribution; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Fashion Industry