Publications

11 Dec 2015
News

Analytics in Online Flash Sales: Demand Forecasting and Price Optimization

July 1984
Case

Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (A)

Intended to advance understanding of corporate responsibility in the context of a bankruptcy decision. The case documents the implementation of a turnaround plan for financially ailing Braniff International. This includes a new marketing and operations strategy,... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Corporate Accountability; Ethics; Insolvency and Bankruptcy

November 2002 (Revised April 2004)
Case

TCS: An Entrepreneurial Air-Express Company in Pakistan

Introduces Khalid Awan, co-founder of TCS, an entrepreneurial air-express company in Pakistan. Awan has succeeded in building a sizeable company despite serious obstacles, including pressure from the public postal system, an environment prone to corruption, and a... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Emerging Markets; Entrepreneurship; Leasing; Transportation Industry; United Arab Emirates; Pakistan

07 Apr 2003
What Do You Think?

Should Global Business Initiatives Be Devalued?

what some perceive to be a narrowing between the rewards and risks of such ventures? Whether because of reduced market expectations or increased transactional costs resulting from deteriorating international relations, tighter regulation... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

2020
Working Paper

Reinventing Retail: The Novel Resurgence of Independent Bookstores

By: Ryan Raffaelli

This study examines how community-based brick-and-mortar retailers can achieve sustained market growth in the face of online and big box retail competition. The appearance of Amazon.com in 1995 led to a significant decline in the number of independent bookstores in the... View Details

Keywords: Bookstores; Competitive Strategy; Business and Community Relations; Customization and Personalization; Growth and Development; Retail Industry; United States

Read Now

May 2011 (Revised June 2011)
Case

The Crisis at Tyco - A Director's Perspective

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Aldo Sesia

In 2002, Wendy Lane had been a member of the board of directors at Tyco International a little more than a year when the company's CEO Dennis Kozlowski and other top executives were accused of fraud, which ultimately led to resignations, imprisonments, lawsuits, and... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Reputation; Governing and Advisory Boards; Crisis Management; Accounting Audits; Problems and Challenges; Risk Management; Finance; Managerial Roles; Lawsuits and Litigation; Service Industry; United States

18 Dec 2014
Blog Post

Turnaround & Restructuring Club Conference Recap

On Friday, November 14th, the Turnaround & Restructuring Club successfully hosted its annual Turnaround Conference featuring esteemed panelists from the industry. The event kicked off with a fireside chat featuring Stephen Toy (Senior... View Details

09 Aug 2013
Research & Ideas

Read All About It: Digital CEO Buys Traditional Media!

was what this free product would do to print revenues. Third, experiments and innovation require time and, by definition, a tolerance for failure. Trouble is, quarterly reporting pressures by public markets do not create the most... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner; Journalism & News; Publishing

22 Oct 2015
Blog Post

Why We Recruit: 3M

3M’s Business Development, Sales and Marketing functions. Members of this leadership development program lead individual internal consulting projects across the company’s 27 divisions to drive growth and profitability through a variety of... View Details

Keywords: Manufacturing

October 2023 (Revised March 2024)
Case

GameStop: Social Media Finds a Cheat Code (A)

By: Joseph Pacelli and Sarah Mehta

This case covers the events leading up to the 2021 GameStop short squeeze. Using GameStop as an illustrative example, the case explores the rise in retail trading, increased financial information sharing on social media, and the gamification of investing enabled by... View Details

Keywords: Value; Stocks; Financial Markets; Social Media; Investment; Applications and Software; Financial Services Industry; United States

April 2014
Supplement

Interview: Man Jit Singh at Sony Entertainment Television

By: Linda A. Hill and Allison J. Wigen

Contains excerpts from an interview with Man Jit Singh. Singh discusses the results of events covered in the case "Man Jit Singh at Sony Entertainment Television," including his decision to begin evaluating employees on values as well as performance.
This short... View Details

Keywords: Performance Appraisals; Leading Change; Leadership; Emerging Markets; Organizational Culture; Performance Evaluation; Groups and Teams; Change Management; Media and Broadcasting Industry; India

19 Mar 2014
Research & Ideas

A Brand Manager’s Guide to Losing Control

charge of public discussions about the brands they use. And while marketers have tried to take part, they've had to face the fact that social media platforms are primarily meant for conversations among consumers, not for one-way brand... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Advertising

February 2021 (Revised April 2024)
Case

Shopify: The Conquest for Chinese E-Commerce

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Avani Patel, Samantha Lin and Ariel Yang

In mid-2020, Tobias Lütke, CEO of Shopify, faced a critical decision on how to time potential expansion into the China market. Over the prior 15 years, his Canadian software-as-a-service company had grown from a small e-commerce solutions provider to a full service... View Details

04 Dec 2012
First Look

First Look: December 4

resulting endogenous scarcity of informed investors exacerbates primary market collapses in bad times. Inefficiency arises because informed investors are a public good from the perspective of originators. All originators benefit from the... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

Article

The Career Effects of Scandal: Evidence from Scientific Retractions

By: Pierre Azoulay, Alessandro Bonatti and Joshua Lev Krieger

We investigate how the scientific community's perception of a scientist's prior work changes when one of his articles is retracted. Relative to non-retracted control authors, faculty members who experience a retraction see the citation rate to their earlier,... View Details

Keywords: Reputation; Perception; Status and Position; Outcome or Result

Find at Harvard

01 Oct 2014
Blog Post

A Summer Internship: Sparking Curiosity

Classes started the other week and I am settling into the busy hum of case studies, student club events and catching up with classmates. Each conversation is a new opportunity to reflect upon my summer experience. Looking back, my time at... View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Technology

November 2003 (Revised March 2004)
Case

Federal Express: Early History

Describes key events in the start-up of Federal Express. Outlines the company's value proposition and provides an overview of key competitors in the air freight industry. This case is used with Teledesic (Abridged), HBS No. 9-804-096, which describes a failed project... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Network Effects; Business Startups; Transportation Industry; United States

17 Dec 2008
Lessons from the Classroom

‘Ted Levitt Changed My Life’

magazine's offices on his way to a job interview at Dartmouth College. As a result of that meeting, and subsequent introductions, Levitt found a home in the Marketing area at HBS. "That sequence of View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Education; Retail

May 2008
Article

Regulation and Bonding: The Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Flow of International Listings

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Joseph Piotroski

In this paper, we examine the economic impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) by analyzing foreign listing behavior onto U.S. and U.K. stock exchanges before and after the enactment of the Act in 2002. Using a sample of all listing events onto U.S. and U.K. exchanges... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Stocks; Government Legislation; Market Transactions; Motivation and Incentives; United Kingdom; United States