Publications

01 Apr 1996
News

Stasis and Turmoil: HBS Research for the Real World

communications industry has entailed the gradual removal of protected monopolies and rate-of-return regulation. Yet, at the same time, new government policies have been adopted to require open access and nondiscriminatory pricing in areas... View Details

03 Dec 2001
What Do You Think?

What Happens When the Sumo Master Learns Judo?

is happening is business as usual. Microsoft is facing a race with time and the markets to re-deploy monopoly profits from a waning desktop opportunity in order to become more competitive with sumos in other parts of the information... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

March 2011 (Revised June 2011)
Case

Poweo: David and Goliath in the French Electricity Market

By: Noel Maurer and Elisa Farri

Charles Beigbeder, the president and founder of Poweo, an alternative electricity and gas operator in France, needs to decide on the company's strategy in light of electricity deregulation and the dominant position of Électricité de France (EDF) in the French market.... View Details

Keywords: Energy Generation; Competitive Strategy; Competition; Privatization; Monopoly; Market Entry and Exit; Energy Industry; France

March 2003 (Revised March 2011)
Background Note

A Note on Antitrust and Competitive Tactics

By: Dennis A. Yao

Provides an overview of antitrust law as it relates to competitive strategy. Discusses the problem of managing antitrust risk and provides a guide to business actions that pose antitrust risk. View Details

Keywords: Laws and Statutes; Risk Management; Monopoly; Business and Government Relations; Competitive Strategy

January 1992
Teaching Note

MCI Communications Corporation (1983) TN

By: Richard S. Ruback

Teaching Note for (9-284-057). View Details

Keywords: Financing and Loans; Growth and Development Strategy; Debt Securities; Risk and Uncertainty; Monopoly; Communications Industry

October 2008 (Revised October 2008)
Case

Lehman Brothers and Peabody Coal

When Texas Utilities Company (TXU) wanted to acquire The Energy Group, the latter needed to spin-off its coal mining assets, Peabody Coal, to avoid running afoul of antitrust authorities. In this case, TXU's investment banker, Lehman Brothers, considers whether to... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Investment Banking; Monopoly; Conflict of Interests; Mining Industry; Utilities Industry

Find at Harvard

May 2006 (Revised October 2007)
Case

EU Verdict Against Microsoft

By: David B. Yoffie and Michael Slind

In 2004, following an investigation that began in 1998, the European Commission (EC) issued an antitrust judgment against Microsoft Corp., levying a record fine of 497 million euros ($613 million) and mandating changes of commercial behavior and bundling of Windows... View Details

Keywords: Judgments; Governance Compliance; Lawsuits and Litigation; Monopoly; Business and Government Relations; Competitive Strategy; Software; European Union; United States

05 Jun 2019
Research & Ideas

If Your Customers Don't Care What You Charge, What Should You Charge?

market power dynamics, MacKay says. Market power, which is sometimes referred to as monopoly power, refers to the ability of a firm to charge a price above the level that would prevail under normal competition. The researchers argue that... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Energy

Fast Answer

Historical Research - India

Subjects covered include trade regulations on Indian imports and exports, specifically the textile, dyeing and cotton industries; the introduction of steam navigation, including the Calcutta railroad system and the East India Railway Company; debates on the East India... View Details

23 Oct 2007
First Look

First Look: October 23, 2007

particular, we let the upstream firm's marginal cost be private information, unknown to the downstream firms. The previous literature has argued that vertical integration is harmful because it allows an upstream monopolist to limit output to View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2002
Case

Price-Fixing Vignettes

By: Guhan Subramanian and Michelle Kalka

This case escribes the antitrust prosecutions in the United States and abroad of the international bulk vitamins cartel. Both the civil and criminal fines were historically high, and it was the first time the United States prosecuted foreign nationals for U.S. criminal... View Details

Keywords: Price; Lawsuits and Litigation; Governance Compliance; Auctions; Laws and Statutes; Monopoly; Globalized Markets and Industries; Retail Industry; Health Industry; United States

01 Mar 2018
News

Democratizing Data to Favor Farmers

agronomic data analysis, breaking the information monopoly long held by the industry. To do so, FBN began compiling data spread across 65 different versions of so-called precision agriculture software and “democratizing” the insights by... View Details

Keywords: Sasha Issenberg

January 11, 2024
Article

Understanding the Tradeoffs of the Amazon Antitrust Case

By: Chiara Farronato, Andrey Fradkin, Andrei Hagiu and Dionne Lomax

Regulators in the United States and Europe have been taking on Big Tech, challenging what they say are the companies’ anti-competitive and predatory strategies that harm consumers and third-party users of their platforms. This article examines the FTC’s case against... View Details

Keywords: Monopoly; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Market Design; Lawsuits and Litigation

Read Now

Web

Bibliography | Baker Library | Bloomberg Center | Harvard Business School

Subcommittee on Antitrust and Monopoly of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Washington D.C., August 16, 1957. New York: United States Steel Corporation, 1957. Smith, Mark B. Toward Rational Exuberance: The Evolution of the Modern... View Details

01 Jan 2005
News

Nancy M. Barry, MBA 1975

competent team of practitioners, analysts, and managers from around the world. And she fostered the development of an organization that engaged the talents and commitment of network leaders. "To create real networks, you have to believe that the center of an operation... View Details

2010
Working Paper

Mixed Source

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Gaston Llanes

We study competitive interaction between a profit-maximizing firm that sells software and complementary services and a free open source competitor. We examine the firm's choice of business model between the proprietary model (where all software modules are... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Monopoly; Open Source Distribution; Quality; Competition; Information Technology Industry

Read Now

December 2024
Article

Is There Too Little Antitrust Enforcement in the U.S. Hospital Sector?

By: Zarek Brot-Goldberg, Zack Cooper, Stuart Craig and Lev Klarnet

From 2002 to 2020, there were over 1,000 mergers of U.S. hospitals. During this period, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) took enforcement actions against 13 transactions. However, using the FTC’s standard screening tools, we find that 20% of these mergers could have... View Details

Keywords: Monopoly; Mergers and Acquisitions; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Competition; Health Industry