Publications

16 Jun 2020
Research & Ideas

Your Customers Have Changed. Here's How to Engage Them Again.

management and digital marketing tools for entertainment venues and sports teams (largely unused during the pandemic), switched to targeting small- and medium-sized traditional businesses struggling to... View Details

Keywords: by Rohit Deshpandé, Ofer Mintz, and Imran S. Currim; Retail; Service

October 1984
Case

NIKE (F): The Apparel Division

Deals with challenges confronting a new divisional manager of Nike's apparel division, David Chang. The teaching plan would focus on a diagnosis of the division's current strategy and what future strategic moves might be considered. View Details

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Business Divisions; Management Teams; Business Strategy; Sports Industry; Sports Industry

19 Dec 2022
Research & Ideas

The 10 Most Popular Articles of 2022

7. Dick’s Sporting Goods Followed Its Conscience on Guns—and It Paid Off After the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida, Dick's Sporting Goods' CEO declared: "I don't want to be part of the story... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

October 1984 (Revised March 1999)
Case

NIKE (E)

Provides the background for a discussion of Nike (E1), (E2), and (E3). Outlines Nike's senior management group's early program to deal with the company's increasingly difficult competitive circumstance. View Details

Keywords: Management Style; Competition; Situation or Environment; Management Teams; Sports Industry; Sports Industry

19 Mar 2014
Research & Ideas

A Brand Manager’s Guide to Losing Control

Thanks (or no thanks) to social media, brand managers have lost the power to control the perception of their products through carefully orchestrated advertising campaigns. These days, consumers are in command. With an angry tweet, a happy... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Advertising

18 Dec 2013
HBS Case

Lessons from the Lance Armstrong Cheating Scandal

from the group. So when Armstrong decided to dope, he required other riders to dope as well to match his escalating performance level, and the rest of the support team to facilitate the doping and manage the cover-up to achieve victory.... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Sports

September 1998 (Revised July 1999)
Case

Spyder Active Sports, Inc. and CHB Capital Partners (A)

By: John A. Davis, Louis B. Barnes and Peter K. Botticelli

After establishing a small but profitable skiwear business, an entrepreneur decides to sell a minority stake in the firm to outside investors. His goal is to acquire the capital needed to grow the business, even though this will entail a substantial transformation of... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Private Equity; Family Business; Business Growth and Maturation; Entrepreneurship; Sports Industry; Sports Industry

September 2018 (Revised March 2019)
Case

Philanthropy and Brand Building: Jeff Vinik and the Tampa Bay Lightning

By: Stephen A. Greyser and Michael Mondello

Owner Jeff Vinik and top management of the NHL Tampa Bay Lightning are reviewing their strategy and progress in achieving their goals of brand-building and community commitment. Strategic philanthropy is unusual in sport. Tampa Bay is historically a non-traditional... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Business and Community Relations; Sports Industry; Tampa

07 Jan 2019
Research & Ideas

The Better Way to Forecast the Future

Political science has seen a rise in probability forecasts for geopolitical events, with forecasting competitions and blogs like Nate Silver’s fivethirtyeight.com offering probabilities of election results, outcomes of sporting events,... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Air Transportation; Transportation

March 2004 (Revised April 2004)
Background Note

Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and John T. Gourville

Analysis of an interview with Red Auerbach, HBR No. 87201. Alan M. Webber, who conducted the interview, probed for the lessons that Auerbach has learned from a long and productive career coaching and managing the Boston Celtics, a professional basketball team in the... View Details

Keywords: Markets; Research; Sports; Product Development; Communication Intention and Meaning; Sports Industry

December 2008 (Revised February 2015)
Case

A.J. Washington: Retaining an NFL Star

By: Andrew Wasynczuk and Nicole Shae Bennett

General Manager Luke Kolville, of the Los Angeles Spartans, struggles with the best approach to negotiate a long-term contract for his star quarterback. The agent for Washington is relatively new to the industry and has his sights set particularly high. Kolville needs... View Details

Keywords: Retention; Human Capital; Contracts; Managerial Roles; Negotiation; Groups and Teams; Sports Industry; Los Angeles

July 2000
Case

Dawn Riley at America True (C)

By: Linda A. Hill and Kristin Doughty

Dawn Riley and America True are based in Auckland, New Zealand, where racing will begin in six weeks. The senior management team will be meeting in August 1999 to decide whether or not to make changes to Tag, the practice boat that they are using as a testing platform.... View Details

Keywords: Management Style; Leadership; Behavior; Groups and Teams; Organizational Culture; Problems and Challenges; Sports; Gender; Management Teams; New Zealand

February 2016 (Revised March 2016)
Case

America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A)

By: Rory McDonald, Alan MacCormack and Vanessa Ampelas

Four teams across the world are furiously designing, building, testing, and learning to sail a boat that would be one-of-a-kind in order to win the 2013 America's Cup. Choosing the best development path was a challenge as the teams had less than three years to prepare,... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Competition; Innovation and Management; Sports; Sports Industry; New Zealand; United States

March 2019 (Revised June 2019)
Case

Global Sourcing at Nike

By: Nien-hê Hsieh, Michael W. Toffel and Olivia Hull

This case explores the evolution of Nike’s global product sourcing strategy, in particular ongoing efforts to improve working conditions at its suppliers’ factories. When the case opens in July 2018, Vice President of Sourcing Amanda Tucker and her colleagues in Nike’s... View Details

October 1995 (Revised December 1995)
Case

Marketing the National Hockey League

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Marie Bell

One third of the 24 National Hockey League (NHL) teams are unprofitable. Another third are barely profitable. This case provides the background and market research data to help the senior managers of the NHL make decisions pertaining to how they would like to grow the... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Decision Choices and Conditions; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Marketing Channels; Marketing Strategy; Research; Sports Industry

19 Feb 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, February 19, 2019

algorithm uncovers two distinct behavioral types: "leaders" and "managers." Leaders focus on multi-function, high-level meetings, while managers focus on one-to-one meetings with core functions. Firms with leader CEOs are on average more... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

July 2005 (Revised April 2009)
Case

Real Madrid Club de Futbol (Multimedia)

By: John A. Quelch

In June 2004, Florentino Perez, a well-known Spanish businessman, was elected president of Real Madrid, one of the world's top soccer clubs. In his campaign, Perez had promised to turn around the club's finances, bring in world-class talent, and extend the club's brand... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Sports; Expansion; Sports Industry; Spain

August 2019
Case

Apex Ski Boots

By: Kate Barasz and John T. Gourville

Apex Ski Boots has introduced a new ski boot that, due to its radical design, is meeting resistance in the marketplace from many retailers, ski experts, and consumers. The company must decide how best to drive sales in the face of this resistance. View Details

Keywords: Go-to-market Strategy; Strategic Change; Marketing Strategy; Distribution Channels; Sales; Change Management; Sports Industry; Sports Industry