Publications

April 2009
Case

SAP AG: Orchestrating the Ecosystem

By: Marco Iansiti and Karim R. Lakhani

Business ecosystems require careful orchestration and strategic choices regarding make/buy/partner decisions and membership access. This case examines the strategic and technological issues related to managing SAP's thriving ecosystem of user communities, software... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Organizational Structure; Partners and Partnerships; Business Strategy; Technology Industry

August 2008
Case

Progressive Corporation: Variable Dividends

By: Timothy A. Luehrman and Brenda W. Chia

In 2006, Progressive Corporation announced a change in its dividend policy. Henceforth, dividends would be paid annually rather than quarterly and, more importantly, would be set according to a formula that would result in considerably greater year-to-year variability... View Details

Keywords: Capital Structure; Policy; Goals and Objectives; Performance; Business and Shareholder Relations; Insurance Industry

11 Oct 2006
Research & Ideas

The Success of Reverse Leveraged Buyouts

thinking intensively about the private equity industry. "This event will examine the changing structure of the private equity industry and the implications of the buyout wave of the past few years. It... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Banking; Financial Services

April 2006 (Revised July 2006)
Case

Managing National Intelligence (A): Before 9/11

By: Jan W. Rivkin, Michael Roberto and Erika Ferlins

Examines the management of national intelligence prior to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Describes the actions taken by a variety of government agencies, including the FBI, the CIA, the FAA, and the Department of Defense, to detect and deter such attacks. View Details

Keywords: War; National Security; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Crisis Management; Management Systems; Public Administration Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

12 Oct 2006
First Look

First Look: October 12, 2006

differently than many companies' product development processes, but allows this company to produce very high profit margin products that retain their margins for a very long time in an industry in which products come and go very quickly.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

05 Sep 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, September 5, 2017

composition as a key but largely endogenous part of development, while structural economies conceptualizes it as a fundamental driver. Competitiveness policy is about leveraging existing clusters as a platform for upgrading microeconomic... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Mar 2009
News

A Modern-Day Classic

and “integration” to help managers grasp how an organization is an entity made up of so many modular units, and that the ideal structure of that entity depends on its way of adapting to the features of its chosen environment. “Contingency... View Details

Keywords: Publishing Industries (except Internet); Publishing Industries (except Internet)

January 1994
Case

National Convenience Stores, Inc.

By: Steven R. Fenster, Stuart C. Gilson and Roy Burstin

National Convenience Stores seeks to emerge from Chapter 11. Central to the nature of the reorganization plan is the company's determining enterprise value. The various constituencies (secured debt, unsecured debt, etc.) will seek to find an enterprise value that... View Details

Keywords: Capital Structure; Valuation; Restructuring; Strategic Planning; Borrowing and Debt; Food and Beverage Industry; Texas

10 Jan 2005
Research & Ideas

Motivation and the Cross-Sector Alliance

structure with management and ownership formally represented in different organs. In the case of La Nación, the newspaper is owned by a corporation (La Nación S.A.), but the Saguier family, descending from its founder, controls both its... View Details

Keywords: by James Austin, Ezequiel Reficco & SEKN research team

17 Jan 2025
News

Tracking Modern Air Travel’s Takeoff

would go on to spend his career making those trips an attainable reality for millions of Americans, riding a wave of deregulation in the airline industry as both an advisor and an executive. He ultimately became CEO of Continental... View Details

September 2011
Teaching Note

Growing Pains at Stroz Friedberg (TN)

By: David A. Garvin

Teaching Note for 311008. View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Growth and Development; Revenue; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; System; Transformation; Consulting Industry

April 2003
Teaching Note

Energis (A) (TN)

By: John R. Wells

Teaching Note for (9-703-505). View Details

Keywords: History; Demand and Consumers; Strategy; Distribution; System Shocks; Service Delivery; Organizational Structure; Telecommunications Industry; United Kingdom

09 Jun 2023
Blog Post

Actions Organizations Can Take to Communicate Their Commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging

Action and Accountability Prospective employees will also want to understand the structural and financial commitments your organization is making toward diversity, inclusion, and belonging. “Most people who are deeply passionate about... View Details

Keywords: All Industries

June 1992 (Revised March 1993)
Case

Fleetwood Enterprises, Inc. 1990

By: Timothy A. Luehrman

The CFO of Fleetwood Enterprises is considering whether to recommend a large share repurchase to the board of directors. Fleetwood's core businesses, manufactured housing and recreational vehicles, are very sensitive to business cycles and oil prices. Following Iraq's... View Details

Keywords: Business Cycles; Capital Structure; Stock Shares; Price; Crisis Management; Production; Manufacturing Industry; Iraq; Kuwait

May 2016 (Revised August 2019)
Teaching Note

Project Deutschland: Unpeeling the Onion of a Distressed Real Estate Portfolio

By: Nori Gerardo Lietz and Ricardo Andrade

James Tallest analyzed the opportunity to invest in a distressed portfolio of high quality properties in Germany by acquiring one or more non-performing loans from Deutschland Bank. While he considers the many aspects of the deal that is about to unfold, he must decide... View Details

Keywords: Real Estate; Distress Investing; Non-performing Loan; Borrowing and Debt; Capital Structure; Private Equity; Negotiation Deal; Valuation; Real Estate Industry; Real Estate Industry; Germany; Europe

24 Jun 2008
First Look

First Look: June 24, 2008

Patenting on the Rate, Quality, and Direction of (Public) Research Output Authors: Pierre Azoulay, Waverly Ding, and Toby E. Stuart Periodical: Journal of Industrial Economics (forthcoming) Abstract We examine the influence of faculty... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

07 Aug 2006
Research & Ideas

Whatever Happened to Caveat Emptor?

Trumbull, that unfettered marketplace has "virtually disappeared." "Today, arguably no other economic actor in the advanced industrial countries—not the investor, not the worker, not the welfare recipient—enjoys a more thorough set of... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

23 Aug 2011
First Look

First Look: August 23

that exposure to informational advertising can decrease the consumer's tendency to purchase the promoted product. The structural estimates imply that an exposure to a single advertisement decreases the consumer's probability of not... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

April 2017 (Revised May 2022)
Case

King Digital Entertainment

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Davide Sola, Federica Gabrieli and Elena Corsi

Riccardo Zacconi was the co-founder and CEO of King Digital Entertainment, the video game company that had quickly established itself as the world’s leading maker of casual games for mobile devices after the sensational success of its game “Candy Crush Saga.” Zacconi... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Information Technology; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Structure; Acquisition; Decision Choices and Conditions; Video Game Industry; Europe; Sweden