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• Case | HBS Case Collection | April 2009 (Revised June 2020)

  Al Capone

  Tom Nicholas and David Chen

  In 1929, Chicago, IL mob boss Al Capone was at the height of his power. As head of the extensive crime organization known as "The Outfit" during most of U.S.'s Prohibition Era (1920-1933), Capone oversaw hundreds of brothels, speakeasies, and roadhouses which served as venues for gang-administered gambling, prostitution, and illegal alcohol sales. At their peak, yearly revenues from all of his enterprises combined totaled over $100 million. Capone's ability to operate these establishments with impunity stemmed from a combination of his political ties and a profound fear of reprisal. Capone's ascension had come at the tremendous loss of human life. Turf wars between Chicago gangs had caused roughly 700 gang-related deaths from 1920 to 1930. By some estimates, Capone had been directly or indirectly responsible for over 200 murders, the most notorious of which was the St. Valentine's Day Massacre in February 1929, a shootout that had killed seven men from a rival gang. The brutality, efficiency, and wealth of Capone's organization demonstrated the destructive forms of American entrepreneurship in the early 20th century.

  Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Crime and Corruption; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Business History; United States; Chicago;

  Citation:

  Nicholas, Tom, and David Chen. "Al Capone." Harvard Business School Case 809-144, April 2009. (Revised June 2020.)  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | August 2007 (Revised June 2020)

  Trouble with a Bubble

  Tom Nicholas

  Examines technology, firm performance, and the stock market during the 1929 Great Crash and the Great Depression of the 1930s. The 1920s was an extraordinary period of technological progress marked by a strong run-up in stock market prices. Firms invested heavily in R&D and human capital, while mass production and scientific management techniques were extensively adopted. Narrates the history of the 1920s and 1930s through the life of Irving Fisher, a prominent academic, investor, technologist, and market commentator who claimed that innovation was driving equity prices higher. Analyzes why Fisher believed that the high level of the stock market was justified, and his explanations for why the stock market crashed. Further explores the 1930s, marked by mass unemployment and social distress on the one hand, and entrepreneurship and innovation on the other. Fisher's views provide a conduit for examining the dynamics of stock market behavior and economic performance during one of the most significant periods in U.S. economic and financial history.

  Keywords: Technology; Organizational Change and Adaptation; History; Financial Markets; Performance; Labor and Management Relations; Equity; Financial Crisis; Innovation and Invention; United States;

  Citation:

  Nicholas, Tom. "Trouble with a Bubble." Harvard Business School Case 808-067, August 2007. (Revised June 2020.)  View Details

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• Background Note | HBS Case Collection | April 2008 (Revised May 2020)

  The American Dream in History

  Tom Nicholas and David Chen

  Citation:

  Nicholas, Tom, and David Chen. "The American Dream in History." Harvard Business School Background Note 808-134, April 2008. (Revised May 2020.)  View Details

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