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- Article
Scandal, Social Movement, and Change: Evidence from #MeToo in Hollywood
By: Hong Luo and Laurina Zhang
Social movements have the potential to effect change in firm decision-making. In this paper, we examine whether the #MeToo movement, spurred by the Harvey Weinstein scandal, led to changes in the likelihood of Hollywood producers working with female writers on new...
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- January 2022 (Revised February 2022)
- Teaching Note
Universal During COVID: The Future of Theatrical Windows
By: Hong Luo, Henry McGee and Carol Lin
The COVID-19 pandemic brought enormous disruption to the movie industry, closing theaters indefinitely by mid-March 2020, halting television and film production, and throwing theatrical release schedules into disarray. Shell had assumed the CEO position at NBC...
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- Fall 2021
- Article
Emboldening and Contesting Gender and Skin Color Stereotypes in the Film Industry in India, 1947–1991
By: Sudev Sheth, Geoffrey Jones and Morgan Spencer
This article examines how the film industry influenced prevailing gender and skin color stereotypes in India during the first four decades after Independence in 1947. It shows that Bollywood, the mainstream cinema in India, shared Hollywood's privileging of paler skin...
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- October 2021
- Article
Judgment Aggregation in Creative Production: Evidence from the Movie Industry
By: Hong Luo, Jeffrey T. Macher and Michael Wahlen
We study a novel, low-cost approach to aggregating judgment from a large number of industry experts on ideas that they encounter in their normal course of business. Our context is the movie industry, in which customer appeal is difficult to predict and investment costs...
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- August 2021
- Case
Wymsee
By: Julia Austin, Sarah Mehta and Tom Quinn
Wymsee was a company that aimed to develop a mobile application (app) that would allow television audience members to identify and purchase clothing or accessories worn by characters in the program they were watching, with the Wymsee founders taking a percentage of...
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Keywords:
Business Model;
Business Plan;
Business Startups;
Film Entertainment;
Television Entertainment;
Technological Innovation;
Knowledge Acquisition;
Product Positioning;
Opportunities;
Adaptation;
Mobile Technology;
Entertainment and Recreation Industry;
Entertainment and Recreation Industry;
Entertainment and Recreation Industry;
United States;
New York (city, NY)
- May 19, 2021
- Article
Measuring the Impact of #MeToo on Gender Equity in Hollywood
By: Hong Luo and Laurina Zhang
The #MeToo movement has brought issues of sexual harassment and gender inequities to the forefront around the world. But how much of a tangible impact has it had on the experiences of women in the workplace? In this piece, the authors discuss their research that...
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- February 2021 (Revised June 2022)
- Case
Walt Disney: Changing the World
By: Robert Simons and Shirley Sun
This case describes the rise of Walt Disney, founder of the worldwide entertainment company. The case describes how Disney, as a young artist, created memorable figures such as Mickey Mouse and went on to produce Academy-award-winning films and build the world’s most...
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- January 2021
- Case
Cinépolis
By: Joshua D. Margolis and Fernanda Miguel
Two weeks after Cinepolis released a documentary film about corruption, a judge ordered its provisional suspension, claiming it had to be edited before it continued to be shown, against Mexican cinematography laws. Cinépolis, Latin America’s largest movie theater chain...
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Keywords:
Movies;
Entertainment;
Corruption;
Risk Assessment;
Communication Strategy;
Crime and Corruption;
Decision Making;
Film Entertainment;
Ethics;
Leadership;
Risk Management;
Entertainment and Recreation Industry;
Entertainment and Recreation Industry;
Mexico;
Latin America;
North and Central America
- 2021
- Working Paper
Bollywood, Skin Color and Sexism: The Role of the Film Industry in Emboldening and Contesting Stereotypes in India after Independence
By: Sudev Sheth, Geoffrey Jones and Morgan Spencer
This working paper examines the social impact of the film industry in India during the first four decades after Indian Independence in 1947. It shows that Bollywood, the mainstream cinema in India and the counterpart in scale to Hollywood in the United States, shared...
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- July 2020 (Revised November 2020)
- Case
Pricing at Netflix
By: Elie Ofek, Marco Bertini, Oded Koenigsberg and Amy Klopfenstein
Since its launch in 1998 as “the Amazon.com of DVDs,” Netflix had evolved from a DVD rental company to a video streaming platform and producer of original films and television shows. As the company matured, it regularly increased prices and adjusted its product...
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Keywords:
Pricing;
Marketing;
Marketing Strategy;
Entertainment;
Film Entertainment;
Television Entertainment;
Finance;
Price;
Strategy;
Competition;
Competitive Strategy;
Business Strategy;
Adaptation;
Information Technology;
Internet and the Web;
Digital Platforms;
Customers;
Customer Satisfaction;
Customer Value and Value Chain;
Entertainment and Recreation Industry;
North and Central America;
United States
- July 2020 (Revised October 2020)
- Case
Live Nation and Pharrell Williams
By: Anita Elberse and Kate Christensen
“We’re in business together, and whether we lose a few million dollars or make a few million dollars, let’s do this. If you think you can pull it off, I’m behind you.” Michael Rapino, chief executive officer of Live Nation, the world’s leading live entertainment...
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- 2019
- Working Paper
Judgment Aggregation in Creative Production: Evidence from the Movie Industry
By: Hong Luo, Jeffrey T. Macher and Michael Wahlen
This paper studies a novel, light-touch approach to aggregate judgment from a large number of industry experts on ideas that they encounter in their normal course of business. Our context is the movie industry, in which customer appeal is difficult to predict and...
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- September 2018 (Revised April 2019)
- Case
AMC Entertainment: Creating a Spectacular Moviegoing Experience (A)
By: Henry McGee and Aldo Sesia
In 2018, the Hollywood film industry is facing tough headwinds. Fewer and fewer Americans are going to movie theaters, opting instead to watch movies on demand in the comfort of their own homes or on portable devices. Adam Aron, the head of the world’s largest movie...
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- September 2018
- Supplement
AMC Entertainment: Creating a Spectacular Moviegoing Experience (B)
By: Henry McGee and Aldo Sesia
The (B) case describes how AMC reacted to the threat from the subscription service MoviePass and provides AMC’s second quarter fiscal year 2018 results.
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- May 2018 (Revised February 2020)
- Case
Jason Blum's Blumhouse Productions
By: Anita Elberse
In March 2017, Jason Blum, the founder and chief executive officer of film and television production company Blumhouse Productions, has another blockbuster on his hands with the movie Get Out, produced for just $4.5 million. Remarkable returns for its micro-budget...
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Keywords:
Entertainment;
Media;
Film;
Movies;
Creative Industries;
Product-portfolio Management;
Entrepreneurship;
Innovation;
Talent;
General Management;
Strategy;
Marketing;
Blockbusters;
Film Entertainment;
Innovation and Management;
Talent and Talent Management;
Competitive Strategy;
Management Style;
Marketing Strategy;
Motion Pictures and Video Industry
- October 2017
- Case
LeBron James: Building a Hollywood Empire
By: Anita Elberse
It is June 2016. Superstar basketball player LeBron James and his childhood friend and business partner Maverick Carter are celebrating James’ third NBA championship. The duo will soon have to decide on a strategy for their media businesses—their film and television...
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Keywords:
Film;
Motion Picutres;
Superstar;
Innovation;
Creative Industries;
Talent;
General Management;
Celebrities;
Marketing;
Entertainment;
Sports;
Media;
Film Entertainment;
Innovation Strategy;
Talent and Talent Management;
Strategy;
Digital Strategy;
Entertainment and Recreation Industry;
Entertainment and Recreation Industry;
Entertainment and Recreation Industry;
Entertainment and Recreation Industry
- May 2017 (Revised November 2019)
- Case
The Dubai International Film Festival
By: Rohit Deshpandé and Alpana Thapar
This case follows the conception and emergence of the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF). In an already crowded and highly competitive industry, Abdulhamid Juma was attempting to define and establish a unique brand positioning for DIFF. Committed to its vision,...
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Keywords:
Brand Positioning;
Underdog Brand Building;
Business Models;
Non-profit;
Managing Multiple Stakeholders;
Film Entertainment;
Brands and Branding;
Business Model;
Competitive Strategy;
Decision Making;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Entertainment and Recreation Industry;
Entertainment and Recreation Industry
- May 2017 (Revised April 2020)
- Case
Raj Kapoor: The Socialist Showman
By: Geoffrey Jones and Snigdha Sur
This case examines the career of Raj Kapoor, the legendary Bollywood filmmaker of the postwar decades. It explores how Kapoor built RK studios after 1948 by releasing a series of movies that combined romance with social messages focused on the fate of the common man in...
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- March 2017 (Revised December 2018)
- Case
Reawakening the Magic: Bob Iger and the Walt Disney Company
By: David Collis and Ashley Hartman
Mickey Mouse, Snow White, and Buzz Lightyear strolled down Main Street at the grand opening of Hong Kong Disney in the fall of 2005, pausing to snap selfies with enthusiastic children in Mickey Mouse ears. Bob Iger, newly appointed CEO of The Walt Disney Company,...
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Keywords:
Franchise Management;
Brand Management;
Culture Change;
Business Units;
Acquisition Strategy;
Technological Change;
Disney;
ESPN;
Cord-cutting;
Bob Iger;
Strategy;
Corporate Strategy;
Competitive Advantage;
Diversification;
Integration;
Media;
Entertainment and Recreation Industry;
Entertainment and Recreation Industry;
Entertainment and Recreation Industry
- November 2016 (Revised May 2017)
- Case
The Black List
By: Henry McGee and Sarah McAra
Franklin Leonard founded The Black List in 2005 as an innovative approach to identifying potential hit movie scripts via crowdsourcing. As the annual Black List proved to hold the scripts of some of Hollywood’s most successful films, from “Slumdog Millionaire” to...
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