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Conglomerates lie at the heart of debates in corporate strategy. They include, perhaps, the best known companies in history--Beatrice Corp., General Electric, ITT, Siemens, and ABB--and at various times over the last few decades have been both admired and vilified as a form of corporate organization. Regardless of the time at which these debates have occurred, they invariably focus on a few common questions, which this note addresses: Why do conglomerates exist? Do they add value to their component businesses? If so, how?

Intellectual property comprises an ever-increasing fraction of corporate wealth, but what's the good of that if an ever-increasing fraction of the property is copied or stolen? Faced with developing countries' limited and inadequately enforced patent and copyright laws, some companies are resorting to market-based strategies to protect their intellectual property. These include preempting or threatening competitors, embedding intellectual property in environments that can be protected, bundling insecure intellectual property with its more secure cousins, and actually entering the businesses that pose a threat. The authors urge companies coping with weak property rights to follow a decision tree when choosing which strategies to use and when: Start by thinking of the strategies that will protect your business' core. If, for example, a first-mover advantage is within reach, making yourself more committed to intellectual property could be the answer. If you and your rivals are equally matched, ask yourself, "Can those that threaten me with copying be copied in turn?" The knowledge that each of you can hurt the other may dampen the competitive intensity or even lead to voluntary sharing of property. If these solutions fail or don't apply, try forging a connection with a product or business closely related to your own. Doing so may prevent a valued asset from falling into a rival's hands or make the asset harder to misappropriate. This approach can even help you expand your piece of the market pie or reduce the cost of making the threatened product, perhaps to the point where you can compete against pirated goods. Finally, if there still doesn't seem to be a way of making money from your threatened product, you may choose to move into the very business that has hurt your own. Such strategies are behind the economics of successful companies like Intel and NBC, say the authors.

Over three decades, Oscar de la Renta (ODLR) had established itself as one of the premier luxury brands in America. Its mainstay business had always been producing and marketing high-priced, couture/ready-to-wear luxury goods. Now, in September 2003, it faced a series of critical strategic decisions. First, how should it grow the business while preserving its luxury brand? Should it diversify into the moderately priced segment of apparel and unserved customer segments like the Hispanic market, where it had a strong brand appeal but negligible presence? Second, as a family-owned company, how could it effectively compete against increasingly larger, publicly financed, luxury goods conglomerates? And, how might de la Renta, the company's founder and chief designer since inception and now 71 years old, effectively prepare the company for the future? Describes the company's business and highlights these key tensions: expanding the scope of a luxury brand, pursuing licensing or organic growth strategies, and competing against publicly owned conglomerates. Includes color exhibits.

On June 12, 2003, the proposed merger of Random House and Time Warner Book Group was called off by the CEO of Random House's parent company, Bertelsmann. The announcement was welcomed by several critics who had questioned the logic of further consolidation in the book publishing industry, citing the power of the major publishing houses--Random House was already the world's largest book publishing company--and the accompanying commercialization of literature. Peter Olson, CEO of Random House, had to decide how to proceed and confront several other challenges facing the publishing industry: most notably, backward integration by Barnes and Noble into book publishing and the potential for digital devices such as e-books to undermine the traditional value chain of book publishing. Describes each of these tensions.

In early 1998, a few major content deals threatened to shape the competitive battle between the television networks for the next several years. These were the bidding for the National Football League (NFL) games, the announcement by Jerry Seinfeld (star of the show Seinfeld on NBC) that this would be the show's last season, and the decision by Warner Brothers to invite multiple bids for its hit drama ER (which also aired on NBC). Describes how these various deals were concluded.

The Fox television network, launched in 1987 by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. was in a precarious position in 1993. Although it had met its business plan targets, its ratings in the recently concluded November "sweeps" were indifferent, several of its newly launched shows had failed, and entry of two other networks was imminent. In December 1993, Fox made an outrageous offer to purchase the television rights for the National Football League (NFL) games and, in the process, broke the stranglehold of the major networks on broadcasting these games. Describes the events surrounding Fox's bid and those of the other three networks. Industry sources estimated that Fox could lose several hundred million dollars on the deal, whereas Fox believed that it had purchased the NFL at a discount.

Discusses the impact of the Internet on the music industry from 1990 through 2003. Discusses the technology, new business models, and record companies' moves. Provides the necessary background to discuss such matters as well as to assess the strategies of the five major record companies--Sony, BMG, Warner, EMI, and Universal. Ends with the question of whether the music industry will survive and with arguments from both camps.

On July 28, 2002, Bertelsmann announced the firing of its CEO, Thomas Middelhoff, in a move that surprised industry observers, analysts, and many employees. Bertelsmann, a privately held company headquartered in Germany, was one of the largest global media conglomerates, with businesses spanning book publishing, printing, music, and television. Between 1998 and 2002, Middelhoff had initiated a series of strategic initiatives aimed at fostering greater integration among its diverse business units and strengthening their competitive positions, articulated a series of guidelines that would reevaluate Bertelsmann's portfolio mix, and looked to prepare Bertelsmann for a transition to a planned initial public offering in 2005. This case describes these initiatives in detail and the decision of the supervisory board to effect a change in leadership. The new CEO, Gunter Thielen, had to decide whether to effect a fundamental shift in the company's corporate strategy or a more modest reinterpretation of the course charted by Middelhoff. Includes color exhibits.

In 2001, News Corp. is the smallest of the major media and entertainment conglomerates, but it has the broadest global presence. In an effort to establish a major distribution presence in the United States, News Corp. had looked to acquire DirecTV, the largest U.S. direct broadcast satellite provider, in what many observers had considered would be a "transforming acquisition." After 20 months of trying to do so, and the recent competitive offer from Echostar, Rupert Murdoch, chairman and CEO of News Corp., withdrew the company's bid for DirecTV. This case describes how Murdoch has created a global empire from a single newspaper in Australia. News' major assets include its newspaper businesses, film and television production, satellite broadcasting, television channels, and book and magazine publishing. Also describes News' distinctive operating style and Murdoch's role in shaping the corporate culture. News Corp. must now confront three sets of questions. First, how important is it for News Corp. to establish a distribution presence in the United States, and should it pursue a different approach? Second, how should it tackle the deteriorating economics of two of its core businesses: newspapers and network television? Third, what will be the impact of recent repeals of cross-ownership restrictions in the media industry on News Corp.'s competitive position vis-a-vis other major conglomerates?

In 2001, International Management Group (IMG) is the dominant company in the sports management industry. Its founder and CEO, Mark McCormack, is credited with having created the industry of sports management in the early 1960s. Over the next 40 years, IMG's expansion from athlete representation into other arenas--including representing models and classical music artists, producing and broadcasting television shows, operating training academies, corporate consulting, and financial planning--has been both dramatic and successful. This case describes the company's logic behind each expansion decision, as well as several challenges that the company has had to confront, specifically, maintaining the loyalty of the agents and clients, avoiding conflicts of interest with clients by virtue of the company's broad reach, deciding where to expand next, and meeting the challenge of increased competition from other sports management conglomerates.

ICICI was the first Indian company to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. This case is set in 1998, when the company had to decide whether to enter the retail credit segment of the Indian financial market. Although the retail credit sector presents attractive growth opportunities, ICICI lacked many of the capabilities needed to succeed in this space and would have to compete against a host of established domestic and foreign banks. Describes how ICICI, under the visionary leadership of K.V. Kamath, has transformed itself, against all odds, from a development financial institution into a commercially competitive organization.

Explores issues related to (1) the vertical boundaries of the firm in an emerging-economy context, especially the effects of lack of intellectual property rights and lack of contract enforcement on both industry structure and boundaries of the firm; and (2) the extent to which strategy and organizational structure must be localized to the country context, as illustrated by considering competition between multinationals and domestic firms and the sustainability of their respective positions.

Designed to explore the structure, implementation, and sustainability of an information-based strategy (IBS) undertaken by Capital One during the 1990s. Particular issues of interest are the impact of mass customization on industry structure, the ability to transfer IBS skills to new sectors, and the impact of the Internet on industry structure and competitor strategies.

Examines the role of transaction costs in impeding the functioning of markets and shows how the concept of transaction costs sheds light on a broad range of issues in strategy.

Describes the conditions leading to the acquisition of Cross and Trecker by Gidding & Lewis.