Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(1,485)
- Faculty Publications (406)
- December 2016 (Revised December 2018)
- Case
From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem
By: Elie Ofek and Margot Eiran
In June 2016, Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, wrestled with how to sustain Israel’s strong innovation track record and the country’s reputation as the “startup nation.” Despite the economic miracle the country had wrought since its founding, he... View Details
Keywords: Israel; Israeli Start-up Nation; Innovation Economy; Entrepreneurial Mindset; Scaling-up; Unicorns; Innovation Clusters; High-tech; Innovation Management; Multinational Corporation R＆D Centers; Social Equality; Two-tier Economy; Liberalizing An Economy; Foreign Investment; Military Service; Quality Of Human Capital; Socioeconomic Gaps; Labor Force Participation; Government Initiatives; Innovation and Management; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Business Startups; Government and Politics; Economy; Equality and Inequality; Education; Resource Allocation; Globalization; Israel
- November 2016
- Supplement
Uber in China: Driving in the Gray Zone (B)
By: William C. Kirby, Yuanzhuo Wang, Shuang L. Frost and Adam K. Frost
Starting in 2014, for two years Uber had fought an intense, costly battle for China’s ridesharing market with well-financed and well-connected domestic Chinese competitors. During this time, Uber also had to respond to an ever-shifting regulatory landscape that looked... View Details
- November 2016 (Revised February 2017)
- Case
BrightStar Care: The Evolution of a Leadership Team
By: Boris Groysberg, Colleen Ammerman and John D. Vaughan
BrightStar Care was a rapidly growing franchise of home health care agencies. Founded by husband and wife team JD and Shelly Sun as a single agency near Chicago in 2002, BrightStar had opened nearly 300 franchises across the United States by 2016, generating over $300... View Details
Keywords: Health Care Services; Entrepreneurs; Board Of Directors; Boards Of Directors; Health Care Industry; Growth Strategy; Organizational Change; Brand Positioning; Entrepreneurial Organizations; Entrepreneurial Management; Franchising; Family-owned Business; Home Health Care; Managing Growth; Management Styles; Organizational Development; Talent Management; Women Executives; Women And Leadership; Business Startups; Family Business; Small Business; Talent and Talent Management; Governing and Advisory Boards; Health Care and Treatment; Human Capital; Leadership Development; Leadership Style; Business or Company Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Management Skills; Management Style; Management Succession; Management Systems; Management Teams; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Strategy
- November 2016 (Revised October 2018)
- Case
IguanaFix
By: Frank V. Cespedes, Thomas R. Eisenmann, Maria Fernanda Miguel and Laura Urdapilleta
IguanaFix is a rapidly scaling Latin American startup that provides an online platform connecting consumers with home improvement contractors. The founders have acquired customers through both B2C and B2B methods. But in seeking to grow and scale the business, they now... View Details
- November 2016 (Revised November 2016)
- Case
Radial Analytics Probes Post-Acute Care
By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Olivia Hull
Thaddeus Fulford-Jones and Eric Weiss, founders of healthcare technology startup Radial Analytics, have been busy developing a software program designed to save hospitals money and improve patient outcomes by producing customized care plans for patients leaving the... View Details
Keywords: Electronic Medical Records; Electronic Health Records; Data Science; Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Business Model; Business Startups; Innovation and Invention; Growth Management; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Product Positioning; Science-Based Business; Business Strategy; Health Industry; Technology Industry; Cambridge; Massachusetts
- November 2016 (Revised November 2016)
- Case
Mark43
By: Thomas Eisenmann, Mitch Weiss and Halah AlQahtani
The founders of Mark43, an early-stage startup that provides software for law enforcement agencies, must decide whether to bid on a request for proposals (RFP) from the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). On the one hand, LAPD would be a second large and influential... View Details
- November 2016 (Revised October 2018)
- Case
Formlabs: Selling a New 3D Printer
By: Frank V. Cespedes, Olivia Hull and Amram Migdal
Headquartered in Somerville, Massachusetts, Formlabs manufactures 3D printers used to print everything from prototypes and models to jewelry, dental, and sculpture molds. As Formlabs prepares to ship its latest model, the Form 2, Head of Customer Development and... View Details
Keywords: 3D Printing And Manufacturing; Sales Channel Development; Sales Strategy; Entrepreneurial Management; Product Engineering; Prototype; Prototyping; Entrepreneurship; Product Launch; Information Infrastructure; Business Startups; Customers; Technological Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Technology Adoption; Marketing Channels; Marketing Strategy; Product Positioning; Demand and Consumers; Sales; Salesforce Management; Technology Industry; Computer Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States; Massachusetts; Europe; Asia
- October 2016 (Revised October 2023)
- Case
Bootstrapping at Lightricks
By: Robert White, Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Christine Snively
By August 2015, two-year-old mobile imaging software startup Lightricks had developed and released two best-selling paid mobile apps, grown to a team of 30, earned a revenue run rate of nearly $10 million, and achieved modest profitability. The bootstrapped company had... View Details
- October 2016
- Case
Supercell
By: William R. Kerr, Benjamin F. Jones and Alexis Brownell
Supercell is a young Finnish smartphone game company with an unusual team structure and company philosophy. It is already one of Finland’s most valuable companies, and despite being only six years old, it has put up some impressive numbers: as of 2016, it has released... View Details
- October 2016 (Revised November 2016)
- Case
Innovating Beyond Ochsner
By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Olivia Hull
The Ochsner Health System has developed a proprietary software tool designed to treat hypertension. Built into the system’s electronic medical records, the Hypertension Digital Medicine program allows patients to record their blood pressure at home and share readings... View Details
Keywords: Electronic Medical Records; Telemedicine; Hypertension; High Blood Pressure; Chronic Disease; Entrepreneurship; Health Disorders; Business Model; Business Startups; Innovation and Invention; Growth Management; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Product Positioning; Science-Based Business; Business Strategy; Health Industry; Technology Industry; New Orleans; Louisiana
- September 2016 (Revised September 2017)
- Case
Collage.com: Scaling a Distributed Organization
By: Christopher Stanton and Shikhar Ghosh
Kevin Borders and Joe Golden, co-founders and co-CEOs of Collage.com, must decide how to grow their custom photo-products startup in the face of fierce competition. From 2011 through 2016, the business evolved from a hobby to a startup with $22 million in revenue and... View Details
- September 2016 (Revised September 2016)
- Case
Spectio: A Digital Lighting Company
By: Rajiv Lal and Sarah McAra
Spectio Tech, founded in 2005, developed and implemented intelligent LED lighting solutions for the industrial market. Sensors and wireless connectivity embedded in its LED fixtures not only significantly reduced lighting-related energy use—by up to 90% in some... View Details
- September 2016 (Revised March 2020)
- Teaching Note
Fasten: Challenging Uber and Lyft with a New Business Model
By: Feng Zhu
Fasten, a new ridesharing start-up in Boston, entered the scene in September 2015 hoping its unique vision of transparency for both driver and passenger and strategy to keep riders' fares low and charge drivers a flat $0.99 fee per ride, as opposed to the 20%–30%... View Details
- August 2016
- Teaching Note
Mahindra Lifespace Developers' Venture into Affordable Housing
By: Joseph B. Fuller and Monica Baraldi
Mahindra Lifespace Developers Limited (MLDL) was the infrastructure and real estate arm of the Mahindra Group, an Indian conglomerate with revenues of $16.5 billion in 2014. Employing 400 experts in land acquisition, design, project management, sales and marketing, and... View Details
Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Business Startups; Development Economics; Developing Countries and Economies; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Social Entrepreneurship; Housing; Emerging Markets; Business and Government Relations; Human Needs; Social Issues; Urban Development; Real Estate Industry; India
- August 2016 (Revised August 2017)
- Case
AnswerDash (Abridged)
By: Elie Ofek and Jeffrey D. Shulman
It is 2014 and AnswerDash, a startup backed by venture capital, has not seen the widespread adoption of their online self-service customer support solution that they were expecting based on early success in helping clients save and generate substantial amounts of... View Details
Keywords: Pricing; Economic Value Estimation; Price Metrics; Organizational Selling; Innovation Adoption; Business To Business; Marketing; Customer Lifetime Value; Venture Capital; Customer Relationship Management; Price; Marketing Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Technology Adoption; Business Startups; Sales; Innovation and Invention; Product Marketing; Financial Services Industry
- August 2016 (Revised November 2019)
- Supplement
eSig: Growth Analysis
By: Mark N. Roberge and Thomas R. Eisenmann
eSig, an early-stage startup, offers an electronic signature application as a "freemium" product, i.e., users can upgrade from a free basic version to a premium version by paying a subscription fee. Using 9 months of data from 50,000 user activations, available as a... View Details
- August 2016 (Revised November 2019)
- Case
eSig: Growth Analysis
By: Mark Roberge and Tom Eisenmann
eSig, an early-stage startup, offers an electronic signature application as a "freemium" product, i.e., users can upgrade from a free basic version to a premium version by paying a subscription fee. Using 9 months of data from 50,000 user activations (available as a... View Details
- August 2016
- Case
S'well: The Mass Market Decision
By: Youngme Moon
This case tells the story of how Sarah Kauss, a young female entrepreneur, built a premium water bottle brand from scratch. After having built a high-end brand, the key decision in the case is whether to begin expanding the S'well product portfolio to the mass market. View Details
- July 2016
- Supplement
Mahindra Tool: Project Economics
By: Joseph B. Fuller and Christopher Payton
The case describes Mahindra Lifespace Developers’ (MLDL), a unit of Indian conglomerate Mahindra and Mahindra, foray into the affordable housing segment. MLDL sees a huge opportunity in selling apartments to the burgeoning population of urban workers, which is badly... View Details
Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Business Startups; Development Economics; Developing Countries and Economies; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Social Entrepreneurship; Housing; Emerging Markets; Business and Government Relations; Human Needs; Social Issues; Urban Development; Real Estate Industry; India
- July 2016 (Revised October 2016)
- Case
Entrepreneurial Sales and Marketing Vignettes
By: Mark Roberge and Frank Cespedes
Which sales candidate is a startup’s ideal first hire? What marketing channels are best to invest in? How aggressively should an executive team align sales with customer success? Early stage founders, sales leaders, and marketing executives often face one, and... View Details