Publications

August 2011 (Revised October 2011)
Case

PureTech Ventures in 2011

By: Andrei Hagiu, Cesar Castro and Sarah Murphy

In early May 2011, Daphne Zohar, founder and managing partner of PureTech Ventures, a life science venture creation company in Boston, MA, was reviewing a term sheet she had just received from a venture capital (VC) firm for one of PureTech's portfolio companies. The... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Business Startups; Venture Capital; Investment; Innovation and Invention; Negotiation; Partners and Partnerships; Science-Based Business; Opportunities; Boston

January 2019 (Revised May 2019)
Case

When Trolls Attack: Carbonite vs. Oasis Research

By: Lauren H. Cohen, Umit G. Gurun, Scott Duke Kominers and Sarah Mehta

This case, set in October 2017, follows Danielle Sheer, general counsel for Carbonite, as she defends the company against claims of patent infringement. It provides a broad overview of the U.S. patent system and explores the impact that non-practicing entities... View Details

Keywords: Patent Infringement Litigation; Non-practicing Entities; Patent Trolls; Innovation and Invention; Intellectual Property; Patents; Laws and Statutes; Lawsuits and Litigation; Legal Liability; Computer Industry; Technology Industry; Boston

October 1997 (Revised January 2008)
Case

Asda (A)

By: Michael Beer and James Weber

In the mid-1980s, Asda was one of the most successful retail companies in the United Kingdom. By 1991, the chain of 200 grocery stores had a lack of direction, a demoralized workforce, declining profits, rising debt, collapsing stock price, and was facing bankruptcy.... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Crisis Management; Management Teams; Business Strategy; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United Kingdom

04 May 2021
Book

Best Buy: How Human Connection Saved a Failing Retailer

the core of the near-miraculous turnaround Joly spearheaded at the company during the 2010s. Joly stepped in as... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Retail

October 1997 (Revised May 1998)
Supplement

Asda (B)

By: Michael Beer and James Weber

Describes Archie Norman's efforts over a five-year period to turn around the company by regaining financial control, delivering management, creating experimental projects where individuals felt free to innovate, instituting a back-to-roots strategy that put customers... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Customer Relationship Management; Governance Controls; Innovation and Invention; Management; Service Delivery; Organizational Culture; Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; Retail Industry

March 1999
Case

Merck & Co., Inc.: Corporate Strategy, Organization and Culture (A)

By: Michael Beer and Perry Fagan

In the early 1990s, Merck faced a series of challenges because of significant changes in its competitive and regulatory environment (e.g., growth in power of pharmaceutical buyers like managed care organizations led to price pressures and President Clinton's review of... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business or Company Management; Organizational Culture; Problems and Challenges; Management Practices and Processes; Competitive Strategy; Management Teams; Health Care and Treatment; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Situation or Environment; Alignment; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States

11 Dec 2020
Research & Ideas

Economic Jitters Push Pandemic Job Seekers to Big Companies, Not Startups

The coronavirus pandemic is spurring job applicants to seek positions at big companies and avoid startups in what new research calls an economic “flight to safety.” Job applicants using AngelList Talent,... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

05 Feb 2013
First Look

First Look: Feb. 5

Infosys and its iconic co-founder, N.R. Narayana Murthy, were admired and respected for delivering excellence while conducting business in a legal, transparent, and ethical manner. It was one of the few software View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

18 May 2015
Research & Ideas

Advertisers Get Serious About Playing With Their Brands

became the marker," Deighton says. These days, marketing mavens realize that social media is best at building emotional bridges with consumers, done by inviting them to be part of the process. And so they... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Advertising

12 Nov 2024
HBS Case

Inside One Startup's Journey to Break Down Hiring (and Funding) Barriers

building to 1,500 employers, 146,000 job seekers, and $3 million in investments from Midwest- and Rocky Mountain-based venture capital firms. Blakeman’s product should have a natural path to expansion by helping companies meet diversity,... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman; Employment

October 2015
Case

Bigbelly

By: Mitch Weiss and Christine Snively

To accelerate Bigbelly's sales growth and its "smart cities" positioning, its CEO planned to shift his company from equipment sales to a subscription service. Jack Kutner hoped to re-position Bigbelly's solar-powered trash compacting stations beyond trash and recycling... View Details

22 May 2012
First Look

First Look: May 22

require a grand organizational makeover or buy-in from the CEO. All it takes is collaboration between you and your team-working together and making small, doable changes. What started as an experiment with a six-person team at View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

09 Feb 2009
Research & Ideas

Uncompromising Leadership in Tough Times

performance? What are principled choices its leaders must make if they are serious about building such a firm? What are the means for changing an average company into a HCHP company? What are View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

23 Nov 1999
Research & Ideas

What’s Your Strategy for Managing Knowledge?

is not the only way consultants in firms like Ernst & Young and Andersen Consulting share knowledge — they talk with one another, of course. What is striking, however, is the degree of emphasis they... View Details

Keywords: by Morten T. Hansen, Nitin Nohria & Thomas Tierney; Consulting

25 Jan 2021
Book

In a Nutshell, Why American Capitalism Succeeded

alcohol-and-herb-based medicine for women; John Merrick, a founder of the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, one of a number of African-American-owned companies in Durham in View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Manufacturing

24 Oct 2006
First Look

First Look: October 24, 2006

listed on the Luxemburg exchange, has declined by over 90 percent. Only two months earlier they had been planning a $200 million to $400 million equity and debt offering on the New York Stock Exchange, to... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

July 2013
Case

Sample6: Innovating to Make Food Safer

By: Robert F. Higgins and Kirsten Kester

Tim Curran, CEO of Sample6, a start-up biotechnology company developing a novel food safety diagnostics platform, must decide how to partner with food industry players. How can he best convince leaders in this mature industry to adopt a new technology and improve food... View Details