Publications

22 Feb 2022
News

Action Plan: Portfolio Strategy

efficient and develop yourself.” Build your own brand. You need to understand your own narrative and purpose—and share it widely, through conferences, social media, networking, and media interviews: “I was ‘the airline guy’ already at... View Details

Keywords: April White; entrepreneurship; career planning; creativity; Air Transportation; Transportation

25 Aug 2022
News

Vision: To Go-Go

conventional restos by dealing strictly in virtual brands that rely on “ghost” or “cloud” kitchens, that is, standalone cooking facilities that lack physical dining spaces and serve customers exclusively through delivery apps. A single... View Details

Keywords: Alexander Gelfand; entrepreneurship; foodtech; startup; Latin America

18 Apr 2014
Blog Post

Reflecting on the HBS Search Summit

Entrepreneurship and immediate impact are professional themes that continue to resonate with HBS students. Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition, a popular 2nd year course... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship

June 2016
Supplement

Duff & Phelps: Scaling an Entrepreneurial Venture (B)

By: Lynda M. Applegate and David Lane

In September 2005, Duff & Phelps closed on a deal to acquire a much larger firm that quadrupled its size to 500 employees. Almost immediately, the company faced challenging integration issues. Gottdiener and Silverman realize that they must now turn away from the... View Details

Keywords: Duff ＆ Phelps; Entrepreneurial Management; Mergers ＆ Acquisitions; Entrepreneurial Financing; Entrepreneurship; Mergers and Acquisitions; Integration; Business Model; Organizational Structure; Management

July 2012 (Revised March 2013)
Supplement

Shanghai Diligence Law Firm (B)

By: Robert G. Eccles and Catherine Zhang

Shanghai Diligence Law Firm continued with its approach to grow through a merger, rather than organically, and was eventually merged into a bigger law firm in China. After the merger, a refined A-B-C-D model is still in use as compensation system, although the... View Details

Keywords: Professional Service Firms; Compensation; Law Firms; Motivating Professionals; Client Management; Developing Professionals; Entrepreneurship; China; Mergers and Acquisitions; Employee Relationship Management; Compensation and Benefits; Groups and Teams; Legal Services Industry; China

12 Nov 2020
News

All in the Neighborhood

joined up with Scott Brenton (MBA 1999) to launch the Bob Orr Entrepreneurial Fellowship Program for college graduates. “I look at the different leaders around the city that came up through the program and they’ve gone from being the... View Details

Keywords: community; volunteer work; corporate social responsibility; entrepreneurship; leadership; Personal Services

2011
Teaching Note

Juner New Materials: On the Road to IPO (TN)

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Donglin Xia, Ning Jia and Ziqian Zhao

Juner New Materials (Juner) is a private China-based company that develops, produces, and distributes modified plastic compounds. Founded in 1995 by female serial entrepreneur Xiaomin Chen, Juner has exhibited strong performance and growth potential in the past fifteen... View Details

Keywords: Emerging Markets; Entrepreneurship; Financial Statements; IPO; Valuation; Women Executives; China; Plastics; China

Research Summary

Changing the World: Life Choices of Influential Leaders

By: Robert Simons

This project studies the life choices made by a variety of people who have left a lasting legacy. Using biographical data, we are examining the choices that high-impact individuals faced in their lives and the paths they chose to follow. The leaders we study come... View Details

Keywords: Leadership Style; Personal Characteristics; Work-life Balance; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Success

July 2007 (Revised September 2009)
Case

CEMEX (A): Building the Global Framework (1985-2004)

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, Pamela Yatsko and Ryan Raffaelli

CEMEX grew through acquisitions from a Latin American to a global company under the leadership of a CEO who believed in the importance of a "one enterprise" culture and benchmarking against world standards. As the CEO ponders an acquisition that would double the... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Competency and Skills; Globalized Firms and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Integration; Latin America

12 Apr 2023
News

Step Change

working as an economist in the Egyptian Ministry of Finance when the Arab Spring swept through Cairo in 2011. When we met, she was executive director of the Egyptian American Enterprise Fund, a $300 million investment initiative between... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; entrepreneurship; women; venture capital; Egypt; developing economies; Finance

01 Mar 2023
News

Elevator Pitch: Spread the Wealth

a dual purpose. First, to help companies build loyalty with employees and customers and to introduce individuals to share ownership. In addition to receiving share rewards, Upstreet users can buy shares on the Australian and New York stock exchanges at a competitive... View Details

Keywords: entrepreneurship; stock ownership; customer rewards; employee retention; financial literacy; Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments; Finance

Research Summary

Overview

I study how people collaborate with each other as they define, change, and solve problems while working on creativity and innovation projects in organizations.

Conference Proceedings:
Cromwell, J. & Gardner, H. 2017. High-stakes innovation: When... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Innovation ＆ Entrepreneurship; Startups; Decision Choice And Uncertainty; Teams; Team Process

June 2013
Teaching Note

Wayne Ferrari: iAutomation at a Crossroads

By: Jim Sharpe and Michael Norris

This is the teaching note associated with HBS Case #813120. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Management; Private Equity Exit; Pricing; Pricing Policies; Sales; Equity; Acquisitions; Roll-up; Entrepreneurship; Private Equity; Salesforce Management; Price; Distribution Industry; Industrial Products Industry; New England; United States

March 1999 (Revised January 2005)
Case

Newell Company: Corporate Strategy

By: Cynthia A. Montgomery and Elizabeth Gordon

In 1998, Newell Co., a manufacturer of low-tech, high-volume consumer goods, acquired Calphalon Corp., a high-end cookware company, and Rubbermaid, a $2 billion manufacturer of consumer and commercial plastic products. The case focuses on Newell's strategy and its... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Consumer Products Industry

July 2018 (Revised December 2018)
Case

SOFWERX: Innovation at U.S. Special Operations Command

By: Herman Leonard, Mitchell Weiss, Jin Hyun Paik and Kerry Herman

James “Hondo” Geurts, the Acquisition Executive for U.S. Special Operations Command, was in the middle of his Senate confirmation hearing in 2017 to become Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition. The questions had a common theme: how... View Details

23 Oct 2020
News

Two MBA Startups Cited as “Most Disruptive”

classmates going through a similar startup journey was also helpful she says, as was being close to the customer: “It was special to be on campus surrounded by students who experience the pain point we’re trying to solve daily.” READ MORE View Details

Keywords: disruptive innovation; startups; student loans; entrepreneurship; i-Lab; entrepreneur in residence; Finance

October 1999 (Revised November 1999)
Case

VITAS: Innovative Hospice Care

VITAS, a for-profit hospice, has grown through acquisitions and start-ups. The company considers a rollup strategy, and Deirdre Lawe must decide whether to make a particular acquisition. View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; For-Profit Firms; Service Delivery; Health Care and Treatment; Acquisition; Service Industry