Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(2,868)
- Faculty Publications (555)
- February 2007 (Revised March 2012)
- Compilation
John D. Rockefeller and the Creation of Standard Oil
By: Nancy F. Koehn and Katherine Miller
Reconstructs the entrepreneurial journey of John D. Rockefeller, founder of Standard Oil and one of the most famous business figures in history. Traces his early career as a retailer in Cleveland through his decision to enter the oil industry in the early 1860s to his... View Details
- January 2007 (Revised July 2013)
- Case
To JV or Not To JV? That Is the Question (for XTech in China)
By: Daniel J. Isenberg and Paul W. Marshall
XTech, a leading manufacturer of metal parts for the telecommunications industry, is being pushed by its large equipment vendor customers to establish a manufacturing operation in China. CEO Reinhold Hesse is debating several options: establishing a joint venture,... View Details
Keywords: Entrepreneurs; Entrepreneurship; Search; Global Ventures; Succession; Acquisitions; Private Equity; Negotiation; Partners and Partnerships; Expansion; Joint Ventures; Management Succession; Decision Choices and Conditions; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Global Strategy; Acquisition; Manufacturing Industry; Telecommunications Industry; China; United States
- January 2007 (Revised May 2008)
- Case
National Logistics Management: Founder Decisions
By: Lynda M. Applegate and Elizabeth Collins
Scott Taylor, CEO & founder of NLM, is a serial entrepreneur faced with an important decision. As his industry consolidates, he knows that his company must grow quickly, yet he believes he has reached the limit of what organic growth can achieve. Should he accept the... View Details
- December 2006 (Revised January 2007)
- Case
Chief Timothy Adeola Odutola and Nigeria's Manufacturing Sector
By: Nitin Nohria, Anthony Mayo, Foluke Otudeko and Mark Benson
Chief Timothy Adeola Odutola was an important contributor to Nigeria's manufacturing sector, creating a multimillion-dollar conglomerate including three factories, a retail franchise, a cattle ranch, a 5,000-acre plantation, a sawmill, and an exporting business before... View Details
- November 2006 (Revised November 2007)
- Case
Strategy in the Twenty First Century Pharmaceutical Industry: Merck & Co. and Pfizer Inc.
By: David J. Collis and Troy Smith
The global pharmaceutical industry has gone through substantial changes in the last few decades and pharmaceutical firms face major challenges including headline-grabbing litigation, imminent patent expirations, new technologies, rising drug development costs, generic... View Details
- November 2006 (Revised March 2007)
- Case
Liz Claiborne and the New Working Woman
By: Anthony Mayo and Mark Benson
At age 47, with two decades of experience as a lead designer for a Fortune 500 fashion company, Liz Claiborne put her life savings on the line to form Liz Claiborne, Inc., a partnership that included her husband. A decade later, in 1986, Claiborne was CEO of her own... View Details
- May 2006 (Revised July 2007)
- Case
Tropos Networks
By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and Elizabeth Kind
As Ron Sege, president and CEO of Tropos Networks, walked through the halls of the firm's offices, he realized that the space they had moved into only about a year ago was already becoming too small. The company, based in Sunnyvale, California, was founded in late 2000... View Details
- April 2006 (Revised June 2008)
- Case
New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc.
By: H. Kent Bowen, Robert S. Huckman and Carin-Isabel Knoop
Considers whether New Balance, one of the world's five largest manufacturers of athletic footwear, should respond to Adidas' planned acquisition of Reebok--a transaction that would join the second- and third-largest companies in the industry. Highlights the unique... View Details
- March 2006
- Teaching Note
Fred Khosravi and AccessClosure (TN)
By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Erin Seefeld
Teaching Note to (806-044). View Details
- February 2006
- Case
Bumble and bumble: Building a Successful Business in Beauty and Fashion
By: Nancy F. Koehn and Erica Helms
Explores the creation and subsequent rise of Bumble and bumble, a trend-setting hair-care company. Analyzes the vision and achievements of the founding entrepreneur, Michael Gordon, and charts the evolution of the company within the $230 billion global beauty industry.... View Details
- January 2006 (Revised April 2007)
- Case
General Electric Healthcare, 2006
By: Tarun Khanna and Elizabeth Raabe
In January 2006, Joe Hogan, head of General Electric (GE) Healthcare Technologies, prepared to step into William Castell's shoes as CEO of GE Healthcare, the world's leading manufacturer of diagnostic imaging equipment. In 2004, former CEO Jeff Immelt acquired Amersham... View Details
Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Cost vs Benefits; Growth and Development Strategy; Mergers and Acquisitions; Machinery and Machining; Global Range; Multinational Firms and Management; Product Design; Technological Innovation; Expansion; Value Creation; Business Subsidiaries; Health Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry
- December 2005 (Revised April 2011)
- Case
C.W. Post
By: Nitin Nohria, Anthony Mayo and Mark Benson
In 1906, C.W. Post had to move his latest breakfast product--corn flakes--from store shelves into cereal bowls nationwide. Post genuinely believed his corn flakes and other breakfast foods would make people well. Through sampling and other innovative sales and... View Details
- May 2005 (Revised September 2015)
- Case
Hans Wilsdorf and Rolex
By: Geoffrey Jones and Alexander Atzberger
Explores the creation of the Rolex watch by Hans Wilsdorf. Provides a case study of how one of the world's leading luxury brands was created and, more generally, provides a vehicle for exploring the competitive advantage of Switzerland in watchmaking (and other... View Details
- May 2005 (Revised April 2010)
- Case
GlaxoSmithKline: Reorganizing Drug Discovery (A)
By: Robert S. Huckman and Eli Strick
Describes the reorganization of drug discovery at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) following the formation of GSK from the merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham. This reorganization placed nearly 2,000 research scientists into six centers of excellence in drug discovery... View Details
- April 2005 (Revised June 2006)
- Case
NTT DoCoMo, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa
By: Stephen P. Bradley, Thomas R. Eisenmann, Masako Egawa and Akiko Kanno
Managers of DoCoMo, Japan's largest mobile phone company, are formulating a strategy for mobile FeliCa: contactless integrated circuits that will be built into DoCoMo phones, allowing them to be used for quick and convenient retail or commuter fare payments, building... View Details
- April 2005 (Revised August 2011)
- Case
Berkshire Partners: Bidding for Carter's
By: Malcolm P. Baker and James Quinn
A five-member team from Berkshire Partners must recommend a final bid and financial structure for a leveraged buyout of William Carter Co., a leading producer of children's apparel. Investorcorp, a global investment group, has put the company up for auction. Goldman... View Details
- February 2005
- Case
Bayside Motion Group (A)
By: H. Kent Bowen and Bradley R. Staats
After purchasing a business and successfully growing it for 18 years, the sole owner is presented with an attractive acquisition offer from a Fortune 500 company. The company's future is bright, but is now the right time to sell? Can he create more value by waiting?... View Details
- January 2005 (Revised April 2006)
- Case
Stonewall Kitchen
By: Myra M. Hart, Victoria Winston, Kristin Lieb, Kenna Wyllie Baudin, Alison Bell and Leslie Simmons
Jonathan King and Jim Stott, the founders of Stonewall Kitchen, started out in 1992 with a simple business selling jams and jellies at local farmers' markets. By 2004, they had grown the company into a $25 million organization with 250 employees. They expanded their... View Details
- December 2004 (Revised May 2005)
- Case
Levenger Company
By: Myra M. Hart, Kristin Lieb and Victoria Winston
The Leveens started a high-end catalog business as a small home-based venture in 1987. It grew into a nationally recognized, $60 million company, offering products that ranged from unique pens and pencils to leather briefcases and fully furnished offices. In 1999, it... View Details
- November 2004 (Revised May 2010)
- Case
RightNow Technologies
By: William A. Sahlman and Dan Heath
The founder and CEO of a CRM software start-up must decide between an attractive acquisition offer and the opportunity to go public. Discusses the growth of the company--including a lengthy discussion of entrepreneurial bootstrapping--as well as an aborted IPO attempt... View Details