Publications

May 1997 (Revised July 1997)
Case

Vermeer Technologies (F): FrontPage 97

By: Ashish Nanda

Vermeer engineers work at the breakneck pace of "Internet time" to develop the next version of their software product, winning accolades from Microsoft management. Even before this version ships, however, they are faced with another punishing development schedule for... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Applications and Software; Business Startups; Product Development; Information Technology Industry

06 Jan 2012
News

Where Are They Now?

Mahesh checks in from the factory floor. Courtesy Krishna Mahesh Related Links Alum startup wins HBS contest New Venture Contest: Call for entries Upcoming webinars for entrepreneurs HBS New Ventures group... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Ambulatory Health Care Services; Health, Social Assistance; Furniture and Related Product Manufacturing; Manufacturing

1996
Book

How to Build an Effective Small-Company Board

By: Robert B. Stobaugh and Brian Borders

Keywords: Organizational Structure; Business Ventures

May 2001
Article

Empirical Strategies in Contract Economics: Information and the Boundary of the Firm.

By: George P. Baker and Thomas Hubbard

Keywords: Strategy; Economics; Information; Business Ventures

June 19, 1991
Article

What Went Wrong With the LBO Boom

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts

February 2014 (Revised December 2015)
Case

Mara Group

By: Eugene Soltes and Sara Hess

Mara Group is a rapidly growing Pan-African conglomerate run by its entrepreneurial CEO Ashish Thakkar. The case explores Thakkar's decision on which African markets to expand operations into. View Details

Keywords: Telecommunications Manufacturing; Business Ventures; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Pulp and Paper Industry; Real Estate Industry; Shipping Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Africa

August 1984
Article

Kourigyou ni okeru Atarashii Data Kanri System no Kousou: Bumon-betsu ROI no Kaihatsu to Bunseki (A Plan for a New Data Management System in the Retailing Industry)

By: Hirotaka Takeuchi

Keywords: Management; System; Sales; Business Ventures; Retail Industry

April 1997
Case

Restructuring in Transformers

By: Hugo Uyterhoeven

Keywords: Restructuring; Energy; Governance; Energy Industry; Germany

September 2011 (Revised August 2015)
Case

ScoreBig

By: William A. Sahlman, Jeffrey Glass and Evan W. Richardson

The founding team at ScoreBig, an event ticketing company, is on the verge of a public launch of their product. The company has made great progress in negotiating access to tickets, designing its interface, and building a proprietary architecture. For consumers,... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Business Startups; Business Strategy; Corporate Finance; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

2016
Working Paper

Do Network Dynamics Undermine Idea-based Network Advantages? Experimental Results from an Entrepreneurship Bootcamp

By: Rembrand Koning

Do networks plentiful in ideas provide early stage startups with performance advantages? On the one hand, network positions that provide access to a multitude of ideas are thought to increase team performance. On the other hand, research on network formation argues... View Details

Keywords: Networks; Performance; Business Startups; Business Strategy

Read Now

09 Jul 2024
Research & Ideas

Chance Encounters: What's at Stake in Return-to-Office Decisions

extent to which their work overlapped. If they could combine findings from across their assorted research projects, they could fit together a big-picture view of office-space configurations and how well they support different kinds of organizations. That hallway... View Details

Keywords: by Jen McFarland Flint, HBS Alumni Bulletin

1998
Chapter

Putting Your Company's Whole Brain to Work

By: D. A. Leonard

Keywords: Business Ventures; Competency and Skills; Business or Company Management

August 1997 (Revised July 1999)
Case

Hewlett-Packard's Santa Rosa Systems Division (A): The Trials and Tribulations of a Legacy

By: Michael Beer

Describes the process of transforming a recently formed division of Hewlett-Packard. View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Transformation; Courts and Trials; Information Technology Industry

April 2005
Background Note

Strategies of Unrelated Diversification

By: Bharat N. Anand and Samhita Patwardhan Jayanti

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... View Details

Keywords: Diversification; Business Conglomerates; Corporate Strategy; Value

October 1998 (Revised March 1999)
Case

US Office Products (A)

Growth by acquisition (rolling up or consolidating an industry) results in questions about integrating operations, corporate form, financial structure, and management for this company. View Details

Keywords: Integration; Business or Company Management; Acquisition

September 1996
Exercise

Project Management Exercise #2: Planning the Shad Factory Project

By: H. Kent Bowen and Marilyn Matis

Keywords: Projects; Planning; Factories, Labs, and Plants

August 1995 (Revised January 2007)
Case

The Schneider Building

By: William J. Poorvu and John H. Vogel Jr.

In May 1995, Jonathan Schneider, the president of the Schneider Co., is faced with several related problems. First, he needs to find a new facility that can accommodate his expanding business. Second, he needs to decide whether to lease or purchase this new facility.... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Property; Leasing; Expansion; Real Estate Industry

March 1993
Supplement

Eastwind Trading Company (B)

By: Howard H. Stevenson

Describes the aftermath of the (A) case. Describes the actions taken and the possible consequences for the company and its principals. Also describes the principals' attitudes at this point. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Finance; Management; Opportunities