Publications

Find at Harvard

Teaching Interest

Overview

Teaching has been a lifelong passion of mine. As the third generation of academics in my family, I see good teaching as a means to give back and to encourage others to share my passion for discovery. I’ve been very lucky to have many teaching opportunities, both as an... View Details

01 Feb 2012
What Do You Think?

Is Support for Small Business Misplaced?

share of jobs provided by small businesses. Again, this is due in part to the lower productivity of such jobs. They conclude, as have some others, that a better strategy for job creation would be to attract large multinational View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

05 Nov 2012
Research & Ideas

What Wall Street Doesn’t Understand About International Trade

firms' corporate board members, using data from a private research company specializing in biographical information on company officials. Looking at the data, the team found a large correlation between the ethnic makeup of a firm's board... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

13 Jan 2009
First Look

First Look: January 13, 2009

afield. Planning a Start-Up? Seize the Day...Then Expect to Work All Night Author:Noam Wasserman Publication:Harvard Business Review 87, no. 1 (January 2009) Abstract If you dream of starting your own business, it's better to leave the View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

August 2009
Case

Intel NBI: Vivonic

By: Willy C. Shih and Thomas Thurston

Vivonic was a start-up that was part of Intel's New Business Initiatives that sought to develop and sell personal health monitoring hardware and software. When it was first funded, Intel was in the midst of record growth and was seeking diversification. But the company... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Experience and Expertise; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Product Development; Failure; Diversification; Semiconductor Industry

Find at Harvard

May 2024
Supplement

gWorks (A)

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

In January of 2019, Joe Heieck, CEO of gWorks, was deciding whether to proceed with his acquisition of Data Tech, that was a business roughly the same size as gWorks. gWorks, which provided geospatial software to small city and rural county governments, was acquired by... View Details

August 2011 (Revised August 2013)
Case

Career at a Crossroad: Roopa Rao

By: Noam Wasserman and Lisa Brem

Akhil Patel is passionate about his business idea: an innovative green technology fuel cell. He wants to dive in and commit to his startup, but Roopa Rao, his fiancée, is much more risk averse, his parents don't approve of the startup, and Akhil has an enticing... View Details

Keywords: Personal Development and Career; Business Startups; Business Growth and Maturation; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Work-Life Balance; Family and Family Relationships

August 2011
Case

Ockham Technologies (A): Building the Team

By: Noam Wasserman

Describes the issues facing a founder-ceo regarding building a board, assembling an executive team, managing tension between co-founders, and outsourcing development work. View Details

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Recruitment; Governing and Advisory Boards; Management Teams; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Information Technology

November 2007
Case

Ockham Technologies: Living on the Razor's Edge (Abridged)

By: Noam T. Wasserman

Describes the issues facing a Founder-CEO regarding building a board, assembling an executive team, managing tension between co-founders, and outsourcing system development work. The abridged version does not include the introduction and final sections of the full case... View Details

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Recruitment; Governing and Advisory Boards; Management Teams; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Information Technology

16 Feb 2016
First Look

February 16, 2016

experience. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=50573 2015 Shaping Entrepreneurial Mindsets: Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Leadership Development Design Thinking and Innovative Problem Solving By: Datar,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

30 Jan 2017
Working Paper Summaries

The Environmental Legacies of The North Face's Doug Tompkins and Patagonia's Yvon Chouinard

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones and Ben Gettinger; Apparel & Accessories; Retail

01 Aug 2012
What Do You Think?

Should CEOs Worry About ‘Too Big to Succeed?’

relationships. Unfortunately, many corporate leaders focus on profits and the Wall Street drivers toward big business and profits. It has become the death knell for many corporations." Phil Harris, joining in, pointed out that there... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Manufacturing; Financial Services

06 Sep 2004
What Do You Think?

How Do We Prepare for a World Without Cheap Oil?

respondents. Joseph Butler suggests that "It is the responsibility of corporations and governments alike to share knowledge and to work to educate developing nations ... about consumption, pollution, and efficiency." Mark Cox... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

28 Aug 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, August 28, 2018

2018 Oakland, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers Trust: Creating the Foundation for Entrepreneurship in Developing Countries By: Khanna, Tarun Abstract— Entrepreneurs in developing countries who assume they will have the same legal,... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

May 2020
Teaching Note

Big Boom Beverages: Fight or Flight? (Brief Case)

By: Stephen A. Greyser and William Ellet

Teaching Note for HBS Brief Case No. 920-557. The case addresses analysis and decisions related to the entrepreneurial life of a distinctive energy beverage, including its niche market launch, early problems, reformulation, social media impact, market success, and... View Details

Keywords: Alcoholic Beverages; Energy Drinks; Regulation; Entrepreneurship; Ethics; Marketing Communications; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Reputation; Communication Strategy; Decision Making

February 2010 (Revised January 2014)
Case

Tennant Company

By: Toby E. Stuart, Lynda M. Applegate and James Weber

Tennant, a leading producer of floor cleaning equipment, must determine how to create, finance, structure, staff, govern, measure, and manage a new venture for developing a fundamentally new product line. In 2005, Tennant Company had developed an innovative,... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Change Management; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Disruptive Innovation; Product Development; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Research and Development

November 2000
Case

Reuters Greenhouse Fund

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Daniel Galvin

Reuters Greenhouse Fund had successfully invested in a portfolio of 79 companies working in areas relevant to Reuters Group's strategic interests. It had itself facilitated a powerful network among the companies and become a respected global venture capital firm.... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Investment; Investment Portfolio; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Financial Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Transition; Partners and Partnerships; Networks; Internet; Financial Services Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry

August 1996
Case

ThermoLase

By: William A. Sahlman and Andrew S. Janower

John Hansen, CEO of ThermoLase, must develop a plan of action to exploit the company's new development-stage revolutionary hair removal technology with negligible revenues and a $500 million market capitalization. This nascent public Thermo Electron spin out company... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Business Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Plan; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry