Publications

March 1981 (Revised April 1983)
Case

Sedalia Engine Plant (B)

By: Michael Beer

After one year as new plant manager at a highly participatory management style plant, Denny Goble assesses his handling of various problems. View Details

Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Employee Relationship Management; Management Style; Problems and Challenges; Labor and Management Relations; Technology Industry

Web

Innovating in Health Care - Course Catalog

Herzlinger. The first module, Innovating in Health Care, discusses the opportunities and risks for health care innovations and introduces students to the analytic framework of the Six Factors that critically shape innovative health care View Details

Web

The Benefits of Living in a Dorm at HBS - MBA

Business & Environment Career Change Career and Professional Development Case Method Clubs Curriculum Digital Entrepreneurship FIELD Financial Aid Health Care Instagram Takeover JD/MBA Leadership Letters to Classmates MBA/MPP & MBA/MPA-ID... View Details

26 Jun 2017
News

Behind the Scenes at an HBS Short Program

South African entrepreneur, marketer, and blogger Seth Rotherham recently participated in the week-long program Launching New Ventures and has written about the experience in his blog (complete with behind-the-scenes photos) and in the... View Details

17 Jun 2016
News

Minding God’s Money

business challenges in nonprofits with global operations, large staffs, and potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in annual cash flow, Thomas comments, “The leadership I provide is behind the scenes. The best ministries understand... View Details

04 Jun 2001
Research & Ideas

Why dot.coms Will Rise Again

Unenlightened senior executives, says HBS professor F. Warren McFarlan, have been known to make exultant but uninformed remarks about the dot.com demise. Among such comments: "Thank God that disease is over! It's back to business as... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

February 2024
Case

More than Optics: Olympus's Vision to Become a Leading Global MedTech Company

By: David J. Collis and Haisley Wert

In August 2022, CEO Yasuo Takeuchi reflected on Olympus Corporation’s recent transformation from being known as a Japanese consumer camera company to becoming a leading global medical technology (MedTech) company. Over the past dozen years, Takeuchi and prior... View Details

Keywords: Global Human Resource Management; Medical Technology; Corporate Strategy; Transformation; Globalization; Business Model; Leading Change; Organizational Structure; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Japan; United States

September 2016 (Revised January 2020)
Case

Pebble: Wearables Pioneer

By: David Yoffie and Allison Ciechanover

In the summer of 2016, wearables “wunderkind” and Pebble founder and CEO, Eric Migicovsky, was pleased with the young startup’s success in the five years since its founding. The Silicon Valley–based company had recently shipped its two millionth smartwatch; held the... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Strategy; Innovation Strategy; Product; Information Technology; Technological Innovation; Business Startups; Technology Industry; United States; California

March 2010 (Revised January 2012)
Case

Bank of America-Merrill Lynch

By: Guhan Subramanian and Nithyasri Sharma

In September 2008, as Lehman Brothers struggled to survive, John Thain, CEO of Merrill Lynch, realized that his bank was also on the brink of failure. Throughout the weekend of September 13–14, 2008, Thain successfully negotiated a deal with Ken Lewis, CEO of Bank of... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Financial Crisis; Financing and Loans; Negotiation Deal; Business and Government Relations; Banking Industry; United States

May 2009 (Revised October 2009)
Case

Verne Global: Building a Green Data Center in Iceland

Verne Global, a pioneering startup created to build the first large-scale data center in Iceland, faces critical challenges regarding its green strategy. Verne Co-Founder Isaac Kato is tasked with evaluating how the company can most successfully market and sell the... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Business Startups; Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Sales; Environmental Sustainability; Pollutants; Green Technology Industry; Service Industry; Iceland

2009
Working Paper

Banking Deregulations, Financing Constraints and Firm Entry Size

By: William R. Kerr and Ramana Nanda

We examine the effect of US branch banking deregulations on the entry size of new firms using micro-data from the US Census Bureau. We find that the average entry size for startups did not change following the deregulations. However, among firms that survived at least... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Financing and Loans; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Market Entry and Exit; Banking Industry; United States

SSRN

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February 2003 (Revised May 2003)
Case

Mobile Energy Services Company

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Aldo Sesia

When Al "Chainsaw" Dunlap became CEO of the Scott Paper Co., the company owned a large, vertically integrated production facility in Mobile, Alabama. Dunlap sold part of the production facility, a cogeneration power plant (later known as Mobile Energy Services Co.), to... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Risk and Uncertainty; Contracts; Agreements and Arrangements; Investment; Projects; Vertical Integration; Energy Sources; Bonds; Ownership; Restructuring; Energy Industry; Alabama

Find at Harvard

April 2024 (Revised May 2024)
Case

Anthropic: Building Safe AI

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Shweta Bagai

In March 2024, Anthropic, a leading AI safety and research company, made headlines with the launch of Claude 3, its most advanced AI model. This marked Anthropic’s bold entry into the multimodal GenAI domain, showcasing capabilities extending to both image and text... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business Growth and Maturation; Corporate Strategy; Technology Industry; United States

December 2020 (Revised March 2022)
Teaching Note

Forecasting ClimaCell

By: Joshua Lev Krieger, Christopher Stanton and James Barnett

A weather technology startup, ClimaCell considers the R&D trade-offs and financing implications of pursuing a proposed contract with a major automobile maker, rather than continuing its focus on building a scalable, all-purpose weather prediction engine. View Details

Keywords: Weather; Forecasting and Prediction; Business Startups; Research and Development; Finance; Cost vs Benefits; Decision Making; Strategy; United States; Israel; Massachusetts; Colorado

July 2011
Teaching Note

The Credit Suisse/Gerson Lehrman Group Alliance (TN)

By: Robert G. Eccles and Penelope Rossano

Teaching Note for 409046. View Details

Keywords: Competition; Equity; Alliances; Competitive Advantage; Leadership; Research; Business Model; Quality; Revenue; Contracts; Financial Markets; Consulting Industry; Service Industry

2010
Working Paper

Boundary Spanning in a For-profit Research Lab: An Exploration of the Interface Between Commerce and Academe

By: Christopher C. Liu and Toby E. Stuart

In innovative industries, private-sector companies increasingly are participants in open communities of science and technology. To participate in the system of exchange in such communities, firms often publicly disclose what would otherwise remain private discoveries.... View Details

Keywords: For-Profit Firms; Higher Education; Information Publishing; Innovation and Invention; Science-Based Business; Social and Collaborative Networks; Boundaries; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

Read Now

May 2008 (Revised March 2010)
Supplement

Palm (D): Epilogue as of 2008

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Kevin Boudreau and Jordan Mitchell

This case series looks at three important inflection points in Palm's history that relate to decisions about its platform: when the company was debating whether to open its operating system (OS) for licensing to third-party hardware manufacturers; 2001, when the... View Details

Keywords: History; Decisions; Business Model; Technological Innovation; Value Creation; Digital Platforms; Rights; Competition

August 2001 (Revised April 2005)
Case

Surface Logix

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III, Michael J. Roberts and Kim Slack

Describes a start-up in the field of nano technology--very small physical structures measured in the billionths of a meter. The company, Surface Logix, has assembled a portfolio of intellectual property and completed some of the R&D work required to develop actual... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Research and Development; Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Product Development; Intellectual Property; Investment Portfolio