Publications

June 1993 (Revised April 1998)
Case

COMCO Holding AG (B): COMCO Martech

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter

COMCO Martech was a new breed of joint venture for COMCO Holding, a mid-sized Swiss-German company that had grown over a five-year period through tie-ups with small, start-up companies. Whereas a typical COMCO venture provided services to a large German retailer, was... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Business Startups; Trade; Operations; Environmental Sustainability; Business or Company Management; Multinational Firms and Management; Partners and Partnerships; Switzerland; United States; Europe

June 2013
Supplement

Studio Moderna - Sandi Cesko, CEO, Video Supplement

By: Jim Sharpe

This is the Video Supplement for Studio Moderna - A Venture in Eastern Europe (HBS Case #808110). View Details

October 1993
Background Note

Note on Developing Start-Up Strategies

Provides students with a workable framework for analyzing new ventures. Stresses the importance of matching analytical tasks to the type of venture contemplated. View Details

Keywords: Analysis; Business Startups

November 1991 (Revised October 1995)
Case

Calyx & Corolla

By: Walter J. Salmon and David Wylie

Describes a new entry into the $8 billion flower industry in the United States. Combining the use of overnight air freight (Federal Express), information technology, an 800 number, and a catalog, Calyx & Corolla was changing the way flowers had traditionally been... View Details

Keywords: Market Entry and Exit; Transformation; Distribution Channels; Business Startups; Problems and Challenges; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; United States

September 1996
Background Note

Some Thoughts on Career Management

By: William A. Sahlman

A view of career management for people interested in starting or playing a major role in an entrepreneurial venture is presented. View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Entrepreneurship; Personal Development and Career

July 2010
Case

Fidelity Retires in Canada

By: Robert C. Pozen and Edward Warren Scott

The head of Fidelity Canada was faced with a decision about what to do with its retirement business there. Although Fidelity as a fund manager has made some headway in Canada, the competition has been very tough for the administration of retirement plans—a separate... View Details

Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Investment Funds; Globalized Firms and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Retirement; Competition; Financial Services Industry; Canada; United States

Find at Harvard

October 2023
Case

Hey Jane: Delivering Abortion Pills to the Doorstep

By: Rembrand Koning, Geraldine Pena-Galea and Sarah Mehta

This case tells the story of Hey Jane, a telehealth clinic founded in 2020 that provides virtual medication abortion services to eligible patients in nine U.S. states. By January 2023, the company had served more than 20,000 patients and raised nearly $10 million in... View Details

Keywords: Operations; Business Startups; Health Care and Treatment; Growth and Development Strategy; Health Industry; Technology Industry; United States

2015
Other Teaching and Training Material

Innovating in Healthcare

By: Regina E. Herzlinger, Margo I. Seltzer and Kevin Schulman

With over 71,000 past enrollees, Innovating in Healthcare investigates the issues of health care spending, quality, and access that continue to plague America and global nations alike. With U.S. health care costs trending toward $4 trillion in 2020, the need to... View Details

Keywords: edX; Healthcare; Health Care and Treatment; Innovation and Invention; Business Model

March 1997 (Revised July 1997)
Case

Morgan Stanley in China

The Asian economy, particularly China's, is experiencing explosive growth. China needs capital to fund the growth, and this presents a tremendous opportunity for an investment bank that can penetrate the market. Morgan Stanley establishes a joint venture with the China... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Investment Banking; Emerging Markets; Developing Countries and Economies; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; China

2006
Working Paper

Democratizing Entry: Banking Deregulations, Financing Constraints, and Entrepreneurship

By: William R. Kerr and Ramana Nanda

We examine entrepreneurship and creative destruction following US banking deregulations using Census Bureau data. US banking reforms brought about exceptional growth in both entrepreneurship and business closures. The vast majority of closures, however, were the new... View Details

Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Market Entry and Exit; Capital Markets; Entrepreneurship; Outcome or Result; Business Startups; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry; United States

Read Now

September 2000 (Revised March 2001)
Case

Joe Casey: January 2000

By: G. Felda Hardymon

Joe Casey (HBS class of 1992) reflects on the path that has led him into a venture career and contemplating his next moves. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Personal Development and Career; Business Ventures

January 2023
Case

Kavnia Coffee

By: Lindsay N. Hyde, Thomas R. Eisenmann, Kumba Sennaar, Sarah Mehta and Jiyoon Han

Case on a coffee hardware startup where a series of experiments and pivots led founder to conclude that the venture was no longer viable. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Operations; Business Startups; Failure; Business Exit or Shutdown; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

July 2018
Teaching Note

Cumplo.com

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Teaching Note for HBS No. 818-039. Teaching Note for HBS No. 818-039. Cumplo is a Chilean-based fin-tech startup that provides investors and small businesses with opportunities to access loans and investments in ways distinct from traditional financial institutions in... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; Alternative Finance; Crowdfunding; Crowdlending; Marketing Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Social Entrepreneurship; Expansion; Financial Services Industry; Latin America; South America; Chile

August 2003 (Revised April 2004)
Case

Building to a Crescendo

By: Noam T. Wasserman and Vishesh Kumar

Examines the efforts of an early-stage venture capital firm to formalize processes and build a pyramidal organization in an industry dominated by informal, unpyramidal structures. View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Organizational Structure; Business Startups

June 2014
Teaching Note

Steve Carpenter at Cake Financial

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann

After investing $9 million of venture capital, Cake Financial had failed to reach critical mass. In early 2010 Cake's assets were sold and the company was dissolved. Founded in 2006, the San Francisco-based Internet company allowed users to monitor their investments... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business or Company Management; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; Internet; Financial Services Industry; Web Services Industry

September 2009 (Revised September 2010)
Case

Avid Radiopharmaceuticals and Lighthouse Capital Partners

By: Matthew Rhodes-Kropf and Ann Leamon

In fall 2008, a venture lender must decide whether to make a loan to Avid, a small but promising venture-backed life sciences firm. In reviewing her proposal, Cristy Barnes considers the company's characteristics and how they differ from a typical investment. At the... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Crisis; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Financing and Loans; Investment; Financial Services Industry; Health Industry