Publications

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2013
Case

Advanced Leadership Pathways: Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, Juliane Calingo Schwetz and Patricia Bissett Higgins

After a successful career as Chairman and CEO of Paris-based luxury food company, Fauchon, Laurent Adamowicz, sought to reduce obesity and improve health outcomes. Adamowicz created a mobile application to provide consumers with more accessible and interpretable... View Details

Keywords: Nutritional Information; Obesity; Weight Loss; App Development; Business Startups; Nutrition; Health; Information; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Entrepreneurship; Social Enterprise; Information Technology Industry; Health Industry

July 2023 (Revised February 2024)
Case

'Bugs' Burger Bug Killers

By: Ryan W. Buell and William Fulmer

In the height of its success, Bugs Burger Bug Killers (BBBK; Burger has a soft 'g' - it rhymes with merger) was the largest independent extermination company in America, growing at more than 20% per year. BBBK built its business on the promise of pest eradication,... View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Service Industry

15 Nov 2022
Cold Call Podcast

Planning the Future for Harlem’s Beloved Sylvia’s Restaurant

Keywords: Re: Christina R. Wing; Food & Beverage

25 Mar 2014
First Look

First Look: March 25

central path to job creation, economic growth, and prosperity. In the earliest stages of start-up business creation, the matching of entrepreneurial ventures to investors is critically important. The... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Mar 2023
What Do You Think?

How Much Does 'Deep Purpose' Matter to the Bottom Line?

before purpose, you get an Enron. Ranjay Gulati, the Paul R. Lawrence MBA Class of 1942 Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, recently identified this quest as a search for “deep... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

March 2011
Article

The New M&A Playbook

By: Clayton M. Christensen, Richard Alton, Curtis Rising and Andrew Waldeck

Companies spend more than $2 trillion on acquisitions every year, yet the M&A failure rate is between 70% and 90%. Executives can dramatically increase their odds of success, the authors argue, if they understand how to select targets, how much to pay for them, and... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Model; Disruptive Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Integration

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11 May 2010
First Look

First Look: May 11

was its model doomed? Purchase this case:http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/610085-PDF-ENG Alibaba Group Julie M. WulfHarvard Business School Case 710-436 Discusses how Alibaba Group successfully managed new View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

June 2003 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Modi-Revlon

By: Rohit Deshpande and Seth Schulman

The head of the Indian subsidiary of cosmetics firm Revlon faces a crucial turnaround situation for the company. After a high-profile product launch, sales were very disappointing and Revlon was trying to decide whether it should pull out of India. The Indian majority... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Product Design; Value Creation; India

Research Summary

Professor Hiatt’s research is aimed at discovering how institutional factors can affect sector growth and technology development and adoption by mediating and moderating uncertainty. His work encompasses two related research questions:

1) How can... View Details

December 2022 (Revised August 2023)
Case

Circles.Life at a Crossroads of Growth

By: Juan Alcácer and Adina Wong

In June 2022, the founders of Singapore mobile operator Circles.Life had a crucial decision to make. Circles.Life developed a new business model in mobile telecommunications—a digital telco—built around its proprietary operating system. After expanding its brand in... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Decisions; Technological Innovation; Applications and Software; Business Strategy; Telecommunications Industry; Singapore

January 2006
Case

Jack Strang at SequenceLabs

By: Mukti Khaire, John J. Gabarro and Lynda M. Applegate

How can entrepreneur manage his firm if things go wrong despite having a great idea, a solid team, and financial backing? Jack Strang founded a biotech firm with his friend Peter Evans, to develop molecular pathway-based "cures" for metabolic disorders. The idea was... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business or Company Management; Venture Capital; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Business Growth and Maturation; Failure; Biotechnology Industry

October 1989 (Revised August 1995)
Case

Tysons Corner

By: William J. Poorvu

Hollinswood Associates, a joint venture partnership, has developed and operated a Marriott Hotel in Tysons Corner, Virginia. The partnership has been very successful in the past but it is now facing a significant cash flow deficit. Designed to examine how a partnership... View Details

Keywords: Conflict Management; Change Management; Partners and Partnerships; Joint Ventures; Cash Flow; Investment; Accommodations Industry; Real Estate Industry; Virginia

December 2000
Case

SupplierMarket.com (A)

By: William A. Sahlman and Jared Stone

Describes a decision confronting the cofounders of a B2B Internet firm that focuses on the purchasing process for manufactured direct materials. The company has raised one round of capital from two prominent venture capital firms and must decide if it makes sense to... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Customers; Decisions; Venture Capital; Internet

September 2000 (Revised February 2001)
Case

CBS MarketWatch

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

Larry Kramer, the chairman and CEO of MarketWatch.com, is faced with a dilemma. In April 2000, his company--a joint venture of CBS and Data Broadcasting Corp.--has emerged as the leading financial information and data provider online. Yet, because of the downturn in... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Decision Choices and Conditions; Media and Broadcasting Industry

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Research Summary

Overview

By: Rohit Deshpande

Customer Centricity Rohit Deshpandé's research program focuses on Customer-Centricity. A stream of projects examines the interaction between corporate and national culture as they influence the development and implementation of global marketing strategies in high... View Details

November 2023 (Revised April 2024)
Case

Celsius Network Inc.: Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt in the Brave New World of Crypto Bankruptcy

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah L. Abbott

In July 2022, Celsius Network filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. CEO Alex Mashinsky acknowledged that Celsius had grown its assets “faster than the Company was prepared to deploy [them]” and as a result had made “certain poor asset deployment decisions.” Two months after... View Details

Keywords: Cryptocurrency; Chapter 11; Restructuring; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Asset Management; Acquisition; Borrowing and Debt; Financial Services Industry; United States

January 2017 (Revised October 2023)
Case

Classtivity: Payal's Pirouette

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Olivia Hull

A few months after launching a new fitness technology product, the small staff of New York startup Classtivity gathers on a Saturday in April 2013 to take stock. With one successful pivot under its belt, Classtivity is finally generating revenue and enthusiasm among... View Details