Publications

04 Oct 2016
First Look

October 4, 2016

concerns about the unobservable consequences of policy. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=51704 Harvard Business School Case 217-007 Disintermediating the Banks: ThinCats and the Peer-to-Peer Lending... View Details

March 2001 (Revised November 2001)
Case

Security Factors

By: Jay O. Light

A very successful entrepreneur who has built a factoring business in Atlanta is trying to decide how to sell this business. The issues are how to value the company and the strategy of selling. View Details

Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Entrepreneurship; Negotiation; Strategy; Valuation; Atlanta

July 1982 (Revised July 2004)
Case

Esmark, Inc. (B)

By: William E. Fruhan Jr.

Esmark's management sells its most valuable business and its most unattractive business in an effort to reposition itself and maximize shareholder value. View Details

Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Product Positioning; Business and Shareholder Relations; Reputation; Value

28 May 2024
In Practice

Job Search Advice for a Tough Market: Think Broadly and Stay Flexible

of Labor Statistics. US employers added 175,000 jobs, seasonally adjusted, far fewer than the more than 300,000 in March and below the 240,000 analysts expected. For those seeking business careers, success might mean searching beyond... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

03 Oct 2022
Research & Ideas

Why a Failed Startup Might Be Good for Your Career After All

charismatic but controversial cofounder of WeWork, who quit as CEO in 2019 after a bungled initial public offering amid questions about his business practices. “The market values the experience they have and rewards them in terms of high... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

10 Nov 2003
Research & Ideas

The Hard Numbers on Social Investments

In what is believed to be the largest study of its kind, MBA students at Harvard Business School recently analyzed the financial returns generated by 110 early-stage companies backed by Investors' Circle, a national network dedicated to... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls

March 1999 (Revised January 2000)
Background Note

A Note on Microeconomics for Strategists

By: Kenneth S. Corts and Jan W. Rivkin

Summarizes the core ideas about the microeconomics of markets that are most relevant to business strategy. Sections I and II develop two basic building blocks of any market, demand and supply. Section II discusses how demand and supply interact to determine the... View Details

Keywords: Microeconomics; Cost; Cost of Capital; Market Entry and Exit; Business Strategy; Competition; Corporate Strategy

October 2008 (Revised February 2012)
Case

Amazon Web Services

By: Robert S. Huckman, Gary P. Pisano and Liz Kind

Considers the development of Amazon Web Services (AWS), a division of Amazon.com, Inc., specializing in the provision of web-based storage and computing services to web developers. The case focuses on the issues facing Andy Jassy, the head of AWS, in 2008 as AWS faces... View Details

Keywords: Price; Market Entry and Exit; Service Operations; Competition; Diversification; Retail Industry; Web Services Industry

07 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

Why Companies Fail—and How Their Founders Can Bounce Back

Ghosh, a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School who has held top executive positions at some eight technology-based start-ups. If failure refers to failing to see the projected return on investment, then the failure rate is 70 to 80... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

18 Apr 2023
Research & Ideas

The Best Person to Lead Your Company Doesn't Work There—Yet

are external hires, and roughly two-thirds are “complete outsiders,” finds a recent working paper by Paul Gompers, the Eugene Holman Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. In... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Financial Services

October 2008
Case

Diagnostic Genomics

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Mark P. Allyn

Should this gene detection firm enter the business of providing tests for the detection of genetic diseases? If so, how should it prioritize the tests it could develop? View Details

Keywords: Health Testing and Trials; Market Entry and Exit; Product Development; Genetics; Strategy; Health Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

27 Mar 2005
Research & Ideas

Should I Pay the Bribe?

At Harvard Business School, one of professor Rafael Di Tella's areas of study is how political corruption and common crime can be controlled in a variety of contexts. So it was only natural that Di Tella would be asked to comment when the... View Details

Keywords: by Cynthia D. Churchwell

01 Oct 2001
Research & Ideas

How To Make Restructuring Work for Your Company

address any one of these challenges can cause the restructuring to fail. Having A Business Purpose Restructuring is more likely to be successful when managers first understand the fundamental business/strategic problem or opportunity that... View Details

Keywords: by Stuart C. Gilson

September 2022 (Revised May 2024)
Case

Navya: Steering toward a Driverless Future

By: Julian De Freitas, Elie Ofek, Shaun Ingledew and Tonia Labruyere

In 2022, Sophie Desormière arrived at French roboshuttle producer Navya, tasked with charting a new course in a challenging sector. The company, which had recently listed on the Paris Stock Exchange, was burning through cash reserves and needed to transform the promise... View Details

Keywords: Autonomous Vehicles; Market Entry and Exit; Opportunities; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Consumer Behavior; Business Model; Auto Industry; Transportation Industry; France; United States

21 Aug 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, August 21, 2018

observed minimum-wage levels and are disproportionately driven out of business by increases to the minimum wage. Our point estimates suggest that a one-dollar increase in the minimum wage leads to a 14% increase in the likelihood of View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

21 Feb 2018
Research & Ideas

When a Competitor Abandons the Market, Should You Advance or Retreat?

SolStock In late 2016 drug maker Eli Lilly announced it would stop research on the Alzheimer's drug solanezumab after results proved disappointing over three trials. For competitors such as Biogen, Merck, and Roche, this decision presented an interesting dilemma.... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Pharmaceutical; Health

15 Aug 2005
HBS Case

Classic Cases Live On at HBS

Everyone talks about how quickly business changes, yet some HBS cases remain reliably relevant decades after they are written. We take a behind-the-scenes look at five cases that are at least twenty years old, are still regularly taught... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons

2006
Case

Infosys Consulting

By: Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble

Aiming to expand their value proposition from software development to consulting, Infosys launched a new business unit, Infosys Consulting. From scratch, it quickly grew to over 200 professionals. The case study illustrates the challenges of launching a new business in... View Details

Keywords: Expansion; Information Technology; Market Entry and Exit; Software; Consulting Industry