Publications

2019
Book

The Business of Platforms: Strategy in the Age of Digital Competition, Innovation, and Power

By: Michael A. Cusumano, Annabelle Gawer and David B. Yoffie

The Business of Platforms explores the strategic, economic, and technology management challenges of digital platform businesses. We have five major themes in the book: 1) The world’s most valuable companies are all platforms, in part because platforms have... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Technology; Platform; Internet and the Web; Management; Competitive Strategy; Digital Platforms

09 Mar 2015
Research & Ideas

Why Entrepreneurs Should Go Work for Government

crowdsourcing." In exploring these challenges and opportunities, Weiss believes the public entrepreneurship course can help make working in government a viable alternative for innovators looking to effect real change. Noting that HBS... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

31 May 2023
HBS Case

Why Business Leaders Need to Hear Larry Miller's Story

View Video Editor's note: Watch the video in "full screen" mode for the best viewing experience. If Larry Miller hadn’t concealed his criminal record, would he ever have been given the chance to turn his life around? Would his talent have taken him to Nike, where he... View Details

Keywords: by Jamal Meneide; Entertainment & Recreation; Consumer Products

17 Jan 2023
Book

Good Companies Commit Crimes, But Great Leaders Can Prevent Them

Tsao, both of whom held senior positions in the US Department of Justice’s criminal division and now are Harvard Law School lecturers. It explores the topics through cases such as Wells Fargo’s creation of thousands of fake accounts, and... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

April 2020
Case

Apple Inc. in 2020

By: David B. Yoffie and Daniel Fisher

After a decade as CEO, Tim Cook is facing one of his biggest strategic transitions of his tenure. While Apple had performed spectacularly well under Cook, Apple's core business was maturing. Sales of iPhones, iPads, and Macs were flat or down. However, Apple's new... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Market Positioning; Marketing Implementation; Planning; Products; Strategic Positioning; Strategy; Information Technology; Competitive Strategy; Technological Innovation; Competitive Advantage; Product Positioning; Communication; Competition; Leadership; Strategic Planning; Computer Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Technology Industry

April 1998
Case

Advent Israel Venture Capital Program, The

By: Paul A. Gompers and Jeffrey M. Anapolsky

Explores the decision by Advent, an international venture capital firm, to start a fund focused on Israel. Advent must decide who to hire to run the fund and how much money to raise. View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Global Strategy; Recruitment; Expansion; Business Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Israel

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November 2016 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Square, Inc. IPO

By: Ramana Nanda, Robert White and Lauren G. Pickle

In November 2015, Square, Inc. launched its initial public offering (IPO). The IPO had an offering price of $9 per share, lower than the $11 to $13 estimate that had been outlined in the preliminary prospectus and 42% below the $15.50 share price in its most recent... View Details

Keywords: Business Finance; Initial Public Offering; Equity; Capital Markets; Public Equity; Stocks; Venture Capital; Financial Services Industry; United States

July 2022
Case

Bringing Ideas to Life: The Story of Paul English

By: Youngme Moon, Frances X. Frei and F. Katelynn Boland

Paul English is one of the most imaginative innovators of his generation. This case explores his process of creative idea generation. The case includes an exercise for students to generate value-creating ideas from scratch. View Details

Keywords: Innovation ＆ Entrepreneurship; Idea Generation; Founder; Startup; Imagination; Innovation and Invention; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Creativity; Value Creation

February 2010 (Revised January 2013)
Case

The Dabbawala System: On-Time Delivery, Every Time

By: Stefan H. Thomke and Mona Sinha

Describes the Mumbai-based Dabbawala organization, which achieves very high service performance (6 Sigma equivalent or better) with a low-cost and very simple operating system. The case explores all aspects of their system (mission, information management, material... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Service Operations; Service Delivery; Logistics; Alignment; Management Systems; Human Resources; Innovation and Invention; Mumbai

November 2023 (Revised October 2024)
Supplement

Accounting Outages at Plug Power? (C)

By: Jonas Heese, Joseph Pacelli and James Barnett

Set in June 2023, the C case explores Plug Power’s recovery from its financial restatements, how it benefited from government subsidies, and new strategic alliances. View Details

Keywords: Environmental Accounting; Financial Reporting; Ethics; Finance; Management; Social Enterprise; Energy Industry; Green Technology Industry; United States; Europe

November 2005 (Revised July 2006)
Background Note

Understanding Economic Value Added

By: Mihir A. Desai, Fabrizio Ferri and Steve Treadwell

Explores the concept of economic value added (EVA) and its practical applications as a management control system for performance measurement and incentive compensation. Explains how EVA is measured and explores some of the adjustments to financial statements that are... View Details

Keywords: Value

December 2011
Article

Globalization and Beauty: A Historical and Firm Perspective

By: G. Jones

This paper uses the beauty industry to explore the impact of globalization over the very long run. As the first wave of modern globalization started in the nineteenth century, there began a massive homogenization of beauty ideals around the world that has, to some... View Details

Keywords: Globalization; Business Ventures; Trends; Societal Protocols; Value; Brands and Branding; Perception; Entrepreneurship; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry

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18 Nov 2022
HBS Case

What Does It Take to Safeguard a Legacy in Asset Management?

Last year, the pioneering Black-owned global asset management firm Brown Capital Management found itself at a crossroads. The secret to its success had been a deliberately diverse hiring strategy, but with the looming retirement of its founder, safeguarding those... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Financial Services

August 2023 (Revised October 2024)
Case

Plug Power (A)

By: Jonas Heese, Joseph Pacelli and James Barnett

Set immediately after a December 2019 short-seller attack, the case explores Plug Power’s long challenging history. It then focuses on two key issues raised in the short-seller report related to lease accounting and stock warrants that Plug purportedly used to boost... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Environmental Accounting; Financial Reporting; Ethics; Management; Social Enterprise; Investment; Stocks; Energy Industry; Green Technology Industry; United States; Europe

02 Mar 2009
Research & Ideas

When Goal Setting Goes Bad

Business School. We asked Professor Bazerman to explore in more depth some of the paper's findings. Sean Silverthorne: So, are you against incentives and goals? Max Bazerman: No, my coauthors and I are not against incentives. We believe... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

April 1993 (Revised April 2006)
Case

Colgate-Palmolive Co.: The Precision Toothbrush

By: John A. Quelch

Colgate-Palmolive Co. is considering how to position its new technological toothbrush, Precision. The case explores issues concerned with new product launches and requires students to do profitability analyses of different positioning alternatives. View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Product Positioning; Product Launch; Consumer Products Industry; Health Industry; United States

09 Sep 2015
Research & Ideas

Leadership Lessons of the Great Recession: Options for Economic Downturns

Company executives would have to make a choice of whether and how to cut their workforce costs—either through mass layoffs or furloughs. Our goal with the case was to explore the tradeoffs between these two forms of employee cost... View Details

Keywords: by Sandra Sucher & Susan Winterberg; Aerospace; Electronics

June 2015
Case

The Valuation and Financing of Lady M Confections

By: Mihir A. Desai and Elizabeth A. Meyer

This case explores the decision-making process that small, private businesses must undertake when considering an expansion and when selling equity to outside investors. In the process, students are asked to complete two exercises: a break-even analysis and a valuation... View Details

Keywords: Lady M; Bakery; Foodservice Industry; Breakeven Analysis; Restaurant Industry; Forecasting; Forecast; Financial Analysis; Borrowing and Debt; Corporate Finance; Equity; Financial Management; Financial Strategy; Finance; Food; Valuation; Food and Beverage Industry; New York (city, NY)