Publications

September 2020
Case

Disrupting Justice at RightNow: Rich or King

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Amir Reza Rezvani

The case examines issues such as cascading problems within the organization, changing founder roles, founder success criteria, as well as company exit consideration. In 2017, Dr. Torben Antretter, a former competitive tennis player and academic researcher, founded... View Details

Keywords: Exit; Startup; Financing; Founders; Entrepreneurship; Law; Venture Capital; Success; Financing and Loans; Business Growth and Maturation; Strategy; Legal Services Industry; Germany

September 2008
Article

Firm Heterogeneity and Credit Risk Diversification

By: Samuel G. Hanson, M. Hashem Pesaran and Til Schuermann

This paper examines the impact of neglected heterogeneity on credit risk. We show that neglecting heterogeneity in firm returns and/or default thresholds leads to under estimation of expected losses (EL), and its effect on portfolio risk is ambiguous. Once EL is... View Details

Keywords: Volatility; Credit; Investment Return; Outcome or Result; Risk and Uncertainty; Loss; Diversification; Complexity; United States

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June 2011 (Revised June 2011)
Case

Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership

By: Linda A. Hill and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

Larry Smarr, the founding director of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2), reflects on the Institute's past 10 years of successes and challenges. In 2010, more than 700 university scientists, artists, engineers, and... View Details

Keywords: Success; Problems and Challenges; Innovation and Invention; Projects; Leadership; Innovation Leadership; Partners and Partnerships; Information Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; California

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November 2000 (Revised November 2005)
Case

Meg Whitman at eBay Inc. (A)

By: Linda A. Hill and Maria Farkas

Meg Whitman takes over as CEO of eBay from the founder. She must figure out how to lead the company through a stage of phenomenal growth without compromising eBay's unique external customer culture and internal culture--its key success factors. A rewritten version of... View Details

Keywords: Leadership Style; Change Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Growth Management; Organizational Culture; Success

April 1999 (Revised August 2000)
Case

Compaq Computer: Focus Groups

By: David E. Bell and Ann Leamon

Gives the final report, both results and methodology, of the focus group on Compaq Computer's new consumer notebook. Describes the groups, selection method, and methodology in detail. Should Compaq base its product design on the opinions of 64 people? Must be used with... View Details

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Product Design; Outcome or Result; Corporate Strategy; Computer Industry

2019
Working Paper

The Consequences of Invention Secrecy: Evidence from the USPTO Patent Secrecy Program in World War II

By: Daniel P. Gross

This paper studies the effects of the USPTO's patent secrecy program in World War II, under which over 11,000 U.S. patent applications were issued secrecy orders that halted examination and prohibited inventors from disclosing their inventions or filing in foreign... View Details

Keywords: Invention Secrecy; Invention Disclosure; Trade Secrecy; Secrecy Orders; Cummulative Innovation; Wold War 2; Patents; National Security; History; Innovation and Invention; Outcome or Result; Intellectual Property; Policy; Commercialization; United States

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01 Mar 2019
News

3-Minute Briefing: Richard Edelman (MBA 1978)

deeply valued. When the outcome is positive, it’s very rewarding. I suppose it’s like being a doctor. The patient is healed. The greatest gift HBS gave me is that I never freak out. I learned to think: OK, what’s the environment? What’s... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services; Professional Services

01 Mar 2015
News

Research Brief: Political Capital

And if John Kerry had made a push for independents and upped his spending on ads by roughly 50 percent in Iowa and 80 percent in Ohio, he would have secured the two states, their 27 electoral votes, and the presidency. Ultimately, Chung says that while the ground game... View Details

Keywords: Janelle Nanos; Executive, Legislative, and Other General Government Support; Government; Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services; Professional Services

February 2025
Supplement

Align Partners and SM Entertainment: Korean Shareholder Activism Meets K-Pop (B)

By: Charles C.Y. Wang and Billy Chan

Supplements the (A) case, HBS No. 125-065. For years, institutional investors had experienced very limited success in influencing the management of listed companies through shareholder activist campaigns in Korea. The common practice of circular ownership and public... View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Public Equity; Stocks; Investment Activism; Music Entertainment; Corporate Governance; Success; Business and Shareholder Relations; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; South Korea

January 1986 (Revised March 1997)
Case

Horizon Group

By: William A. Sahlman

Contains a description of a situation confronting the co-founder of a company planning to produce software for microcomputers. The company has just completed raising money from some wealthy investors by forming an R&D Limited Partnership. Development of the program (an... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Venture Capital; Partners and Partnerships; Business Plan; Outcome or Result; Research and Development; Financial Strategy; Corporate Finance; Information Technology Industry

January 2021 (Revised July 2022)
Case

Dwight D. Eisenhower: Changing the World

By: Robert Simons and Shirley Sun

This case describes the rise of Dwight (Ike) Eisenhower from a small town in Kansas to the pinnacle of power on the world stage. During his life, Eisenhower was leader of the Allied Forces in World War II, president of Columbia University, head of NATO, and president... View Details

Keywords: Leadership Development; Leadership; Values and Beliefs; Personal Characteristics; Leadership Style; Success; Work-Life Balance; Power and Influence

December 1998
Article

Entrepreneurs and Business Performance in Nineteenth Century France

By: Tom Nicholas, Elisa Boccaletti and James Foreman-Peck

A popular explanation for the supposed "delayed industrialisation" of the nineteenth century French economy has been the inappropriate attitudes and actions of the managerial classes and family firms. To address these claims we model the supply and demand for... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Performance; Economy; Management; Success; Opportunities; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Saving; Higher Education; Training; Demand and Consumers; France

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2000
Chapter

The Determinants of Corporate Venture Capital Success: Organizational Structure, Incentives, and Complementarities

By: Paul Gompers and Josh Lerner

Keywords: Venture Capital; Success; Organizational Structure; Motivation and Incentives; Business Ventures

Article

Naturals and Strivers: Preferences and Beliefs about Sources of Achievement

By: Chia-Jung Tsay and Mahzarin R. Banaji

To understand how talent and achievement are perceived, three experiments compared the assessments of "naturals" and "strivers." Professional musicians learned about two pianists, equal in achievement but who varied in the source of achievement: the "natural" with... View Details

Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; Perception; Judgments; Success; Competency and Skills

May 2000 (Revised July 2000)
Case

World Trade Organization, The: After the Seattle Protests

By: Louis T. Wells Jr.

Representatives of the World Trade Organization (WTO) met in Seattle to plan the next round of trade negotiations, only to face protestors and fail to reach agreement on an agenda. This case discusses the evolution of the WTO, its rules, and some of the controversy... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Agreements and Arrangements; Failure; Northwestern United States