Publications

March 2014
Supplement

School of One: Reimagining How Students Learn (B)

By: John J-H Kim and Christine S. An

This supplements the "A" case. Joel Rose and Chris Rush decide to spin-off from School of One to found New Classrooms Innovation Partners. Rose and Rush navigate the strategic complexities of the spin-off process to make their mission-driven product a reality. The case... View Details

Keywords: Education Technology; Ed Tech; Classroom Innovation; Entrepreneurs; Entrepreneurship; Patents; Spin-offs; Non-profit Management; Scaling Ed Tech Products; Strategy

March 2016 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Hello Alfred: Come Home Happy

By: Joseph B. Fuller and Carin-Isabel Knoop

On a mission to "automate the on-demand economy," Harvard Business School classmates Marcela Sapone and Jessica Beck launched Hello Alfred in 2013 to provide subscribers with an "Alfred" to complete various chores for a monthly fee. In early 2016, the company has built... View Details

Keywords: On-demand Economy; Sharing Economy; Technology Startup; Technology; Growth Strategy; Business Startups; Business Growth and Maturation; Entrepreneurship; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Strategic Planning; Service Industry; United States; Boston; Cambridge; New York (city, NY); California

March 2019 (Revised July 2021)
Case

Waymo LLC

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

On December 5, 2018, Waymo LLC, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., launched the United States’ first commercial driverless-car ride-hailing service (Waymo One), based in Phoenix, Arizona. As with other ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft, Waymo One riders... View Details

Research Summary

Reinvention and “Frame Flexibility”

By: Ryan L. Raffaelli

Adopting a radical innovation creates pressure for leaders to reframe their mental models while they also sustain their organization's existing capabilities and product category variants. Yet at key junctures in a product class and during technological change, a... View Details

Keywords: Institutional Change; Innovation ＆ Entrepreneurship; Diffusion Processes; Technology Adoption; Cognition and Thinking; Identity; Emotions

October 2014 (Revised June 2016)
Case

NuScale Power—the Future of Small Modular Reactors

By: Richard Vietor

NuScale Power, an entrepreneurial venture in Portland, Oregon, has designed the leading modular nuclear reactor in the United States. This Reactor will be the safest and simplest ever built. Started in 2007 as an entrepreneurial venture, the company is now two years... View Details

Keywords: Nuclear; Power; Technology; Risk; Energy; Information Technology; Entrepreneurship; Risk and Uncertainty; Energy Industry

May 2022
Case

From GOP to NFT: Anthony Scaramucci and the Launch of Flatter NFT

By: Lauren Cohen, Richard Ryffel and Grace Headinger

Anthony Scaramucci, Managing Director of SkyBridge Capital, considered whether he should officially greenlight the launch of SkyBridge’s own NFT platform — Flatter NFT. He had led the investment firm to push first into Bitcoin and then Ethereum to make SkyBridge a... View Details

October 2012 (Revised October 2013)
Case

Rock Health

By: Robert F. Higgins and Ian McKown Cornell

Rock Health was a San Francisco–based nonprofit organization offering accelerator services to spur innovation at the intersection of healthcare and technology. The company was the creation of Halle Tecco (HBS '11) and her HBS classmate Nate Gross (HBS '11), who met... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Incubation; Healthcare Technology; Startups; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Management; Health Care and Treatment; Business Startups; Health Industry; San Francisco; California; United States

Research Summary

Overview

The research activity of Stefano Denicolai regards the management of innovation and technology. His recent works investigate if and how the investment in intangible assets (IA) - especially knowledge assets, such as patents or copyright - impacts on the firm... View Details

Keywords: Innovation Management; International Entrepreneurship; Intangible Assets; Open Innovation; Innovation and Management; Entrepreneurship; Competitive Strategy; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Technology Industry

28 Nov 2015
News

All I Want for Christmas Is Chocolate Brussels Sprouts

Keywords: online retail; England; entrepreneurship; artisans; Retail Trade

October 2015
Case

Facebook: The First Ten Years

By: Shane Greenstein, Marco Iansiti and Christine Snively

Facebook celebrated its ten year anniversary in February 2014. Over the past decade it has grown into the largest social network in the world with one billion users. After filing an IPO in 2012 at a $104 billion valuation (the third largest IPO in U.S. history), the... View Details

Keywords: Social Networks; Technology; Facebook; Entrepreneurship; Profit; Open Source Distribution; Social and Collaborative Networks; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Internet and the Web; Digital Platforms; Social Media; Information Technology Industry

October 2015
Article

Agglomerative Forces and Cluster Shapes

By: William R. Kerr and Scott Duke Kominers

We model spatial clusters of similar firms. Our model highlights how agglomerative forces lead to localized, individual connections among firms, while interaction costs generate a defined distance over which attraction forces operate. Overlapping firm interactions... View Details

Keywords: Agglomeration; Clusters; Industrial Organization; Silicon Valley; Technology Flows; Patents; Networks; Information Technology; Industry Clusters; Entrepreneurship; California

Find at Harvard

February 2013 (Revised December 2015)
Case

Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency

By: Michael W. Toffel, Kira R. Fabrizio and Stephanie van Sice

Groom Energy Solutions helps organizations reduce their energy use and costs through the implementation of energy efficiency measures, which create long-term financial and environmental benefits. With early success serving customers in the cold storage and industrial... View Details

Keywords: Groom Energy Solutions; Jon Guerster; Salem, MA; Energy Management; Energy Efficiency Paradox; Sustainability Management; Manufacturing; Cold Storage; Commercial Real Estate; Enterprise Smart Grid; Carbon Accounting; LED Lighting; Sustainability Research; Entrepreneurship; Environmental Entrepreneurship; Energy Entrepreneurship; Energy Services; Electricity; Startup; Expansion; Growth; Sustainability; Business Startups; Forecasting and Prediction; Energy Conservation; Revenue; Geographic Location; Human Resources; Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Operations; Service Delivery; Strategic Planning; Science; Environmental Sustainability; Climate Change; Society; Social Issues; Technology Adoption; Green Technology Industry; Green Technology Industry; Green Technology Industry; Green Technology Industry; United States; Boston

June 2012
Case

The Atavist: Reinventing the Book

By: Mukti Khaire and Mary Tripsas

Atavist, a start-up founded by journalists, publishes enhanced ebook singles as well as the software to create enhanced ebooks. The company is currently engaged in both publishing and software development, but as they raise funding and grow, must decide whether to... View Details

Keywords: Disruptive Technology; Growth Strategy; Innovation; Publishing; Software Industry; Technological Change; Disruptive Innovation; Applications and Software; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry

01 Jun 2023
News

In Full Flower

“Flowers are a very emotive product category, but it didn’t seem that anyone had built a brand that people loved and trusted,” Gelbard recalls. “So often we just turned to a Google search. And the technology for mobile phone orders wasn’t... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; entrepreneurship; florist; marketing; supply chain management; Personal Services

05 Oct 2021
News

Launch Signals

Sara de Zárraga (left) and Quinn Fitzgerald When they met at HBS, Quinn Fitzgerald and Sara de Zárraga (both MBA 2017) shared their experiences as survivors of assault—and realized they wanted to create a tool to prevent future occurrences of violence against women.... View Details

Keywords: entrepreneurship; startup; safety; wearable tech; women; Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing; Manufacturing

November 2019 (Revised April 2021)
Technical Note

Rechargeable Batteries, 2017: Gigafactory Wars in the Offing?

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

In 2017, the global market for rechargeable lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries was 126 gigawatt-hours (GWh) valued at $37 billion, growing by $10 billion in two years. Once confined largely to consumer electronics and appliances, the rapid increase in demand was spurred by... View Details

January 2025
Case

PayJoy: Financing for the Next Billion

By: Boris Groysberg and Sarah L. Abbott

PayJoy, an impact-driven financial technology company founded in 2015, provides smartphone financing and other financial products to customers who lack access to traditional credit products. As of early 2025, PayJoy had issued $2.5 billion in loans to 13 million... View Details

May 2022
Case

Rawbank's Illico Cash: Can 'Fast Money' Overcome Cash Dependency in the DRC?

By: Lauren Cohen and Grace Headinger

Thomas de Dreux-Brézé, the Head of Strategy and Project Management at Rawbank Congo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), was perplexed as he reviewed annual adoption rates for the bank’s launch of Illico Cash 2.0. As the bank’s mobile money app, Illico Cash... View Details