Publications

December 2001
Case

IntellectExchange, Inc.

By: James I. Cash Jr. and Janis L Gogan

A start-up intellect exchange initially offered a public expertise exchange, connecting experts with clients. Now management wonders whether a new, more focused strategy will succeed. View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Experience and Expertise; Networks; Business Strategy

July 2010
Other Article

Clusters and Entrepreneurship

By: Mercedes Delgado, Michael E. Porter and Scott Stern

This article examines the role of regional clusters in regional entrepreneurship. We focus on the distinct influences of convergence and agglomeration on growth in the number of start-up firms as well as in employment in these new firms in a given region-industry.... View Details

Keywords: Economics

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Read Now

January 2011 (Revised March 2011)
Case

Predictive Biosciences

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Jeffrey J. Bussgang and David Kiron

A small cancer diagnostics start-up is deciding whether to acquire a laboratory to make and sell its bladder cancer test or build its own manufacturing and sales team. View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Health Testing and Trials; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Development; Biotechnology Industry

25 Apr 2014
Video

Richard Sussman - Making A Difference

March 2019
Case

DayTwo: Going to Market with Gut Microbiome

By: Ayelet Israeli and David Lane

DayTwo is a young Israeli startup that applies research on the gut microbiome and machine learning algorithms to deliver personalized nutritional recommendations to its users in order to minimize blood sugar spikes after meals. After a first year of trial rollout in... View Details

13 Aug 2018
Blog Post

Following My Dream: Launching a Venture

This summer, while most of my classmates pursued internships, I decided to work full-time on my start-up ‘smoodi’, which I recently incorporated. It’s been an amazing experience and I’m grateful for the support I received as a Harvard... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship

February 2000 (Revised April 2003)
Case

InSite Marketing Technology (A)

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Genevieve J.S. Feraud and Sheila L Marcelo

Introduces students to products and services that improve customers' online shopping experience. Also discusses the challenges of marketing new product concepts and finding funding for start-up ventures. View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Financing and Loans; Technological Innovation; Business or Company Management; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Service Delivery; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Service Industry; Web Services Industry

January 2003 (Revised May 2005)
Case

Zipcar: Refining the Business Model

By: Myra M. Hart, Michael J. Roberts and Julia Stevens

Zipcar is a start-up organized around the idea of "sharing" car usage via a membership organization. This case describes several iterations of the Zipcar business model and financial plan. These iterations include a very early version and a version developed just prior... View Details

Keywords: Service Operations; Renting or Rental; Business Model; Business Plan; Entrepreneurship; Economic Growth; Management Skills; Transportation; Business Startups; Financial Strategy; Corporate Finance; Growth and Development Strategy; Transportation Industry; Service Industry

August 1997 (Revised September 1997)
Case

Imedia Corporation: The Pricing Decision

Efi Arazi, the president of a start-up called Imedia, must determine an appropriate pricing strategy for an innovation that will change the basis of competition in the cable TV industry. View Details

Keywords: Technology; Price; Entrepreneurship; Telecommunications Industry

November 1991 (Revised October 1995)
Case

Calyx & Corolla

By: Walter J. Salmon and David Wylie

Describes a new entry into the $8 billion flower industry in the United States. Combining the use of overnight air freight (Federal Express), information technology, an 800 number, and a catalog, Calyx & Corolla was changing the way flowers had traditionally been... View Details

Keywords: Market Entry and Exit; Transformation; Distribution Channels; Business Startups; Problems and Challenges; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; United States

July 1998 (Revised August 1998)
Case

Community Wealth Ventures, Inc.

By: James E. Austin and Meredith D. Pearson

Share Our Strength, a successful anti-hunger nonprofit organization, created a for-profit subsidiary--Community Wealth Ventures (CWV)--to provide advisory services to companies and nonprofits on collaboration. Management is reviewing CWV's start-up experience. View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; For-Profit Firms; Governing and Advisory Boards; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Partners and Partnerships; Nonprofit Organizations; Consulting Industry

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31 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

From SpinPop to SpinBrush: Entrepreneurial Lessons from John Osher

John Osher is one of those casually and spectacularly successful people who make serial entrepreneurship look like a cakewalk. He began racking up wins at an early age—starting and selling both a vintage clothing store and an earring outlet before he was out of... View Details

Keywords: by Dennis Fisher; Consumer Products

14 Oct 2011
News

The big businesses learning how to think small

October 2004 (Revised April 2005)
Case

Lexar Media: The Digital Photography Company?

Examines growth options for a start-up that has parlayed its core technology in flash memory controllers into a rapidly growing position in the emerging digital photography industry. The new CEO must decide whether LexarMedia should maintain its identity as a digital... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Growth Management; Market Entry and Exit; Business Startups; Business Strategy; Technology Industry

January 1996
Background Note

Creativity and Innovation in Organizations

By: Teresa M. Amabile

Creativity, the production of new and useful ideas by individuals or teams, can appear in many forms and many functions within firms of all kinds--from entrepreneurial start-ups to well-established enterprises. This note describes the varieties of creativity in... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Entrepreneurship; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Organizational Design; Situation or Environment; Creativity

October 2001 (Revised June 2002)
Case

Centagenetix (A): Building a Business Model for Genetic Longevity

Describes a start-up company seeking to exploit population genetic data from long-lived, healthy people. The company must address legal, financial, ethical, and personal issues among its team to launch the company. View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Genetics; Business Startups; Biotechnology Industry