Publications

26 Sep 2024
HBS Seminar

Garrett Van Ryzin, Columbia & Amazon

04 Nov 2021
Blog Post

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: JESSE LOU (MBA 2022) – WORKING TO CHANGE THE FOOD SYSTEM

Jesse Lou (MBA 2022) reflects on his decision to come to HBS, what motivates him to make a difference in the world by using technology to build a more sustainable food system, and how he has utilized resources at HBS to make this happen.... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Technology

February 2022 (Revised April 2024)
Case

Aleph Farms: A New Culture of Meat

By: Elie Ofek and Jeff Huizinga

Aleph Farms, an Israeli food-tech start-up, was hoping to play a major role in disrupting the conventional meat sector. Compared to intensive agricultural practices, Aleph’s cultured (or lab-grown) meat solution held the promise of considerably reducing greenhouse gas... View Details

February 2021 (Revised March 2021)
Case

AptDeco: Circular Economy Furniture Marketplace

By: Ayelet Israeli and Jamie Merkrebs

AptDeco, a used furniture marketplace, was growing rapidly in the tri-state area. The co-founders were confident that the business model, financial position, and unit economics positioned AptDeco for scaling in the massive $120 billion furniture market, despite its... View Details

February 2022
Teaching Note

AptDeco: Circular Economy Furniture Marketplace

By: Ayelet Israeli

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 521-069. AptDeco, a used furniture marketplace, was growing rapidly in the tri-state area. The co-founders were confident that the business model, financial position, and unit economics positioned AptDeco for scaling in the massive $120... View Details

Keywords: E-Commerce Strategy; Mobile; Word-of-Mouth; Word Of Mouth; Word-of-mouth Marketing; Internet Marketing; Growth Strategy; Platform; Platforms; Two Sided Markets; Two-sided Market; Two-sided Marketplace; Two-Sided Markets; Two-sided Network; Black Entrepreneurs; Black Leadership; African Americans; African-American Protagonist; Circular; Peer-to-peer Markets; Furniture Industry; Growth Hacking; Monetization Strategy; Growth Management; Marketing Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Digital Platforms; Marketing Channels; Digital Marketing; Consumer Behavior; Acquisition; Retention; Growth and Development Strategy; Customer Focus and Relationships; Expansion; Brands and Branding; E-commerce; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; United States; North America; New York (city, NY); New York (state, US)

13 Jun 2017
Blog Post

Benefits of the MS/MBA: Engineering Sciences Program

Before matriculating at HBS, Damjan Korac (MBA 2017) had a plan to combine his interest in technology and management. Damjan interned as a product manager at Microsoft after his junior year at Princeton, and as a senior was accepted into... View Details

May 2021
Teaching Note

From Globalization to Dual Digital Transformation: CEO Thierry Breton Leading Atos Into 'Digital Shockwaves'

By: Tsedal Neeley

Teaching Note for HBS Case Nos. 419-027 and 419-046. Thierry Breton, chairman and CEO of IT company Atos, faces a pivotal juncture. After spending eight intense years scaling the company globally to over 100,000 employees in 70 countries, he sees digital shockwaves... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Transformation; Strategy; Disruption; Employees; Competency and Skills; Training; Organizational Culture; Digital Transformation; Information Technology Industry

The Sales Acceleration Formula provides a scalable, predictable approach to growing revenue and building a winning sales team. Everyone wants to build the next $100 million business and author Mark Roberge has actually done it using a unique methodology... View Details

02 Apr 2015
Research & Ideas

Digital Initiative Summit: Who Has the Power in the Music Industry?

Andresen Professor of Business Administration at HBS, who led the discussion. In the old model, he said, economies of scale regulated success and performers had to be big to spread out high fixed costs. Now, as a result of the way we... View Details

Keywords: Re: Felix Oberholzer-Gee; Music

March 27, 2025
Article

How One Company Used AI to Broaden Its Customer Base

By: Sunil Gupta and Frank V. Cespedes

The software company SAP successfully leveraged AI tools to begin selling to the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) market, which had previously been uneconomical for its in-person sales approach. By mapping the customer journey and deploying over 40 AI tools, SAP... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Sales; Business Strategy; Market Entry and Exit

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2023
Article

A Review of Commercialisation Mechanisms for Carbon Dioxide Removal

By: Conor Hickey, Sam Fankhauser, Stephen Smith and Myles Allen

The deployment of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) needs to be scaled up to achieve net zero emission pledges. In this paper we survey the policy mechanisms currently in place globally to incentivise CDR, together with an estimate of what different mechanisms are paying... View Details

Keywords: Carbon Dioxide Removal; Climate Change; Markets; Cost; Policy; Environmental Regulation

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10 Mar 2010
Working Paper Summaries

A Reexamination of Tunneling and Business Groups: New Data and New Methods

Keywords: by Jordan I. Siegel & Prithwiraj Choudhury

2022
Working Paper

When the Journey—And Not Just the Destination—Matters: How Internationalization Shapes Entrepreneurial Experimentation

By: Nataliya Langburd Wright and Laura Huang

Internationalization—gaining exposure to cross-border markets—is often the result of an entrepreneur’s experimentation and strategy around their core business. Scholars have shown how entrepreneurs develop products or services, and after achieving some traction, turn... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship And Strategy; Entrepreneurial Ventures; Entrepreneurial Journey; International Entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Global Range; Strategy

January 2010 (Revised March 2013)
Case

foursquare

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, Thomas R. Eisenmann, Jeffrey J. Bussgang and David Chen

Co-founders of foursquare are deciding how to respond to competitive threats and scale up the organization. Foursquare was a location-based online service that allowed users to "check in" to a location using an application on a smartphone. Foursquare kept track of a... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Internet and the Web; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Competitive Advantage; Web Services Industry; United States

2003
Working Paper

Dynamic Mixed Duopoly: A Model Motivated by Linux vs. Windows

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Pankaj Ghemawat

This paper analyzes a dynamic mixed duopoly in which a profit-maximizing competitor interacts with a competitor that prices at zero (or marginal cost), with the cumulation of output affecting their relative positions over time. The modeling effort is motivated by... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Competition; Open Source Distribution; Balance and Stability; Applications and Software; Network Effects; Duopoly and Oligopoly

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November 2003 (Revised December 2003)
Case

Enabling Business Strategy with IT at the World Bank

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Brian DeLacey

World Bank IT provides services (communications, applications, video conferencing, knowledge sharing, distance learning, information sharing, client commerce, crisis management, etc.) on a global basis to the poorest countries in the globe via satellites. This case... View Details

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Globalized Economies and Regions; Information Technology; Global Strategy; Business Strategy; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry

December 2018
Case

Corporate Transformation at Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany

By: Joseph B. Fuller, Amy C. Edmondson, Daniela Beyersdorfer and Tonia Labruyere

When Stefan Oschmann became CEO and chairman of the executive board of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, in 2016, the company had started its transformation from a mid-tier traditional German industry player to a global modern science and technology player. The... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance With Family Ownership; Transformation; Change Management; Restructuring; Corporate Governance; Family Ownership

February 2022 (Revised February 2023)
Case

TikTok in 2020: Super App or Supernova? (Abridged)

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Dan Maher and Dan O'Brien

TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, was launched in 2012 around a simple idea—helping users entertain themselves on their smartphones while on the Beijing Subway. In less than a decade, it had become one of the world’s most valuable private companies, with investors... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platform; Artificial Intelligence; AI; Mobile App; Mobile App Industry; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Market Entry and Exit; Brands and Branding; Growth and Development Strategy; China