Publications

July 2018 (Revised January 2021)
Case

RunKeeper

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Shweta Bagai

The case examines the focus of an early stage company and how venture capital can distort a founder’s view. It encompasses issues such as financing, understanding the founders’ definition of success/failure, defining and pivoting a business model, and determining the... View Details

Keywords: Early Stage Funding; Pivot; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Business Model; Health Industry

Article

Employee Selection as a Control System

By: Dennis Campbell

Theories from the economics, management control, and organizational behavior literatures predict that when it is difficult to align incentives by contracting on output, aligning preferences via employee selection may provide a useful alternative. This study... View Details

Keywords: Management Systems; Governance Controls; Employees; Selection and Staffing; Motivation and Incentives; Decision Making; Business Model

Find at Harvard

Research Summary

Organisational Learning in Software Requirements Engineering and Management

The current research project addresses the continuing low success rate of software development projects, which has been frequently reported in empirical studies. For example, the 2004 Chaos Report by the Standish Group found that only 29% of 9,236 application... View Details

December 2018 (Revised June 2021)
Supplement

Bulb 2017: Launch

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

On August 21, 2015, Amit Gudka and Hayden Wood, co-founders of Bulb Ltd. (Bulb) launched a new business to supply energy to the United Kingdom’s 27 million residential homes with a promise of 100% renewable electricity at affordable prices. By the end of March 2017,... View Details

06 Nov 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, November 6, 2018

average, NPEs appear to behave as opportunistic “patent trolls.” NPEs sue cash-rich firms and target cash in business segments unrelated to alleged infringement at essentially the same frequency as they target cash in segments related to... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

October 2019 (Revised January 2020)
Case

Dulcie Madden (A)—Growth or Exit?

By: Shikhar Ghosh, Christopher Payton and Shweta Bagai

This is part of a three-case series that follows Dulcie Madden's journey as a founder over five years. Case (A) is about managing growth and cash flow; Case (B) is about the exit decision and conditions on a sale; Case (C) shows Madden dealing with adversity and the... View Details

28 Oct 2008
First Look

First Look: October 28, 2008

competitions. In 2007, Threadless was well on its way to selling more than a million and a half t-shirts. The success of Threadless has garnered significant media attention, the New York Times and USA's National Public Radio highlighting its unique community-based... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

01 Aug 2011
Research & Ideas

Immigrant Innovators: Job Stealers or Job Creators?

specifically for beneficiaries who have received advanced degrees in the United States.) "It's a lightning rod for a very heated debate," says William Kerr, a professor at Harvard Business School who studies how immigration affects... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Technology

14 Oct 2014
First Look

First Look: October 14

Business School Case 615-009 American Airlines in 2011 (A) The "American Airlines in 2011" case set was developed to provide a setting for the comparative analysis of two very different business... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 2024 (Revised May 2025)
Case

Hakluyt: From Corporate Intelligence to Trusted Advisors

By: Joseph B. Fuller and Lena Duchene

Established in 1995 by a group of ex-British intelligence officers, Hakluyt & Company (Hakluyt) was a corporate advisory firm that generated insights by leveraging a unique blend of internal expertise and a global network of well-connected individuals. Since 2019, the... View Details

19 Feb 2007
Research & Ideas

Inexperienced Investors and Market Bubbles

joining a bubble. In the recent paper, "Inexperienced Investors and Bubbles," Harvard Business School's Robin Greenwood and Stanford's Stefan Nagel compared the returns of young and older mutual fund managers during and after... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Financial Services

February 1985 (Revised January 2024)
Case

Health Stop (A): What Type of Innovation Is It? And Six Factors Alignment

By: Regina E. Herzlinger, Joyce Lallman, Nancy Kane, Jefferson C. Grahling and James Wallace

How can we evaluate if innovative health care ventures can do good—benefit society—and do well—become financially viable? This question is the topic of the first module in the Innovating In Health Care course book. This note and case series enables readers to conduct... View Details

Keywords: For-Profit Firms; Business Model; Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Strategy; Valuation; Health Industry; Retail Industry

January 2025
Case

Negotiating a Legacy at Sustainable Harvest (A)

By: Jillian Jordan, Julian Zlatev, Alicia Dadlani and Martha Hostetter

The specialty coffee importer Sustainable Harvest was the first certified B Corp in the coffee industry due to its investments in building coffee farmers’ capacity and livelihood. But in 2022, after coffee prices plummeted and the company’s bank declined to extend its... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Mergers and Acquisitions; Trust; Ethics; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Volatility; Futures and Commodity Futures; Social Enterprise; Valuation; Business Model; Credit; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Food and Beverage Industry; United States; Europe

10 Apr 2007
First Look

First Look: April 10, 2007

media content. Raises issues of how technology interacts with creative processes and outcome possibilities, and also invites discussion of strategic and organizational questions raised by the very different business View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

25 Sep 2007
First Look

First Look: September 25, 2007

economic performance. Purchase this case: http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=807155 Gome Electronics: Evolving the Business Model Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

24 Oct 2006
First Look

First Look: October 24, 2006

Course MaterialsCellular Service Harvard Business School Case 707-424 Background on cellular service technology and "friends and family" plans as foundation for discussing network effects. Purchase this case:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

26 Jan 2010
First Look

First Look: Jan. 26

Working PapersCompeting Ad Auctions: Multi-homing and Participation Costs Authors:Itai Ashlagi, Benjamin Edelman, and Hoan Soo Lee Abstract We model competing auctions for online advertising, with attention to the participation costs... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

20 Aug 2007
Research & Ideas

HBS Cases: Using Investor Relations Proactively

strong investor relations (IR) departments, according to HBS professor Gregory S. Miller. Two cases he recently coauthored describe how these different firms in the oil and gas industry—controversial of late for its mile-high profits—have carved a path as View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Energy; Utilities

January 2025
Supplement

Negotiating a Legacy at Sustainable Harvest (B)

By: Jillian Jordan, Julian Zlatev, Alicia Dadlani and Martha Hostetter

The specialty coffee importer Sustainable Harvest was the first certified B Corp in the coffee industry due to its investments in building coffee farmers’ capacity and livelihood. But in 2022, after coffee prices plummeted and the company’s bank declined to extend its... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Mergers and Acquisitions; Trust; Ethics; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Volatility; Futures and Commodity Futures; Social Enterprise; Valuation; Business Model; Credit; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Food and Beverage Industry; United States; Europe