Publications

April 2017 (Revised November 2017)
Case

BlackRock (D): Organizing for the Future (with video links)

By: Ranjay Gulati, Jan W. Rivkin and Aldo Sesia

By the end of 2015, BlackRock had succeeded beyond any of the early dreams of its founders. The firm remained the world’s largest asset manager, with more than $4.6 trillion under management, and other financial services companies used BlackRock’s Aladdin platform to... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Competition; Information Technology; Asset Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Financial Services Industry; United States

17 Jun 2008
First Look

First Look: June 17, 2008

Holland, Switzerland, Russia, Romania, and Ukraine. It was founded by Hüsnü Özyeğin in 1987 and in April 2006, the National Bank of Greece (NBG) offered to buy part of the bank. Students can consider which factors contributed to Finansbank’s View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

12 May 2003
Research & Ideas

How Hot is the “Hot Spot” Business?

experience," Dayton said. An audience member asked what role venture capital has to play in the growth of Wi-Fi, noting that almost no VC money has been used to build hot-spot businesses. Moore, the lone VC representative, said he... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne & Martha Lagace; Technology; Communications; Telecommunications

November 1997
Case

Case Corporation

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Tom Clay

A successful turnaround global farm machinery company is attempting to redefine its role in the global food system and develop a strategic plan for the company. View Details

Keywords: Change; Machinery and Machining; Global Strategy; Growth and Development; Strategic Planning; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

20 Oct 2009
First Look

First Look: October 20

technology. Private capital flows—debt finance, equity capital, and foreign direct investment (FDI)—became larger than current and past official capital flows. This new era of foreign capital mobility has also been characterized by low interest rates in View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

January 2020
Case

Lunchclub: Algorithmic Networking

By: Scott Duke Kominers and George Gonzalez

Algorithmic networking startup Lunchclub coordinates in-person meetings between professionals who would have been unlikely to meet. The company faces marketplace design, growth, and monetization challenges: The executive team has to refine Lunchclub's marketplace... View Details

Keywords: Monetization Strategy; Networking; Business Startups; Marketplace Matching; Market Design; Growth and Development Strategy; Information Industry

January 2018 (Revised March 2018)
Case

Wenzhou Kangning Hospital: Changing Mental Healthcare in China

By: William C. Kirby, Wei Zhang, Yuanzhuo Wang and Nancy Hua Dai

The city of Wenzhou in the Province of Zhejiang, long known in China for entrepreneurship, now hosts the country’s largest privately owned mental health hospital group. This case traces the development of Wenzhou Kangning Hospital Co, Ltd. from founding to just before... View Details

Keywords: Mental Health; Hospital; IPO; China; Zhejiang; Wenzhou; Private Healthcare; Private Hospital; Health Care and Treatment; Private Ownership; Corporate Governance; Growth and Development; Entrepreneurship; Health Industry; China

November 1994
Case

Citibank European Strategy & Organization

By: Michael Y. Yoshino and Thomas W. Malnight

Examines strategic and organizational issues facing Citibank as it pursues a highly focused strategy in Europe in the face of increasing competition. Central in this consideration is the role of the European regional organization. View Details

Keywords: Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Design; Competitive Strategy; Competition; Banking Industry; Europe

Find at Harvard

January 1989
Case

Benetton S.p.A.

By: Howard H. Stevenson

Focuses on the strategic/organizational development of Benetton. Examines the organizational structure which has allowed the company to expand into a world scale company from its small entrepreneurial base. Examines the functional strategies which have allowed a huge... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Organizational Structure; Growth and Development; Business Strategy; Performance Effectiveness; Fashion Industry; Fashion Industry

20 Jul 2010
First Look

First Look: July 20

members questioned the logic of additional investment in the region whose resources were so uncertain and wondered whether it was more prudent to pursue growth elsewhere. At the same time, some of Woolf's owners began to believe that more... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

06 Dec 2016
First Look

December 6, 2016

originating catalyst for the Industrial Revolution and modern capitalism casts new light on American credit markets, practices of offshore investment, and understandings of human capital. Rather than seeing slavery as outside the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2000 (Revised March 2004)
Case

Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina

Describes the creation and financing of Officenet, an office supply distributor in Argentina. The company serves the business-to-business market through a catalog (combined with phone orders) and also through an Internet-based catalog. Officenet is a pioneer in both... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Argentina

17 Apr 2012
First Look

First Look: April 17

Chesapeake's board and its compensation committee, including McClendon's role in consummating several joint ventures, which the board and committee believed positioned the company for future growth in the relatively young View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

17 Jan 2012
First Look

First Look: January 17

stocks: stocks of large, mature, low-volatility, profitable, dividend-paying firms that are neither high growth nor distressed. Variables derived from the yield curve that are already known to predict returns on bonds also predict returns... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2022 (Revised January 2024)
Case

Moksha Data: Delivering Insights for Public Service

By: Ashish Nanda and Zack Kurtovich

Moksha Data, a boutique consulting firm specializing in public sector work, started in January 2017 with a handshake between friends and a shared commitment to the principles of egalitarianism, ownership, and collaboration. The Houston-based firm had built momentum... View Details

Keywords: Professional Service Firms; Professional Service Firm; Strategy Formulation; Data; Data As A Service; Government Contracting; Consulting; Consulting Firms; Consulting Services; Entrepreneurship; Public Sector; Analytics and Data Science; Growth and Development; Strategy; Consulting Industry; Texas

July 2021
Teaching Plan

Scale and Scope at Drake Real Estate Partners

By: Christina R. Wing and David Lane

Teaching Plan for HBS Case No. 621-065. View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Family Business; Investment; Ownership; Value Creation; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States; Latin America; Chile

December 2014 (Revised November 2023)
Case

Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement?

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Lisa C. Mazzanti

Codecademy, an open-platform, online community for learning computer programming, launched in 2011. By 2014, the company had raised a total of $12.5 million in funding and was, on many fronts, an overwhelming success. However, there were still no revenues. The founders... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Management; Startup Management; Technology; Computer Programming; Coding; Online Education; Monetization; Online Communities; Marketplaces; Internet and the Web; Education; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Technology Industry; Technology Industry