Publications

January 2024 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Colbún and Chile’s Energy Transition

By: Forest Reinhardt, Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago and Mariana Cal

In May 2023, Colbún, Chile’s second-largest electricity generator, plans capacity expansions using renewable energy and storage. This strategy supports Chile’s commitment to carbon neutrality (also known as net zero emissions) by 2050. The case delves into the... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Energy Generation; Renewable Energy; Climate Change; Investment; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Infrastructure; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Expansion; Business Strategy; Energy Industry; Utilities Industry; Latin America; South America; Chile

17 Jul 2006
Lessons from the Classroom

Developing a Strategy for Digital Convergence

capability of winner-take-all," says Yoffie. Many dot-com companies assumed strong network effects around their businesses, then lost more than a trillion dollars chasing something that didn't exist.... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Computer; Education

October 2000 (Revised November 2005)
Case

Li & Fung (A): Internet Issues

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Fred Young

This case looks at the issues facing a Hong Kong-based trading company, which links hundreds of factories in India and Asia with major customers like Gap and the Limited in Europe and in the United States. The company has recently launched a dot-com operation to allow... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Multinational Firms and Management; Distribution Channels; Logistics; Networks; Markets; Supply Chain; Retail Industry; Hong Kong; India; Europe; United States

August 2018
Case

BlackBuck (A)

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Shweta Bagai

The case presents the challenges of scaling an asset-heavy company (that relies on its operations). It highlights how decisions on the early team impact a company’s ability to scale, linkage between growth and cash flows, as well the organizational impact of high... View Details

Keywords: Founders; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Service Delivery; Cash Flow; Growth Management; Truck Transportation; Online Technology; India

May 2021
Case

Endeavor Kenya: Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Shikhar Ghosh and Christian Godwin

In 2016, Fiona Mungai became Endeavor Kenya’s first managing director. In this role, she helped the organization build its inaugural board and select its first Endeavor entrepreneur, a fintech company called Cellulant. Throughout this process, Mungai observed the power... View Details

15 Oct 2015
Blog Post

Why We Recruit: Medallia

Organization:Ursela Knezevic, University Programs, MBA Talent Outreach, Medallia Describe your organization in three to five sentences. Medallia is the fastest growing Customer Experience Management Company in the world. We give leading... View Details

Keywords: Technology

8:30 AM – 6:45 PM EDT, 15 Sep 2020
Virtual Programming

Competing in the Age of AI and Digital Transformation

How are companies today using artificial intelligence (AI) to respond to business challenges? During this session, professors Karim Lakhani and Macro Iansiti, coauthors of the book Competing in the Age of AI: Strategy and Leadership When Algorithms and Networks Run the... View Details

12 May 2020
Blog Post

Leaving a Career in Tech for Venture Capital and Entrepreneurship

ecosystem both from an entrepreneurial and investing perspective. I’d heard it was a difficult industry to break into, and I’d hoped to find a supportive network at HBS who could help me prepare for it. “The best way to get a job in VC,... View Details

December 2012
Article

Estimating the Value of Connections to Vice-President Cheney

By: Rakesh Khurana, Raymond Fisman, Julia Galef and Yongxiang Wang

We estimate the market valuation of personal ties to Richard Cheney. Our proxies for personal ties are based on corporate board linkages that are prevalent in the network sociology literature. We consider a number of distinct political and personal events that either... View Details

Keywords: Event Analysis; Political Economy; Corruption; Networks; United States

Find at Harvard

24 Sep 2019
Blog Post

Launching a Career in Clean Energy

Established in 2010, the HBS Business & Environment Initiative (BEI) works to deepen understanding of the environmental challenges facing business leaders and inspire new ideas and practical, effective solutions. BEI has established a View Details

13 Jul 2016
HBS Case

How Uber, Airbnb, and Etsy Attracted Their First 1,000 Customers

who have rides to offer. (Same idea as Airbnb, which connects people needing rooms with home-owners.) So to launch as a platform service, these companies need to find users on both the supply and demand sides. “Poaching customers is... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Transportation; Transportation; Transportation

March 2017 (Revised February 2018)
Case

VMware and the Public Cloud

By: Raffaella Sadun and Christine Snively

In 2015, VMware, a pioneer in server and network virtualization and a member of parent company EMC’s “federation” of companies, had set its sights on becoming a leading public cloud provider. Two years prior, VMware first entered the public cloud market with its vCloud... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Growth and Development Strategy; Internet and the Web; Computer Industry; Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry

2024
Working Paper

What Do Impact Investors Do Differently?

By: Shawn Cole, Leslie Jeng, Josh Lerner, Natalia Rigol and Benjamin N. Roth

In recent years, impact investors – private investors who seek to generate simultaneously financial and social returns – have attracted intense interest and controversy. We analyze a novel, comprehensive data set of impact and traditional investors to assess how the... View Details

Keywords: ESG; Socially Responsible Investing; Investment Decisions; Public Goods; Impact Investment; Investment; Private Equity; Venture Capital

SSRN

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July 2008 (Revised January 2010)
Case

Affinity Labs, Inc.

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and Elizabeth Kind

In November 2006, Chris Michel left Military.com, which he founded in 1999, to start Affinity Labs, a global network of online communities. That month, Michel raised a Series A round of venture funding and established a partnership with Monster, which he had sold... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Demand and Consumers; Partners and Partnerships; Social and Collaborative Networks; Online Technology

November 2019
Case

Scaling at Chief

By: Katherine B. Coffman, Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Kathleen L. McGinn, Julia Kelley and Katherine Chen

Chief is a New York-based peer network that provides mentorship, support, networking opportunities, and a sense of community to women executives. Co-founders Carolyn Childers and Lindsay Kaplan launched the company in January 2019, and just two months later, Chief has... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Leadership Development; Expansion; Growth Management; Customer Satisfaction; North and Central America; United States; New York (state, US); New York (city, NY)

April 1996
Case

Shanghai Volkswagen

Volkswagen and Shanghai Sedan, have developed a joint venture to build western-quality autos in China. Having developed a supplier network capable of delivering quality components, the company now faces a need to expand capacity (demanding rapid expansion of their... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Management Practices and Processes; Joint Ventures; Operations; Performance Capacity; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry; Germany; China

November 2020
Case

Guild Education: Unlocking Opportunity for America's Workforce

By: William A. Sahlman, Michael D. Smith, Nicole Tempest Keller and Alpana Thapar

Founded in 2015, Guild Education is an education marketplace that connects employers and universities to provide employees with ‘education as a benefit.’ The Denver-based company is transforming traditional tuition assistance programs by facilitating direct payment by... View Details

Keywords: Education; Digital Platforms; Information Technology; Employees; Social Enterprise; Education Industry; Technology Industry; Colorado

August 1998 (Revised June 2000)
Case

FairMarket, Inc.: Where Buyers and Sellers Connect

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Jack Wieland and Chad M. M Raube

On February 20, 1997, FairMarket, an Internet-based business-to-business auction site, was launched. CEO, founder Scott Randall, drew on his experience building Internet businesses at NECX Direct, Yahoo, and Internet Shopping Network to build his business. This case,... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Debates; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development; Growth Management; Management Style; Product Launch; Multi-Sided Platforms; Problems and Challenges; Information Technology; Information Technology Industry; Web Services Industry

Find at Harvard

February 1998 (Revised August 1998)
Case

Teradyne, Inc.: Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III

Alexander d'Arbeloff, Teradyne's founder and CEO, is launching his company into the software and network testing business. He has acquired three external start-ups and is beginning to integrate them with the rest of the company. While Teradyne's core... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Business Startups; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Leadership Style; Success; Horizontal Integration