Publications

January 2014
Case

Entrepreneurial Finance Lab: Scaling an Innovative Start-up Financing Venture

By: Joan Farre-Mensa, William R. Kerr and Alexis Brownell

EFL provides credit-scoring services in developing countries using psychometric assessment, but the potential loss of a large customer makes them reconsider their scaling narrative. View Details

Keywords: Finance; Developing Countries; Lending; Psychometrics; Scaling; Entrepreneurship; Credit; Developing Countries and Economies; Growth and Development Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Banking Industry; Africa; Latin America

January 2000 (Revised February 2000)
Case

The HBS California Research Center

By: Ashish Nanda, Thomas J. DeLong and Scott D Landry

Harvard Business School's (HBS) California Research Center, a three-year experiment initiated in July 1997 to facilitate research, case-writing, and course development centered in the Silicon Valley Region, has been a "phenomenal success." In June 1999, HBS Dean Kim... View Details

Keywords: Business Education; Growth and Development Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Success; Education Industry; San Francisco

09 Feb 2016
First Look

February 9, 2016

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=50562 forthcoming Strategic Management Journal Entrepreneurial Beacons: The Yale Endowment, Run-ups, and the Growth of Venture Capital By: Bermiss, Y. Sekou,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

28 Jul 2015
Blog Post

Nairobi Love: Heading Home

test! I am working in Nairobi with Botho Ltd, an Africa focused market insight, strategic management and investment advisory firm to identify a more profitable and sustainable growth path for them. I am... View Details

Profile

Mariano Bomaggio

the career front, so I came to HBS to explore them. I saw it as a perfect way to discover what I really enjoy within different industries and places to work." In his finance classes, Mariano has been exposed to "how managers... View Details

Keywords: Tech; Manufacturing/Energy

August 1996
Case

ThermoLase

By: William A. Sahlman and Andrew S. Janower

John Hansen, CEO of ThermoLase, must develop a plan of action to exploit the company's new development-stage revolutionary hair removal technology with negligible revenues and a $500 million market capitalization. This nascent public Thermo Electron spin out company... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Business Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Plan; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry

March 2025
Supplement

Wasabi Technologies (B)

By: Lou Shipley and Stacy Straaberg

Set in 2019, the “Wasabi Technologies (A)” case centers on Wasabi Technologies (Wasabi), a successful hot cloud storage company based in Boston, Massachusetts. Founder and CEO David Friend is ready to scale the four-year-old venture rapidly. Wasabi had so far focused... View Details

Keywords: Information Management; Sales; Product Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; Information Technology Industry; United States; Massachusetts; Boston

Article

How Direct-to-Consumer Brands Can Continue to Grow

By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Daniel Corsten, Matt Higgins and Leonard A. Schlesinger

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands such as Allbirds, Casper, Peloton, and Warby Parker have creatively found a weakness in the marketing citadel of incumbent brands. By using data gleaned from daily interactions with customers, these brands have been able to adapt how... View Details

Keywords: Direct-to-consumer; Customer Journey; Business Model; Customer Relationship Management; Growth and Development Strategy

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March 2008
Supplement

Patel Food and Chemicals Private Limited (B)

By: Felda Hardymon and Ann Leamon

Alok Patel, the founder and chairman of a Gujarat-based, privately held edible oils processor, has hired a CFO and the company is doing extremely well. He wants to add a new plant to process oilive oil, but estimates he will need $20 million. He must decide among... View Details

Keywords: Financial Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Financing and Loans; Investment; Financial Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; Chemical Industry; Gujarat

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Fast Answer

Sustainability in Manufacturing Industry

This is a part of Baker Library's Sustainability Research Guide. Background Readings The Next Economic Growth Engine Scaling Fourth Industrial Revolution Technologies in Production This paper summarizes new findings and... View Details

20 Jun 2014
News

Innovation is not a side business to running a company—innovation is the business

Leading innovation is the foundation of a company's success—in bad times as well as good. This is the lesson Lynda M. Applegate, Baker Foundation Professor, has drawn from her research. Applegate has identified an approach to managing... View Details

01 Feb 1999
News

New Releases

Managing Across Borders by Christopher A. Bartlett and Sumantra Ghoshal (Harvard Business School Press) A decade ago HBS professor Christopher A. Bartlett and London Business School professor Sumantra Ghoshal proposed a revolutionary new... View Details

Keywords: Nancy O. Perry

October 2012
Case

Sirtris Pharmaceuticals: Living Healthier, Longer (Abridged)

By: Toby Stuart and James Weber

Describes a set of key strategic decisions facing the scientific founder and CEO of a promising, early stage bio-pharmaceuticals company. Should the company establish a proposed alliance with a pharmaceutical firm? Should it create a nutraceuticals business in parallel... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Risk Management; Brands and Branding; Pharmaceutical Industry

26 Sep 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, September 26, 2017

forthcoming Review of Financial Studies Managing the Family Firm: Evidence from CEOs at Work By: Bandiera, Oriana, Andrea Prat, Renata Lemos, and Raffaella Sadun Abstract—We present evidence on the labor supply of CEOs and on whether... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2001 (Revised November 2009)
Case

Amazon.com (C)

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

At the end of 1998, Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos ponders the next moves for his company. Having secured the leadership position as the leading online book seller in the United States, Amazon.com has now moved into the product categories of CDs and videos by... View Details

Keywords: Expansion; Internet and the Web; Business Growth and Maturation; Books; Growth and Development Strategy; Retail Industry; Germany; United Kingdom; United States

25 Aug 2015
First Look

First Look Tuesday

Publications Forthcoming Management Science How Much Is a Win Worth? An Application to Intercollegiate Athletics By: Chung, Doug J. Abstract—Intercollegiate athletics in the United States have become a multibillion-dollar industry over... View Details

March 8, 2008
Comment

Marketing Your Way Through a Recession

By: John A. Quelch

The signs of an imminent recession are all around us. The spillover from the subprime mortgage crisis is weakening both consumer confidence and the consumer spending—much of it on credit—that has been buoying the U.S. economy. View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Recession; Products And Sales; Core Values; Fluctuation; Volatility; Economic Growth; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Growth and Development; Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Risk and Uncertainty; Salesforce Management; Asia; Europe; Latin America; North and Central America

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September 2016 (Revised February 2019)
Case

KaBOOM!: Play at Scale (A)

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Sarah Appleby

A case on scaling social impact for nonprofits. Founded in 1995, KaBOOM! quickly became a nationally recognized nonprofit in building playgrounds with strong corporate partnerships and volunteer-organizing capabilities. Over the years, KaBOOM! developed new programs,... View Details

Keywords: Scaling Social Impact; Scaling; Nonprofit Scaling; Nonprofit Organizations; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Social Enterprise; Growth and Development Strategy; United States

February 2008 (Revised September 2010)
Case

LeapFrog Enterprises

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Elizabeth Collins

Explores the success factors leading to the company's rise to the number three ranking in the aggressively competitive toy industry. LeapFrog has made the strategic decision to expand beyond the toy industry and enter the educational technology and services industry.... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Expansion; Consumer Products Industry; Education Industry