Publications

July 2006 (Revised March 2010)
Case

Symantec vs. McAfee: Competing in the Consumer Anti-virus Industry

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Jordan Mitchell

Symantec and McAfee hold 53.6% and 18.8% respectively, of the anti-virus software market as of 2006. While the market is concentrated with five firms controlling over 90%, Microsoft is on the eve of releasing a consumer security subscription packed called OneCare Live.... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Market Entry and Exit; Competitive Strategy; Software; Information Technology Industry

Find at Harvard

25 Aug 2022
News

Harnessing the Tools of the Digital Age

invest in a data science artificial intelligence across your enterprise to take advantage of the large volume of data being produced. And finally, to actually deliver new value to your customers, you need to design new business View Details

Keywords: April White

September 2002 (Revised July 2012)
Case

Athleta

By: William A. Sahlman and Taslim Pirmohamed

The management team at Athleta is attempting to raise equity capital for the company in March 2002. Athleta is a catalog and online retailer of women's athletic clothing. The company has made substantial progress, with anticipated 2002 sales over $20 million, but has... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Financing and Loans; Business Model; Business Strategy; Equity; Capital; Retail Industry

01 Dec 2022
News

Road to Recovery

as acknowledgement of having achieved a sobriety streak. Such incentives and nudges may seem inconsequential, but they can go a long way toward changing behavior, says HBS professor Leslie John. She has not evaluated DynamiCare’s model in... View Details

Keywords: April White; Ambulatory Health Care Services; Health, Social Assistance

February 2020
Case

Intellectual Ventures Update 2020

By: David B. Yoffie and Daniel Fisher

After raising $6 billion and buying 60,000 patents, Intellectual Venture (IV) was confronted with a changing legal environment. After a number of important legal decisions, including the Supreme Court's so-called "Alice" decision, IV had to shift strategy. IV sold off... View Details

Keywords: Intellectual Property; Strategy; Innovation and Invention; Information Technology; Business Model; United States

August 2011
Supplement

Better World Books Video

By: Michael I. Norton, Fiona Wilson, Jill Avery and Thomas Steenburgh

This video contains an interview with David Murphy, CEO of Better World Books. Topics discussed include: the opportunities and constraints offered by having a social mission, an update on the company, and the future of Better World Books. View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development; Management Teams; Business Model; Social Enterprise; Publishing Industry

08 Apr 2009
Research & Ideas

Clayton Christensen on Disrupting Health Care

affordable, changing the way we consumers pay for the services doesn't fix anything. What we need is a system of new value networks that will disrupt the old business models in this industry. We need a new... View Details

Keywords: by Deborah Blagg; Health

December 2000 (Revised November 2001)
Case

Rise and Fall of Iridium, The

By: Alan D. MacCormack and Kerry Herman

Examines the history of Iridium Communications, a provider of mobile satellite services. Discusses the genesis of Iridium's technical design, then follows the venture through various stages of development. Describes Iridium's attempts to build a subscriber base after... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Business Model; Business Growth and Maturation; Organizational Structure; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Telecommunications Industry

24 Sep 2020
News

The Race for a Vaccine

Pisano says. But vaccines don’t really fit the same business model as high-volume therapeutic drugs; they have an even higher bar for safety and effectiveness, because unlike most other drugs they are... View Details

Keywords: April White; COVID-19; Scientific Research and Development Services

June 1997 (Revised September 1997)
Case

Genset Initial Public Offering (B)

By: Paul A. Gompers and Jeffrey M. Anapolsky

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Initial Public Offering; Genetics; Going Public; Management Teams; Biotechnology Industry; France; United States

01 Aug 2014
News

A closer look at the industry of beauty

The global beauty business is a $450 billion industry, yet it received little serious scholarly attention until Geoffrey G. Jones, the Isidor Straus Professor of Business History at HBS, published Beauty... View Details

August 2007
Case

Manila Water Company

By: V. Kasturi Rangan, David Wheeler and Jane Comeault

In 1997, the Philippines government privatized its water utility in the metropolitan Manila area. The East Zone concession was won by Manila Water Company and the West Zone concession by Maynilad Water Services. Over the next decade, Manila Water turned in an... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Framework; Business or Company Management; Bids and Bidding; Privatization; Performance Improvement; Utilities Industry

Student-Profile

Erica Moszkowski

Williams College. Degree in hand, Erica accepted a position as a research assistant at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where she witnessed how economic modeling translates into policy decisions. She became passionate about pursuing... View Details

25 Aug 2022
News

Labs Enable Large-scale Research

Illustrations from VectorStock.com The Digital, Data, and Design Institute at Harvard (D^3) aims to supercharge HBS’s research agenda by applying a lab-based model similar to that used by the scientific community for problem solving,... View Details

April 2017
Case

China Hospitals Inc.: The Growth of Private Hospitals in China

By: Kevin Schulman, Xiao Yu and Ariel Hwang

This case examines the privatization of hospitals in China. China Hospitals, Inc. has become the largest for-profit hospital company in China, purchasing government owned hospitals in Tier 2 cities. The case profiles CEO Frank Hu. To build his company, he has to... View Details

Keywords: Privatization; For-Profit Firms; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Model; Health Industry; China

March 1998 (Revised March 2001)
Case

Concordia Electronic Systems Test

By: Thomas R. Piper

The management of an electronics company must decide whether to use a single hurdle rate for all projects or to move to a system of different hurdle rates for each of its two divisions. The divisions differ substantially in terms of risk and seem to have substantially... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Risk and Uncertainty; Cost of Capital; Valuation; Business Divisions; Electronics Industry

Find at Harvard

March 2001 (Revised July 2002)
Case

WingspanBank.com (B): Should This Bird Still Fly?

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Stacy McManus

WingspanBank.com is launched to critical acclaim, but its fate is hardly certain. Bank One's new CEO, Jamie Dimon, must decide what to do with what is now a second Web site for the bank's current and prospective customers. View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Startups; Customers; Innovation and Management; Organizations; Complexity; Web Sites; Financial Services Industry

Find at Harvard

2020
Book

The Ends Game: How Smart Companies Stop Selling Products and Start Delivering Value

By: Marco Bertini and Oded Koenigsberg

How some firms are rewriting the rules of commerce by pursuing “ends”—actual outcomes—rather than selling “means”—their products and services. View Details

Keywords: Commerce; Business Model; Design; Customer Relationship Management; Strategy