Publications

February 2010 (Revised December 2010)
Case

Google Inc. (Abridged)

By: Benjamin Edelman and Thomas R. Eisenmann

Describes Google's history, business model, governance structure, corporate culture, and processes for managing innovation. Reviews Google's recent strategic initiatives and the threats it poses to Yahoo, Microsoft, and others. Asks what Google should do next. One... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Corporate Governance; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Competitive Strategy; Search Technology; Web Services Industry

10 Sep 2013
First Look

First Look: September 10

Publications 2006 Regional Studies Spatial Determinants of Entrepreneurship in India By: Ghani, Ejaz, William R. Kerr, and Stephen O'Connell Abstract—We analyze the spatial determinants of entrepreneurship... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 2019 (Revised October 2019)
Case

Bill Connors and The Farm, a Comcast NBCUniversal Innovation Hub (Powered by Boomtown)

By: Linda A. Hill and Eric Mankin

In 2017, Bill Connors, the President of Comcast’s Central Division, launched a startup accelerator in Comcast’s new Atlanta Regional headquarters. Comcast was America's largest cable and internet service provider, having built a profitable business bundling television... View Details

November 2022 (Revised October 2024)
Case

'A Marshall Plan for Africa': James Mwangi and Equity Group Holdings

By: Caroline M. Elkins, Debora L. Spar, Zeke Gillman and Julia M. Comeau

Financial Inclusion. Dignity. Trust. These were the core principles driving James Mwangi’s transformation of Equity Building Society, insolvent in 1991, into what is, today, Equity Group Holdings, East and Central Africa’s largest retail banking institution. Raised in... View Details

Keywords: Income Inequality; Micro Finance; Microcredit; Microfinance; Banks and Banking; Equality and Inequality; Mission and Purpose; Business Model; Social Entrepreneurship; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; Africa; Kenya

March 2021
Case

Founders Factory

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and James Barnett

In January 2020, Founders Factory (FF) Executive Chairman Brent Hoberman and CEO Henry Lane Fox were considering FF’s expansion strategy. FF operated as a venture capital (VC) fund built around an accelerator and incubator, and organized around sectors within... View Details

September 2016 (Revised October 2017)
Case

KaBOOM!: Play at Scale (Abridged)

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 Enterprise; Scaling Social Impact; Nonprofit Scaling; Nonprofit; Nonprofit Organizations; Social Enterprise; Social Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; United States

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

It Came in the First Ships: Capitalism in America

business corporation. There are several million corporations in the United States today, and a handful existed at the nation's official birth in 1776. The device became integral to the American economy only in the middle nineteenth... View Details

Keywords: by Thomas K. McCraw

07 Aug 2007
First Look

First Look: August 7, 2007

influence portfolio choices by exploring the response to the distinctive treatment of foreign dividends in the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act (JGTRRA). JGTRRA lowered the dividend tax rate to 15% for American equities and extended this tax relief only to... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

13 Dec 2019
Blog Post

All Is Well in Texas: How Julia Cheek Founded Her At-Home Lab Testing Startup, EverlyWell

Julia Cheek’s time at HBS was nothing short of inspirational. In fact, two unicorn startups, Coupang, and Grab-Taxi all came out of her section alone! When she started at HBS in 2009, many of her classmates, regardless of previous experience, were interested in View Details

July 2008
Course Overview Note

The Devil Wears Prada (HBS Version) (TN)

By: Howard H. Stevenson and Shirley Spence

The Devil Wears Prada is used to facilitate a discussion of the role of communities in people's lives. It is used in a second year MBA elective at HBS called Building a Business in the Context of a Life (BBCL). BBCL is primarily designed for students who plan to be... View Details

Keywords: Business Education; Entrepreneurship; Personal Development and Career; Planning; Civil Society or Community; Organizational Culture; Power and Influence

Web

Faculty & Research - Business & Environment

Faculty & Research Faculty & Research April 2025 Teaching Material 'Care in Every Drop': Ayala Corporation and Manila Water (A) and (B) By: Debora L. Spar and Sarah Sasso Teaching Note for HBS Case Nos. 324-038 and 324-039. 2025 Book... View Details

Web

Employment Data Trends

Function 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 Business Development 5% 6% 7% 6% 8% Consulting 26% 25% 26% 26% 18% Finance 32% 33% 33% 33% 38% Corporate Finance 1% 0% 0% 0% 0% Investment Banking / Sales & Trading 3% 4% 3% 3% 5% Investment Management /... View Details

June 2005 (Revised May 2006)
Case

Vidient (A)

Vidient, a young company, is in the process of being spun out of a much larger, established Japanese business. Vidient is in the business of analyzing the feeds from security cameras and catches security breaches automatically, without human assistance. The parent... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Business Growth and Maturation; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Business Startups; Service Industry; Japan

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April 2020 (Revised August 2020)
Case

WeWork—November 2018

By: Paul A. Gompers, Patrick Sweeney and Alex Gachanja

In May 2017, SoftBank announced the official launch of the Vision Fund — which promptly became the largest technology-focused investment fund in the world, with nearly $100 billion in capital under its management. Reports from a few months prior hinted that SoftBank... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Valuation; Corporate Governance

2017
Chapter

Getting Started with Ambidexterity

By: Andrew Binns and Michael Tushman

This paper demonstrates the value of thinking about ambidexterity as having three distinct moments—ideation, incubation, and scaling—that share common features for success, such as the role of the senior team, and that also have distinct disciplines. Incubation is a... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Innovation and Invention

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