Publications

January 2008 (Revised December 2008)
Case

Codman Academy: Beyond the Start-up Phase

By: Stacey Childress and Tiffany K. Cheng

As it entered its seventh academic year, Codman Academy, an expeditionary learning charter school located in Dorchester, Massachusetts, was reflecting on its successes and challenges. The school had succeeded in placing every member of its most recent graduating class... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Leadership; Performance Improvement; Partners and Partnerships; Education Industry; Boston

01 Jun 1997
News

New Releases

describes how Matsushita helped lead Japan's economic growth after World War II, inventing business practices that were adopted fifty years later by many of the world's great corporations. An exemplar of... View Details

November 1987 (Revised June 1988)
Case

ServiceMaster Industries, Inc.

By: James L. Heskett

The CEO of ServiceMaster Industries has convened an internal task force to come up with ideas for reorganizing the company to accommodate unusually fast growth. In developing both alternatives and criteria for appraising them, the task force has to keep in mind the... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Culture

07 Aug 2019
Research & Ideas

Big Infrastructure May Not Always Produce Big Benefits

Governments and policymakers often assume that infrastructure development is key to jumpstarting economic growth for citizens, an “If we build it they will come” chain reaction of new jobs, more efficient transportation, and safer... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Construction

January 2006
Case

Jack Strang at SequenceLabs

By: Mukti Khaire, John J. Gabarro and Lynda M. Applegate

How can entrepreneur manage his firm if things go wrong despite having a great idea, a solid team, and financial backing? Jack Strang founded a biotech firm with his friend Peter Evans, to develop molecular pathway-based "cures" for metabolic disorders. The idea was... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business or Company Management; Venture Capital; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Business Growth and Maturation; Failure; Biotechnology Industry

2022
Working Paper

Institutional Emplacement and the Novel Resurgence of Independent Bookstores

By: Ryan Raffaelli and Ryann Noe

This study reveals how actors leverage physical place as an asset to facilitate organizational adaptation and industry evolution. Through a longitudinal, qualitative analysis of the U.S. independent bookselling industry from 1995 to 2019, we outline how dispersed... View Details

Keywords: Industry Growth; Small Business; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business Processes; Retail Industry; Publishing Industry; United States

Read Now

Stiritz was instrumental in streamlining Purina’s business operations – divesting of non-core, mature business lines and investing in brand name growth products. Through his... View Details

Keywords: Food & Tobacco

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

September 2002
Case

KaBOOM!

By: James E. Austin and Jose Miguel Porraz

KaBOOM! is a nonprofit organization developing playgrounds in partnership with corporations and communities. It has grown since 1995 to a national organization that has built 338 playgrounds in partnerships with over 40 companies. This case deals with the nature of... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Strategy; Nonprofit Organizations; Business and Community Relations; Growth and Development

March 2025
Teaching Plan

Wasabi Technologies (A) and (B)

By: N. Louis Shipley and Stacy Straaberg

Teaching Plan for HBS Case Nos. 823-021 and 825-035. 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... View Details

Keywords: Sales; Product Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Divisions; Business Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Distribution Channels; Information Technology Industry; United States; Massachusetts; Boston

July 2009
Teaching Note

Bernd Beetz: Creating the New Coty (TN)

By: Geoffrey G. Jones

Teaching Note for [808133]. View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Brands and Branding; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development; Business Subsidiaries; Product Launch; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Russia

Web

From the Chief Financial Officer | Annual Report 2024

From the Chief Financial Officer Harvard Business School’s economic model performed well in fiscal 2024, delivering a healthy operating surplus on investments in our core programs, strategic priorities, faculty initiatives, and... View Details

September 2010 (Revised July 2021)
Case

Gone Rural

By: Andre F. Perold

Gone Rural employs 750 women in rural communities across Swaziland to produce handwoven baskets and other hand-crafted items. The women are mostly grandmothers caring for children orphaned as a result of the country's high AIDS-related death rate. The company has a... View Details

Keywords: Social Enterprise; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Growth and Development; Buildings and Facilities; Business Growth and Maturation; Corporate Finance; Business and Shareholder Relations; Swaziland

13 Mar 2019
News

The First Five Years: Sierra Smith and Taylor Wiegele (both MBA 2017)

Taylor Wiegele and Sierra Smith on Shark Tank (photos by ABC) How did you come up with the idea for Zorpads? Sierra Smith: “We started Zorpads as part of a school project for FIELD 3 (which apparently no longer exists as required curriculum!). Our team was... View Details

Web

Collection Areas | Baker Library

the course of their regular business operations. Dating from the 17th to early 20th century, they are an invaluable resource for the study of the development and growth of American commerce and industry and... View Details

17 Nov 2014
Lessons from the Classroom

Managing the Family Business: Are Optimists or Pessimists Better Leaders?

optimist builds on incremental achievements and a sense of positive movement. Choose optimists to lead growth activities in your family organization. Entrepreneurs, for example, are much more likely to be optimists. But if you choose an... View Details

November 2007 (Revised August 2014)
Case

D2Hawkeye: Growing the Medical IT Enterprise

By: Robert F. Higgins, Rosie O'Donnell, Sophie LaMontagne and Brent Kazan

In mid-March 2007, Chris Kryder sat in his office and thought about how to best finance his company's growth. Over the previous five years as founder and CEO of D2Hawkeye, a Waltham, Massachusetts-based healthcare analytics company, Kryder had grown the firm from a... View Details

Keywords: Strategy Development; Strategic Positioning; Strategic Vision; Venture Capital; Small Business; Investment; Growth Management; Expansion; Business Growth and Maturation; Decision Choices and Conditions; Financing and Loans; Business Startups; Financial Strategy; Business Strategy; Service Industry; Health Industry; Waltham

March 2025
Supplement

No One Left Behind (D)

By: Lynn S. Paine, Herman B. "Dutch" Leonard, Max Hancock and David Lane

In September 2021, the board of directors for the nonprofit No One Left Behind (NOLB) faced a crucial decision. Since its 2013 founding, NOLB had helped resettle in the United States thousands of Afghans and Iraqis who had assisted U.S. forces as combat translators;... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Mission and Purpose; Nonprofit Organizations; Service Industry; Afghanistan; United States