Publications

November 2019 (Revised February 2020)
Case

Constellation Brands' Investment in Canopy Growth: Aiming High

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah L. Abbott

In 2017, Constellation Brands, the U.S.-based beverage company, acquired a 9.9% equity interest in the Canadian marijuana company, Canopy Growth. In 2018, Constellation announced a subsequent investment in Canopy—taking its ownership interest to 37%. However, Canopy’s... View Details

Keywords: Equity Investment; Marijuana; Growth Investing; New Market Development; Beverage Industry; Equity; Investment; Strategy; Consulting Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Canada; United States

January 2023 (Revised August 2023)
Case

Veeva Systems and the Transformation to a Public Benefit Corporation

By: Ranjay Gulati and Allison M. Ciechanover

Peter Gassner, the co-founder and CEO of Veeva Systems, steered the company through rapid scaling from its launch in 2007 to 2022. Year after year, the company had exceeded expectations, with its market capitalization reaching $50 billion at its peak. By 2022, the... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Corporate Governance; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Culture; Information Technology Industry; Technology Industry; United States; California

May 2013
Case

Launching Krispy Natural: Cracking the Product Management Code

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Heather Beckham

Pemberton Products is a U.S. market leader in the cookie and bakery snacks segment of the sweet snack market. Looking to expand into the salty snack market, the company acquires Krispy Inc., a maker of salty snack crackers located in the southeastern U.S. To compete... View Details

Keywords: Analytics and Data Science; Competition; Organizational Culture; Management Teams; Brands and Branding; Expansion; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Acquisition; Food and Beverage Industry; Ohio; United States

02 Jul 2013
First Look

First Look: July 2

New Line of Inquiry By: Moss, David, Anant Thaker, and Howard Rudnick Abstract—The substantial increase in inequality in the United States over the past three decades has provoked considerable debate, with... View Details

Keywords: Anna Secino

October 2021 (Revised September 2022)
Case

SmartOne: Building an AI Data Business

By: Karim R. Lakhani, Pippa Armerding, Gamze Yucaoglu and Fares Khrais

The case opens in August 2021, as Habib and Shahysta Hassim, husband and wife co-founders of the data labeling company SmartOne, contemplate the strategy of the high growth company. Between 2016 and 2021, SmartOne had kept doubling its size every two years and now,... View Details

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Data Labeling; Entrepreneurship; Strategy; Operations; Business Model; Growth Management; Growth and Development Strategy; AI and Machine Learning; Africa; Madagascar; Europe; France; United States

December 2019
Case

Steemit: A New Social Media?

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Alexander White and Karen Elterman

This case discusses the alternative social media site Steemit, including the principles it was founded on in 2016 and the challenges it faced in 2019. Steemit was a blockchain-based platform that aimed to differentiate itself from other social media companies by... View Details

November 1991 (Revised April 1994)
Case

Taco Bell Corp.

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger and Roger H. Hallowell

John Martin, Taco Bell CEO, brings the company into line with its competitors through incremental change during the 1980s. In the early 1990s, he adopts breakthrough approaches to improve service levels while reducing prices, providing a distinct competitive advantage.... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Food; Competitive Advantage; Innovation and Management; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

11 Dec 2019
News

A Righteous Path

tremendous violence—not just poverty, but also narco-terrorism, notorious corruption, high murder rates. These children make their own way from Central America through Mexico and they arrive at the southern border of View Details

Keywords: April White; Social Assistance; Health, Social Assistance

Web

1891, dwarfed the number of personnel of the United States Army, Navy, and Marines combined. Early surveyors and managers included engineers from West Point or the War Department—individuals well versed in civil and military engineering and rigorous bureaucratic procedures. Railroad managers were

Portrait Project

Matthew Puglisi

On a scorching hot August afternoon in 2007, Dad and I returned home. Nearly 50 years since he set sail for the United States and its invigorating promise of unbridled opportunity, we visited a humble stone... View Details

Person Page

Media

This lists media reports covering my firm dollarDEX Investments or me (or my colleagues), or columns written by me (or my colleagues). There are all... View Details

Profile

Malory Mclemore

Space. Who is one person from your life that you admire the most today? My father the United States Marine, firefighter, and entrepreneur. My dad did not go to college, but he is the most entrepreneurial and... View Details

01 Dec 2010
News

Clubs Assist Start-Ups

Got a great start-up idea? Enter it in this year’s Alumni New Venture Contest. Fourteen HBS alumni clubs in twelve host regions — Boston, Brazil, Chicago, Germany, India, Mexico, New York, Northern California, Southern California,... View Details

Keywords: contests

2009
Working Paper

International Differences in the Size and Roles of Corporate Headquarters: An Empirical Examination

By: David J. Collis, David Young and Michael Goold

This paper examines differences in the size and roles of corporate headquarters around the world. Based on a survey of over 600 multibusiness corporations in seven countries (France, Germany, Holland, UK, Japan, US, and Chile) the paper describes the differences among... View Details

Keywords: Business Headquarters; Size; Organizational Structure; Culture; Japan; France; Germany; Netherlands; United Kingdom; United States; Chile