Publications

May 2008 (Revised March 2010)
Supplement

Palm (D): Epilogue as of 2008

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Kevin Boudreau and Jordan Mitchell

This case series looks at three important inflection points in Palm's history that relate to decisions about its platform: when the company was debating whether to open its operating system (OS) for licensing to third-party hardware manufacturers; 2001, when the... View Details

Keywords: History; Decisions; Business Model; Technological Innovation; Value Creation; Digital Platforms; Rights; Competition

December 1998 (Revised March 2000)
Case

Knot, The

By: William A. Sahlman, Michael J. Roberts and Matthew C. Lieb

An online wedding resource company is seeking an equity investment to grow the business. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business Model; Venture Capital; Value Creation; Internet and the Web; Finance; Expansion; Strategic Planning; Service Industry; Consulting Industry

December 2018 (Revised June 2021)
Supplement

Bulb 2018: Hypergrowth

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

After a wild and volatile year, Bulb, a new entrant in the UK residential energy market, ended March 2018 with 329,171 properties, 1.2% of the total residential energy market). This was 150% ahead of a plan for 130,000 properties and almost ten times the size the... View Details

Keywords: Paul Massari; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training

01 Sep 2006
News

Innovative Loan Fund Yields Big Returns

Through its use of Harvard’s innovative Green Campus Loan Fund, HBS has cut energy expenditures and provided a model for conservation-minded schools around the University to follow. The loan fund provides capital for projects that reduce... View Details

May 2020
Case

Trust Merchant Bank

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Pippa Tubman Armerding, Dilyana Karadzhova Botha and Salim Dewji

Trust Merchant Bank (TMB), a leading bank in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), needs to decide whether to enter the soon-to-be-liberalized insurance industry. Since its founding in 2004, TMB has played a pivotal role in reshaping the DRC banking landscape by... View Details

Keywords: Retail Banking; Financial Services; Financial Inclusion; Turnaround; Fintech; Banks and Banking; Financial Condition; Insurance; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Business Model; Family Business; Entrepreneurship; Information Technology; Monopoly; Banking Industry; Insurance Industry; Africa; Congo, Democratic Republic of the

February 2019
Supplement

KITEA: Democratizing Furniture in Morocco (PowerPoint supplement)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell

This PowerPoint accompanies the KITEA cases and the associated teaching note. The KITEA series of cases (A-F) details how the Moroccan furniture company KITEA prepared for the entry of IKEA into the Moroccan market and describes the outcome of that entry. View Details

01 Jun 2011
News

New Venture Winner Mines E-Waste

consumers to access core components. Take circuit boards, for example. The process would begin with grinding up the circuit boards and would end with a yield of refined commodity-grade metals.” Modeled after the School’s student View Details

Keywords: contests; awards; Mining (except Oil and Gas); Mining

01 Feb 2001
News

Books

Evolve! Succeeding in the Digital Culture of Tomorrow by Rosabeth Moss Kanter (Harvard Business School Press) In her new book Evolve!: Succeeding in the Digital Culture of Tomorrow, HBS professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter declares that soon... View Details

Keywords: books; research; Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

30 Nov 2016
Op-Ed

Where Could More Regulation Help Small Businesses? Online Lending.

traditional banks, to display loan terms and costs, inconsistently. Regulators should require disclosures that are clear and concise, and let borrowers decide what is best for them. Model disclosures being developed within the online... View Details

Keywords: by Karen Mills and Brayden McCarthy; Financial Services

22 Feb 2022
News

Launch Codes

away from you quickly. In the early days of WAVE, with a fairly small team, it was easy for me to model the expected behavior. But as we started to scale up, and our original culture ambassadors became the minority to the new hires, we... View Details

Keywords: Dan Morrell; illustrations by Alvaro Dominguez

February 2019
Case

Al Islami Foods: Partnering for Growth

By: Lynda Applegate and Michael Norris

In 2018, Al Islami Foods CEO Marwan Al Garem and Chairman Saleh Saeed Lootah have to decide on a potential investment partner. They hope to find the best match for a strategic investment in their Dubai-based halal foods company from a list of three global food... View Details

Keywords: Animal-Based Agribusiness; Investment; Partners and Partnerships; Strategy; Food; Growth and Development Strategy; Ownership Stake; Business Model; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Dubai

May 2007 (Revised July 2011)
Case

The West German Headache Center: Integrated Migraine Care

By: Michael E. Porter, Clemens Guth and Elisa M. Dannemiller

Describes the joint efforts of the German health plan KKH and Essen University Hospital to develop an integrated practice unit (IPU), and the West German Headache Center's efforts to improve the quality of migraine care. Provides an overview of the German health care... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Health Care and Treatment; Medical Specialties; Industry Structures; Service Delivery; Integration; Health Industry; Germany

August 2011 (Revised November 2015)
Case

CFW Clinics in Kenya: To Profit or Not for Profit

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Katharine Lee

Ten years after having launched a chain of non-profit health clinics, its founder is now debating the merits of scaling the operation by converting to a for-profit enterprise. View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Business Model; Social Enterprise; Nonprofit Organizations; Transformation; For-Profit Firms; Health Industry; Kenya