Publications

March 2010 (Revised November 2010)
Case

Pandora Radio: Fire Unprofitable Customers?

By: Willy C. Shih and Halle Alicia Tecco

Pandora Radio is at a crossroads. Founder Tim Westergren has just been told by a well known VC to get rid of his unprofitable customers in order to get his costs down, but Westergren is not sure that such actions are consistent with his company's business model.... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Customer Satisfaction; Music Entertainment; Venture Capital; Profit; Growth and Development Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Internet; Media and Broadcasting Industry

01 Jun 2025
News

Alumni and Faculty Books

industries and for society, and how we can best ensure that its growth benefits us all. With clarity and rigor, Weinzierl and Rosseau get past the breathless hype to explain what’s real, what’s not, what... View Details

February 2019 (Revised August 2019)
Case

KangaTech

By: Karim R. Lakhani, Patrick J. Ferguson, Sarah Fleischer, Jin Hyun Paik and Steven Randazzo

On a warm January afternoon in 2019, Steve Saunders, Dave Scerri, Carl Dilena, and Nick Haslam (see Exhibit 1 for biographies), co-founders of KangaTech, wrapped up the latest round of discussions about the future direction of their sports-technology start-up. Focused... View Details

Keywords: Startup; Technology Commercialization; Prototype; Business Startups; Technological Innovation; Sports; Health; Commercialization; Research and Development; Decision Making; Growth and Development Strategy; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Australia

December 2018 (Revised June 2019)
Case

Wolfgang Puck: Setting the Table for the Future

By: Boris Groysberg and Matthew G. Preble

Chef Wolfgang Puck oversees a disparate business empire that includes fine dining restaurants, a catering business, and various licensed products that run from cookware, to soup, to fast-casual restaurants. His businesses activities are divided among three separate... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Growth and Development; Management Systems; Business Processes; Leadership; Transition; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

Web

Past Issues - Alumni

industry is desperate for good help. Ben Minden’s Bear Hug Cattle Company proposes a two-birds, one-stone solution. The Golden Thread Teresa Amabile spent decades studying creativity, motivation, and productivity in the workplace. At 60,... View Details

December 2022
Case

The Magic of Marks & Spencer Food

By: David E. Bell, Natalie Kindred and Damien McLoughlin

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Food; Consumer Behavior; Product Development; Competition; Price; Inflation and Deflation; Trends; Growth and Development; Strategy; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; United Kingdom

June 2001 (Revised May 2002)
Case

Spir-It, Inc. (A): Building the Business

Early in February 1934, two and a half months after the end of prohibition, Jack Sindler sat with a friend in Boston's Ritz Hotel bar enjoying a drink. Sindler worked for the Converse Rubber Co., and he was always inventing something. He held several patents for rubber... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Production; Market Entry and Exit; Management Succession; Entrepreneurship; Product Launch; Acquisition; Growth and Development; Product Development; Manufacturing Industry; Boston

Find at Harvard

01 Jan 2004
News

Minoru Makihara, 75th AMP, 1977

question. Japan's reliance on industrial policy had already triggered a backlash in the United States with cries of unfair trade practices. With its emphasis on size and dominant market share, Mitsubishi Corporation may have topped the... View Details

June 2004 (Revised November 2004)
Case

Microsoft in 2004

By: Michael G. Rukstad, David B. Yoffie, Brian DeLacey and Deborah Freier

Surveys Microsoft's expansion into new businesses, such as mobile and embedded devices, home and entertainment, and business solutions, as it faces challenges due to size and maturity and outside threats from Linux and Google. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details

Keywords: Competitive Advantage; Applications and Software; Expansion; Growth and Development Strategy; Information Technology Industry; Washington (state, US)

March 2000 (Revised May 2002)
Case

Korea: On the Back of a Tiger

Describes the development strategy followed by Korea under the leadership of Park Chung Hee as well as the reform efforts embarked on by his successors. View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Developing Countries and Economies; Government and Politics; Growth and Development Strategy; Public Administration Industry; South Korea

August 1999 (Revised February 2000)
Background Note

Introduction to Islamic Finance, An

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Fuaad Qureshi and Mathew M Millett

Provides a basic introduction to the principles of Islamic finance. Examines the religious background and legal foundations of Islamic finance. Also discusses the development of Islamic financial institutions and the financial instruments they use. Concludes with a... View Details

Keywords: Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Globalization; Growth and Development; Lawfulness; Problems and Challenges; Religion; Financial Services Industry

June 1999
Case

PDQ Manufacturing, Inc.

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

A small manufacturer of car wash facilities has been unable to develop management systems because of rapid growth. Now size dictates the need for such systems because the current personal management style is proving inadequate. View Details

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Design; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Personal Development and Career; Growth Management; Manufacturing Industry

September 2000 (Revised August 2011)
Teaching Note

AGENCY.COM (A) and (B) TN

By: Ashish Nanda and Thomas J. DeLong

Teaching Note for (9-800-061) and (9-800-062). View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Corporate Finance; Growth and Development; Web Services Industry; Web Services Industry; San Francisco

26 Mar 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, March 26, 2019

case:https://hbsp.harvard.edu/product/516005-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 218-107 The TARP Bailouts: Saving the Banking and Automotive Industries Comparison of the U.S. Government response, using the $700 billion TARP fund, to... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

01 Sep 2009
News

Faculty Books

Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Have Failed — and What to Do about It by Josh Lerner (Princeton University Press) As governments worldwide seek to spur economic growth in ever more aggressive ways, Professor Lerner offers an... View Details

Keywords: Publishing Industries (except Internet); Publishing Industries (except Internet); Publishing Industries (except Internet); Publishing Industries (except Internet)

May 2021
Case

Endeavor Kenya: Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Shikhar Ghosh and Christian Godwin

In 2016, Fiona Mungai became Endeavor Kenya’s first managing director. In this role, she helped the organization build its inaugural board and select its first Endeavor entrepreneur, a fintech company called Cellulant. Throughout this process, Mungai observed the power... View Details