Publications

January 2003 (Revised June 2005)
Case

Multinationals as Engines of Growth?

By: Geoffrey G. Jones

Reviews the issues surrounding estimating the impact over time of multinationals on host economies. Uses a series of short historical case studies, including the role of United Fruit in the "banana" republics of Central America, oil and banking in Iran before the... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Multinational Firms and Management; Trade; Growth and Development; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Globalized Economies and Regions; Iran; United States; Malaysia; Japan

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August 2000 (Revised November 2001)
Case

Edmunds.com (A)

By: Stephen P. Bradley and Christina Akers

Edmund's began in 1966 as a publisher of new and used vehicle guides and grew into one of the leading third-party automotive web sites of today. This case explores how Edmunds.com gained a competitive edge using strategic partnerships and alliances, as well as careful... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; Success; Product Positioning; Partners and Partnerships; Competitive Advantage; Auto Industry; Information Technology Industry

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11 Dec 2017
News

Growing from Within

expectations; helping us understand impact at the restaurant level of initiatives we are rolling out; and developing a pipeline of talent for the company. What have you seen as the largest growth drivers in the past 12 months? It all... View Details

Keywords: Dan Morrell; Food Services and Drinking Places; Hospitality

February 2021 (Revised March 2022)
Case

TikTok in 2020: Super App or Supernova?

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Dan Maher and Dan O'Brien

TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, was launched in 2012 around a simple idea – helping users entertain themselves on their smartphones while on the Beijing Subway. In less than a decade, it had become one of the world’s most valuable private companies, with investors... View Details

07 Dec 2009
Research & Ideas

Government’s Positive Role in Kick-Starting Entrepreneurship

supported by numerous examples of government intervention that has triggered the growth of a venture capital sector. For instance, the Small Business Investment Company [SBIC] program in the United States... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Technology

17 Feb 2011
News

Field Report: Rwanda

Karisimbi Partners, a three-person private consulting group that works with small- to mid-sized enterprises. “The idea behind Karisimbi’s model is that sustained economic growth in Rwanda requires private enterprise, reform, and direct... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations; Personal Services

Profile

John Smith-Ricco

In college, John Smith-Ricco did not have business ambitions; instead, he intended to pursue advanced degrees in history aimed at a career as an academic. But a research fellowship in South Africa changed his perspective. "I was... View Details

01 Mar 2006
News

Fast Lane to Country Lane

TOGETHERNESS: Mark and Kim Lackley based their furniture business in Vermont. Learn on someone else’s dime. That’s a lesson from HBS that served Kim Alley Lackley (MBA ’94) well as she made the leap from software and Internet start-ups to... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley; Furniture and Home Furnishings Stores; Retail Trade

04 Apr 2016
News

Honeywell Appoints President, Setting Succession to CEO Cote

Keywords: Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing; Manufacturing

June 2009 (Revised October 2009)
Case

SABIS—A Global Educational Venture From Lebanon

Carl Bistany is struggling with how the global educational management company, SABIS, can grow 100-fold in the coming twelve years. Founded in 1886 in Lebanon, SABIS is the world's largest and only global education management organization (EMO), with schools in the US,... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Entrepreneurship; Business Education; Growth and Development Strategy; Education Industry; Lebanon

01 Jan 2011
News

Robert Kraft, MBA 1965

to be an extremely risky decision made by a sports fanatic, but in time it proved to be a winning business move. The decision to buy the Patriots fits a pattern that Kraft developed at a young age. He is a man who believes that anything... View Details

14 Jan 2014
News

Spreading the Seeds of Entrepreneurship

SCHULTZ Jack Schultz (MBA 1976), the oldest of eight children, grew up in the farming hamlet of Teutopolis, Illinois, population 1,100. It's fitting that his father was in the seed business (raising soybean and grass seed) because... View Details

Keywords: CEO (Creating Entrepreneurial Opportunities); Educational Services; Agriculture; Manufacturing

Web

Online Entrepreneurial Marketing Course | HBS Online

Intrapreneurs Small- to Medium-Sized Business Owners Establish your venture’s go-to-market strategy and learn how to evolve it over time to achieve scale. "The Entrepreneurial Marketing course provided valuable, real-world insights into... View Details

30 Apr 2018
Blog Post

HBS Grad Drives Lori Systems to Success

of capitalism and see how it works from the center." After exploring the possibilities within private equity, Josh enrolled in the joint MPA/ID, MBA program at The Kennedy School and Harvard Business School to acquire both the... View Details

01 Jul 2019
Research & Ideas

The Airbnb Lesson for Startups? Success Takes More Than Technology

wealthy tourists. Airbnb remains Y Combinator’s biggest success story, but it was aggressive on-the-ground outreach that helped speed its early growth in key markets. Add in an industry with entrenched leaders and a limp economy in the... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Travel; Tourism

01 Jun 2011
News

Mr. Start-Up

could stray from an assignment to write market assessments and instead create a start-up business plan. “The professor was Walt Salmon, and fortunately he was all for it,” recalls Cassidy, who eventually made good on the plan to launch... View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; Information

01 Oct 2000
News

HBS to Host Venture Capital Forum for Women

On November 3, HBS will host the first venture capital forum ever held for women entrepreneurs in the New England area. Titled "Springboard 2000: New England" and sponsored by the Center for Women & Enterprise (CWE) and the National Women's View Details

Keywords: Finance

October 1996 (Revised April 2004)
Case

Eric Wood (A)

By: Myra M. Hart

Describes the early career of an MBA who went to work in a small business, bought the company, and is now contemplating an acquisition to expand the business. The issues involve personal/business finance and financial risk, as well as valuation and financial... View Details

Keywords: Personal Development and Career; Business Growth and Maturation; Mergers and Acquisitions; Risk and Uncertainty