Publications

July 2020 (Revised November 2020)
Case

Gera Developments: Leadership at a Crossroads

By: Christina R. Wing and John Masko

For decades, Gera Developments (Gera) was a boutique family-owned real estate development firm in Pune, India. But since 2000, managing director Rohit Gera had turned the company into a dynamic innovator in housing solutions for urban Indian families. Over the 2010s,... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Business Growth and Maturation; Construction; Geographic Location; Global Strategy; Globalized Firms and Management; Housing; Leadership Style; Management Succession; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Family Ownership; Family and Family Relationships; Urban Development; Customization and Personalization; Real Estate Industry; Maharashtra; India; United States

10 Jul 2000
Research & Ideas

Entrepreneurship in Europe

overcome the different bureaucracies we find in different countries," said Krone. "This sort of business has to be reconstructed in Europe according to the development of the markets and the new... View Details

Keywords: by Kenneth Liss

August 2016 (Revised June 2017)
Case

Showpad

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Showpad is a growing startup whose founders are considering changes to spur growth. The options include changes to the product line, to pricing, and to sales management practices. View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy

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 View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Travel; Tourism

01 Mar 2015
News

Providing an Environment for Ideas to Grow

brand shouldn’t be about erecting barriers to keep consumers out; indeed, growth requires the welcoming of new faces,” concludes HBS marketing professor Anat Keinan in a July 2014 Harvard Business Review... View Details

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

Career Coach

Martha Tassinari

particular expertise in assisting those seeking leadership roles in tech based start-up and high growth companies, she has coached scores of professionals across industries, functions View Details

Keywords: Education; Entertainment / Media; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Financial Services (All); Hospitality; Manufacturing; Publishing / Communications / Advertising; Retail; Clean Technology; Energy; Telecommunications; Technology

February 2000 (Revised April 2000)
Case

Microsoft, 2000

By: Michael G. Rukstad, David B. Yoffie and Carl Johnston

Surveys five threats to the sustainability of Microsoft's strategy (imitation, substitution, hold-up, slack, and saturation) and examines Microsoft's response to these threats. Teaching purpose: To evaluate the sustainability of Microsoft's competitive advantage. View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Business or Company Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Planning; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Corporate Strategy; Information Technology; Information Technology Industry

02 Nov 2017
News

Making Friends with Mother Nature

his expertise in building successful business teams, and the result was the Wild Center, an immensely popular 54,000-square-foot, interactive museum experience in the heart of the pristine upstate region.... View Details

01 Aug 2016
Research & Ideas

Retail Execs Underplay Current Performance to Investors--but Why?

Business School finance professor Kenneth A. Froot in the April working paper What Do Measures of Real-Time Corporate Sales Tell Us about Earnings Surprises and Post-Announcement Returns? “It’s startling to... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Financial Services

January 2025
Case

Constitutional Fiction: John Miller & The Legitimacy of Family Constitutions

By: Lauren Cohen, Octavian Graf Pilati and Sophia Pan

John Miller sat reviewing his family’s Constitution, grappling with how best to implement and enforce its provisions. Designed to prevent ambiguity in governance, the Family Constitution set out core values and guidelines to promote harmony and cohesion among family... View Details

09 Oct 2017
Research & Ideas

Fearing Fox News, Democratic-leaning Companies Delayed Negative Announcements

at least an appearance of neutrality, Fox News delivered aggressive takes on current events, politics, and business news with what was perceived as a conservative, Republican slant. It made no secret of its... View Details

Keywords: by Jen Deaderick; Media & Broadcasting

February 1997 (Revised December 1997)
Case

Arbor Health Care Company

By: Myra M. Hart and Stephanie Dodson

A venture-funded start-up runs into trouble when health care reimbursement policies change radically. With the help of its board, the company develops a new strategy, becomes profitable, and makes a public offering. The second wave of changes introduced by Clinton... View Details

Keywords: Industry Structures; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Succession; Business Startups; Transformation; Strategy; Venture Capital; Policy; Initial Public Offering; Health Industry

April 2007 (Revised July 2011)
Case

The Tale of the Lynx (A)

By: Noam Wasserman

The founders of Lynx Solutions have survived major challenges within their board of directors, the firing of Lynx's founder-CEO and departure of its successor CEO, and a crisis sparked by media allegations that it had been spying on its users. Now that the company is... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Governing and Advisory Boards; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Teams; Conflict and Resolution; Business Strategy; Computer Industry

26 Apr 2010
Research & Ideas

When Other Companies Compete Like Crazy, Dare to Be Different

Sarah Jane Gilbert: What led you to write Different? Youngme Moon: I wrote this book because in business today there is a huge disconnect between the way we talk about the concept of differentiation and the... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert

19 Dec 2016
News

Harvard Students Help Mom-and-Pop Shops Get off the Ground

Senior Lecturer Kristin W. Mugford (photo courtesy of Kristin Mugford) Senior Lecturer Kristin W. Mugford (photo courtesy of Kristin Mugford) Students at Harvard Business Schools are taking their education to the streets of Boston to help... View Details

Keywords: retail

October 2001
Case

SchoolSuccess.net

By: James E. Austin and Arthur McCaffrey

The mission of the nonprofit Jumpstart for Young Children was to address the problem of school readiness of low-income family preschoolers. It had been growing significantly, and to achieve its projected expansion would require major increases in funding. After... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Early Childhood Education; Venture Capital; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Startups; Management Teams

May 2021
Teaching Plan

Gera Developments: Leadership at a Crossroads

By: Christina R. Wing and John Masko

Teaching Plan for HBS Case No. 621-018. For decades, Gera Developments (Gera) was a boutique family-owned real estate development firm in Pune, India. But since 2000, managing director Rohit Gera had turned the company into a dynamic innovator in housing solutions for... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Business Growth and Maturation; Construction; Geographic Location; Global Strategy; Globalized Firms and Management; Housing; Leadership Style; Management Succession; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Family Ownership; Family and Family Relationships; Urban Development; Customization and Personalization; Real Estate Industry; Maharashtra; India; San Francisco

June 1995
Case

Quorum Health Group, Inc.

By: William A. Sahlman and Jason Green

Facing increasing competition from much larger industry players, Jim Dalton, CEO of Quorum, and Russ Carson, Managing Partner of Welch, Carson, Anderson & Stowe attempt to set the future direction for Quorum. The company was successfully spun-off from HCA in a... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Consolidation; Leveraged Buyouts; Venture Capital; Acquisition; Health Industry

2024
Working Paper

Public Sector SME Grading System in Emerging Markets: A Focus on Nigeria

By: Saveshen Pillay, Anywhere Sikochi, Charles Odii, Zaakirah Ismail, Regina Bamaiyi and Denise Mubaiwa

In this paper, we explore the impact of creating a public sector nano, micro, small and medium enterprise (nMSME) grading system in Nigeria. Using insights from work with the Nigerian government, the first country in Africa to attempt to establish a public sector SME... View Details

Keywords: Small Business; Economic Growth; Emerging Markets; Economic Sectors; Africa; Nigeria