Publications

12 Oct 2017
Blog Post

Why I Spent this Summer Coding

The summer between RC and EC year represents a great opportunity for risk-free exploration. Encouraged by our outcome at the New Venture Competition and the funding I would receive as a Rock Summer Fellow, I forwent a business internship... View Details

March 2021 (Revised March 2024)
Case

M-KOPA: Empowering Lives

By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Wale Lawal and Pippa Tubman Armerding

The Pay As You Go solar power company in East Africa had sales of $71 million in 2019. It wished to grow to $300 million by 2025. M-KOPA, founded by three entrepreneurs in 2011, had grown nicely in Kenya and Uganda to reach nearly 750,000 households with an innovative... View Details

Keywords: Mobile Payment; Go-to-market Strategy; Business At The Base Of The Pyramid; Business Growth; Social Entrepreneurship; Renewable Energy; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Expansion; Marketing Strategy; Developing Countries and Economies; Kenya; Uganda; Nigeria

May 2023 (Revised June 2023)
Supplement

Novartis (C): Reimagining Medicine

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Claudio Feser, Karolin Frankenberger and David Redaschi

This case unfolds around the first-ever approved personalized cancer treatment, how Novartis wrapped it into a new business model design, and how Novartis scaled it. Novartis — one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world — is, among other ventures,... View Details

Keywords: Health Testing and Trials; Health Care and Treatment; Business Model; Problems and Challenges; Pharmaceutical Industry; Switzerland

26 Jan 2024
Blog Post

Hiring at HBS: How Summer Interns Make an Impact at Emerson Collective

leaders, to build solutions that spur measurable, lasting change. Every year, HBS Interns play an important part in driving the Emerson Collective mission. Joanna Lichter, Associate Director of Venture Capital, plays a key role in... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit / Government

February 2011 (Revised December 2014)
Case

RentJuice

By: Thomas Eisenmann and Liz Kind

RentJuice, founded in mid-2008, provided a subscription software service—sold via phone and live online webinars—that allowed real estate professionals like brokers and agents to manage and market rental listings, communicate with clients, and complete transaction... View Details

Keywords: Renting or Rental; Product Launch; Applications and Software; Property; Business Startups; Salesforce Management; Product Marketing; Real Estate Industry; Information Technology Industry

June 1982 (Revised May 1995)
Case

Ellis Manufacturing Co.

By: Roy D. Shapiro

Ellis finds itself in a weakening competitive position largely due to the lack of rationalization in its plants. Driven by a strong traditionally decentralized sales organization, Ellis finds that all plants want control over all product lines. As a result, overall... View Details

Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Cost; Analytics and Data Science; Brands and Branding; Performance Capacity; Competitive Strategy; Construction Industry

August 2009 (Revised August 2011)
Case

Nanosolar, Inc.

Nanosolar is a start-up company in the clean tech sector. It expects to be one of the first manufacturers to produce thin-film solar panels using copper indium gallium (di)selenide (CIGS) technology. Although this technology is less efficient in producing electricity... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Renewable Energy; Marketing Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Energy Industry; Green Technology Industry; Europe; United States

Career Coach

Kelly Kung

looks like, and how they can meet your personal goals in a post-MBA career. She is happy to help with interview prep, commercial case study and LBO modelling, resume and cover letter reviews. To book an appointment, please send Kelly an email. Work Experience: General... View Details

November 1998 (Revised December 1998)
Case

Asea Brown Boveri (Condensed)

By: Robert L. Simons

The merger of Asea AB and BBC Brown Boveri required a restructuring of operations and a change in organizational cultures. Competitive success also necessitated the benefits of scale while remaining "local" for political and customer-responsiveness reasons. The case... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Mergers and Acquisitions; Restructuring; Cost vs Benefits; Competitive Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Growth and Development; Performance Effectiveness; Consumer Products Industry

May 2023 (Revised June 2023)
Case

Novartis (A): Reimagining Medicine

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Claudio Feser, Karolin Frankenberger and David Redaschi

This case unfolds around the first-ever approved personalized cancer treatment, how Novartis wrapped it into a new business model design, and how Novartis scaled it. Novartis — one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world — is, among other ventures,... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Business Model; Leadership; Pharmaceutical Industry; Switzerland

November 1992
Case

Primerica: Sandy Weill and His Corporate Entrepreneurs

By: Andrall E. Pearson and Philip M. Rosenzweig

As CEO of Primerica, Sandy Weill has built a $6.6 billion company from acquisitions and underperforming firms. The case examines Weill's distinctive approach to building, managing, and leading an organization that seeks the benefits of scale without the problems of... View Details

Keywords: Management Style; Business or Company Management; Acquisition

April 2020
Teaching Note

Glossier: Co-Creating a Cult Brand with a Digital Community

By: Jill Avery

Teaching Note for HBS No. 519-022. Flush with cash from its Series C fundraise, cult beauty brand Glossier considers its next phase of growth, facing critical decisions on how to allocate its capital to support various marketing communications and distribution... View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; Crowdsourcing; CRM; Startup; Direct-to-consumer; DTC; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Brands and Branding; Consumer Behavior; Customer Relationship Management; Venture Capital; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Social Media; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; United States

31 Oct 2019
Blog Post

5 Things on My Mind in the Second Year of the MS/MBA: Engineering Sciences Program

committing with a full-time role. Students chose to spend their summers in a variety of ways. There were many people who worked on their startups continuing their projects from our first-year design class, Technology Venture Immersion.... View Details

24 Sep 2001
Research & Ideas

How To Be an Angel Investor

in sales respectively. Most companies in the industry were valued at $1 million per employee, and this company had 40. However, NASDAQ had just dropped about 20% (April, 2000), and voices predicting the end of the tech stocks' ride were... View Details

Keywords: by David Amis & Howard Stevenson

11 Jun 2018
Blog Post

Meet the 2018-2019 Blavatnik Fellows in Life Science Entrepreneurship

including; the New Venture Competition, the Harvard Innovation Lab, Entrepreneurs-in-Residence and entrepreneurial-focused courses. More than 50 percent of HBS graduates create ventures in a quest to change... View Details

March 2021
Case

Founders Factory

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and James Barnett

In January 2020, Founders Factory (FF) Executive Chairman Brent Hoberman and CEO Henry Lane Fox were considering FF’s expansion strategy. FF operated as a venture capital (VC) fund built around an accelerator and incubator, and organized around sectors within... View Details

September 1995 (Revised March 1997)
Case

Bob Reiss and Valdawn (A): November 1994

Bob Reiss, a seasoned entrepreneur, "accidentally" started Valdawn in 1988 and in six years built the company into a $7 million marketer of "fun and fashion" watches. Valdawn, a "virtual" company, has very few employees or fixed assets and enjoys attractive profit... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Business Growth and Maturation; Ethics; Decision Making; Entrepreneurship; Apparel and Accessories Industry

December 2019 (Revised March 2020)
Case

Impossible Foods

By: Jose B. Alvarez and Natalie Kindred

Impossible Foods founder and CEO Pat Brown started the company out of concern over livestock production’s impact on climate change. Impossible’s mission is to end consumption of animals by 2035, and its strategy is to develop and market plant-based foods so similar to... View Details