Publications

01 Sep 2017
News

Inbox: From Das’s Desk

classrooms, online through our HBX digital learning platform, in the regions and communities where you live, within your companies, or right in your email inbox. Our thinking is evolving toward a View Details

Keywords: Das Narayandas; HBX; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools

28 Jan 2002
Research & Ideas

Read All About It! Newspapers Lose Web War

technology on the newspaper business with HBS Working Knowledge editor Sean Silverthorne in this e-mail interview. An article based on Gilbert's doctoral research in this area received the Robert Litschert Best Doctoral Student Paper Award in the Academy of... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Entertainment & Recreation; Information; Publishing

March 2017
Supplement

eBay vs. Carl Icahn, 2014: Interview with John Donahoe, eBay CEO 2008-2015

By: David B. Yoffie, Eric Baldwin and Tom Ryder

This video, a supplement to HBS Case No. 717-417, features an interview with former eBay CEO John Donahoe, providing his perspective on eBay's response to activist investor Carl Icahn's attack on eBay, which began in January 2014. After giving some of his own... View Details

Keywords: Activist Shareholder; Activist Investors; Technology; Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Investment Activism; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry

July 2006
Article

Dynamic Mixed Duopoly: A Model Motivated by Linux vs. Windows

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Pankaj Ghemawat

This paper analyzes a dynamic mixed duopoly in which a profit-maximizing competitor interacts with a competitor that prices at zero (or marginal cost), with the cumulation of output affecting their relative positions over time. The modeling effort is motivated by... View Details

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March 2021 (Revised August 2024)
Case

Hotwire.com: Navigating Through Turbulence

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Manny de Zarraga and Eric Levine

On September 10, 2001, after speaking at an industry conference at New York’s World Trade Center, Hotwire co-founder Spencer Rascoff boarded a flight from Newark to San Francisco. After returning home, Rascoff awoke the next morning to a phone call informing him that... View Details

Keywords: September 11; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business Growth and Maturation; Disruption; Decisions; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Growth Management; Digital Platforms; Problems and Challenges; Risk and Uncertainty; Expansion; Internet and the Web; Leading Change; Leadership Style; Air Transportation Industry; Tourism Industry; San Francisco

September 2024
Case

Open Door Legal: Universal Legal Access

By: Brian Trelstad, Taylor Greenthal and Sarah Mehta

This case is about Open Door Legal (ODL), a San Francisco-based civil legal aid nonprofit. CEO Adrian Tirtanadi founded the organization in 2012 with a mission to achieve universal access to legal representation for all city residents. By 2024, ODL had opened four... View Details

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Law; Growth Management; Nonprofit Organizations; Civil Society or Community; Business Model; Expansion; Legal Services Industry; United States; California; Los Angeles; San Francisco

November 2019 (Revised June 2020)
Case

Indigo Agriculture: Harnessing Nature

By: Marco Iansiti, Michael W. Toffel and James Barnett

Indigo Agriculture used a digital-enabled research and development (R&D) process to launch its initial product, microbial coatings for agricultural seeds, which increase crop yields while reducing the need for fertilizers. In doing so, the company developed direct... View Details

Keywords: Carbon Sequestration; Operations; Supply Chain; Social Enterprise; Product Development; Distribution Channels; Business Strategy; Digital Platforms; Environmental Sustainability; Science-Based Business; Climate Change; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; United States; Massachusetts

Teaching Interest

Overview

By: Lynda M. Applegate

I currently teach a module in the HBS Owner President Management (OPM) program that is entitled Innovation @Work. The module is designed to provide a general manager perspective on how to lead innovation and transform organizations, industries, and society. The role... View Details

15 Oct 2008
First Look

First Look: October 15, 2008

Working PapersEconomic Factors Underlying the Unbundling of Advertising Agency Services Authors:Mohammad Arzaghi, Ernst R. Berndt, James C. Davis, and Alvin J. Silk Abstract This paper addresses a... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

August 2019 (Revised April 2020)
Case

BlueVine Capital: Growth Factors

By: Marco Di Maggio and Nathaniel Schwalb

The start-up, BlueVine Capital Inc. (BlueVine), used data and technology to help finance small businesses via factoring and lines of credit. The case explains the small business financing market in mid-2010s, how CEO Eyal Lifshitz identified the opportunity for... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; Business Startups; Small Business; Financing and Loans; Innovation Leadership; Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry

February 2008 (Revised April 2009)
Case

Citigroup: Re-Branding in 2007 (A)

By: Rohit Deshpandé and Carin-Isabel Knoop

With its history of growth through acquisition, Citigroup has a conglomeration of sub-brands that need to be integrated and rationalized. Ajay Banga, CEO of Citi's Global Consumer Group International, chairs a task force to work through the process of re-branding the... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Conglomerates; Customer Focus and Relationships; Globalization; Growth Management; Brands and Branding; Organizational Culture; Competitive Strategy; Financial Services Industry

July 2002 (Revised August 2002)
Case

Nomura Securities, 2002

By: Tarun Khanna and David Lane

In 2002, Nomura, though long the market leader in Japan, lacked global presence and was beset at home by strengthened local competitors, Wall Street firms that were taking the best deals, outdated systems, controls, and staff skills. Was Nomura still a player to fear?... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Local Range; Global Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Japan

April 1998 (Revised November 1999)
Case

Hamilton Financial Investments: A Franchise Built on Trust

By: Robert L. Simons and Antonio Davila

Provides a vehicle for students to evaluate risk management in the fast-paced mutual funds industry. A new risk manager has been hired to install new management controls and procedures. A series of decisions will determine how much business and franchise risk the... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Management Teams; Managerial Roles; Forecasting and Prediction; Investment Funds; Performance Evaluation; Corporate Strategy; Change Management; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry

12 Oct 2017
Blog Post

Why I Spent this Summer Coding

here to stay. It's everywhere, and its ever-growing presence and complexity is making its mark globally. This prevalence and importance is reflected not just in the impact of... View Details

November 1995
Case

"Marketing" at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Samanta Graff

Describes the history and unique operating principles of the most successful corporate law firm in the country. Closes with a lengthy quotation by Martin Lipton, who is one of the firm's founding partners and who is described in an American Lawyer article as the "Elvis... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Reputation; Business Strategy; Legal Services Industry

12 Apr 2016
First Look

April 12, 2016

April 2016 Harvard Business Review Can You Cut 'Turn Times' Without Adding Staff? By: Bernstein, Ethan, and Ryan W. Buell Abstract—The president of RSA Ground, the subsidiary of Rising Sun Airlines responsible for View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 2020
Teaching Plan

Chief

By: Katherine B. Coffman, Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Kathleen L. McGinn, Julia Kelley, Amy Klopfenstein and Katherine Chen

Teaching Plan serves as a supplement to the case for “Chief: Role for Carolyn Childers” (920-019), “Chief: Role for Lindsay Kaplan” (920-020), and “Scaling at Chief” (920-021). View Details

January 2000 (Revised May 2000)
Case

Patagon.com: Building (and Defending) the First Financial Destination in Latin America

By: William A. Sahlman, Ramiro Montealegre and Luis Pereiro

Describes Patagon.com, a company trying to build a financial portal in Latin America. The company's founders, Wenceslao Casares and Constancio Larguia, must deal with complex financial and strategic challenges as they guide the company in a difficult context. View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Problems and Challenges; Business Startups; Finance; Financial Services Industry; Latin America

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August 1996 (Revised October 1996)
Case

Howard, Shea & Chan Asset Management (A)

By: Benson P. Shapiro

A medium-sized investment management firm is attempting to decide whether to try to grow, and if so, how. It is a complicated decision because the managing partner and her colleagues have significantly different views. This case provides the background on the industry,... View Details

Keywords: Partners and Partnerships; Decision Making; Sales; Growth and Development Strategy; Financial Services Industry