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June 2002 (Revised September 2005)
Case

Online Music Distribution in a Post-Napster World

By: Youngme E. Moon

Provides a description of the rise and decline of Napster, the free Internet music-swapping service. Also describes second-generation peer-to-peer services (e.g., Gnutella) as well as paid subscription services (e.g., MusicNet, pressplay). View Details

Keywords: Distribution; Internet and the Web; Price; Marketing Channels; Service Operations; Music Industry

January 1998 (Revised June 1999)
Case

Chemdex.com

By: William A. Sahlman, Michael J. Roberts and Laurence E. Katz

An Internet start-up company is developing an online marketplace for specialty chemicals and reagents. David Perry has been named a runner-up in the 1st annual HBS Business Plan contest and now faces seed-stage financing questions--how much money to raise, at what... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Internet and the Web; Chemicals; Business Startups; Capital; Chemical Industry

January 1992 (Revised August 1992)
Case

Lexon Corp. (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine

A general manager at Lexon Computer Corp. must decide whether interception and surveillance of employees' e-mail is acceptable company practice, and whether to follow the advice of his computer operations manager who wants to fire the person who complained that the... View Details

Keywords: Information; Rights; Managerial Roles; Interpersonal Communication; Employee Relationship Management; Ethics; Computer Industry

06 Mar 2018
First Look

First Look at Research and Ideas, March 6, 2018

considerations. Important impediments to the use of ESG information are the lack of reporting standards and as a result, lack of comparability, reliability, quantifiability, and timeliness. Among the different ESG investment styles,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2013 (Revised February 2013)
Case

EverTrue: Mobile Technology Development (A)

By: William R. Kerr and Alexis Brownell

Brent Grinna is evaluating different options for the technology development of his start-up's iPhone app, including hiring local programmers, finding a CTO, or outsourcing. He only has a little over two months before he presents his alumni networking app to Brown... View Details

Keywords: Start-up; Mobile App; oDesk; Outsourcing; CTO; Minimum Viable Product; App Development; Business Startups; Decisions; Entrepreneurship; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Intellectual Property; Product Development; Globalization; Technology Industry; Massachusetts; Boston; India

March 2011 (Revised December 2012)
Teaching Note

Bono and U2 (TN)

By: Nancy F. Koehn, Nora N. Khan and Elizabeth Legris

Teaching Note for 809148. View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Transformation; Information Technology; Business Model; Arts; Entrepreneurship; Leadership; Music Industry

February 2011 (Revised May 2012)
Teaching Note

Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. (TN)

By: William E. Fruhan

Teaching Note for 211-067. View Details

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Business and Shareholder Relations; Value Creation; Opportunities; Mergers and Acquisitions; Corporate Governance; Executive Compensation; Balance and Stability; Manufacturing Industry

Teaching Interest

Overview

By: V.G. Narayanan

I teach accounting to MBA students, executives, and Harvard Extension School students. I teach topics from both financial and managerial accounting. I also train professors in teaching by the case method. View Details

Keywords: Financial Accounting; Management Accounting; Case Method Teaching; Corporate Governance; Customer Relationship Management; AI and Machine Learning; Health Industry; Health Industry; Health Industry; India; North America

March 2013
Teaching Note

Automating the Paris Subway (TN) (A) & (B)

By: Michel Anteby and Ayn Cavicchi

In 2001, the head of the Paris Subway reflected on how to transform Line 1 into a driverless line without triggering a social conflict. After the shock of the 2000 Notre Dame de Lorette subway accident, in which a train derailed and caused 25 injuries in a Paris subway... View Details

Keywords: Labor Relations; Unions; Organizational Behavior; Change; Information Technology; Rail Transportation; Labor Unions; Infrastructure; Change Management; Employment; Organizations; Labor and Management Relations; Transportation Industry; Transportation Industry; Paris

September 1991 (Revised January 1992)
Case

Allegheny Ludlum: Research and Engineering Resource Allocation

By: Dorothy Leonard-Barton and Geoffrey K. Gill

Allegheny Ludlum's (AL) technical vice president, Jack Shilling faces the task of determining how to allocate engineering resources among five areas of technology. AL's technology organization has great strategic importance and has therefore been untouched by the... View Details

Keywords: Engineering; Resource Allocation; Information Technology; Policy; Leadership; Decisions; Competency and Skills; Projects; Joint Ventures; Strategy; Electronics Industry; Electronics Industry

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March 1996 (Revised April 1996)
Case

Andy Chew at Siemens Nixdorf: Change from the Middle

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and John F. McGuire

Andy Chew, a British manager reassigned to Germany by a large German computer company, is in the middle of carrying out a project as a designated "change agent" in a program to reshape the culture toward one that is more entrepreneurial for success as a nimble global... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Organizational Culture; Information Technology; Technological Innovation; Business or Company Management; Projects; Computer Industry; Computer Industry; Germany

July 2019
Teaching Note

Miroglio Fashion

By: Sunil Gupta

Teaching Note for HBS Nos. 519-053, 519-070, and 519-072. View Details

Keywords: Inventory Management; Demand Forecasting; Artificial Intelligence; Machine Learning; Forecasting and Prediction; Operations; Management; Decision Making; Marketing; AI and Machine Learning; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry

January 2022
Case

Dating Ring

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Lindsay N. Hyde

In 2015, the co-founders of Dating Ring, an online dating startup that relied on human matchmakers to arrange dates between its members, were deciding whether to either shut down the service or instead manage Dating Ring as a "lifestyle company," ramping down growth... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Failure; Business Exit or Shutdown; Internet and the Web; Venture Capital; Service Industry; Service Industry; United States