Publications

14 Mar 2022
Research & Ideas

Lessons from COVID-19: The Business Skills Doctors Need

article, which he co-wrote with physicians Lisa Rotenstein, assistant medical director at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston; and Christine Cassel, professor of medicine at the University of California San Francisco. For many... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Health

July 2022 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Call of Fiduciary Duty: Microsoft Acquires Activision Blizzard

By: Jonas Heese, Joseph Pacelli and James Barnett

In January 2022, Microsoft announces its acquisition of the video game company Activision Blizzard, in a deal valued at $68.7 billion, which would make Microsoft the world’s third largest video game company. The deal came as Activision Blizzard faced gender pay... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Goodwill Accounting; Analysis; Decision Making; Talent and Talent Management; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Ethics; Leadership; Risk and Uncertainty; Mergers and Acquisitions; Lawsuits and Litigation; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Video Game Industry; North America; California

October 2023 (Revised March 2024)
Case

Fortinet: Cybersecurity Pioneer Ken Xie Considers the Long Game

By: Tsedal Neeley, Jeff Huizinga and Emily Grandjean

Ken Xie, cofounder of cybersecurity giant Fortinet, faced a critical decision that would validate his leadership. Fortinet became the industry’s second-largest pureplay cybersecurity firm by developing differentiated hardware and investing in R&D. However, after a... View Details

Keywords: Leadership Development; Leadership Style; Marketing Strategy; Communication Strategy; Cybersecurity; Competitive Advantage; Information Technology Industry; United States; Sunnyvale

21 Jan 2022
Blog Post

Tipping Point: Investing in the Women of Kenya’s Coffee Farms

to 25 percent. The company also matches the gratuities; the total has been rising steadily since Trader Joe’s began stocking the product in its 200 California stores in 2021, and Nyamumbo expects it to grow significantly following the... View Details

March 2024 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Hippo: Weathering the Storm of the Home Insurance Crisis

By: Lauren Cohen, Grace Headinger and Sophia Pan

Rick McCathron, CEO of Hippo, considered how the firm’s underwriting model could account for the effects of climate change. Along with providing smart home packages, targeting risk-friendly customers, and using data-driven pricing, the Insurtech used technologically... View Details

January 2013 (Revised March 2017)
Case

CloudFlare, Inc.: Running Hot?

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Alex Godden

In July 2012, the cofounders of CloudFlare, a Silicon Valley startup that protects websites and accelerates their traffic, are considering the implications of five employees' resignations over the prior three months. Was this natural attrition for a high-tech venture... View Details

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Employee Relationship Management; Organizational Structure; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Growth Management; Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Resignation and Termination; Business Startups; Information Technology Industry; Web Services Industry; California

02 Dec 2019
News

Championing the HBS Fund

Scholar) that same year. An Investment in R&D While they’ve lived in California since graduation, their ties to Harvard remain strong. In addition to making gifts to Harvard College and Harvard Medical School, they have been annual donors... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

September 2020 (Revised May 2024)
Case

Hot Wheels: Launching The Mixed Play Experience

By: Elie Ofek, Andres Terech and Nicole Tempest Keller

Chris Down, Global Brand General Manager for Hot Wheels, and his team from the Advanced Play Group within Mattel, Inc., had developed an entirely new “mixed play” product experience that blended familiar Hot Wheels play in the physical world with breakthrough play in... View Details

Keywords: Toys; Go-to-market Strategy; Product Development; Technological Innovation; Product Launch; Product Positioning; Decision Making; Marketing; Strategy; Los Angeles

14 Feb 2019
Blog Post

LOVE At HBS

quickly parted ways; I went to California and Hilary was off to DC. We were lucky to both land at UC Berkeley a year later, and had several years together but then Hilary spent a good chunk of her time half-way around the world doing... View Details

August 2018 (Revised October 2019)
Case

C3.ai—Driven to Succeed

By: Robert Simons and George Gonzalez

CEO Tom Siebel navigates his artificial intelligence (ai) startup through a series of pivots, market expansions, and even an elephant attack to become a leading platform ad service provider. The case describes his unusual management approach emphasizing employee... View Details

03 Feb 2012
HBS Seminar

Dr. Regina Dugan, Director, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)

01 Jun 2002
News

Up to the Challenge: Demola Gbadegesin - In the Right Direction

department. Next he went to Stanford, earned a master's in electrical engineering, and worked in California for several years, starting at Hewlett-Packard before moving on to Sprint PCS. Gbadegesin says HBS has given him the opportunity... View Details

Keywords: Susan Young; democracy; family; technology; Finance; Architectural, Engineering, and Related Services; Professional Services

Web

Organizational Behavior Awards & Honors - Faculty & Research

Deconstructing Autonomy." Michael L. Tushman : Won the 2010 Accenture Award with Charles O'Reilly and Bruce Harreld for the article "Organizational Ambidexterity: IBM and Emerging Business Opportunities" ( California Management Review ,... View Details

March 2000 (Revised May 2001)
Case

Silicon Valley Bank

By: G. Felda Hardymon and Ann Leamon

Silicon Valley Bank, a $4 billion institution in California, has made its reputation by working with venture capitalists in backing start-up companies. In 1999, it is forced to compete with nonbank financial institutions that can give money on better terms and in a... View Details

Keywords: Banks and Banking; Business Startups; Competitive Strategy; Financial Institutions; Financing and Loans; Financial Markets; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Entrepreneurship; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; California

Web

Disruptive Innovation Online Course | HBS Online

Module 2 Discovering Customer Jobs to be Done Focus on what causes your customers to buy your products and why, and achieve differentiation, better margins, and avoid disruption. Highlights The Jobs to be Done Pyramid Disney California... View Details

17 Aug 2021
Op-Ed

Dispensing Justice: The Case for Legalizing Cannabis Nationally

in states like Massachusetts to be unduly expensive and prevents growers in states like California from achieving economies of scale because of limited market size. Small, fragmented markets also limit cannabis suppliers from incurring... View Details

Keywords: by Ashish Nanda and Tabatha Robinson

April 1998 (Revised November 1999)
Case

Hambrecht & Quist

By: Thomas J. DeLong and Nicole Tempest

Hambrecht & Quist (H&Q), an investment bank headquartered in San Francisco, has a very unique culture relative to its Wall Street counterparts. Firm members and even competitors describe the culture as entrepreneurial, team-driven, non-bureaucratic, and... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Investment Banking; Growth and Development Strategy; Emerging Markets; Organizational Culture; Competitive Advantage; Banking Industry; San Francisco