Publications

January 2004
Article

Corporate Venturing: The Origins of Unilever's Pregnancy Test

By: Geoffrey Jones and Alison Kraft

The relative ability of different sizes of firm and organisational designs to develop and sustain dynamic capabilities in innovation and create new businesses remains a matter of contention. While Chandler among many others has emphasised the pre-eminent role of large... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Organizational Design; Technological Innovation; Business Startups; Venture Capital; Brands and Branding; Multinational Firms and Management; Product Development; Product Launch; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Great Britain

Find at Harvard

Read Now

01 Mar 2018
News

Case Study: On the Record

sell 100 vinyl records a month or have their songs stream on Spotify 1.5 million times,” says Kelleher, who led music app partnerships at Google Play before founding Austin-based record manufacturer Gold Rush Vinyl. The company grew out of a need Kelleher saw in her... View Details

Keywords: April White

February 2022
Teaching Note

AptDeco: Circular Economy Furniture Marketplace

By: Ayelet Israeli

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 521-069. AptDeco, a used furniture marketplace, was growing rapidly in the tri-state area. The co-founders were confident that the business model, financial position, and unit economics positioned AptDeco for scaling in the massive $120... View Details

Keywords: E-Commerce Strategy; Mobile; Word-of-Mouth; Word Of Mouth; Word-of-mouth Marketing; Internet Marketing; Growth Strategy; Platform; Platforms; Two Sided Markets; Two-sided Market; Two-sided Marketplace; Two-Sided Markets; Two-sided Network; Black Entrepreneurs; Black Leadership; African Americans; African-American Protagonist; Circular; Peer-to-peer Markets; Furniture Industry; Growth Hacking; Monetization Strategy; Growth Management; Marketing Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Digital Platforms; Marketing Channels; Digital Marketing; Consumer Behavior; Acquisition; Retention; Growth and Development Strategy; Customer Focus and Relationships; Expansion; Brands and Branding; E-commerce; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States; North America; New York (city, NY); New York (state, US)

April 2025
Case

Setting a CEO Agenda: Ole Rosgaard at Greif

By: Krishna Palepu and Kerry Herman

Since taking over as CEO of industrial packaging giant Greif, Ole Rosgaard has focused on growing the company and improving the perception of its value by the capital markets. He and his senior leadership team have made inroads to this end, including adjusting the... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Valuation; Governing and Advisory Boards; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Culture; Industrial Products Industry; North America; Europe

01 Sep 2003
News

Business Plan Contest

to the traditional track and 8 to the social enterprise track. FBC Systems, the winning team for the traditional business track, provides software that enables engineers and managers in product development... View Details

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

01 Jun 2005
News

Cultural Revolution at GE

hiring outsiders for its top management ranks and stopped the merry-go-round of promotions and relocations for top managers. Immelt now wants managers to stay put and become experts in their industries, not... View Details

Keywords: GE; General Electric; Jack Welch; Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing; Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing; Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing; Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing; Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing; Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing

Student-Profile

Anil Doshi

economists, operations management scholars, organizational theorists, and others studying topics ranging from open innovation to information technology to product innovation. I have borrowed freely from... View Details

March 2008
Case

Novartis AG: Science-Based Business

By: H. Kent Bowen and Courtney Purrington

Novartis is a science-based drug company, which has important implications for its business strategy. It is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world with over $38B in sales in 2007. Pharmaceuticals account for slightly over $24B of that total. In 2007,... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Resource Allocation; Product Development; Partners and Partnerships; Research and Development; Science-Based Business; Pharmaceutical Industry

01 Sep 2007
News

Riding It Out

of hundreds and perhaps thousands of dogs and cats (the numbers remain unclear, as there is no centralized database of such information). While the situation was uncertain, there was some concern that a production run of SmartPak’s... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; dog food; pets; Food Manufacturing; Manufacturing; Food and Beverage Stores; Retail Trade

Profile

Monica Dodi

As a cofounder and managing director of the Women’s Venture Capital Fund (WVCF), Monica Dodi (MBA 1984) backs female-led, early-stage ventures in digital media and sustainable products and services. Dodi... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital / Private Equity; Financial Services; Entertainment / Media

Melody Koh

building and leading teams across Product Management, Product Design, and Data Science. Previously, Melody was a Product Manager at Fab.com and... View Details

June 1999 (Revised October 1999)
Case

Eli Lilly, 1998 (B): Emerging Global Organization

By: Michael Y. Yoshino and Thomas W. Malnight

Examines major issues faced by Eli Lilly as it evaluates the appropriateness of a focused matrix organization with extensive use of cross-functional teams. View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Geography; Globalized Firms and Management; Growth and Development; Knowledge; Management Teams; Product; Organizations; Pharmaceutical Industry

16 May 2005
Research & Ideas

Confronting the Reality of Web Services

What's next for Web services? In his case summary "Will Web Services Really Transform Collaboration?" published in the Winter 2005 edition of MIT Sloan Management Review, HBS associate professor Andrew P. McAfee argues that the... View Details

Keywords: by Sara Grant

Career Coach

Martha Tassinari

includes start-up consulting, executive coaching and career counseling. Work Experience: High Tech, 20+ years (mostly start-ups, including UNIFI communications, Exit41, Elm Square Interactive; corporates include Verizon, Octel and Osram Sylvania). Roles: View Details

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

Web

Anna Wang | MBA

Technology Innovation Fellowship we'll meet diverse individuals who can make anything possible. Tech areas of interest: Consumer technology, accessibility & democratization, product management Formative... View Details

01 Dec 2015
News

Complements to the Case Method

Learning by Doing: Stock Pitching When it comes to getting an edge in a stock trade, HBS finance professors Lauren Cohen and Christopher Malloy urge students to go straight to the source. “We encourage them to get out in the field and talk to View Details

October 2009
Teaching Note

GE Money Bank: The M-Budget Card Initiative (TN)

By: Michael L. Tushman, Sebastian Raisch and Christian Welling

Teaching Note for [410052]. View Details

Keywords: Time Management; Change Management; Problems and Challenges; Projects; Banks and Banking; Innovation and Invention; Product Launch; Knowledge; Experience and Expertise; Value; Competition; Operations; Financial Services Industry; Real Estate Industry

March 1996 (Revised November 1997)
Case

Dewar's (C): Exploring New Media Opportunities

By: Alvin J. Silk and Lisa Klein Pearo

Dewar's is considering employing new media options. The company had committed resources to a new CD-ROM magazine, Launch, in 1994, as its first experiment with new media. During 1994, a number of additional opportunities have been presented to both Leo Burnett and S&S... View Details

Keywords: Advertising Campaigns; Cost Management; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Market Entry and Exit; Media; Corporate Strategy