Business Failures - Publications - Faculty & Research

January 2000 (Revised March 2000)
Case

Cachet Technologies

Describes the decision facing Danny Lewin, Jonathan Seelig, and Tom Leighton, the founders of Cachet Technologies, an MIT spin-out. The firm has done poorly in the annual MIT business plan competition and the founders have to decide whether to continue. View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Business Startups; Business Plan; Failure; Cooperative Ownership; Business Strategy; Financial Services Industry

Citation

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31 Oct 2018
What Do You Think?

What is the Function of Fear in Leadership?

high standards, commanded great respect, and the fear he created was entirely purposeful and positive.” John Hudson stated, “(It is) hard to find a business without fear of something in its bag of incentives, be it fear of failure, fear... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

14 Feb 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: February 14

institutionalized in America over subsequent decades in a way that has been difficult to replicate in other countries. The role of history helps to explain why. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=52209 December 8, 2016 Harvard View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

13 Feb 2020
Book

Open Your Organization to Honest Conversations

underlying reason why: Leaders often get stuck in echo chambers that merely reinforce their own ideas, says Harvard Business School Professor Michael Beer. Meanwhile, lower-level employees are often fully aware of the problems that plague... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

October 2003 (Revised April 2005)
Case

Innovation Corrupted: The Rise and Fall of Enron

By: Malcolm S. Salter

Presents an historical overview of Enron's rise and fall and summarizes what is currently known about (1) the evolution of Enron's business model, (2) the organizational processes Enron officials relied on to drive and monitor the business, (3) emergent behavior... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Behavior; Governing and Advisory Boards; Success; Transformation; Failure; Business Processes; Energy Industry; United States

Citation

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12 Mar 2021
News

My Favorite Case

1977) MORE A century after the introduction of the first case to Harvard Business School, the case method remains the cornerstone of the educational experience. But it is also clear, from the scores of stories submitted here, that certain... View Details

Keywords: Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training

31 Jul 2015
Research & Ideas

The Faculty Reader: Who is Reading What This Summer?

recommend Ron Chernow’s Grant, a biography of Ulysses S. Grant. Other than as the answer to the 1950s Groucho Marx question, “Who was buried in Grant’s tomb?”, I had not known much about this fascinating person. He was a terrible judge of people, had no View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Information; Publishing

15 Feb 2012
Op-Ed

Occupy Wall Street Protestors Have a Point

failures of education and public health, state capitalism, radical movements and terrorism, and pandemics. The Eleventh Disruptor The business leaders also identified an eleventh disruptor: the inadequacy of... View Details

Keywords: by Joseph L. Bower, Herman B. Leonard & Lynn S. Paine

12 Aug 2019
Research & Ideas

How Scale Changes a Manager's Responsibilities

I've experienced first-hand the excitement and pain that come as companies with a few founders scale to hundreds or thousands of employees. At somewhere around 75 to 100 employees, running a business becomes more complicated, demanding... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Austin

Research Summary

Overview

My focus is empirical financial accounting research, with particular interests in governance, valuation, M&A, and short-sellers. All three of my papers to date fall under the broad heading of “alternative governance mechanisms”—studies of how accounting information is... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Corporate Governance; Valuation; Law

Research Summary

Overview

My focus is empirical financial accounting research, with particular interests in governance, valuation, M&A, and short-sellers. All three of my papers to date fall under the broad heading of “alternative governance mechanisms”—studies of how accounting information is... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Corporate Governance; Valuation; Law

Web

Entrepreneurial Management Curriculum - Faculty & Research

YEAR) Course Title Faculty Name Term Quarter Credits 3 Technologies that Will Change the World Shikhar Ghosh Spring 2026 Q3Q4 3.0 Avoiding Startup Failure DJ DiDonna Spring 2026 Q3Q4 3.0 B2B Sales and Distribution (also listed under... View Details

06 Jan 2003
Research & Ideas

Why Expensing Options Doesn’t Solve the Problem

at Enron had nothing to do with the failure to expense options. Rather, it related to a failure to disclose something else entirely on both the income statement and the balance sheet. Enron had taken... View Details

Keywords: by William Sahlman

01 Jun 2023
News

Pet Project

him every weekend. My roommate was a little annoyed,” Spies says. Other dog owners were more enthusiastic and begged Spies to make double or triple batches. They would pick up their portions on Saturday and settle up by Venmo. In 2017, when Spies moved to the Boston... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; Miscellaneous Store Retailers; Retail Trade; Sporting Goods, Hobby, Musical Instrument, and Book Stores; Retail Trade

Web

Winners & Runners-Up | New Venture Competition

Runner-Up X-COR Therapeutics is the lower-flow CO2 removal cartridge that saves lung failure patients, treating COPD and other acute respiratory failures in critical care and outpatient settings. View Details

Web

CEO Leadership - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

how quickly you understand, accept, and confront the seven surprises will have a lot to do with your success or failure as a CEO. Read longer article excerpts and discussion at HBS Working Knowledge: (1) and (2) . Listen to Jay Lorsch... View Details

09 Feb 2018
Research & Ideas

Big Hits: The Best of the 2018 Super Bowl Ads

The Super Bowl isn’t just a mainstage for football’s two best teams. With over 100 million viewers tuned in, and 30-second spots going for more than $5 million, the big game also represents one of the highest stakes advertising events of the year. Harvard View Details

Keywords: Re: Multiple Faculty; Telecommunications

18 Sep 2013
Research & Ideas

Unspoken Cues: Encouraging Morals Without Mandates

environment where moral behavior is instilled as proper behavior rather than imposed. How moral orders are built and sustained in organizations is of particular fascination to Harvard Business School Associate Professor Michel Anteby. His... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Education

September 1983 (Revised May 1999)
Case

Allen Lane

By: Howard H. Stevenson and Michael J. Roberts

Describes Allen Lane's search for a business to buy. The case explores several failed attempts and the ethical, business, and tax issues that surround the acquisition business. Ends with a description of a new acquisition candidate, an independent valuation report of... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Ethics; Taxation; Failure; Valuation

Citation

Educators

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October 2004 (Revised July 2011)
Case

AT&T 2000-2004

By: Stephen P. Bradley and Kerry Herman

Provides an update on CEO Michael Armstrong's "Project Grand Slam" strategy to build the value of AT&T by offering a complete, integrated telecommunications solution to both corporate and residential customers, including wireless and wire line telephone, Internet,... View Details