Publications

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01 Dec 2010
News

Google bids for Groupon

January 2001 (Revised May 2001)
Case

Return Logic, Inc. (A)

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Michele Lutz

Follows three graduating HBS students as they build a business-to-business Internet venture and highlights the challenges they confront in structuring financing terms with venture capitalists. Requires students to carefully read a six-page term sheet to identify which... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Investment Funds; Private Equity; Internet and the Web; Negotiation Deal; Entrepreneurship

December 2001
Case

Sarah Vickers-Willis: Career Decisions (A)

By: Myra M. Hart, Lynda M. Applegate, Sarah Harden and Susan Saltrick

Sarah Vickers-Willis, HBS MBA 1999, faces a critical career decision: Does she redirect the Internet start-up she helped found or join in shaping a for-profit firm with a social mission? Sarah, a young Australian business executive, has always strived to "find space"... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Leadership; Internet and the Web; Social Entrepreneurship; Personal Development and Career; Gender; Business Startups

July 2023 (Revised May 2024)
Case

India Stack: Digital Public Infrastructure for All

By: Tarun Khanna, Anjali Raina and Rachna Chawla

Amitabh Kant, India Sherpa in the year of India's G20 Presidency, and Nandan Nilekani iconic tech entrepreneur wondered how to share India's model of digital public infrastructure to build social and economic inclusion. 'India Stack', the umbrella term for India's DPI... View Details

Keywords: Digital Transformation; Information Technology; Technology Adoption; Developing Countries and Economies; Economic Growth; Information Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Asia; South Asia; India

February 2018
Case

Amazon, Google, and Apple: Smart Speakers and the Battle for the Connected Home

By: Rajiv Lal and Scott Johnson

Amazon, Google, and Apple all offer their own smart speaker. The devices represent each firm's entry point into the connected home market. All three companies come into the space with their own strengths and weaknesses. Who will win? View Details

12 Aug 2002
Research & Ideas

‘Let the Buyer Beware’ Doesn’t Protect Investors

leading investment banker during the bubble. About him Forbes wrote: "...in Quattrone's shop research was expected to serve the bankers' interests. The Internet craze had led analysts at every investment bank to issue glowing reports... View Details

Keywords: by D. Quinn Mills

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

September 1998 (Revised February 1999)
Case

Interactive Insurance Services: Redefining Insurance Distribution

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Marla Malcom-Nagler

Founded in July 1995, Interactive Insurance Services provided personal lines of insurance over the World Wide Web. In June 1996, the company was acquired by Intuit for $7.5 million. The case details the competitive and organizational issues faced by this rapidly... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Restructuring; Growth and Development; Distribution; Business Processes; Competitive Strategy; Web; Insurance Industry

Thomas Graeber is an Assistant Professor of Business Administration in the Negotiation, Organizations & Markets Unit at Harvard Business School. He teaches Negotiations in the MBA elective curriculum.

As an empirical behavioral and experimental... View Details

01 Jul 2010
News

Beyond Disengagement and Anger

January 2000 (Revised April 2000)
Case

AsiaMail.com: What's in a Name?

By: Myra M. Hart and Sharon Peyus

Three founders of an international Internet company (e-mail-based marketing) struggle with naming the company. As they prepare to invest more than $10 million of first-round venture funding in advertising and marketing, they search for a name that will have power and... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Venture Capital; Brands and Branding; Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Advertising; Marketing; Information Technology Industry; Service Industry; Asia

July 2011
Supplement

Assistant Professor Gyan Gupta and the Wet Noodle Class (B)

By: Dorothy Leonard

Professor Gupta has imposed two new policies on his class, midway through the term: 1) No use of Internet to locate additional information on the company in the case; 2) an increase in the percentage of grades attributed to class participation. He meets with rebellion... View Details

Keywords: Teaching; Learning; Internet and the Web; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Change; Education Industry

July 2001 (Revised December 2001)
Case

WeServeHomes.com

ServiceMaster, a Fortune 500 supplier of home services such as Terminex, Trugreen (lawn care), and MerryMaids, has a 50% interest in an Internet start-up designed to attract new customers to its services and help service providers improve quality and lower costs.... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Internet and the Web; Information Technology; Service Operations; Service Delivery; Service Industry

October 2000 (Revised March 2001)
Case

eLance.com: Building a Professional Services Marketplace

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Kristin Kohler

Launched as an eBay for services, eLance promises to leverage the capabilities of the Internet to not only change the way services are bought and sold, but change the fundamental dynamics of the global economy. Building on theories posited in the HBR article by Tim... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Technological Innovation; Job Search; Business or Company Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Web Sites; Information Technology Industry; Service Industry

25 Aug 2013
News

Needed at Microsoft: A Catch-Up Artist

September 2000 (Revised April 2001)
Case

Kana Communications

Kana is a young Internet software company wondering how it should react to the rapid emergence of Application Service Providers (ASPs), firms that host software applications for customers who can reach those via the Internet. ASPs may be a new channel of distribution... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Internet and the Web; Applications and Software; Distribution Channels; Web Services Industry

August 2000 (Revised June 2001)
Case

Fsas: Fujitsu Support and Service Inc.

Fsas was created as a spinoff subsidiary of Fujitsu to service PC networks. As the company succeeded, it became listed on Japan's stock exchange--second tier. Now the Internet is causing Fsas to decide how to structure itself again. Should it spinoff a new company? View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Internet; Business Growth and Maturation; Innovation and Invention; Information Technology Industry; Japan