Publications

December 2019 (Revised January 2020)
Case

Boll & Branch

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger and Mel Martin

Boll & Branch is a direct-to-consumer (DTC) business launched in 2015. It was the first Fair-Trade Certified manufacturer of linens. The case provides background on the company, its start, business model, and evolution through 2019. View Details

Keywords: Direct-to-consumer; Channels; Disruption; Business Model; Brands and Branding; Internet and the Web; Strategy; Retail Industry; United States; Canada

October 2012
Case

Riding the Wave of Technological Change at RE/MAX, LLC.

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Ramiro Montealegre and Jeffrey Sweeney

David Liniger, cofounder of RE/MAX, LLC., wondered if his business was prepared to exploit the next wave of business opportunities in the real estate market. This industry had moved from one in which broker/owners controlled all of the consumers' access to information,... View Details

Keywords: General Management; Business Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Business Model; Information Technology; Transformation; Organizational Change and Adaptation

August 2007
Case

Satelite Distribuidora de Petroleo

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Andrea M.A.F. Minardi

Marcelo Alecrim, the owner of SAT, a gas distribution company in Brazil, envisioned many growth opportunities but lacked financial resources to pursue them. He was approaching an American private equity fund to raise money. Describes Alecrim's challenge in creating SAT... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Entrepreneurship; Private Equity; Growth and Development Strategy; Emerging Markets; Utilities Industry; Brazil

December 2000 (Revised July 2001)
Case

Ventro: Builder of B2B Businesses (Condensed)

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Meredith Collura

Enables a condensed analysis of Ventro (formerly known as Chemdex), which builds and operates multiple B2B marketplace companies. Part of the Building-E-Business Online series. View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Technological Innovation; Management; Strategy; Business Strategy; Consulting Industry; Information Technology Industry

February 1985 (Revised January 2024)
Case

Health Stop (A): What Type of Innovation Is It? And Six Factors Alignment

By: Regina E. Herzlinger, Joyce Lallman, Nancy Kane, Jefferson C. Grahling and James Wallace

How can we evaluate if innovative health care ventures can do good—benefit society—and do well—become financially viable? This question is the topic of the first module in the Innovating In Health Care course book. This note and case series enables readers to conduct... View Details

Keywords: For-Profit Firms; Business Model; Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Strategy; Valuation; Health Industry; Retail Industry

01 Feb 1999
News

New Releases

Managing Across Borders by Christopher A. Bartlett and Sumantra Ghoshal (Harvard Business School Press) A decade ago HBS professor Christopher A. Bartlett and London Business School professor Sumantra Ghoshal proposed a revolutionary new organizational View Details

Keywords: Nancy O. Perry

28 May 2019
News

Look Again

Modernity: The Black Model from Manet and Matisse to Today, grew out of Murrell’s 2014 PhD dissertation—a degree she pursued after working in finance for more than 25 years. +LISTEN Murrell talks about transitioning from a career in... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna

01 Mar 2009
News

HBS Posts Strong Results in 2008

business model produced a third consecutive year of double-digit revenue growth despite a slowing economy. That model is based on faculty research that brings professors into contact with business leaders... View Details

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

15 Aug 2016
Research & Ideas

Black Swans and Big Trends Can Ruin Anyone's Internet Prediction

paragraphs to Google, which, by 2001, already was the 15th largest website in the United States. Despite this traffic, Google’s ecosystem impact was still modest at the time. The company was still a year away from adopting the paid search View Details

Keywords: by Thomas R. Eisenmann; Technology

01 Mar 2005
News

One-on-One with Edwin Reed

character of underserved urban communities where houses of worship are stable, deeply rooted institutions. We are adept at leveraging both human and financial resources and are committed, in particular, to nurturing entrepreneurship. Our View Details

Keywords: Mary Ellen Gardner; Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations; Personal Services

August 2022
Exercise

Joy4Home Brands: Pricing Matters

By: Elie Ofek, Oded Koenigsberg and Marco Bertini

Joy4Home Brands, the maker of novel houseware items, was gearing up for its launch. The company would be introducing two lines: kitchenware products and storage containers. The initial go-to-market plan called for a direct to consumer (DTC) channel strategy. While... View Details

Keywords: DTC; Pricing Decisions; B2B; Product Marketing; Product Launch; Marketing Strategy; Business Model; Opportunities; Consumer Products Industry

February 2002 (Revised March 2010)
Case

Mondragon Corporacion Cooperativa (MCC)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Tarun Khanna

Mondragon Corp. Cooperativa (MCC) is a conglomerate of more than 100 cooperatives in Basque Country, Spain. From 1996, MCC has pursued an internationalization strategy. As the company goes global, MCC's business model, based on trust and social involvement, seems to be... View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Business Model; Global Strategy; Cooperative Ownership; Trust; Spain; Basque Provinces

February 2000 (Revised October 2000)
Case

CarPoint in 1999

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Gillian Morris

Updates events in Microsoft CarPoint through the end of 1999, focusing on CarPoint's strategic alliance with Ford and on competitive developments. View Details

Keywords: History; Business Model; Transportation Networks; Alliances; Emerging Markets; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Auto Industry

March 2011
Teaching Note

TopCoder (A): Developing Software through Crowdsourcing (TN)

By: Karim R. Lakhani and Eric Lonstein

Teaching Note for 610032. View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Applications and Software; Product Development; Competition; Internet and the Web; Problems and Challenges; Perspective; Information Technology Industry; Service Industry

28 Feb 2012
First Look

First Look: Feb. 28

positions. Creating Leaders: An Ontological/Phenomenological Model Authors:Michael C. Jensen, Werner Erhard, and Kari L. Granger Publication:Chap. 16 in The Handbook for Teaching Leadership: Knowing, Doing, and Being, edited by Scott... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

03 May 2011
First Look

First Look: May 3

Business Model Gary P. Pisano, Ryan Johnson, and Carin-Isabel KnoopHarvard Business School Case 611-046 In the biotech world, the 18-year-old Munich-based company MorphoSys was a rarity: it was profitable. The company achieved this... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Web

Tough Tech Ventures - Course Catalog

strategies and tactics for managing risk vs. reward. Historically, most entrepreneurship courses (at HBS, and elsewhere) disproportionately focus on consumer- and /or software-centric business model and product experimentation tools... View Details

Alumni WDYDWYD

Brooke Borgen

and knew that many other women were doing the same. From that realization, Canopy Advisory Group was born: a portfolio of professionals with big-firm training who deliberately choose to use their skills on a project basis. Our model may... View Details

May 2017
Supplement

Betfair (D)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, John Heilbron and Neil Campbell

Betfair reconsiders its approach to international gambling markets amid regulatory uncertainty. View Details

Keywords: Betfair; Exchange; Betting; Leisure Industry; Laws and Statutes; Business Model; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Europe