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- December 2006 (Revised March 2010)
- Case
Bill Gates and Steve Jobs
By: Anthony Mayo and Mark Benson
Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, founders of Microsoft and Apple respectively, have revolutionized the relationship between the individual and computer technology. Once the exclusive domain of academia and research facilities, computers can now be found in every area of... View Details
- November 2006
- Case
Brontes Technologies -- 2005
By: William A. Sahlman and Caroline Perkins
Describes a set of decisions confronting the founders of a company developing a new device for taking three-dimensional pictures of teeth in order to improve dental outcomes. The company needs more money and must choose between raising new equity capital from a venture... View Details
- September 2006 (Revised April 2008)
- Case
The Howland Long-Term Opportunity Fund
By: Andre F. Perold and David S. Scharfstein
Melissa Howland, founder of an investment firm, must choose between two competing investments, which differ in size, maturity, and rate of return. View Details
- August 2006 (Revised October 2012)
- Case
Natura: Global Beauty Made in Brazil
By: Geoffrey G. Jones and Ricardo Reisen de Pinho
Explores the globalization strategies of Natura, Brazil's largest cosmetics company. Founded in 1969, Natura grew using a direct selling model. Led by its three founders, the firm made distinctive use of Brazil's diversity and became characterized by high ethical and... View Details
- December 2005 (Revised May 2007)
- Case
Cynthia Fisher and the Rearing of ViaCell
By: Robert F. Higgins, Richard G. Hamermesh and Ingrid Vargas
Describes the start up of Viacord, a Boston-based medical services firm founded by Cynthia Fisher (HBS MBA) in 1993. Told from Fisher's perspective, the entrepreneur details the conceptualization and launch of the business and the many obstacles and expenses faced in... View Details
- November 2005
- Case
Michael Ovitz and The Walt Disney Company (A)
By: Jay W. Lorsch and Alexis Chernak
Faced with the need to hire a new president, The Walt Disney Co. pursued Michael Ovitz, a founder of the Creative Artist Agency. Although initially disinterested, Ovitz engaged in negotiations with Michael Eisner, CEO of The Walt Disney Co., in the summer of 1995... View Details
- October 2005 (Revised February 2006)
- Case
Reactivity: A Case of Re-Invention
By: Myra M. Hart and Sylvia Sensiper
By the time Glenn Osaka joined Reactivity as its new CEO in January 2001, the Internet bubble had burst, the financial markets had turned, and the company's core businesses were drying up. He was not hired to lead a turnaround, but Osaka found that the firm's future... View Details
- July 2005
- Case
Harvard Business School and the Making of a New Profession
By: Rakesh Khurana, Tarun Khanna and Daniel Penrice
Since its founding in 1908, Harvard Business School's mission has been to perform a much-needed service for American society by turning business management into a profession. One of the most important factors in the founding of HBS and the nation's other new business... View Details
- June 2005 (Revised August 2011)
- Case
Narayana Hrudayalaya Heart Hospital: Cardiac Care for the Poor (A)
By: Tarun Khanna, V. Kasturi Rangan and Merlina Manocaran
Describes the mission, vision, and strategy of a team of entrepreneurs headed by a charismatic heart surgeon who founded a heart hospital in Bangalore, India. The purpose of the hospital was to offer health care for the masses. This tertiary care hospital performed... View Details
- June 2005 (Revised August 2010)
- Case
Distrobot Systems, Inc.
Distrobot is a start-up that has developed a new system for warehouse automation. The company is trying to raise money to finance the launch of the product. The founder must decide how much capital to raise, from whom, and on what terms. View Details
- June 2005 (Revised March 2017)
- Teaching Note
Siebel Systems: Organizing for the Customer
By: Robert Simons
Teaching Note to (103-014). The Siebel Systems case describes the unusual accountability and organizing choices made by managers of a successful, rapidly growing software development company. The case is set in 2002, but details the critical decisions made by founder... View Details
- April 2005 (Revised January 2006)
- Case
Protege Partners: The Capacity Challenge
In February 2005, Jeffrey Tarrant (HBS '85) and Ted Seides (HBS '99) considered their strategy for Protege Partners, founded in July 2002 as a fund of hedge funds (FOHF) specializing in small hedge funds. Protege's assets under management had grown to $1.1 billion, and... View Details
- April 2005 (Revised January 2007)
- Case
Furman Selz LLC (A): A Tale of Two Acquisitions
By: Nancy D. Beaulieu, Boris Groysberg and Kyle Doherty
Profiles a firm that was reacquired by two companies with different degrees of success. Highlights integration challenges present in acquisition deals when the primary assets of the target are human capital. Focuses on Furman Selz's acquisition by Xerox in 1987; its... View Details
- January 2005 (Revised April 2006)
- Case
Stonewall Kitchen
By: Myra M. Hart, Victoria Winston, Kristin Lieb, Kenna Wyllie Baudin, Alison Bell and Leslie Simmons
Jonathan King and Jim Stott, the founders of Stonewall Kitchen, started out in 1992 with a simple business selling jams and jellies at local farmers' markets. By 2004, they had grown the company into a $25 million organization with 250 employees. They expanded their... View Details
- November 2004
- Case
Innocent Drinks
By: William A. Sahlman and Dan Heath
The three founders of a London-based, start-up smoothie company must decide between three growth options: expansion of the existing product line into Europe, extension of the brand into other product categories, or continued organic growth within the United Kingdom. View Details
- November 2004 (Revised May 2010)
- Case
RightNow Technologies
By: William A. Sahlman and Dan Heath
The founder and CEO of a CRM software start-up must decide between an attractive acquisition offer and the opportunity to go public. Discusses the growth of the company--including a lengthy discussion of entrepreneurial bootstrapping--as well as an aborted IPO attempt... View Details
- November 2004
- Case
ClozeX Medical (A): The New Standard of Wound Closure
By: William A. Sahlman and Ryland Matthew Willis
Describes a set of decisions confronting the founder of a company with a revolutionary new wound-closure product. He must decide how to finance and exploit his venture. View Details
- September 2004 (Revised February 2006)
- Case
Fernwood Art Investments: Leading in an Imperfect Marketplace
By: Boris Groysberg, Joel Podolny and Timothy Keller
As Bruce Taub, founder of Fernwood, strolled past some of New York City's finest galleries, he pondered the unique challenges that Fernwood faced. Where others had seen the inefficiency of imperfect markets, Taub saw an opportunity to revolutionize the very nature of... View Details
- May 2004 (Revised July 2004)
- Case
Clarence Saunders: The Comeback King
By: Nitin Nohria and Bridget Gurtler
Follows the rise and fall of the founder of the modern supermarket, Clarence Saunders. Prior to 1915, all staple shopping took place in the market or general store, where a clerk behind a counter pulled items from shelves for customers , measured them from a barrel, or... View Details
- May 2004
- Supplement
Slingshot Technology, Inc. Supplement: Partnership Agreements
By: Lynda M. Applegate and Elizabeth Collins
Slingshot Technology Inc. (STI) is a privately held software start-up founded in 1995 focused on identifying emerging spaces in the IT services industry and partnering with vendors selling promising but unproven technologies in those spaces. The vendors used STI to... View Details