Publications

May 2020
Case

Schlumberger's WesternGeco Division

By: John R. Wells, Sneha Biswas and Benjamin Weinstock

In October 2017, Maurice Nessim, President of WesternGeco, a business unit of Schlumberger, faced a difficult decision. In the face of falling oil prices and increasing pressure on costs, did it make sense to sell off the company’s specialized fleet of seismic survey... View Details

Keywords: Market Entry and Exit; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Decision Making; Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Energy Industry; Information Technology Industry

04 Jun 2013
First Look

First Look: June 4

Publications 2006 O'Reilly Media, Inc. Managing Startups: Best Blog Posts By: Eisenmann, Tom, ed. Abstract—Harvard Business School Professor Tom Eisenmann annually compiles the best posts from many blogs on technology startup... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 2017
Case

Shift Technologies, Inc.

By: Thomas Eisenmann and Nicole Tempest Keller

In 2017, management at Shift, an online marketplace that uses a “high touch,” concierge approach to buy and sell used cars, was formulating plans for the San Francisco–based startup’s next phase of expansion. One option was to preserve Shift’s current business model... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Market Design; Multi-Sided Platforms; Marketplace Matching; Growth and Development Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Auto Industry; Retail Industry; United States

2025
Working Paper

Bringing Science to Market: Knowledge Foundations, Inventor-Founders, and Performance

By: Justine Boudou and Maria Roche

In this paper, we examine how a startup’s knowledge foundations—embedded in its core technology—influence its performance in the exit market. Using a dataset of 1,006 biomedicine startups founded between 2005 and 2015, we focus on two key factors: (1) the degree of... View Details

Keywords: Firm Performance; Knowledge Foundations; Exits; Academic Startups; Inventor-founder; Specialized Scientific Knowledge; Competitive Advantage; Value Creation; Research; Information Publishing; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship

Read Now

10 Dec 2015
Blog Post

Working with Professors at HBS

working with Anita Elberse, the famed media and entertainment professor at HBS. I had read about Anita even before applying to business school. She only teaches in the EC year, however, I reached out once I stepped foot on campus to... View Details

26 May 2015
First Look

First Look: May 26

serve as the glue across functions and business units. But without clarity about strategy and the ability to articulate strategy, people can only pick up random, disconnected cues about priorities, and alignment is then hit-and-miss,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

17 Apr 2012
First Look

First Look: April 17

Introduction to Short Selling Lauren H. Cohen and Christopher MalloyHarvard Business School Note 212-079 We provide a primer on the market for securities' lending of equities in the United States. We... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

28 Aug 2012
First Look

First Look: August 28

Daniela BeyersdorferHarvard Business School Case 613-004 LEGO has emerged as one of the most successful companies in the toy industry. The case describes LEGO's gradual rise, rapid decline, and recent revitalization as it is keeping up... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

21 Feb 2019
Research & Ideas

Voter ID Laws Don't Work (But They Don't Hurt Anything, Either)

elections at all. We asked the study’s coauthor, Harvard Business School Assistant Professor Vincent Pons, for some insights on the results. Pons has studied voter participation and engagement issues in France, Italy, and Africa. He... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

04 Oct 2011
First Look

First Look: October 4

(fall 2011) An abstract is unavailable at this time. Read the paper: http://sloanreview.mit.edu/the-magazine/2011-fall/53103/should-you-have-a-global-strategy/ How to Hang On to Your High Potentials Authors:Claudio Fernández-Araoz, Boris Groysberg, and Nitin Nohria... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2008 (Revised March 2011)
Case

a-connect: In Search of Talent Partners (A)

By: Robert G. Eccles and Dilyana Karadzhova

a-connect was started in 2002 by three former McKinsey partners who wanted to develop an alternative business model consulting firm, which they have positioned as a high-end staffing company. The company has been very successful, growing to revenues of CHF 30 million... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Decision Choices and Conditions; Initial Public Offering; Selection and Staffing; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketplace Matching; Expansion; Consulting Industry

June 2007 (Revised April 2010)
Case

Comcast Corporation

By: Anita Elberse and Jason Schreiber

In October 2006, Comcast executives had entered negotiations with broadcast networks to broaden the selection of free network content distributed via its video-on-demand (VOD) service. The major broadcast networks, however, were unsure of the effect it would have on... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Consumer Behavior; Competitive Strategy; Technology Adoption; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

Research Summary

The New Social Contract: Contractors, Firms, and Agencies

The emergence of a 'new social contract' linking employees and organizations - perhaps most notable for the absence of a promise of lifelong job security - has been widely remarked. A related trend, less noted but potentially important, has been the emergence of a... View Details

02 Oct 2013
News

Comeback Kids: How the Boston Red Sox went from last place to World Series

21 Dec 2018
News

Indie bookstores sales increase by 5% in 2018

December 2006 (Revised January 2008)
Case

ViaGen: Revolutionizing the Livestock Industry

By: David E. Bell, Reed Martin and Mary L. Shelman

ViaGen has invested heavily to develop cloning technology for the livestock industry. Cloning has the potential to significantly improve the genetics of livestock, leading to higher quality meat, healthier animals, and more efficient production. Since 2003, the firm... View Details

Keywords: Animal-Based Agribusiness; Business Plan; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Marketing Communications; Industry Structures; Business and Government Relations; Genetics; Commercialization; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Biotechnology Industry