Publications

January 2014
Case

Steven Carpenter at Cake Financial (Abridged)

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Joseph B. Fuller and Shikhar Ghosh

Steven Carpenter reflects on the successes and failures of his recent venture, Cake Financial. Carpenter had just sold the four-year-old startup and was at work on a new business plan. But first, he wanted to understand why Cake Financial, a service that allowed users... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business or Company Management; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; Internet; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry

06 Nov 2012
First Look

First Look: November 6

contribute to research on entrepreneurship in nascent industries and suggest directions for future research. Download the paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=40160 Cases & Course Materials Netflix:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2020 (Revised April 2020)
Case

CarTrade

By: Rajiv Lal and Shreya Ramachandran

Vinay Sanghi, the founder and CEO of CarTrade, had been trying different business strategies to keep the company, which he founded in 2010 as an online marketplace for used and new cars, profitable and on track for growth. In a crowded and disorganized dealer... View Details

Keywords: Online Marketplace; Automobiles; Customer Base; Internet and the Web; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Model; Financing and Loans; E-commerce; Digital Platforms; Digital Marketing; Auto Industry; Auto Industry; India; Mumbai

01 Oct 1999
News

Banking on Success

an insider's view of the action, the Bulletin asked five members of the class who have been involved in a variety of banking endeavors to share some personal and professional insights and to reflect on the... View Details

Keywords: Deborah E. Blagg

April 2005 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Change at Whirlpool Corporation (A)

By: Jan W. Rivkin, Dorothy A. Leonard and Gary Hamel

In 1998, the CEO of Whirlpool Corp. decides to change the company's strategy significantly to escape an increasingly unattractive "stalemate" in the appliance industry. The change he proposes involves a fundamental shift in the company's focus--from manufacturing to... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Competitive Advantage; Strategic Planning; Production; Brands and Branding; Management Teams; Consumer Products Industry; United States

April 1998
Case

Jim Sharpe: Extrusion Technology, Inc. (C)

By: H. Kent Bowen and Barbara Feinberg

Jim Sharpe, president of Extrusion Technology, describes the first five years at the aluminum extrusion company he purchased. He begins with day one as he introduced himself to the employees in 1987 and assured them of the company's continuity. Over the next two years,... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Forecasting and Prediction; Cost Management; Profit; Innovation Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Problems and Challenges; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Mining Industry

January 2013 (Revised March 2016)
Case

The Private Company Council

By: Karthik Ramanna and Luis M. Viceira

Financial Accounting Foundation chairman Jack Brennan is under pressure from private-company interests to set up a new body—the Private Company Council—to determine separate GAAP for private companies. PCC advocates—including the US Chamber of Commerce—argue that... View Details

Keywords: FASB; Lobbying; Political Economy; Accounting; Government and Politics; Leadership; Financial Markets; Accounting Industry; Accounting Industry; Accounting Industry

22 Oct 2019
Research & Ideas

Use Artificial Intelligence to Set Sales Targets That Motivate

lies in finding the sweet spot between these two undesirable outcomes, and determining how compensation can motivate salespeople best. In a recent Harvard Business Review article, Chung and several... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

21 Jul 2010
Research & Ideas

HBS Faculty Debate Financial Reform Legislation

therefore, to see how this law will be implemented in practice. In addition, there are likely to be some unintended negative consequences. Will the new derivatives rules pull in various industrial companies... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

October 2006 (Revised February 2010)
Case

Linux vs. Windows

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Jordan Mitchell

As of 2006, Microsoft is finding that its dominant position in client and server operating systems is under attack from Linux. While Linux has only 3% of the worldwide installed base of PC operating systems, it had captured 20% of the server market by the end of 2005... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Open Source Distribution; Competitive Strategy; Applications and Software; Value; Technology Industry

November 2014
Teaching Note

Claritas Genomics

By: Robert F. Higgins and Matthew G. Preble

Dr. Patrice Milos is the first CEO of Claritas Genomics (Claritas) and she faces a number of challenges in scaling the young company. Claritas was formed around a lab spun out from Boston Children's Hospital (BCH) which had performed genomic tests for the hospital. Now... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare; Healthcare Startups; Genetic Testing; Genetics Diagnostics; Spinning Out Hospital Services; Spin-out; Health Care and Treatment; Genetics; Entrepreneurship; Biotechnology Industry; Biotechnology Industry; United States

23 Mar 2023
Blog Post

Arla Foods: How Sustainable Can A Dairy Company Be?

In January 2023, Professors Willy Shih and Mike Toffel led more than 40 HBS MBA students on site visits to witness the energy transition and innovative sustainable production activities throughout Denmark... View Details

January 1999 (Revised March 2001)
Case

MindSpring

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

In a business environment where Internet Service Providers (ISP) has become increasingly commodity-like, Charles Brewer, founder and CEO of MindSpring, the nation's sixth largest ISP and the recognized leader in customer satisfaction, ponders a proposed merger with... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Mergers and Acquisitions; Customer Satisfaction; Growth and Development Strategy; Web Services Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

20 May 2022
Blog Post

Nucleate Eco: Connecting Aspiring MBA Entrepreneurs with Cutting Edge Climate Research

was facilitating conversations between our fledging team and folks in industry – whether it was potential customers or investors. First, it was valuable to gather real customer feedback on our hypotheses,... View Details

October 2007
Case

iPhone vs. Cell Phone

By: David B. Yoffie and Michael Slind

The launch of Apple's iPhone marked a pivotal new chapter in the story of mobile music (the uniting of digital music players with mobile phones). The iPhone combined an iPod music player, a cell phone, and a mobile Internet device, along with a camera and other... View Details

Keywords: Communication Technology; Music Entertainment; Product Launch; Partners and Partnerships; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Communications Industry; Communications Industry

August 2002 (Revised December 2002)
Case

Quality Imaging Products (QIP)

Martin Stein, a recent business school graduate, is the new owner of Quality Imaging Products (QIP), a $10-million-a-year remanufacturer of printer and copier ink cartridges. Within weeks of buying the company, QIP's vp for finance, gives an ultimatum: a raise or he... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Organizational Culture; Crisis Management; Manufacturing Industry

September 2019
Case

Dementia Discovery Fund

By: Richard G. Hamermesh, Kathy Giusti and Sarah Gulick

The case is set in March 2019, and tells the story of the founding of the Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF). The idea for the fund began in 2015, when then-Prime Minister David Cameron spoke about the importance of making breakthroughs in dementia research, and pledged... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Investment Funds; Mission and Purpose; Recruitment; Health Care and Treatment; Pharmaceutical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Boston; Massachusetts; London; England

October 2019
Case

Engaging the Nationwide Workforce

By: Ethan S. Bernstein, Jessica Gover and Sarah Mehta

Nationwide is “on your side,” but did employees feel that way? CAO Gale King and CEO Steve Rasmussen, starting in 2008, invested heavily in a human capital strategy centered around “engagement” at the Ohio-based Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company. Set in 2014, this... View Details