Publications

April 2006 (Revised May 2009)
Case

Inverness Medical Innovations - Born Global (A)

Ron Zwanziger has just started his third company, having just sold the last one for $1.3 billion to Johnson & Johnson. As part of the deal with J&J, certain assets were transferred to the new company, Inverness Medical Innovations, which, at the time of its creation,... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Mergers and Acquisitions; Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Corporate Finance; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Health Industry; Waltham

September 2004 (Revised August 2007)
Case

Enterprise IT at Cisco (2004)

By: Andrew P. McAfee, F. Warren McFarlan and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

Illustrates the challenges associated with centralizing IT decisions at Cisco after a decade of decentralized planning and project funding. When Brad Boston became Cisco's new CIO in 2001, he found that managers were starting to get frustrated with the results of their... View Details

Keywords: Management; Resource Allocation; Information Technology; Problems and Challenges; Business Ventures; Change Management; Entrepreneurship; Projects; Planning; Corporate Finance; Information Technology Industry

19 Jun 2013
Research & Ideas

Analyzing Institutions to Solve Big Problems

able to solve these problems, it's many of the people in this room." Much of the conference comprised presentations of scientifically rigorous research papers that provided clear implications for leaders and organizations. Topics covered included the evolution of... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel & Anna Secino

02 Jan 2007
Research & Ideas

Most Popular Articles of 2006

a fundamental rethinking of how entrepreneurship works. The Strategic Way to Go to Market Too often channel strategies develop at the last minute—when a product is ready to go to market. But this haphazard approach leaves a lot of... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

October 2009 (Revised June 2010)
Case

1366 Technologies

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III, Ramana Nanda and David Kiron

Just months after declaring their intent to become a solar cell equipment supplier, van Mierlo and Sachs were again revisiting the issue of what the company should be. Becoming a successful solar cell manufacturer would potentially be much more lucrative than becoming... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Energy Generation; Renewable Energy; Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Commercialization; Corporate Strategy; Green Technology Industry

June 1999 (Revised May 2000)
Case

EndoSonics

EndoSonics is a manufacturer of a sophisticated medical device--a catheter that can take ultrasonic images within the blood vessels of the heart. The company deals with a series of challenges that relate to implementing a difficult technology in the face of a complex... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Distribution; Decision Choices and Conditions; Corporate Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Problems and Challenges; Manufacturing Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

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November 2008
Case

Adnexus Therapeutics, Inc.: Considering the Exit

By: Vicki L. Sato and Rachel Gordon

Dr. John Mendlein, CEO of Adnexus Therapeutics Inc. (Adnexus), a private biotechnology company, must decide whether to pursue acquisition talks with Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) after a successful six-month collaboration or continue with Adnexus' planned IPO. View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Decision Choices and Conditions; Entrepreneurship; Initial Public Offering; Corporate Strategy; Biotechnology Industry

March 2024 (Revised April 2024)
Case

Angel City Football Club: Scoring a New Model

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Jennifer Fonstad and Nicole Tempest Keller

In January 2024, Kara Nortman, Julie Uhrman, and Natalie Portman, the founders of Angel City Football Club (ACFC) were developing the club’s first three-year strategic plan. Founded in 2020, ACFC had a star-studded investor group, including Portman and celebrities such... View Details

Keywords: Sports; Entertainment; Entrepreneurship; Brands and Branding; Venture Capital; Business Model; Corporate Strategy; Digital Marketing; Sports Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States; California; Los Angeles

20 Mar 2012
First Look

First Look: March 20

case study of a multinational firm in the biotechnology sector to illustrate how the core-periphery framework works in multiple emerging markets across institutional differences. The analysis is based on 32 interviews conducted with the CEO and other executives of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

08 Nov 2016
First Look

November 8, 2016

Measuring Entrepreneurial Businesses: Current Knowledge and Challenges Immigrant Entrepreneurship By: Kerr, William R., and Sari Pekkala Kerr Abstract—We examine immigrant entrepreneurship and the survival... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

July 2008 (Revised December 2011)
Case

ghSMART & Co., 2006: Pioneering in Professional Services

By: Noam T. Wasserman and Ashraf Haque

Geoff Smart, founder and CEO of ghSMART & Co., wanted to build ghSMART into the #1 management-assessment firm for CEOs and investors. However, he had just received two pieces of very bad news: the demise of an existing project and the loss of a $1 million engagement he... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Entrepreneurship; Corporate Governance; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Structure; Service Industry

20 Dec 2018
Cold Call Podcast

Using Fintech to Disrupt Eastern Bank from Within

Keywords: Banking; Financial Services

January 2008 (Revised May 2008)
Case

Cape Wind: Offshore Wind Energy in the USA

By: Richard Vietor

Cape Wind is an extreme example of NIMBY--not in my backyard syndrome. This is the first offshore wind project planned for the United States, in Nantucket Sound, just south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Initially proposed six years ago, in 2001, the wind farm would be... View Details

Keywords: Renewable Energy; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Projects; Government and Politics; Environmental Sustainability; Business and Community Relations; Public Opinion; Power and Influence; Energy Industry; Massachusetts

July 2024
Case

Freelancer, Ltd.

By: Christopher Stanton, Karim R. Lakhani, Jin Hyun Paik and Nina Cohodes

Over the course of the 2010s, the rapid advancement of mobile technologies and the rise of online freelancing platforms seemed to portend a radical transformation of labor markets into on-demand, flexible talent pools. Even though several Fortune 500... View Details

Keywords: Freelancers; Labor Markets; Internet and the Web; Digital Platforms; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Human Capital; Change Management; Globalized Firms and Management; Employment; Global Range; Employment Industry

February 2006
Case

Bumble and bumble: Building a Successful Business in Beauty and Fashion

By: Nancy F. Koehn and Erica Helms

Explores the creation and subsequent rise of Bumble and bumble, a trend-setting hair-care company. Analyzes the vision and achievements of the founding entrepreneur, Michael Gordon, and charts the evolution of the company within the $230 billion global beauty industry.... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Brands and Branding; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Strategy; Financial Condition; Business Growth and Maturation; Success; Distribution; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Fashion Industry

08 Dec 2003
Research & Ideas

Why Europe Lags in Pharmaceuticals and Biotech

do not have access to the drugs or drug makers do not receive a fair reimbursement, panelists said. Lessons Of A Lemon-aid Stand But differences are as much cultural as regulatory. Cultural differences favor entrepreneurship and... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Biotechnology; Health; Pharmaceutical; Technology

September 2008 (Revised August 2010)
Case

Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-term Impact

By: Stacey M. Childress, Geoff Eckman Marietta and Sara Suchman

In June 2008, Jesse Solomon, the founding director of the Boston Teacher Residency (BTR), faced an important decision about the organization's strategic direction. Since its founding in 2003, 125 of its graduates had joined the Boston Public Schools (BPS) and BTR had... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Teaching; Entrepreneurship; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance Improvement; Business Strategy; Education Industry; Boston

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September 2006 (Revised April 2007)
Case

Medtronic Vision 2010

By: Lynda M. Applegate

Describes the company's year-long efforts to transition from a medical device company selling products to physicians for use with patients suffering chronic end-stage disease, to a medical technology company providing life-long solutions for people with chronic... View Details

Keywords: Business Plan; Transition; Decision Choices and Conditions; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Financial Management; Financing and Loans; Health Care and Treatment; Innovation and Invention; Strategic Planning; Health Industry