Publications

December 1998 (Revised February 2003)
Case

Trilogy (A)

Trilogy is a rapidly growing company that is taking a highly unusual approach to capturing an enterprise software market (the "selling chain") that is also the target of much larger competitors. The case offers students an opportunity to assess the company's methods,... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Competition; Growth Management; Business Growth and Maturation; Software; Web Services Industry

01 Dec 2014
News

Feedback

shown on the master plan seems to be a continuation of the volumes, rhythm, and scale of the existing buildings. To me this seems the right way to go. The danger is to fall in the trap of doing something... View Details

Keywords: feedback

11 Sep 2012
First Look

First Look: September 11

capital shortages, distributed urban territory to assuage losers of reform and promote economic growth. The findings suggest that 1) growth strategies, and the territorial... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

28 Jul 2009
First Look

First Look: July 28

Kindler barely mentions McKinnell's (controversial) early retirement and describes efforts to reform the company. The case closes in February 2009, just after Pfizer announces plans to acquire competitor Wyeth. Since 2000, Pfizer's... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

12 PM – 1 PM EST, 15 Jan 2015
Webinars: Trending@HBS

High Impact Women Entrepreneurs: Insights from Pioneers who are Changing the Game

During this webinar, Professor Lynda Applegate, faculty chair of the HBS Owner/President Management program, will discuss new research that is developing profiles and case studies on women entrepreneurs who founded new ventures that have become successful high-growth,... View Details

01 Jul 2008
First Look

First Look: July 1, 2008

108-092 An exercise that takes students through five stages of growth in an entrepreneurial start-up in the medical devices industry: 1) founding, 2) growth, 3) push to profitability, 4) refocusing process, View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

January 1977 (Revised April 1983)
Case

Corning Glass Works: The Electronic Products Division (B)

By: Michael Beer

Focuses on the recommendations and implementation strategy made by the organizational development group for the electronic product division's problems. View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Problems and Challenges; Adaptation

08 Nov 2021
Blog Post

Building an Internship Program at Your Startup: An Interview with Facily’s Diego Dzodan (MBA 1999)

co-founders were committed to the company’s success, and as the business grew it was time to hire. They brought on strong talent, like their head of strategy, who has helped the company to grow and View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Consumer Products / Retail

December 1995
Case

City Year: National Expansion Strategy (A)

City Year, a successful nonprofit organization, is studying how, when, and where to expand to new sites. This case provides the opportunity to understand the strategy and structure of a successful delivery system for human services. That analysis raises the question of... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Growth Management

15 Sep 2009
First Look

First Look: September 15

than 350 interviews in 20 countries to identify the leadership practices and operating methods of major companies seeking profitable growth through innovation that benefits society. For example, when the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

June 2010 (Revised June 2010)
Case

Virginia Mason Medical Center (Abridged)

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer

In 2000, Dr. Gary Kaplan became CEO of the Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, Washington. The hospital was facing significant challenges: it was losing money for the first time in its history, staff morale had plummeted, and area hospitals presented ardent... View Details

Keywords: History; Competition; Operations; Leadership Style; Problems and Challenges; Change Management; Health Care and Treatment; Business Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Health Industry; Seattle

November – December 2011
Article

Competitive Strategy for Open Source Software

By: Vineet Kumar, Brett Gordon and Kannan Srinivasan

Commercial open source software (COSS) products-privately developed software based on publicly available source code-represent a rapidly growing, multibillion-dollar market. A unique aspect of competition in the COSS market is that many open source licenses require... View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Competitive Strategy; Product Development; Growth and Development; Markets; Motivation and Incentives; Quality; Policy; Perspective; Profit; Open Source Distribution; Emerging Markets

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11 May 2020
Op-Ed

Immigration Policies Threaten American Competitiveness

articulate just how disastrous closing our borders long-term would be. Some of the recent political rhetoric to halt all immigration, even if later scaled back in practice, endangers the image of America as a welcoming beacon to the next... View Details

Keywords: by William R. Kerr

02 Oct 2016
Blog Post

Peek Weekend: The Family Business Cohort

event. Elements of the weekend were tailored to the interests and knowledge gaps of those from family businesses. Cases focused on relevant topics like small scale franchising View Details

June 2014
Teaching Note

Steve Carpenter at Cake Financial

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann

After investing $9 million of venture capital, Cake Financial had failed to reach critical mass. In early 2010 Cake's assets were sold and the company was dissolved. Founded in 2006, the San Francisco-based Internet company allowed users to monitor their investments... View Details

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

29 Jan 2025
Blog Post

Finding Professional Purpose: Building an Impactful Career that Reflects your Values with Lisa Tanzer (MBA 1993)

Coaching International, where I work with CEOs to accelerate growth and profitability. My clients span industries like e-commerce, business services, apparel, media, and... View Details

December 2024 (Revised March 2025)
Case

The Shouldice Hospital Today

By: James Heskett and Roger Hallowell

The leadership and staff of Shouldice Hospital in Toronto, Canada have, for 75 years, sought to do one thing better than any other hospital in the world, repair inguinal hernias. For some years, a possible second hospital in another market has been under consideration.... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Health Care and Treatment; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Culture; Expansion; Health Industry; Toronto; Canada; United States

February 2014 (Revised August 2014)
Case

3D Systems

By: Karim R. Lakhani and David Lane

In late 2013, Rajeev Kulkarni needed to decide how best to facilitate the emergence of a broad base of users and content to promote the sale of 3D Systems' consumer-focused 3D printers. As yet, neither the company nor users had identified an indispensable application... View Details

Keywords: 3D Printing; Business Ecosystems; 3D Systems; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Copyright; Two-Sided Platforms; Product Development; Customization and Personalization; Manufacturing Industry