Publications

September 2021 (Revised March 2022)
Case

Katie Couric Media: Landing the First Client

By: N. Louis Shipley and William R. Kerr

In May 2018, celebrated journalist Katie Couric and her husband, John Molner, had recently launched a full-service media firm called Katie Couric Media (KCM). Couric treasured the opportunity to address important social issues like gender equality, environmental... View Details

Keywords: Customer Acquisition; Subscription Model; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Media; Customers; Acquisition; Social Issues; Brands and Branding; Media and Broadcasting Industry

27 Apr 2021
Research & Ideas

New Research: Surviving Bankruptcy, Useful Economics, and Retirement

workplace. Across six studies, we found convergent evidence that emotional acknowledgment led to greater perceptions of costliness, and in turn, to higher evaluations of trust.” Working Papers Deregulation, Market Power, and Prices:... View Details

15 Aug 2016
Research & Ideas

Black Swans and Big Trends Can Ruin Anyone's Internet Prediction

how we thought about online opportunities one year after the dot-com bubble burst. In retrospect, many of my thoughts about the internet’s future evolution missed the mark. If you think history repeats itself, then these forecasting errors might be germane, since View Details

Keywords: by Thomas R. Eisenmann; Technology

August 2007 (Revised July 2008)
Background Note

Take Advantage of Your Diaspora Network

By: William R. Kerr and Daniel J. Isenberg

Diaspora networks (DNs) are an important resource for global entrepreneurs. Discusses several features of DNs, combining both academic and practitioner perspectives. Describes the history and prevalence of DNs in many ethnicities, documents the broad resources DNs can... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Diasporas; Entrepreneurship; Globalized Markets and Industries; Social and Collaborative Networks

20 Oct 2015
First Look

October 20, 2015

Collaborative Marketing by a Global Financial Institution and a Major Art Museum By: Lund, Ragnar, and Stephen A. Greyser Abstract—Purpose: This paper examines cultural sponsorship from a partnership and relationship View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

20 May 2014
First Look

First Look: May 20

Miami-based startup offering online English language learning services, had more than 30,000 active students across Latin America in 2012. The company had just closed a $43 million financing round in order to rapidly scale its service to... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

16 Apr 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, April 16, 2019

this case:https://hbsp.harvard.edu/product/219055-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 219-057 Fluidity In December 2018, the blockchain startup Fluidity was about to participate in its first tokenization deal, which would create digital... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

14 Jan 2014
First Look

First Look: January 14

surveys at one office of the firm. They discovered four keys to building a help-friendly organization that leaders of other organizations could learn and apply to similar effect. Publisher's link: http://hbr.org/2014/01/ideos-culture-of-helping/ar/1 January 2014... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

April 2019
Case

Boxed

By: Laura Huang, Andy Wu and Jiayi Bao

Boxed.com (“Boxed”) is an ambitious e-commerce retailer start-up, founded by visionary CEO Chieh Huang in 2013. From starting in Huang’s garage in 2013, to winning Emerging E-Retailer of the Year in 2016, to having 4 operational distribution centers in 2018, Boxed used... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Management; Business Startups; Leadership; Strategy; Success; E-commerce; Retail Industry

June 2011
Teaching Note

Knight the King: The Founding of Nike (TN)

By: Noam Wasserman

Teaching Note for 810077. View Details

Keywords: Market Participation; Public Ownership; Transformation; Business Startups; Going Public; Competition; Technology; Apparel and Accessories Industry

February 1978
Case

Sierra Log Homes, Inc. (A)

By: Michael E. Porter

Describes the history and evolution of the log home manufacturing industry, a rapidly growing embryonic industry capitalizing on the back-to-basics lifestyle changes in the United States. Focuses on one of the leading firms in the industry, but allows a discussion of... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Change Management; Industry Structures; Supply and Industry; Problems and Challenges; Business Startups; Business Strategy; Manufacturing Industry; United States

June 2005 (Revised August 2010)
Case

Distrobot Systems, Inc.

By: William A. Sahlman

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

Keywords: Financing and Loans; Product Launch; Business Startups; Business Strategy; Distribution Industry; Service Industry

September 2003
Case

Growing Up in China: The Financing of BabyCare Ltd.

By: Mihir A. Desai and Mark Veblen

The CFO of this infant nutritional products company must choose among competing financing offers. The interplay of Chinese legal and customs restrictions and venture capitalists' bargaining techniques challenge the CFO to navigate a tricky negotiation and to devise a... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Working Capital; Emerging Markets; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; China

21 Mar 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research, March 21

largely emphasizes the collective benefits of market creation and overlooks the costs borne by individual evangelists. Through an inductive multiple-case study of five startup competitors, we traced firms’... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

30 Aug 2016
First Look

August 30, 2016

forthcoming Journal of Marketing Research Incentives versus Reciprocity: Insights from a Field Experiment By: Chung, Doug J., and Das Narayandas Abstract—We conduct a field experiment in which we vary the sales force compensation scheme... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

May 2017 (Revised October 2017)
Supplement

Uber: Changing the Way the World Moves (B)

By: Youngme Moon

This (B) case was written as a follow-up to the original case, “Uber: Changing the Way the World Moves” (HBS No. 316-101). It describes a slew of controversial incidents besetting the company in early 2017. View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Competitive Strategy; Transportation; Problems and Challenges; United States

February 2010
Article

Conflict of Interest and the Intrusion of Bias

By: Don A. Moore, Lloyd Tanlu and Max Bazerman

This paper presents evidence of performance persistence in entrepreneurship. We show that entrepreneurs with a track record of success are much more likely to succeed than first-time entrepreneurs and those who have previously failed. In particular, they exhibit... View Details

Keywords: Conflict of Interests; Prejudice and Bias; Performance; Entrepreneurship; Market Timing; Competency and Skills; Perception; Business Startups; Resource Allocation

Find at Harvard

May 2024 (Revised February 2025)
Case

Choosing the Course of Passion: Brooke Boyarsky Pratt at knownwell

By: Jon M. Jachimowicz and Alexis Lefort

Brooke Boyarsky Pratt (HBS ’13) enjoyed considerable success in her early career, quickly climbing the ranks to associate partner at McKinsey, and later becoming an executive vice president at Berkadia, a Berkshire Hathaway portfolio company. Throughout these years,... View Details

Keywords: Passion; Career; Career Planning; Purpose; Personal Development and Career; Mission and Purpose; Identity; Business Startups; Health Care and Treatment; Health Disorders; Growth and Development Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Health Industry; United States