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- September 1997 (Revised October 1997)
- Case
Emmet Stephenson: Profile of an Entrepreneur
By: Ashish Nanda
Profiles the career of a Emmet Stephenson, the founder of over a dozen successful companies, as a model of entrepreneurship and management. View Details
- June 1997 (Revised March 2001)
- Case
Genset Initial Public Offering (A)
By: Paul A. Gompers and Jeffrey M. Anapolsky
Pascal Brandys, founder and CEO of Genset, must decide whether to take this young biotechnology company public. If so, should he do a dual offering in both France and the U.S.? The case also explores the business models in genomics research. View Details
- March 1997 (Revised April 1998)
- Case
Amazon.com (A)
Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon.com, an Internet-based bookseller, has created one of the most successful ventures for electronic commerce on the Web. With revenue growing at a pace of 30% per month, Bezos attributes the success of Amazon.com to its value... View Details
- December 1996 (Revised June 1998)
- Case
Midnight Networks, Inc.
By: H. Kent Bowen and Marilyn Matis
Midnight Networks, Inc., is a small computer network validation company. This case describes how the five founders built their business from operations earnings and how they established "best practices" operational processes to run their firm successfully. Operational... View Details
- November 1996
- Case
Del Webb Corporation (A), The
By: Jay W. Lorsch and Samanta Graff
Begins with a company history, tracing the tenures of founder Del E. Webb and his successor as chairman and CEO, Robert H. Johnson. Johnson inherited a diversified company that was involved in construction, real estate development (including the famous Sun City), and... View Details
- August 1996 (Revised December 1999)
- Case
J Boats, Inc.
By: Robert L. Simons
During the 20-year evolution of a family-owned, entrepreneurial sailboat company, two founders leverage their design and marketing skills to build one of the most recognized brands in the recreational boating industry. The founder then considers management succession... View Details
- June 1996 (Revised January 1999)
- Case
XcelleNet, Inc. (A)
By: Stephen P. Bradley, Richard L. Nolan and James Leonard
XcelleNet, a $35 million system software company based in Atlanta, was founded in 1986 to address the computing needs of a class of remote and mobile users and data that were rarely connected to a network. Though the clear first mover and leader in the remote... View Details
- March 1996 (Revised August 2000)
- Case
Wildfire Communications, Inc. (A)
By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and Mary Connor
Founder and CEO Bill Warner is faced with critical decisions regarding the product lines, target markets, and technology platforms that his start-up, Wildfire Communications, Inc., will pursue. In addition to the question of strategic focus across these lines of... View Details
- March 1994 (Revised April 1995)
- Case
EnClean: Malcolm Waddell's Story (A)
By: David J. Collis
Describes, in the words of its cofounder, the history of EnClean, an industrial and environmental services company, from its origins in 1984. The company grew rapidly and diversified into new businesses and new geographies both through acquisition and internally. It... View Details
- July 1993 (Revised March 1994)
- Case
Bright Horizons Children's Centers, Inc.-1987
By: Hugo Uyterhoeven and Myra M. Hart
The founders of Bright Horizons have developed a distinctive strategy and raised venture capital money. Now they are ready to make their dream come true. How should they proceed in implementing their strategy? View Details
- September 1992
- Case
Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market
First case in a series of six cases that follow the experience of a cable television company as it adjusts to the rapid rise and precipitous decline of the stock market in the late 1980s. In this case Don Jones, the company's founder and owner, sees the rise in public... View Details
- February 1992 (Revised September 2019)
- Case
The House of Tata
By: James E. Austin and Ashish Nanda
The case traces the evolution of the Tata group, one of the largest and highly respected Indian business houses, from its 19th century founding and early growth in diverse industries, to its response to changes in government regulation in independent India, up to its... View Details
Keywords: Indian Economy; International Business; Government And Business; Government Regulation; Synergy; Conglomerates; Business Conglomerates; Developing Countries and Economies; Business and Government Relations; Business History; Steel Industry; Electronics Industry; Chemical Industry; Insurance Industry; Air Transportation Industry; India
- January 1992
- Case
Tom Monaghan: In Business for God
Describes the personal history of Thomas Monaghan, the founder of Domino's Pizza, his role in building the company, his strong religious convictions, and the ways those have influenced company policy. The question is when to draw lines between individuals' religious... View Details
- November 1991 (Revised July 1995)
- Case
Body Shop International
Describes the start-up and rapid growth of a company whose founder holds strong, non-traditional beliefs about the role of the corporation and its responsibility to society. After profiling Anita Roddick as a person, the case describes the anti-mainstream approach she... View Details
- April 1991 (Revised December 1997)
- Case
Southland Corp. (A)
Examines the Thompson's $4.9 billion leveraged buyout of the Southland Corp. in 1987. As the original founders of Southland, the Thompsons were concerned about losing control over the company upon learning of the Belzberg family's acquiring interest. The teaching... View Details
- March 1991 (Revised May 1991)
- Case
TBIRD: The Thai Business Initiative in Rural Development
During the period of 1987 to 1990, while Thailand had one of the fastest growing economies in the world (average growth rate of 12%), the income disparity between its rural and urban population (especially Bangkok City) was growing increasingly worse. Mechai... View Details
- September 1989 (Revised August 1990)
- Case
Don Burr
By: Shoshana Zuboff
Traces the career development of People Express founder Don Burr. Shows how an individual's evolving set of needs and values influences career choices and how each successive working environment meets these needs or spurs the individual to move on. Concludes as Burr is... View Details
- September 1989
- Case
Steve Shirley
By: Shoshana Zuboff
Traces the career development of a well-known British entrepreneur who, as a young girl, was forced to flee the Nazi's occupation of Central Europe. Details her early work experiences in the heavily male dominated workplace of post-war Britain and follows the... View Details
- January 1981
- Case
Mary Kay Cosmetics, Inc.
By: John P. Kotter
Introduces the student to Mary Kay Cosmetics, Inc., its business, its strategy, and its organization. Provides the necessary background for understanding the contributions of Mary Kay Ash, the company's founder and chairman. View Details
- Teaching Interest
Founders' Dilemmas
This course is for students who plan to become involved in new ventures, now or at mid-career, as founders of a new venture, early hires, early advisors, or board members, or as potential investors (e.g., VCs), customers, partners, or acquirers of new ventures