Publications

December 2012 (Revised February 2014)
Case

Crafting a Founder Agreement at HealthCraft

By: Noam Wasserman, Janet Kraus and Yael Braid

HealthCraft's three founders are about to craft their founding agreement and split the equity among themselves. Uncertainty lingers over each member's future contributions, though—how is the team to devise a durable and effective split? Ever since consultant Kevin... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurs; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Health Industry

14 Feb 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: February 14

Flows in the Global Economy Digital Labor Markets and Global Talent Flows By: Horton, John, William R. Kerr, and Christopher Stanton Abstract—We review the rapid development of digital labor markets that... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

22 Feb 2023
Blog Post

Meet the Disability Advocacy and Affinity Group (DAAG)

VP of Marketing and Events I’m a first-year student at Harvard Business School and my primary focus within DAAG is developing comprehensive branding and awareness of the group within the HBS community. I was diagnosed with an autoimmune... View Details

25 Jun 2020
Blog Post

Harvard Business School Class of 2021 Student Profiles

The joint degree program with Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) proved to be the right choice for Janina. “It’s a newer program targeting people like me interested in joining or launching startups and launching... View Details

09 Jan 2020
Book

Rethinking Business Strategy in the Age of AI

and NASA. Iansiti says in the following interview that the book provides a guide for all businesses—from startups to long-standing legacy companies—for thriving in the new digital rat race. Dina Gerdeman: Explain what you mean when you... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

September 2010 (Revised December 2011)
Case

WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled

By: Mukti Khaire, Daniel Isenberg, Victoria Song and Shirley Spence

This case deals with supplier difficulties faced by WildChina—a travel service provider in China. WildChina is a classic case of a company that is trying to bring a local, within-country product to a market outside the country (in this case, travelers to China from... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Startups; Customer Focus and Relationships; Local Range; Globalized Markets and Industries; Supply Chain Management; Conflict Management; Travel Industry; China

June 2018 (Revised April 2021)
Case

Valuing Snap After the IPO Quiet Period (A)

By: Marco Di Maggio, Benjamin C. Esty and Gregory Saldutte

Snap, the disappearing message app, went public at $17 per share on March 2, 2017, making its two 20-something founders the youngest self-made billionaires in the country. Over the next three weeks, 14 analysts made investment recommendations on Snap: two with buy... View Details

02 Jun 2020
Research & Ideas

Coronavirus Careers: Cloud Kitchens Are Now Serving

perceived as a cool phenomenon with a ton of money to be earned if the model can be made to work. Nothing made the point better than former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick’s founding of the startup CloudKitchens. The economics are appetizing... View Details

Keywords: by Lena Ye and Geoffrey Jones; Food & Beverage

May 2022 (Revised December 2023)
Case

Founder Collective

By: Jo Tango and Alys Ferragamo

Founder Collective ("FC") launched in 2009 with a clear mission: to be the most aligned fund for founders at the seed stage. In keeping with its mission, FC maintained smaller fund sizes and was not a lifecycle investor. By November of 2021, the seed market had become... View Details

Keywords: Seed Investing; Business Startups; Mission and Purpose; Investment; Competitive Strategy; Venture Capital

23 Sep 2022
Research & Ideas

8 Strategies to Sustain Business Innovation

help leaders more successfully innovate and change in their industries as they parse mixed messages about the global economy, with rampant inflation wearing on consumers and investors preparing for recession. Productive Tensions covers all stages of business, from... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

25 Jun 2018
Research & Ideas

In America, Immigrants Really Do Get the Job Done

startups are family businesses or employ newly arrived immigrants willing to work for less. “If what we are capturing is a job where none would otherwise exist, it’s still a positive story, but there could be negative reasons too. A lot... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Agriculture & Agribusiness; Technology; Service

April 2005 (Revised March 2007)
Case

eAccess, Ltd.

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Masako Egawa and Ariko Ota

The managers of eAccess, Japan's third largest provider of digital subscriber line (DSL) service, must decide whether to enter the mobile communications business. Japan's mobile services are among the world's most expensive, and incumbent carriers' profits are high. To... View Details

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Diversification; Policy; Business Startups; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Communications Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Japan

Find at Harvard

22 May 2017
Lessons from the Classroom

A Luxury Industry Veteran Teaches the Importance of Aesthetics to Budding Business Leaders

Pauline Brown joined the HBS faculty following a tenure as Chairman of North America at the French luxury goods conglomerate, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. (Photo credit: Albert Cheung) To future CEOs who want to succeed in the business of making and View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Beauty & Cosmetics; Apparel & Accessories; Auto; Tourism

27 May 2014
First Look

First Look: May 27

http://bit.ly/BuySocialzStrategyBook August 2013 Marketing Letters Structural Models of Complementary Choices By: Berry, Steven, Ahmed Khwaja, Vineet Kumar, Andres Musalem, Kenneth C. Wilbur, Greg Allenby, Bharat Anand, et al.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 2016 (Revised September 2016)
Case

Spectio: A Digital Lighting Company

By: Rajiv Lal and Sarah McAra

Spectio Tech, founded in 2005, developed and implemented intelligent LED lighting solutions for the industrial market. Sensors and wireless connectivity embedded in its LED fixtures not only significantly reduced lighting-related energy use—by up to 90% in some... View Details

Keywords: Internet Of Things; IoT; LED Lighting; Start-up; Energy Efficiency; Information Technology; Technology Adoption; Technological Innovation; Business Startups; Internet and the Web