Publications

March 2007 (Revised March 2009)
Case

Cherrypicks

By: William R. Kerr

Cherrypicks is a Hong Kong communications start-up approaching a large Korean mobile operator for a partnership to take the operator's products to markets outside of Korea. SK Telecom's (SKT) Ring Back Tones (RBT) product is a spectacular success in South Korea, but... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Startups; Communication Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Partners and Partnerships; Communications Industry; China; Hong Kong; South Korea

10 Apr 2007
First Look

First Look: April 10, 2007

School Case 207-084 Following a successful model in Europe, JP Morgan has introduced a set of five U.S. retail mutual funds with an investment philosophy and marketing strategy grounded in behavioral finance. The asset management group... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

May–June 2023
Article

Should Your Start-up Be For-profit or Nonprofit?: A Guide for Social Entrepreneurs

By: Cait Brumme and Brian Trelstad

Years ago the line between nonprofit and for-profit enterprises was clear, but that has changed. Nonprofits now offer products that compete with those of the best for-profits, and for-profits can deliver as much social value as charities. Despite the blurred... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Social Entrepreneurship; Mission and Purpose; Nonprofit Organizations; For-Profit Firms; Decision Choices and Conditions

Register to Read

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

Web

Joiner - Entrepreneurship

experience: Entrepreneurial Sales and Marketing Launching Tech Ventures Founders’ Journey Startup Operations Field X (provides funding) Get additional startup experience: Work... View Details

April 2025
Teaching Note

Tabby: Winning Customers' Digital Wallets

By: Eva Ascarza

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 524-056. Tabby, a Saudi-based fintech founded in 2019, rapidly became one of the MENA region’s first unicorns by offering buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) services with a unique twist: instead of charging end consumers, it partnered with... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; Business Startups; Marketing; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; Business Model; Competitive Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Middle East; Saudi Arabia; United Arab Emirates

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

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

Web

Launching Tech Ventures | HBS Online

or growth-stage startup in a product management, business development, sales, or marketing role. "As someone who’s worked in a large company for the past 20-plus years, it gave me the foundation and... View Details

04 Dec 2019
Book

Creating the Experimentation Organization

more variations that are randomly applied to customers. As important, he says, it must also agree to abide by the results. In his book, Thomke includes Booking as a case study, showing how running these kinds of experiments by the tens of thousands helped to transform... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

01 Sep 2023
News

Global Outposts Expand HBS’s Intellectual Footprint

Unite Lebanon Youth Project in Lebanon. PREPARING GLOBAL LEADERS Startup Success Beyond Silicon Valley Made in Italy Hands-on Learning About Global Markets View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Gillespie

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

December 2004 (Revised July 2005)
Case

Extend Fertility

By: Myra M. Hart and Sylvia Sensiper

Focuses on the search for opportunity, the generation and evaluation of business concepts, creation of a business plan, and the start-up process. Follows experienced entrepreneur Christy Jones as she combines her business skills and personal experience to generate new... View Details

Keywords: Opportunities; Business Plan; Entrepreneurship; Personal Development and Career; Social Issues; Gender; Business Startups; Biotechnology Industry

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

24 Jul 2007
First Look

First Look: July 24, 2007

waste into by-product. In some cases, when the markets for the primary and by-products are "separable," it is optimal to convert only a portion of the waste into by-product and disposing of the rest. In other cases, when the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

April 2001 (Revised March 2003)
Case

XUMA

By: Andrew P. McAfee and Kerry Herman

XUMA is a Silicon Valley start-up that builds customized eBusiness software suites for its corporate clients. This market is crowded with large players, including the major consulting and systems integration companies. To date, building these suites has been a very... View Details

Keywords: Production; Software; Business Startups; Innovation and Invention; Information Technology Industry; California

Find at Harvard

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

September 2001 (Revised May 2006)
Case

Webvan

Examines Webvan's operations and the processes by which it delivers groceries that were ordered from the Internet to customers' homes. Recounts Webvan's history from founding through early 2001 and concentrates on the unique approaches to warehousing, delivery,... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Failure; Business Startups; Consumer Products Industry; Service Industry