Publications

November 2006 (Revised May 2007)
Background Note

Merton's Ethos of Science: Excerpts and Summaries

Robert K. Merton wrote a series of papers on the sociology of science in the 1940s and 1950s and is commonly recognized as the founder of the field. Merton laid out four norms that constitute the "ethos" of science: community-wide fundamentals that he proposed were... View Details

Keywords: Science; Ethics

January 2000 (Revised April 2000)
Case

AsiaMail.com: What's in a Name?

By: Myra M. Hart and Sharon Peyus

Three founders of an international Internet company (e-mail-based marketing) struggle with naming the company. As they prepare to invest more than $10 million of first-round venture funding in advertising and marketing, they search for a name that will have power and... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Venture Capital; Brands and Branding; Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Advertising; Marketing; Information Technology Industry; Service Industry; Asia

Find at Harvard

July 1989 (Revised February 1993)
Case

National Demographics & Lifestyles (B)

Picks up where National Demographics & Lifestyles (A) left off, describing the company's financing and very successful performance through 1987. At this point, the founders and venture backers face some difficult choices around how and when to harvest the value they... View Details

Keywords: Demographics; Financing and Loans; Initial Public Offering; Marketing; Success; Performance; Value Creation; Industrial Products Industry

September 2023
Case

The Meteoric Rise of Skims

By: Ayelet Israeli, Jill Avery and Leonard A. Schlesinger

Since its founding in 2019 by Kim Kardashian and Jens Grede, Skims, a solutions-oriented brand creating the next generation of underwear, loungewear, and shapewear with an eye toward body-type and skin-tone inclusivity, has experienced a meteoric rise. Kardashian, who... View Details

October 2018 (Revised October 2019)
Case

Arlan Hamilton and Backstage Capital

By: Laura Huang and Sarah Mehta

Frustrated by an inability to convince existing venture capital firms to invest in companies led by women, people of color, and LGBT founders, Arlan Hamilton started her own firm, Backstage Capital, in 2015. Hamilton understood the untapped potential of companies run... View Details

Keywords: Black Leadership; LGBTQ; Women; People Of Color; Entrepreneurship; Mission and Purpose; Venture Capital; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Identity; Personal Characteristics; Prejudice and Bias; Social Issues; Diversity; Gender; Race

February 2022 (Revised April 2022)
Case

Pushing Past the Boundaries of ESG Investing: AQR Capital Management

By: Lauren H. Cohen, Richard B. Evans, Umit G. Gurun and Quoc H. Nguyen

Cliff Asness was facing a dilemma into how he would plunge his hedge fund into the hottest investment area worldwide—ESG Investing. Founder and managing principal of AQR—one the most storied quantitative hedge funds in the world—Asness knew anything less than a big... View Details

Keywords: ESG; Hedge Fund; Investment; Equity; Green Technology

January 2014 (Revised October 2014)
Case

Andreessen Horowitz

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Liz Kind

Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), a venture capital firm launched in 2009, has quickly broken into the VC industry's top ranks, in terms of its ability to invest in Silicon Valley's most promising startups. The case recounts the firm's history; describes its co-founders'... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Venture Capital; Disruption; Entrepreneurship; Industry Structures; Financial Services Industry; California

26 Jul 2022
Video

Case Studies from Africa: Insights from Temie Giwa-Tubosun and Peter Njonjo

31 Oct 2019
Video

Dato' Sri Tahir

Daro’ Sri Tahir, founder of a large financial service group in Indonesia, argues that the whole eco-system of the country is corrupt, with businesses pursuing strategies which make no economic sense, and then... View Details

September 2015 (Revised September 2017)
Case

Pershing Square 2.0

By: Robin Greenwood, Samuel Hanson and David Biery

In June 2015 William A. Ackman, the CEO and founder of New York hedge fund Pershing Square Capital, reflects on the success of the fund he has spent over a decade building. Since its inception in 2004, Pershing Square's assets under management had grown from $500... View Details

Keywords: Activism; Value Investing; Portfolio Management; Management; Investment Portfolio; Investment Activism

15 Feb 2022
Cold Call Podcast

How to Make Venture Capital Accessible for Black Founders: An Entrepreneur’s Dilemma

Keywords: Re: Jo Tango

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

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business or Company Management; Operations; Organizational Culture; Applications and Software; Business Startups; Business Growth and Maturation; Information Technology Industry; Massachusetts

March 1998 (Revised December 1999)
Case

Bronner Slosberg Humphrey

By: David E. Bell and Donald M Leavitt

Bronner Slosberg Humphrey has succeeded by providing integrated direct marketing solutions for major service companies such as AT&T, American Express, and FedEx. A new CEO takes over from the company's founder and is wondering how to grow the company. Options include... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Growth and Development Strategy; Leading Change; Global Strategy; Service Operations; Competitive Strategy; Information Technology; Salesforce Management; Marketing Communications; Service Industry

08 Feb 2012
News

Professor Noam Wasserman’s Advice to Mark Zuckerberg

06 Sep 2019
Video

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim, the founder of the African telecommunications company Celtel and later a major corporate philanthropist, describes his decisions to leave the large telecommunications company British Telecom and... View Details

July 2023 (Revised May 2024)
Case

Vytal: Packaging-as-a-Service

By: George Serafeim, Michael W. Toffel, Lena Duchene and Daniela Beyersdorfer

The Germany-based startup Vytal operated the largest digital-native reusable packaging-as-a-service network globally, having raised nearly €15 million, established a large network of restaurant partners, and prevented the use of millions of single-use take-out food... View Details

April 2005 (Revised January 2006)
Case

Protege Partners: The Capacity Challenge

By: Randolph B. Cohen

In February 2005, Jeffrey Tarrant (HBS '85) and Ted Seides (HBS '99) considered their strategy for Protege Partners, founded in July 2002 as a fund of hedge funds (FOHF) specializing in small hedge funds. Protege's assets under management had grown to $1.1 billion, and... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business Growth and Maturation; Investment Funds; Financial Services Industry

Karim R. Lakhani is the Dorothy & Michael Hintze Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. He specializes in technology management, innovation, digital transformation and artificial... View Details

Keywords: biotechnology; communications; computer; health care; high technology; information technology industry; internet; pharmaceuticals; software; video games

April 2007 (Revised May 2007)
Case

John Mackey and Whole Foods Market

By: Nancy F. Koehn and Katherine Miller

Traces the history of organic agriculture from its pre-industrial roots to the present day, and examines the growth of Whole Foods Market in the context of the broader growth of the organic industry. Also investigates John Mackey's role as a founder and leader of the... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Food; Entrepreneurship; Agribusiness; Retail Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Food and Beverage Industry