Publications

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

May 2018 (Revised February 2020)
Case

Jason Blum's Blumhouse Productions

By: Anita Elberse

In March 2017, Jason Blum, the founder and chief executive officer of film and television production company Blumhouse Productions, has another blockbuster on his hands with the movie Get Out, produced for just $4.5 million. Remarkable returns for its micro-budget... View Details

12 Mar 2014
News

An Alternative to Graduate School Built by a Powerhouse Pair of HBS Alums

02 Jul 2021
News

Bezos’ Exit Is One of Many Among Amazon’s Top Ranks

04 Nov 2019
Video

Patrick Chalhoub

Patrick Chalhoub, CEO of Dubai-based luxury retailer Chalhoub, discusses the phases of succession in his family business, including the handover from the founders (his parents) and the creation of a more... View Details

11 Nov 2022
Video

Pathways to Inclusive Entrepreneurship: The State of Inclusive Entrepreneurship

December 2006 (Revised March 2010)
Case

Bill Gates and Steve Jobs

By: Anthony Mayo and Mark Benson

Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, founders of Microsoft and Apple respectively, have revolutionized the relationship between the individual and computer technology. Once the exclusive domain of academia and research facilities, computers can now be found in every area of... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business History; Technological Innovation; Leadership; Risk and Uncertainty; Technology Industry

October 2019 (Revised January 2020)
Supplement

Dulcie Madden (C)—A Final Chance?

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Shweta Bagai

This is part of a three-case series that follows Dulcie Madden's journey as a founder over five years. Case (A) is about managing growth and cash flow; Case (B) is about the exit decision and conditions on a sale; Case (C) shows Madden dealing with adversity and the... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Growth Management; Cash Flow; Success; Failure; Acquisition; Business Model; Technology

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

April 2005 (Revised January 2007)
Case

Furman Selz LLC (A): A Tale of Two Acquisitions

By: Nancy D. Beaulieu, Boris Groysberg and Kyle Doherty

Profiles a firm that was reacquired by two companies with different degrees of success. Highlights integration challenges present in acquisition deals when the primary assets of the target are human capital. Focuses on Furman Selz's acquisition by Xerox in 1987; its... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Transition; Valuation; Human Capital; Compensation and Benefits; Integration; Organizational Culture; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States

17 May 2022
Cold Call Podcast

Delivering a Personalized Shopping Experience with AI

Keywords: Re: Jill J. Avery

February 2022 (Revised October 2022)
Case

Ample Hills Creamery

By: Tom Eisenmann, Lindsay N. Hyde and Tom Quinn

Ample Hills Creamery started in 2010 as a temporary ice cream pushcart in Brooklyn, New York City. On the strength of inventive flavors and clever marketing, husband-and-wife founders Brian Smith and Jackie Cuscuna built a premium, artisanal dessert empire of 16 retail... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Business Growth and Maturation; Partners and Partnerships; Logistics; Profit; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Food and Beverage Industry

March 2018 (Revised July 2020)
Case

Nectar (A)

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and Thomas O. Jones

In late 2017, Nectar was a rapidly emerging player in the “bed-in-a-box” online market for direct-to-consumer foam memory mattresses. Barely a year old, it had achieved a revenue run rate of $85M and looked ahead to another year of blistering growth. The founding team... View Details

Keywords: Direct-to-consumer; Growth and Development Strategy; Product; Diversification; Decision Making; Growth Management; Entrepreneurship

May 2014 (Revised January 2015)
Case

The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board

By: Julie Battilana and Michael Norris

In 2014, as the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) has just brought former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on as chairman of the board, Jean Rogers, founder and CEO struggles with how best to ensure the nonprofit's financial sustainability while... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Sustainability Reporting; Reporting; Environmental Sustainability; Accounting; Accounting Industry; United States