Publications

June 2023
Case

Verve Therapeutics: Taking DNA Editing to Heart

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Shweta Bagai

Verve Therapeutics, a public biotech company based in Boston, created a novel approach to addressing cardiovascular disease (CVD) - a leading cause of deaths globally. The company's approach was a single shot treatment to permanently lower cholesterol, thus reducing... View Details

Keywords: AI; Genetic Engineering; Medicine; Health Care and Treatment; Genetics; Innovation Strategy; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Medical Specialties; Innovation and Invention; Entrepreneurship; Biotechnology Industry

October 2018 (Revised February 2018)
Case

Masayoshi Son and the Vision Fund

By: Tom Nicholas, Ramana Nanda and Benjamin N. Roth

In October 2016, SoftBank Group Corp., the Japanese conglomerate giant caused a significant shock to the worldwide market for venture capital and private equity by announcing the Vision Fund, the largest tech investment fund in the world at close to $100 billion. The... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Entrepreneurship; Competitive Strategy

Dennis W. Campbell is currently the Dwight P. Robinson Jr. Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. His research and teaching activities focus broadly on how management control systems can be designed to balance short-term strategy execution... View Details

Keywords: hotels ＆ motels; hotels ＆ motels; hotels ＆ motels; hotels ＆ motels; hotels ＆ motels; hotels ＆ motels; hotels ＆ motels

06 Jan 2010
What Do You Think?

Is a Stringent Climate Change Agreement a Pot of Gold?

Summing Up Do we even need a stringent climate change agreement? Judging from this month's comments, a question can be raised about the necessity of a climate change agreement, stringent or not, as a catalyst to foster innovation and the... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett; Energy; Utilities

Program

Launching New Ventures

Summary Successful entrepreneurship takes more than an innovative idea—it also requires the right mindset and skillset. Whether you're developing new business, launching new ventures, or building an... View Details

February 2007 (Revised March 2012)
Compilation

John D. Rockefeller and the Creation of Standard Oil

By: Nancy F. Koehn and Katherine Miller

Reconstructs the entrepreneurial journey of John D. Rockefeller, founder of Standard Oil and one of the most famous business figures in history. Traces his early career as a retailer in Cleveland through his decision to enter the oil industry in the early 1860s to his... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Ethics; Business History; Innovation and Invention; Growth and Development Strategy; Personal Development and Career; Competitive Strategy; Energy Industry

Research Summary

Overview

By: Andy Wu

How can technology entrepreneurs build competitive advantage from the ground up? Professor Andy Wu conducts scholarly research and develops course materials that document how technology entrepreneurs can (1) organize for innovation to create new market opportunities... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Growth Management; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Technology Platform; Technological Innovation; Information Technology Industry; Retail Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Video Game Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States; China; Southeast Asia; South Asia

2015
Working Paper

Wisdom or Madness? Comparing Crowds with Expert Evaluation in Funding the Arts

By: Ethan Mollick and Ramana Nanda

In fields as diverse as technology entrepreneurship and the arts, crowds of interested stakeholders are increasingly responsible for deciding which innovations to fund, a privilege that was previously reserved for a few experts, such as venture capitalists and... View Details

Keywords: Arts; Decision Choices and Conditions; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving

SSRN

Read Now

31 Oct 2017
News

Bertarelli Foundation Gift Names President’s Challenge Fund

January 2013 (Revised March 2022)
Case

The Origins and Development of Silicon Valley

By: Tom Nicholas and James Lee

On October 1, 1891, as Senator Leland Stanford cut the ribbon at the ceremony gifting 8,000-acres of his Palo Alto, California, stock farm to a new, 559-student university bearing his name and seeking to produce "useful" in addition to "cultured" graduates, the... View Details

Keywords: Silicon Valley; History; Entrepreneurship; Technological Innovation; United States

September 2019 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Blenheim Chalcot

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

In April 2019, Manoj Badale and Charles Mindenhall, co-founders of Blenheim Chalcot, were contemplating how they might go about developing their portfolio. Since founding the company as an internet consultancy called netdecisions in 1998, Badale and Mindenhall had... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Entrepreneurship; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; United Kingdom; United States; India

19 Jun 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Wisdom or Madness? Comparing Crowds with Expert Evaluation in Funding the Arts

Keywords: by Ethan R. Mollick & Ramana Nanda

Web

Strategy - Doctoral

structures; innovation in emerging markets; and the causal effect of incentive policy reform, expatriates and social relationships on innovation. Program Requirements Profiles Dafna Bearson Strategy Rowan Clarke Strategy Professor Maria... View Details

Web

Technology & Operations Management - Doctoral

research, typically developing three publishable papers by the end of the program. Examples of doctoral thesis topics include: Examining how employee non-compete agreements affect entrepreneurship and job mobility; Improving retailers'... View Details

28 Aug 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, August 28, 2018

2018 Oakland, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers Trust: Creating the Foundation for Entrepreneurship in Developing Countries By: Khanna, Tarun Abstract— Entrepreneurs in developing countries who assume they will have the same legal,... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

Dorothy A. Leonard

Dorothy Leonard*, the William J. Abernathy Professor of Business Administration Emerita, joined the Harvard faculty in 1983 after teaching for three years at the Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has taught MBA courses in... View Details

Keywords: computer; consulting; education industry; electronics; federal government; high technology; information technology industry; software; venture capital industry

08 May 2019
Blog Post

In the Business of Flexibility

As founder of Prokanga, the innovative recruiting firm that connects companies with experienced, flexible marketing and finance expertise, Jamie Cheney (MBA 2007) understands the value of a fluid workforce. Together with Annie Davis (MBA... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurship

July 2008 (Revised September 2008)
Case

Work is Good: Branding the Employ+Ability Mission

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Monica Higgins and Susan Saltrick

Employ+Ability, a small company employing developmentally disabled adults, finds itself competing with low-cost producers of its core products-therapeutic hot and cold packs. How might an innovative branding campaign, centered on the company's core value of "Work Is... View Details

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Values and Beliefs; Brands and Branding; Competition