Publications

Research Summary

Overview

When information is digitized, it can be aggregated and shared nearly instantly. I am interested in how this acceleration in the aggregation and availability of information, via digitization, affects firms and firm strategy. Platforms have emerged as marketplaces for... View Details

November 1998 (Revised March 1999)
Case

Houses for Africa

Traces the founding and development of Houses for Africa, a firm established to build low-income housing in Zimbabwe. Explores entrepreneurship in an emerging market, the problems that arise when complementary markets do not function well, and the importance of... View Details

Keywords: Housing; Emerging Markets; Entrepreneurship; Zimbabwe

Find at Harvard

September 2016 (Revised February 2017)
Case

ZenRecruit: Sales Coaching and Performance Reviews

By: Mark Roberge

Amara Kaggwa leads the small but rapidly expanding sales team at ZenRecruit, a recruiting software application used by small businesses. Armed with six months of sales performance metrics, Kaggwa is preparing for her monthly performance conversations with two... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Marketing; Entrepreneurial Sales; Entrepreneurial Sales And Marketing; Marketing; Entrepreneurship; Sales

25 Aug 2022
News

Vision: To Go-Go

operations, analyzing what is already available for delivery in target markets and mining its own data to see what works and what doesn’t. “The industry is hard. You need tons of money to get started. Almost all restaurants go broke after... View Details

Keywords: Alexander Gelfand; entrepreneurship; foodtech; startup; Latin America

15 Jun 2021
News

Elevator Pitch: Dress Code

Video Embed Animation by Drue Wagner and Troubadour Image + Sound The Yes Julie Bornstein (MBA 1997), cofounder and CEO; former COO, Stitch Fix Jennifer Koen-Horowitz (MBA 1997), head of brand marketing and PR Vision: The Spotify of... View Details

Keywords: online shopping; fashion; mobile technology; entrepreneurship; startup; Nonstore Retailers; Retail Trade

06 Dec 2021
News

Turning Point: Makeover

Vicky Tsai (MBA 2006) (Illustration by Gisela Goppel) Vicky Tsai (MBA 2006) (Illustration by Gisela Goppel) My first job was as a derivatives trader. The markets fascinated me; the testosterone-driven culture of the trading floor did not.... View Details

Keywords: entrepreneurship; leadership; purpose; Asian American; beauty industry; Miscellaneous Manufacturing; Manufacturing

01 Sep 2023
News

Returning to the Roots

multinational,” Latour says about 80 percent of its business is actually outside France; its main markets are in the United States and the United Kingdom (with subsidiaries in both), followed by Japan, Australia, and Canada. The company... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; wine; entrepreneurship; family business; innovation; climate change; Beverage and Tobacco Product Manufacturing; Manufacturing

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

25 Mar 2014
News

GrabTaxi Makes a Go of It

Keywords: mobile taxi app; Thailand; entrepreneurship; women entrepreneurs; Personal Services; Transportation

March 2022
Article

When Less Is More: Consumers Prefer Brands that Donate More in Relative versus Absolute Terms

By: Elizabeth A. Keenan, Anne V. Wilson and Leslie K. John

When trying to make a good impression on consumers through charitable giving, is it better for brands to maximize the overall dollars they donate or how much they give in relative terms; for example, the proportion of profits? Across five studies we show that consumers... View Details

Keywords: Cause-related Marketing; Charitable Donations; Generosity; Altruism; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Brands and Branding; Consumer Behavior

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10 Mar 2021
News

Elevator Pitch: Game Time

game board coated with a ‘retroreflective’ surface reflects those images directly back to your glasses and into your eyes, no matter where you are sitting or standing. This creates a 3D, stereoscopic hologram on the board; it is the brightest and most vivid 3D AR... View Details

Keywords: AI; virtual reality; gaming; technology; entrepreneurship; startups; Amusement, Gambling, and Recreation Industries; Arts, Entertainment

June 2013
Supplement

Montague Corporation: Unfolding the Future in Cycling (Video Supplement)

By: Jim Sharpe

This is the Video Supplement for Montague Corporation: Unfolding the Future in Cycling (HBS Case #808087). View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurs; Consumer Products; Innovation ＆ Entrepreneurship; Innovation; General Managers; Growth; Growth Management; International; Consumer Behavior; Marketing Channels; Founding; Channels Of Distribution; Entrepreneurship; Marketing; Leadership; Bicycle Industry; United States

01 Dec 2022
News

Flying High

idea that there is an enormous opportunity to make air travel better.” The startup saw space in the market between premium commercial airline options that were increasingly inconvenient and the ever-more expensive choice of private air... View Details

Keywords: April White; aviation; airlines; entrepreneurship; leadership; innovation; Air Transportation; Transportation

October 2024
Article

Sampling Bias in Entrepreneurial Experiments

By: Ruiqing Cao, Rembrand Koning and Ramana Nanda

Using data from a prominent online platform for launching new digital products, we document that ‘sampling bias’—defined as the difference between a startup’s target customer base and the actual sample on which early ‘beta tests’ are conducted—has a systematic and... View Details

Keywords: Target Market; Sampling Biases; Beta Testing; Product Launch; Entrepreneurship; Gender

2023
Working Paper

Where Strategy Matters: Evidence from a Global Startup Field Study

By: Nataliya Langburd Wright

The role of strategy for innovative startups is theoretically ambiguous and much debated among practitioners. I interviewed executives of 253 scaling software ventures from 34 countries and scored the alignment of their market and organizational choices to detect... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship And Strategy; Scaling Technology Ventures; Global Contextual Intelligence; Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Global Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy

SSRN

Read Now

25 Aug 2022
News

Hair Today

product for independent stylists to manage orders, payments, and shipments, and will soon introduce a microloan product. With a Series A fundraise to come, Winters hopes to increase Upgrade’s market share, offering more and more women... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; entrepreneurship; hair; beauty; Houston; Super Bowl

June 2013
Supplement

Montague Corporation: Unfolding the Future in Cycling (Spreadsheet Supplement)

By: Jim Sharpe

This is the Spreadsheet Supplement for Montague Corporation: Unfolding the Future in Cycling (Case #808087). Includes Exhibit 3, Exhibit 5, Exhibit 6, and Exhibit 8. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurs; Consumer Products; Innovation ＆ Entrepreneurship; Innovation; General Managers; Growth; Growth Management; International; Consumer Behavior; Marketing Channels; Founding; Channels Of Distribution; Bicycles; Entrepreneurship; Marketing; Leadership; Bicycle Industry; United States

March 2014
Case

Jurlique: Globalizing Beauty from Nature and Science

By: Geoffrey Jones and Andrew Spadafora

Considers the marketing and strategic challenges faced by natural beauty brands using the case of Australian-based Jurlique, which was acquired by Pola of Japan in 2011. The case opens two years later in July 2013 when Sam McKay, the chief executive officer, on a visit... View Details

Keywords: Australia; China; Environmental Strategies; Green Business; Marketing; Entrepreneurship; Globalization; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; China; Australia; United States