Publications

November 2011 (Revised November 2014)
Background Note

Scaling a Startup: Pacing Issues

By: Thomas Eisenmann

Keywords: Business Startups

March 2011 (Revised April 2018)
Case

1366 Technologies: Scaling the Venture

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III, Ramana Nanda, David Kiron and Evan Richardson

For some time, 1366's co-founders, Frank van Mierlo and Ely Sachs, had faced a choice, which was now made all the more stark: 1366 could expand to produce silicon wafers itself, raising the required capital from "friendly" investors and building shipment volume slowly,... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Innovation Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Intellectual Property; Management Teams; Renewable Energy; Financial Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Corporate Finance; Energy Industry; Technology Industry; United States

September 2001 (Revised October 2001)
Case

Siebel Systems: Partnering to Scale

Describes the founding and rapid growth of Siebel Systems. Focuses on how Siebel's alliance program enabled rapid growth. Explores the challenges CEO Tom Siebel faces in serving smaller customers. View Details

Keywords: Partners and Partnerships; Alliances; Entrepreneurship

10 Sep 2015
News

How Israeli Startups Can Scale

September 2016 (Revised September 2017)
Case

Collage.com: Scaling a Distributed Organization

By: Christopher Stanton and Shikhar Ghosh

Kevin Borders and Joe Golden, co-founders and co-CEOs of Collage.com, must decide how to grow their custom photo-products startup in the face of fierce competition. From 2011 through 2016, the business evolved from a hobby to a startup with $22 million in revenue and... View Details

Keywords: Remote Work; Internet and the Web; Organizational Structure; Competitive Strategy; Employees; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Service Industry

23 Mar 2016
Cold Call Podcast

The Team Sport of Scaling a Business

Keywords: Re: Lynda M. Applegate

18 Mar 2016
Video

The Team Sport of Scaling a Business

May 2011
Background Note

Scale Effects, Network Effects, and Investment Strategy

By: Willy Shih

This technical note discusses scale economies, and direct and indirect network effects in the context of building better business models. Some of the great business disasters of the dot.com bubble were companies that scaled their infrastructure without working through... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Investment; Price; Crisis Management; Network Effects; Multi-Sided Platforms; Strategy

September 2020
Case

Walmart Health: Scaling During a Pandemic

By: Robert S. Huckman, Yoonjin Min and Marissa Thiel

Amidst the onset of COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, Marcus Obsborne, Vice President for Health and Wellness Transformation at Walmart was planning to scale its new health care clinic business, Walmart Health, to additional locations in Georgia and beyond.... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Health Pandemics; Health; Service Delivery; Growth and Development Strategy; Health Industry; United States; Arkansas; Georgia (state, US); Texas

04 May 2017
News

Helping MBA Students Scale Mount Everest

November 2021 (Revised March 2022)
Teaching Note

Husk Power: Scaling the Venture

By: Benjamin N. Roth and Natalia Rigol

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 819-069. View Details

September 2020 (Revised October 2020)
Case

Briscola—Pizza Society: Scaling Affordable Luxury

By: Gary P. Pisano and Federica Gabrieli

Riccardo Cortese and Federico Pinna were the CEOs of Briscola—Pizza Society, a restaurant chain they had founded in 2014 with a clear ambition: create a distinctive international pizza chain that would combine a fast-casual format with the devotion to quality that... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Expansion; Geographic Location; Business Model; Ownership Type; Food and Beverage Industry; Europe; Italy

October 2016 (Revised July 2018)
Case

CLHS: Scaling a New Venture

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Gabriele Piccoli and Joaquin Rodriguez

October 2016
Teaching Note

CLHS: Scaling a New Venture

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Gabriele Piccoli and Joaquin Rodriguez

Teaching Note for HBS No. 817-053. View Details

01 Jun 2000
News

Debbie Cohen Scales Her Mountain

"I never intended to write a book," says Deborah A. Cohen (MBA '87). Nor did she expect to be diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 35. The author of Just Get Me Through This! The Practical Guide to Breast Cancer (Kensington Publishing), Cohen wrote the book that... View Details

Keywords: Morgan Baker

August 2018 (Revised April 2023)
Case

Facebook—Can Ethics Scale in the Digital Age?

By: George A. Riedel and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Since its founding in 2004, Facebook has built a phenomenally successful business at global scale to become the fifth most valuable public company in the world. The revelation of Cambridge Analytica events in March 2018, where 78 million users' information was leaked... View Details

Keywords: Facebook; Ethics; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Trust; Business Model; Corporate Accountability; Social Media

April 1999
Case

Inktomi: Scaling the Internet

By: Marco Iansiti, Myra M. Hart and Richard Bergin

Presents the early months of Inktomi, a company that invented the world's first truly scalable architecture for the Internet. This core technology provides a platform for a variety of innovative applications. The company must decide the direction it wants to take. View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Leadership; Corporate Strategy; Internet