Publications

June 2008
Case

Threadless: The Business of Community

By: Karim R. Lakhani and Zahra Kanji

Threadless.com, the online, Chicago-based t-shirt company, was not your typical fashion apparel company. The company, run by Jake Nickell, Jacob DeHart, and Jeffrey Kalmikoff, turned the fashion business on its head by enabling anyone to submit designs for t-shirts and... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Startups; Innovation and Invention; Product Design; Partners and Partnerships; Social and Collaborative Networks; Apparel and Accessories Industry

28 Jun 2022
Book

The Moral Enterprise: How Two Companies Profit with Purpose

How can government and business work together in this fractious political moment, when finding solutions to pressing problems like inequality and climate change are more urgent than ever? Rebecca Henderson, Harvard University’s John and Natty McArthur University... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

October 2018
Case

Accomplice: Scaling Early Stage Finance

By: Ramana Nanda, Raffaella Sadun and Olivia Hull

Accomplice, an early-stage venture capital firm based in Boston, is raising its second fund in November 2017. Since 2009, the firm has followed a seed-led investment model, investing in tech companies at the earliest stages, often when products and business models are... View Details

Keywords: Early Stage Finance; Seed Finance; Scouts; Venture Capital; Business Startups; Private Equity; Investment Portfolio; Organizational Structure; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Partners and Partnerships; Networks; Adaptation; Corporate Strategy; Technology; Financial Services Industry; Massachusetts; Boston; Cambridge; United States

October 2008 (Revised February 2011)
Case

Apple's Core

By: Noam T. Wasserman

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak are best friends who enjoy pulling pranks together and talking about electronics. After several small collaborations, Jobs pitches Wozniak on starting a company together to sell computers based on Wozniak's design for a personal computer.... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Equity; Managerial Roles; Partners and Partnerships; Conflict Management

Blog

Leading Successful Digital Transformation

checks. Based on this, he articulated the company's vision as "a world beyond cash." This expanded the addressable market beyond immediate competitors like Visa and encouraged the company to use multiple technology tools to combat cash. More recently, Mastercard formed... View Details

13 Jun 2011
HBS Case

Mobile Banking for the Unbanked

profitable. The banking partnership proved problematic in that it was hard for a second-tier bank to compete with its larger brethren, which by 2008 were forced by government mandate to offer low-cost banking options for the poor. But... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Banking; Communications; Telecommunications

25 Jan 2024
News

Alumni Gain Insights on Nigeria’s New Government; Taipei Alumni Host Faculty Guest

government committee. Mr. Taiwo Oyedele, The Chairman, Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy & Tax Reforms Mr. Sarki Ayonote, HBSAN Abuja Representative (GMP8, 2010); Mr. Akinseye Akinola, HBSAN Partnerships & Student Liaison Secretary... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley

10 Apr 2023
News

Leading the Way

Foundation (BALF) has impacted the lives of thousands of underserved youth like Trejo in Arizona, and currently serves more than 14,000 middle, high school, and college students annually. Be A Leader programming—offered in partnership... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley

July 2011 (Revised September 2018)
Case

Nashton Partners and Its Search Fund Process

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Nashton Partners was a search fund founded by two HBS MBA's that raised $500,000 to finance a search for a company that they could purchase and then run for the next five to ten years. The case examines the search fund structure, the two-year search, and two potential... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Capital Structure; Financing and Loans; Investment Funds; Partners and Partnerships

15 Sep 2022
Blog Post

6 Things to Know About Sustainability at HBS

through a number of projects and sustainability campaigns held throughout the year. Past SSA projects have ranged from the beehives (see below!) to assessing how well sustainability concepts are integrated into the first year’s curriculum in View Details

22 Feb 2022
News

New Urban Order

“Imagine if we can go from coast to coast with autonomous trucks in two days,” says Lu, noting that using a single human driver for that route would take more than five days. For TuSimple, successfully alleviating the strain on the labor market requires not just better... View Details

Keywords: Kathleen Fu, Deborah Blagg, Julia Hanna, and Maureen Harmon; illustrations by; energy; environment; sustainability; entrepreneurship; Transit and Ground Passenger Transportation; Transportation; Water, Sewage and Supply Systems; Utilities; Construction of Buildings; Construction; Waste Management and Remediation Services; Corporate Services

January 2021 (Revised March 2022)
Case

Arçelik: From a Dealer Network to an Omnichannel Experience

By: Ayelet Israeli and Fares Khrais

Arçelik Turkey, the country’s market leader in household appliances, was at an omnichannel crossroads in January 2020. Arçelik was a B2B player utilizing a dealership network with an umbrella of brands and had one of the largest brick-and-mortar store networks in... View Details

16 Dec 2019
Research & Ideas

Taking on the Taboos That Keep Women Out of India's Workforce

work less.” Empowerment through financial access Conducted in partnership with state and bank authorities, the study, which took place from 2013 to 2017, looked at 5,851 married couples in 197 villages in the northern India state of... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

Web

Information Technology | Harvard Business School

research, and work at HBS. The HBS IT three-year strategic plan, which was developed in close partnership with members of our community, addresses current IT challenges facing higher education while also embracing the unique needs of the... View Details

May 2018 (Revised January 2019)
Teaching Note

Nashton Partners and Its Search Fund Process

By: Richard S. Ruback, Royce Yudkoff and Ahron Rosenfeld

Teaching Note for HBS No. 212-006. In 2008, Jay Davis (HBS’ 08) and Jason Pananos (HBS’ 08) formed Nashton Partners and raised $500,000 from investors to fund their search. After 30 months of searching, and exhausting the money they raised to fund their search, Davis... View Details

Keywords: Search Fund; Acquisition; Capital Structure; Financing and Loans; Investment Funds; Partners and Partnerships