Publications

June 2024 (Revised September 2024)
Case

Sequoia Capital

By: Jo Tango, Christina Wallace, Srimayi Mylavarapu and Johnson Elugbadebo

Sequoia Capital, a venture capital firm founded in 1972, quickly grew to become one of the most storied venture capital firms in the world. Fueled by a strong culture, Sequoia's investment track record included the names of some of the largest global successes.... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Restructuring; Corporate Strategy; Financial Services Industry

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Faculty & Research

competition before the Olympics. If van der Poel shared his training plan, other athletes might use it to surpass him, but it also could enrich the sport as a whole. Should they share their techniques, and if so, when? HBS Working Paper Displacement or Complementarity?... View Details

27 Feb 2007
First Look

First Look: February 27, 2007

in the world. But now the end seemed close. Was there a way to save eDonkey? Was it time for Yagan to get out? He had little time to figure out his next move. Purchase this case:... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Research Summary

Simultaneous Distinction, Democratization and Omnivorism Effects: A Longitudinal Analysis of Dynamic Symbolic Boundaries in Counterfeit Consumption Networks

Sociologists have long examined the interactive relationship between social structure, taste and power. This literature has overwhelmingly fallen into three, ostensibly competing, theoretical “camps”: Distinction, where high-status consumers use... View Details

Article

The Radical Flank Effect and Cross-occupational Collaboration for Technology Development during a Power Shift

By: Emily Truelove and Katherine C. Kellogg

This 12-month ethnographic study of an early entrant into the U.S. car-sharing industry demonstrates that when an organization shifts its focus from developing radical new technology to incrementally improving this technology, the shift may spark an internal power... View Details

Keywords: Groups and Teams; Conflict and Resolution; Power and Influence; Perception; Behavior; Collaborative Innovation and Invention

Read Now

September 1999 (Revised April 2000)
Case

Novell: World's Largest Network Software Company

By: Richard L. Nolan

After phenomenal growth and market leadership in networking, founder and CEO Ray Noorda made a frontal assault on Microsoft's core strengths. In 1994, Noorda spend over $1.5 billion acquiring companies such as WordPerfect to combat Microsoft Word, products such as... View Details

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Competition; Internet and the Web; Strategic Planning; Corporate Strategy; Information Technology Industry

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Dennis “DJ” DiDonna has dedicated his career to commercializing social science research to create organizations which positively impact the world.

He is a Senior Lecturer in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at Harvard Business School where he teaches the... View Details

12 Nov 2014
Op-Ed

A Challenge to the New Congress: Pass Housing Finance Reform

mortgage should continue as the backbone of the new system. It helps keep monthly payments low, and protects consumers from interest-rate volatility. Given the recent extreme economic stress, Uncle Sam must stand behind these mortgages in the secondary View Details

Keywords: by Nicolas Retsinas & Rob Couch; Construction; Real Estate

10 Feb 2003
Research & Ideas

Commodity Busters: Be a Price Maker, Not a Price Taker

with beating Microsoft. His battle was futile. He left the company as Novell began a long downward slide. The fighter pilot mentality of several U.S. airlines led to a price war in which billions of dollars were lost. Even in small protected niche View Details

Keywords: by Benson P. Shapiro

05 Jul 2006
Working Paper Summaries

The Motion Picture Industry: Critical Issues in Practice, Current Research & New Research Directions

Keywords: by Jehoshua Eliashberg, Anita Elberse & Mark A. A. M. Leenders; Entertainment & Recreation; Motion Pictures & Video; Advertising

15 Mar 2011
First Look

First Look: March 15

system of expense allocation, and anti-inversion legislation—reflect the intuition that building "strong fences" around the United States advances American interests. This paper examines the interaction of a strong fences policy with the increasingly... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Article

On the Causality and Cause of Returns to Organizational Status: Evidence from the Grands Crus Classés of the Médoc

By: Daniel Malter

This paper identifies the causal symbolic effect of status on the prices organizations charge for their products. I exploit the classification of the châteaux of the Médoc, which sorted 61 wine producers into five growth classes in 1855, as a fixed hierarchical symbol... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Status; Quality Signals; Conspicuous Consumption; Wine Classification Of 1855; Grand Cru; Status and Position; Quality; Reputation; Price; France

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January 2009
Case

When Supply is of Public Interest: Roche & Tamiflu

The case focuses on the challenges of Roche maintaining a supply network for a global influenza pandemic response initiative based on its antiviral drug Tamiflu. The Roche group is a 40 billion CHF company consisting of a pharmaceutical division and a diagnostic... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Health Pandemics; Distribution; Logistics; Production; Supply Chain Management; Performance Capacity; Pharmaceutical Industry

04 Mar 2002
Research & Ideas

Don’t Lose Money With Customers

series of articles and HBS Working Papers, he explores the process of how firms in business-to-business markets manage customer relationships. As a frame of reference, Narayandas explains that modern View Details

Keywords: by Peter K. Jacobs

December 2024 (Revised March 2025)
Case

The Shouldice Hospital Today

By: James Heskett and Roger Hallowell

The leadership and staff of Shouldice Hospital in Toronto, Canada have, for 75 years, sought to do one thing better than any other hospital in the world, repair inguinal hernias. For some years, a possible second hospital in another market has been under... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Health Care and Treatment; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Culture; Expansion; Health Industry; Toronto; Canada; United States

November 2010 (Revised August 2012)
Case

The Indego Africa Project

By: Kathleen L. McGinn and Rachel Gordon

Two young attorneys found and begin to build the Indego Africa Project, an NGO partnering with women's cooperatives in Rwanda. Indego connects the cooperatives to the international retail market for handmade artisan products, helps the cooperatives build their business... View Details

Keywords: Cooperative Ownership; Nonprofit Organizations; Business Growth and Maturation; Corporate Finance; Non-Governmental Organizations; Growth and Development Strategy; Rwanda

Research Summary

Overview

By: Ashley V. Whillans

Engaged with field work in East Africa, South Asia, and in several large hybrid organizations in the United States, Professor Whillans places a focus on exploring questions with strong theoretical motivation in the social psychological literature and relevant... View Details

April 2020 (Revised October 2021)
Case

SpaceX, Economies of Scale, and a Revolution in Space Access

By: Matthew C. Weinzierl, Kylie Lucas and Mehak Sarang

From the time he transformed the world of online banking, Elon Musk established himself as a bold innovator. After selling X.com to PayPal in 2002, he founded a series of revolutionary start-ups, starting with Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX). Hoping to "make... View Details

Keywords: Space Tech; Space Access; Vision; Economies Of Scale; Technological Innovation; Emerging Markets; Commercialization; Finance; Aerospace Industry