Publications

21 May 2019
Cold Call Podcast

If the Key to Business Success Is Focus, Why Does Amazon Work?

Keywords: Re: Sunil Gupta; Retail

September 2019 (Revised May 2021)
Case

pymetrics: International Expansion

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

In August 2018, pymetrics, a solution offering neuroscience-based recruiting tests, closed a $40 million funding round that valued the business at $160 million. Over 60 companies around the globe were using pymetrics tests in their recruiting process, including... View Details

June 2010 (Revised October 2010)
Course Overview Note

Building and Sustaining a Successful Enterprise

By: Willy C. Shih

This Module Note for Instructors outlines the structure and content of the Building and Sustaining a Successful Enterprise MBA second year elective course at the Harvard Business School. The course focuses on giving students a solid grounding in the construction of... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Business Growth and Maturation

Program

Foundations of Private Equity and Venture Capital

industry models, from venture capital to growth equity to buyouts, as well as the key issues related to investment criteria, management strategies, and decision-making processes. For executives with... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Finance

June 2011 (Revised August 2012)
Case

Coca-Cola in 2011: In Search of a New Model

By: David B. Yoffie and Renee Kim

Muhtar Kent, CEO of the Coca-Cola Company, faced a critical decision in 2011 after closing a $12 billion deal to buy its troubled North America bottling operations from its biggest bottler, Coca-Cola Enterprises. The decision was prompted by several changes in the U.S.... View Details

Keywords: Beverage Industry; Strategic Positioning; Mergers And Acquisitions; Competition; Business Model; Vertical Integration; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Franchise Ownership; Investment; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

August 2019 (Revised March 2022)
Case

Lemonade: Disrupting Insurance with Instant Everything, Killer Prices, and a Big Heart

By: Elie Ofek and Danielle Golan

Launching its first products in the fall of 2016 in New York, insurtech startup Lemonade was on a mission to disrupt the insurance market by using AI and behavioral economics principles. The company offered renters, homeowners, and condo insurance and mainly targeted... View Details

Keywords: AI; Business Startups; Insurance; Technological Innovation; Business Model; Disruption; Brands and Branding; Growth and Development Strategy; Global Strategy; Decision Making; Insurance Industry; Technology Industry

March 2024 (Revised July 2024)
Case

H2 Green Steel: A Clean-Tech Triple Play?

By: Debora L. Spar, Gunnar Trumbull, Henry Tao and Julia Comeau

At the end of 2023, the Swedish startup H2 Green Steel was mid-way through construction on an integrated steel plant in Northern Sweden that would use abundant local hydro power to create Europe’s first commercial-scale green steel. Their goal was to help European... View Details

Keywords: Steel; Green Business; Green Technology; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Business Startups; Climate Change; Technological Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Renewable Energy; Steel Industry; Sweden

April 2018
Teaching Note

InsideSales.com (A) and (B)

By: Frank Cespedes

Teaching Note for HBS Nos. 817-018 and 817-042. InsideSales.com (ISC) has been successful selling its software to small- and medium-sized businesses (SMB). But for various reasons, the founders see “the next stage of growth” as building a scalable sales and service... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Design; Customer Relationship Management; Growth Management; Marketing Strategy; Salesforce Management; Talent and Talent Management; Technology Industry

January 1998 (Revised January 2001)
Case

Sealed Air Corporation: Globalization and Corporate Culture (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Karen Wruck

Sealed Air Corp.'s CEO and COO are considering what approach they should take to building a seamless corporate culture worldwide. Anticipating continuing growth and expansion, especially outside the United States, they are concerned with preserving and promoting the... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Business or Company Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Expansion; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Policy; Leadership; United States; Europe; Asia

11 Feb 2022
News

Consumers Want to Use Their Purchasing Power to Address Ecological and Social Challenges, Says Geoffrey G. Jones

January 2013 (Revised June 2018)
Case

Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google 2018

By: John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld

Four businesses had, by 2012, grown to dominate the infrastructure that all firms rely on to reach online customers. Will the balance of power among the four persist, will one take command at the expense of the other three, or are all four more vulnerable than they... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Competitive Advantage; Infrastructure; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Growth and Development; Service Industry; Retail Industry; United States

Web

A Catalyst for Commitment | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

schools throughout the country. “We’ve learned so much during our first few years of operation,” Falik says. “This next stage is about accelerating our growth and influence. How do we grow from 100 fellows... View Details

January 2004 (Revised February 2005)
Case

Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged Version)

By: James E. Austin and James Quinn

When Jeffrey Swartz became the third generation in his family to lead the Timberland Co., he made community involvement an integral part of the company's strategy. Under Swartz's leadership, Timberland formed a close partnership with City Year, the national corps of... View Details

Keywords: Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Business and Community Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Corporate Strategy; Manufacturing Industry

21 Nov 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, November 21, 2017

could develop new capabilities to sustain its growth miracle and entry into new technologies, expansion into B2B businesses, and internationalization. Purchase this case:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2018
Case

David Hysong and SHEPHERD Therapeutics

By: Ananth Raman, John Masko and Aldo Sesia

In 2016, David Hysong, at age 27, found out he had a rare, incurable cancer. Rather than wait around to die, Hysong, a recent graduate of Harvard Divinity School, decided to launch a biotechnology company called Shepherd Therapeutics to development treatments for his... View Details

Keywords: Cancer; Therapeutics; Drugs; Health Care and Treatment; Business Startups; Product Development; Financing and Loans; Growth and Development Strategy; Problems and Challenges