Publications

September 2023 (Revised December 2023)
Case

TetraScience: Noise and Signal

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Tom Quinn

In 2019, TetraScience CEO “Spin” Wang needed advice. Five years earlier, he had cofounded a startup that saw early success with a hardware product designed to help laboratory scientists in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical spaces more easily collect data from... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Organization; Restructuring; Forecasting and Prediction; Digital Platforms; Analytics and Data Science; AI and Machine Learning; Organizational Structure; Network Effects; Competitive Strategy; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States; Boston

March 2023 (Revised May 2023)
Case

Akamai Technologies: Expanding the Talent Pipeline

By: Christopher Stanton, Lynda M. Applegate, Allison Ciechanover, Emily Grandjean and Sophie Beck

In 2022, senior executives of Cambridge, MA-based Akamai Technologies met to consider whether and how to scale a successful technical training program. The program, Akamai Technical Academy (ATA), was launched in 2016 to address a key challenge at Akamai and in the... View Details

Keywords: Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Diversity; Talent and Talent Management; Technology Industry; United States; Boston

May 2019 (Revised February 2020)
Case

Bill Cummings: The Cummings Way

By: Christina R. Wing, Robert F. White and Michael Norris

In 2019, Bill Cummings, founder of Cummings Properties and Cummings Foundation and billionaire signer of the Giving Pledge, is winding down his roles at his company and foundation. How should the management move the company forward? View Details

Keywords: Real Estate Development; Philanthropy; Family Business; Nonprofit Organizations; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Management Succession; Real Estate Industry; United States; Boston

February 2013 (Revised December 2015)
Case

Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency

By: Michael W. Toffel, Kira R. Fabrizio and Stephanie van Sice

Groom Energy Solutions helps organizations reduce their energy use and costs through the implementation of energy efficiency measures, which create long-term financial and environmental benefits. With early success serving customers in the cold storage and industrial... View Details

Keywords: Groom Energy Solutions; Jon Guerster; Salem, MA; Energy Management; Energy Efficiency Paradox; Sustainability Management; Manufacturing; Cold Storage; Commercial Real Estate; Enterprise Smart Grid; Carbon Accounting; LED Lighting; Sustainability Research; Entrepreneurship; Environmental Entrepreneurship; Energy Entrepreneurship; Energy Services; Electricity; Startup; Expansion; Growth; Sustainability; Business Startups; Forecasting and Prediction; Energy Conservation; Revenue; Geographic Location; Human Resources; Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Operations; Service Delivery; Strategic Planning; Science; Environmental Sustainability; Climate Change; Society; Social Issues; Technology Adoption; Energy Industry; Green Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Utilities Industry; United States; Boston

01 Dec 2022
News

Road to Recovery

and a prominent addiction psychiatrist and former director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Addiction Research Program—explained the challenges to his son, whose background was in the video-game industry. In study after study,... View Details

Keywords: April White; Ambulatory Health Care Services; Health, Social Assistance

03 Jun 2020
News

Keeping a Community Connected

country. I’ve been in conversations about how we might be able to partner with private sector employers who are going to lay people off. Is there a way we could get some highly skilled people to help us? I'm on the board for the View Details

Keywords: Susan Young

Profile

Steve Alden

Steve Alden has unimpeachable credentials in quantitative analytics, placing first in Massachusetts on the CPA exam in 2007, and in the top-ten nationwide. But when it came time to assess potential MBA programs, Steve gave qualitative... View Details

January 2008 (Revised March 2008)
Case

Bidding on Martha's Vineyard (A)

By: James Sebenius

To buy a desirable Martha's Vineyard property, Robert and Sally Franklin must craft a bidding strategy informed by their assessment of their competitor. The "A" case sets up the situation and bidding history to date, describes how they assessed their valuations and... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Preparation; Negotiation Process; Valuation; Decision Choices and Conditions; Property; Bids and Bidding; Real Estate Industry; Martha's Vineyard

29 Aug 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, August 29

client portfolios. Purchase this case: https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/product/410139-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 317-121 Pho Hoa Dorchester Pho Hoa is a traditional, family-owned Vietnamese restaurant in Dorchester, View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 2017
Case

Pricing PatientPing

By: Frank V. Cespedes, Julia Kelley and Amram Migdal

In 2017, Jay Desai, the CEO of Boston-based health care technology company PatientPing, had to consider a number of interrelated pricing challenges. Founded in late 2013, PatientPing sold a software platform that allowed health care providers to receive real-time... View Details

Keywords: Pricing; Health Tech; Health Technology; Marketing; Sales Process; Sales Strategy; Price; Sales; Marketing Strategy; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry; Technology Industry; Boston; North America; Massachusetts; United States

January 2023
Case

Year Up: Measuring and Scaling Impact

By: Natalia Rigol, Benjamin N. Roth, Brian Trelstad and Sarah Mehta

Year Up, a non-profit that provides training and practical work experience to low-income young people, has for years prioritized impact measurement. By 2022, it had built a robust body of evidence demonstrating that its program yields higher earnings for participants.... View Details

Keywords: Demographics; Education; Jobs and Positions; Measurement and Metrics; Performance; Research; Social Enterprise; Growth Management; Education Industry; United States; Massachusetts; Boston

Web

Charting Tariff Pain: Small Businesses Brace for Job Cuts, Falling Sales | Working Knowledge

Professor of Business Administration David Atkin The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Article By : Ana Elena Azpúrua Topics: Economics and Global Commerce Trade Government and Politics Policy Share: Facebook LinkedIn Print Email... View Details

April 2017
Case

Luminopia: Improving Treatment for Visual Disorders

By: Doug J. Chung and Sarah Mehta

Luminopia—a start-up founded in January 2016 by three Harvard College freshmen—uses virtual reality technology to treat amblyopia (more commonly called “lazy eye”), the single biggest cause of visual disorders among children. By February 2017, the three founders had... View Details

Keywords: Pricing; Virtual Reality; Startup; Marketing; Marketing Channels; Product Marketing; Product Launch; Product Positioning; Business Startups; Price; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Cambridge; Massachusetts; United States

01 Oct 2024
Research & Ideas

How Politics Drives Business Decisions in a Polarized Nation

political party registered as Republicans. The partisan divide within executive suites differs depending on where firms are located. For instance, more than 75 percent of executives in Florida and Georgia are registered as Republicans, compared with 50 percent in View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

20 May 2020
Blog Post

Jeff Surette and Mike Peters: A Winning Team at TB12

connect him to HBS alum and former TB12 Strategic Advisor, Danny Haluska (MBA 2018) to learn more about the company’s path forward. “TB12 was nearing an inflection point, going from an enigma happening in Foxborough, Massachusetts to... View Details

Web

Women's History Month | Baker Library

students and alumni, as well as on access to business content to the Harvard University community at large. Largest Minority/Women-Owned Businesses in Massachusetts by Revenue The Boston Business Journal, which is part of American City... View Details

Web

Bringing the Next Pandemic Vaccine to Your Doorstep with MIMIX - Blog: Health Supplement

to a platform vaccine delivery company, owning a new method and instrument of delivery. Vaxess Technologies, along with teams at Tufts University and The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have developed the MIMIX platform. This... View Details

January 2024 (Revised June 2024)
Case

School of Rock: Tuning into Structured Empowerment (A)

By: Tatiana Sandino, Jeffrey Rayport, Samuel Grad and Stacy Straaberg

In summer 2021, School of Rock was a youth-oriented music education company with 291 franchise- and company-owned schools globally. Before CEO Rob Price’s hire in 2017, School of Rock’s nonconformist rock ‘n’ roll culture led to variability in teaching styles,... View Details

October 2023
Case

Lasell University in 2023: Securing the Future

By: John Jong-Hyun Kim and Mary C. Sauer

In a groundbreaking move on September 20, 2022, Lasell University's President, Michael B. Alexander, announced an extraordinary 33% reduction in tuition, room, board, and fees, signaling a pivotal shift in higher education. Situated in an affluent Boston suburb,... View Details

Keywords: Higher Education; Cost; Valuation; Competitive Advantage; Education Industry; United States; Massachusetts