Publications

December 2018
Case

Choosy

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Julia Kelley

Founded in 2017, Choosy is a data-driven fashion startup that uses algorithms to identify styles trending on social media. After manufacturing similar items using a China-based supply chain, Choosy sells them to consumers through its website and social media pages.... View Details

February 2025
Case

Managing Complexity at mymuesli

By: Thomas Graeber and Stacy Straaberg

In April 2009, direct-to-consumer e-commerce muesli brand mymuesli faced a flood of customer questions. The breakfast cereal startup enabled users to order personalized muesli on its website by choosing from 75 organic ingredients for a total of 566 quadrillion... View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Decisions; Food; Product Marketing; Product Positioning; Product Launch; Problems and Challenges; Behavior; Competitive Advantage; Customization and Personalization; Segmentation; Internet and the Web; Food and Beverage Industry; Europe; Germany

02 Jan 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, January 3, 2018

as environmental challenges evolved, Swedish universities assumed leadership in creating environmental knowledge, while conventional management consultancies entered the market of environmental management. Download working paper:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 2011 (Revised September 2014)
Case

Music and the (Real) World: Thirty Years of MTV

By: Mukti Khaire and Eleanor Kenyon

The case is useful for teaching students the structure of creative industries - especially fashion - and the issues to consider when attempting disruptive innovation and entrepreneurship in these industries. View Details

Keywords: Industry Structures; Entrepreneurship; Disruptive Innovation; Internet and the Web; Networks

02 Jan 2001
Research & Ideas

Gurus in the Garage

interviewed share one habit: they refuse to make decisions for the entrepreneurs. Otherwise, their teaching methods vary tremendously. Learning by Doing When Michael Chiarello, founder and CEO of NapaStyle, was developing the idea for his "media-driven View Details

Keywords: by Dorothy Leonard & Walter Swap

January 2003 (Revised March 2004)
Case

Silverado (A)

By: Jan W. Rivkin and Charles J. Woodard

Silverado has raised $50 million and launched its first product: an Internet-based trivia game with innovative software. In a highly uncertain environment, the young management team must decide whether to continue developing the product and whether to branch out into... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Technological Innovation; Strategic Planning; Internet and the Web; Decision Choices and Conditions; Product Launch; Business Strategy; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

December 2003
Teaching Note

Capital One Financial Corporation (TN)

By: Bharat N. Anand and Michael G. Rukstad

Teaching Note to (9-700-124). View Details

Keywords: Customization and Personalization; Industry Structures; Internet and the Web; Competitive Strategy; Information Management; Financial Services Industry

March 1998
Case

Launch

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

Launch has developed an entertainment publication on CD-ROM with 240,000 subscribers and has recently introduced an on-line entertainment product (www.mylaunch.com) to complement the CD-ROM. Deals with multiple-channel delivery and platform selection and branding on... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Distribution Channels; Information Publishing; Brands and Branding; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Publishing Industry

June 2025
Case

TagHive: Edtech Pricing and Distributor Decisions

By: Isamar Troncoso, Frank V. Cespedes and Stacy Straaberg

Education technology (edtech) company TagHive, founded in 2017, used a direct sales team and third-party distributors to sell its Class Saathi hardware and software solution to 300 clients, mainly primary and secondary schools in India. The product aimed to improve... View Details

07 Sep 2016
What Do You Think?

How Can the Threat of Networks Be Reduced?

graph theorists had to say about the impact of network design on transportation and inventory location at least 60 years ago. It was my meal ticket to a position on the Harvard Business School faculty. What has changed, of course, is the impact of the View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

02 Oct 2000
Research & Ideas

The Dubious Logic of Global Megamergers

Think of Maytag and Lloyd's Bank; both companies have prospered by focusing on their home markets of the United States and Great Britain, respectively. Telefónica de España, a midsize telecommunications company, has rejected the role of... View Details

Keywords: by Pankaj Ghemawat & Fariborz Ghadar

18 Sep 2007
First Look

First Look: September 18, 2007

gives firms discretion to manage impairments. We test this argument in a sample of firms with market indications of impairment (firms with book goodwill and market-to-book ratio below one). We find that the frequency of non-impairment in... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

09 Feb 2016
First Look

February 9, 2016

entrepreneurship in organizational sectors. Prior research suggests that firm foundings are driven by collective patterns of activity—that is, by patterns of prior foundings—including support from related markets as well as institutional... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

August 2022
Case

SuperRare: Turning an NFT Marketplace into a DAO

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Scott Duke Kominers and Amy Klopfenstein

In June 2021, John Crain and Jonathan Perkins, the founders of SuperRare, a marketplace for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), contemplate whether to transform their company into a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). Crain and Perkins founded SuperRare in 2018 to... View Details

February 2000 (Revised May 2001)
Case

eBricks.com

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann

eBricks.com is developing an online marketplace for construction materials. The start-up company faces two decisions: 1) whether to merge with BluelineOnline.com, a firm providing project management solutions for the construction industry; and 2) whether to develop an... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Marketplace Matching; Decision Choices and Conditions; Business Startups; Construction Industry