Publications

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March 2011 (Revised November 2011)
Case

Harmonic Hearing Co.

By: Howard H. Stevenson and Craig H. Stephenson

Harmonic is a small, privately held manufacturer of hearing aids. Harriet Burns and Marc Davis, two employees at Harmonic, have an opportunity to purchase the company from the founder. As well-informed insiders who understand the industry, Burns and Davis believe the... View Details

Keywords: Debts; Quantitative Analysis; Financing; Entrepreneurial Finance; Development Stage Enterprises; Small ＆ Medium-sized Enterprises; Small Business; Business Growth and Maturation; Cash Flow; Mathematical Methods; Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Borrowing and Debt; Equity; Manufacturing Industry

February 2012 (Revised June 2013)
Case

Moving to Universal Coverage: Health Care Reform in Massachusetts

By: Michael E. Porter and Jennifer F Baron

State health care reform in Massachusetts has involved a phased process, focusing first on coverage expansion and then turning to delivery system innovation and cost containment. In 2006, the state adopted an individual mandate to obtain health care coverage which,... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Business and Government Relations; Insurance; Massachusetts

February 2017
Module Note

Leading Global Teams

By: Tsedal Neeley

This module aims to help students become effective leaders and members of global teams that must work together across national boundaries and toward a common goal. Students will learn to diagnose the challenges that global teams often face as well as strategies that... View Details

Keywords: Groups and Teams; Leadership; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues

May 2006 (Revised June 2006)
Case

Codon Devices

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and David Kiron

In December 2005, 40-year-old John Danner was about to make his first presentation to the board of directors of Codon Devices, a one-year-old biotechnology start-up based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. After a month as the company's CEO, Danner was prepared to lay out... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Venture Capital; Intellectual Property; Governing and Advisory Boards; Genetics; Competitive Advantage; Science-Based Business; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Biotechnology Industry; Cambridge

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March 1996
Case

Erox Corporation: Leverage Marketing

Erox Corp. is a biotechnology start-up that creates products containing synthetic human pheromones. It was founded in 1989, went public in 1993, and brought in a turnaround team in 1994. Sales ramped from $110,000 in 1993 to over $1 million in 1994, with prospects for... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Communications; Entrepreneurship; Biotechnology Industry

September 2013
Case

SafeBlend Fracturing

By: Benson P. Shapiro, Frank V. Cespedes and Alisa Zalosh

The CEO of SafeBlend Technologies must set a price for the company's environmentally friendly fracturing fluid additive. The firm is negotiating a new contract with its biggest client, Bristol Natural Gas. For the last two years, SafeBlend has been the sole provider of... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Customer Relationship Management; Price; Negotiation; Competitive Advantage; Environmental Sustainability; Energy Sources; Sales; Energy Industry

April 2021
Teaching Note

Drinkworks: Home Bar by Keurig

By: Sunil Gupta and Jonathan Levav

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 521-010. In the summer of 2018, Drinkworks CEO Nathaniel Davis needed to make a number of go-to-market decisions ahead of his company’s upcoming product launch. Formed through a joint venture between Keurig Dr. Pepper and Anheuser-Busch... View Details

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Program Requirements - Doctoral

include, at least, 8 hours of front-of-class teaching and 16 hours of teaching preparation time. The requirement may be fulfilled by completing a teaching fellow or instructor assignment at a Harvard University. Special Field Exam... View Details

September 2010 (Revised December 2012)
Case

Assembling Smartphones: Takt Time ≠ Cycle Time?

By: Willy Shih and Ethan Bernstein

The case was prepared to be used as part of a process review in the first year Technology and Operations Management course at HBS. It offers students an opportunity to discuss the context of a manufacturing process choice, and then examine actual production numbers... View Details

Keywords: Cognition and Thinking; Research and Development; Design; Six Sigma; Measurement and Metrics; Production

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Program Requirements - Doctoral

expected to maintain a B grade point average. Teaching Requirement Students are required to complete a teaching engagement of one full academic term that includes at least 8 hours, or 3 class sessions, of front-of-class teaching experience and at least 16 hours of... View Details

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Teaching by the Case Method - Christensen Center for Teaching & Learning

Teaching by the Case Method Case Method in Practice Preparing to Teach Leading in the Classroom Providing Assessment & Feedback Sample Class Play Video Chris Christensen described case method teaching as "the art of managing... View Details

23 Sep 2008
Working Paper Summaries

New Framework for Measuring and Managing Macrofinancial Risk and Financial Stability

Keywords: by Dale F. Gray, Robert C. Merton & Zvi Bodie

August 2019 (Revised March 2020)
Background Note

Note on Structured Interviewing

By: Ethan Bernstein and Amy Ross

Making good hiring decisions is a critical management activity, yet many leaders just “wing it” when interviewing candidates to fill openings by having an organic conversation to assess the candidate’s fit, unknowingly subjecting the process to unconscious bias.... View Details

Keywords: Interviewing; Job Interviews; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Human Resources

January 2017 (Revised October 2021)
Case

Delivering the Goods at Shippo

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Jeffrey F. Rayport and Olivia Hull

Laura Behrens Wu, CEO of software start-up Shippo, prepares her pitch for a Series A funding round following a successful seed round. Customer adoption of Shippo’s e-commerce dashboard application, which allows small and medium retailers to compare delivery rates... View Details