Publications

Research Summary

Entrepreneurial Management: Customer Discovery and Business Development

This research focuses on: (a) market research methods and tactics suitable to startups seeking their initial customers and validation of their initial business model; (b) guidelines for conducting visits with potential customers as part of the startup ptrocess; and (c)... View Details

Mar 2015
Report

Tax Complexity and the Importance of Simplification

Complexity in the tax code has negative redistributive and growth consequences that have only accelerated over time as more and more policy goals are now implemented through... View Details

August 2011 (Revised September 2011)
Background Note

U.S. Universities and Technology Transfer

By: Richard G. Hamermesh, Josh Lerner and Phillip Andrews

Technology transfer from U.S. universities to industry has increased dramatically in the last 25 years. Reviews the history of technology transfer with particular emphasis on the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980. It then examines how universities responded to Bayh-Dole, the... View Details

Keywords: Higher Education; Information Technology; Laws and Statutes; Education Industry; Technology Industry; United States

Research Summary

Global Strategic and Management Challenges

By: Michael Y. Yoshino

Michael Y. Yoshino is conducting an exploratory study designed to identify, and develop an understanding of, the strategic and management challenges facing major corporations located in the ASEAN countries as they achieve rapid growth and global expansion. He is also... View Details

02 Jan 2020
News

Medicare for All or Public Option: Can Either Heal Health Care?

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

December 2009 (Revised March 2013)
Case

Woolf Farming and Processing

By: David E. Bell, Laura Winig and Mary Louise Shelman

Woolf Farming Company, a privately owned family farming business in California's Central Valley, found its business threatened by a lack of water, brought on by a combination of drought, poor quality well water and unavailability of surface water due to federally... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Resource Allocation; Quality; Business and Government Relations; Decision Choices and Conditions; Infrastructure; Investment; Growth and Development Strategy; Climate Change; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; California

July 2018 (Revised September 2018)
Case

Donald Trump and the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

By: Matthew Weinzierl and Robert Scherf

In January 2018, President Donald Trump was full of optimism. He had just signed the most substantial legislation of his young presidency, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), making major changes to the tax code. Echoing his campaign slogan—Make America Great Again—Trump... View Details

Keywords: Taxation; Jobs and Positions; Government and Politics; Public Opinion; United States

Article

Family Control of Firms and Industries

We test what explains family control of firms and industries and find that the explanation is largely contingent on the identity of families and individual blockholders. Founders and their families are more likely to retain control when doing so gives the firm a... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Cost vs Benefits; Governance Controls; Family Ownership; Business and Shareholder Relations; Competitive Advantage

Find at Harvard

Read Now

February 2019 (Revised June 2019)
Case

Where to Grow Next at Online Marketplace OLX

By: Thales Teixeira, Leandro A. Guissoni and Samy Dana

The CEO of OLX Brazil, an online classifieds platform business, is debating among multiple paths to grow sustainably (i.e., profitably) without the need for investor money. The options under consideration are (1) penetration growth by focusing on the core, (2) new... View Details

Keywords: Online Marketplace; Growth; Customer Acquisition; Facebook; Two-sided Network; E-commerce; Classifieds; Naspers; Schibsted; Innovation; Startup; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Model; Innovation and Invention; Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Brazil

01 Feb 2007
Working Paper Summaries

Noncompetes and Inventor Mobility: Specialists, Stars, and the Michigan Experiment

Keywords: by Matt Marx, Deborah Strumsky & Lee Fleming

September 2023
Case

FoodCloud: Tackling Food Insecurity and Climate Change in One Bite

By: Brian Trelstad and Emer Moloney

In 2013, Aoibheann O’Brien and Iseult Ward founded FoodCloud, a non-profit social enterprise that aimed to address food waste and food insecurity issues. Through its technology platform, Foodiverse, FoodCloud connected surplus food from retailers with community groups... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Expansion; Technological Innovation; Environmental Sustainability; Social Issues; Growth and Development Strategy; Green Technology Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Republic of Ireland; Europe

January 2022 (Revised November 2023)
Supplement

Uber in China (C): The Cost of Success for Didi

By: William C. Kirby and Noah B. Truwit

On June 30, 2021, ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing (Didi) raised $4.4 billion in its initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the largest IPO of a Chinese company listed on an American exchange since Alibaba raised $25 billion in 2014.... View Details

Keywords: Uber; Didi Chuxing; Start-up Growth; Regulation; Ride-sharing; Transportation; Business Startups; Business and Government Relations; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Growth and Development; Policy; Competition; Laws and Statutes; Transportation Industry; Technology Industry; China

January 2020 (Revised July 2020)
Supplement

MoviePass: The 'Get Big Fast' Strategy

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher

In August 2017, MoviePass dramatically lowered its subscription price from $50 per month to just $10 for up to one movie per day. The idea was to rapidly scale the business to the point where they could generate incremental revenue streams form related businesses... View Details

November 1992
Case

Primerica: Sandy Weill and His Corporate Entrepreneurs

By: Andrall E. Pearson and Philip M. Rosenzweig

As CEO of Primerica, Sandy Weill has built a $6.6 billion company from acquisitions and underperforming firms. The case examines Weill's distinctive approach to building, managing, and leading an organization that seeks the benefits of scale without the problems of... View Details

Keywords: Management Style; Business or Company Management; Acquisition

July 2024
Case

Wizards of the Coast and Magic: The Rebounding

By: Boris Groysberg and Tom Quinn

This case traces the history and growth of the Magic: The Gathering trading card game. From its development in 1993 by tiny studio Wizards of the Coast, to Wizards’ acquisition by toy giant Hasbro in 1999, to its evolution into a billion-dollar brand in 2023,... View Details

February 9, 2015
Article

Uber Needs Our Permission to Grow

By: Derek C. M. van Bever

And it's realizing that now. View Details

Keywords: Business Law; Growth Strategy; Regulation; Law; Disruptive Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Transportation Industry; Service Industry

Register to Read

June 2012
Article

Comovement and Predictability Relationships Between Bonds and the Cross-Section of Stocks

By: Malcolm Baker and Jeffrey Wurgler

Government bonds comove more strongly with bond-like stocks: stocks of large, mature, low-volatility, profitable, dividend-paying firms that are neither high growth nor distressed. Variables derived from the yield curve that are already known to predict returns on... View Details

Keywords: Relationships; Bonds; Stocks; Investment Return; Cash Flow; Quality; Risk and Uncertainty; Forecasting and Prediction; Profit