Publications

October 2018 (Revised July 2023)
Case

Innovation at Uber: The Launch of Express POOL

By: Chiara Farronato, Alan MacCormack and Sarah Mehta

Set in March 2018, the case follows ride-sharing company Uber as it develops and launches a new product called Express POOL. This product offers a reduced price to riders willing to carpool, walk a short distance to/from their pick-up and drop-off points, and wait a... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Innovation Leadership; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Information Technology; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Applications and Software; Digital Platforms; Decision Making; Technology Industry; California; San Francisco

October 2022 (Revised October 2022)
Case

Lyra Health: Transforming Mental Health

By: Rembrand Koning and Nicole Keller

In January 2022, Lyra Health was deciding between several different alternatives to grow the business. Founded in 2015, Lyra Health, was a digital mental health platform that combined technology with human therapists and coaches to deliver high quality mental health... View Details

Keywords: Mental Health; Health Care and Treatment; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Customer Value and Value Chain; Growth and Development Strategy; Expansion; Health Industry; Technology Industry; San Francisco

September 2019 (Revised December 2019)
Case

Google: To TVC or Not to TVC?

By: William R. Kerr and Carl Kreitzberg

In late 2018, evidence emerged that many of Google’s temporary help agency workers, vendors, and independent contractors (“TVCs”) were unhappy with the company. TVCs, who reportedly made up 49.95% of Google’s 170,000-person global workforce, had raised concerns of... View Details

25 Jun 2018
Research & Ideas

In America, Immigrants Really Do Get the Job Done

roughly a quarter of US patent filings. These contributions are reshaping US invention in dramatic ways. “One out of every 11 patents developed in the United States today is either invented or co-invented by an individual of Chinese or Indian ethnicity living in the... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Agriculture & Agribusiness; Technology; Service

19 Apr 2010
Research & Ideas

The History of Beauty

the hottest segments of the global industry, with estimated sales of $7 billion. In recent years, natural products companies like The Body Shop and Bare Escentuals, the San Francisco company that has built... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Beauty & Cosmetics

11 Mar 2019
Research & Ideas

Branding Sells Cereal, Handbags, and Vacations. Can It Sell a Country?

secularization after the death of dictator Francisco Franco. Relevant. Governments can’t sway the opinion of a disinterested audience. The imagery and associations of the place need to matter to the targeted audience. A branding campaign... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Tourism

03 Mar 2003
Research & Ideas

Top Ten Legal Mistakes Made by Entrepreneurs

that she was a corporate securities partner in the San Francisco office of the law firm of Bingham McCutchen. She is author or coauthor of several textbooks, including the just-published second edition of... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

06 May 2021
HBS Case

How Four Women Made Miami More Equitable for Startups

as anywhere, that wasn’t where the money was. “When I first started raising money for Caribu in 2017, the place to go for investors was San Francisco,” Tuchman says in the case. “Investors would say, ‘If you don’t move here, we’re not... View Details

Keywords: by Carolyn DiPaolo

21 Oct 2015
Research & Ideas

How to Predict if a New Business Idea is Any Good

In 2008, entrepreneur Brian Chesky and his two San Francisco roommates made the rounds of Silicon Valley VC firms with what they thought was a great idea: a website and mobile app that would allow homeowners... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Accommodations; Financial Services

30 Oct 2019
Research & Ideas

How to Recover Gracefully After Shutting Down Your Startup

When Munchery announced in January that it would join the compost heap of food delivery startups, the San Francisco company burned customers, suppliers, and investors that included Oscar-winning actors Jared... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

28 Jun 2017
Research & Ideas

Minimum Wage Hikes Drive (Lousy) Restaurants Out of Business

and this is one piece of the puzzle,” Luca says. “Our hope is to add nuance and a little more context for other economists and policymakers researching and making decisions about the minimum wage.” Case in point: the San View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Food & Beverage

04 Apr 2022
Research & Ideas

Tech Hubs: How Software Brought Talent and Prosperity to New Cities

Pretium who previously worked as a research analyst at HBS. “Astoundingly, five of the six most valuable public companies in the world in 2020 were tech companies headquartered in San Francisco or Seattle.... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

December 2016
Case

thredUP: Think Secondhand First

By: Thomas Eisenmann, Allison Ciechanover and Jeff Huizinga

In the fall of 2016, the management team at thredUP, the largest U.S. online retailer of second hand clothing, is deciding whether to expand into international markets. Over the past 12 months the 7-year-old startup, which had raised over $130 million in venture... View Details

Keywords: Scaling Start-ups; International Expansion; Online Consignment; Apparel; Internet and the Web; Expansion; Entrepreneurship; Global Strategy; Business Startups; E-commerce; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Retail Industry; San Francisco

March 2010 (Revised May 2010)
Case

Disruptive IPOs? WR Hambrecht & Co.

By: Clayton M. Christensen and Tara Donovan

Bill Hambrecht faces a dilemma: should he accept a high profile client for his online Dutch auction IPO? Though it would be viewed as a real coup, what would accepting the business mean to WR Hambrecht? Should he seek other high profile clients like this, or should he... View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Initial Public Offering; Disruptive Innovation; Auctions; Online Technology; Financial Services Industry; San Francisco

February 2004
Case

New HP, The: The Clean Room and Beyond

By: Leslie A. Perlow and Elizabeth Kind

When the $19 billion merger of Silicon Valley legend Hewlett-Packard and Houston-based PC giant Compaq Computer Corp. legally closed on May 3, 2002, both companies had already devoted an immense amount of time preparing for the challenges that lay ahead. Chief among... View Details

Keywords: Horizontal Integration; Management Teams; Management Style; Problems and Challenges; Employees; Organizational Culture; Computer Industry; San Francisco

January 2000 (Revised February 2000)
Case

Hambrecht & Quist (B)

By: Thomas J. DeLong and Nicole Tempest

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Banking Industry; San Francisco

October 2011 (Revised August 2017)
Case

PunchTab, Inc.

By: Ramana Nanda, William R. Kerr and Lauren Barley

PunchTab was a Silicon Valley startup, founded in 2011, that was developing an Internet-based turnkey customer loyalty program for website owners, mobile applications developers, and brands. Founder/CEO Ranjith Kumaran must make strategic decisions about how to fund... View Details

Keywords: Financial Strategy; Investment; Investment Funds; Internet and the Web; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; San Francisco

November 2001
Case

Bang Networks-The First Customer (B)

By: Jay O. Light and Mary N. Caravella

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Information Technology Industry; San Francisco

Find at Harvard

December 1997 (Revised August 1998)
Case

Randy Haykin: The Making of an Entrepreneur (A)

By: Linda A. Hill and Jennifer Suesse

An MBA graduate, 10 years out, reflects on his career path. Randy Haykin is currently running his own venture catalyst organization in the Silicon Valley. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Personal Development and Career; Leadership Style; Organizations; San Francisco