Publications

April 2015
Teaching Plan

Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement?

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Lisa Mazzanti

This is a Teaching Plan for the case on Codecademy, an open-platform, online community for learning computer programming, launched in 2011. By 2014, the company had raised a total of $12.5 million in funding and was, on many fronts, an overwhelming success. However,... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Internet and the Web; Open Source Distribution; Social Entrepreneurship; Education

May 2015
Case

Pricing in a Digital World (2015)

By: John Gourville

Dynamic pricing, especially as practiced by Uber and Lift, seems to be all the rage. In this case, we look at five interesting applications of dynamic price and price customization, each made possible by advances in digital technology. These range from the online... View Details

Keywords: Pricing; Marketing; Dynamic Pricing; Price Customization; Information Technology; Price; Entrepreneurship; Customization and Personalization; Product Marketing

29 Apr 2020
Book

The Key to Powerful Social Change: Small Villages

There are these UN attempts, the commission on the high seas, et cetera. And so he felt that what was missing was a finance and investment perspective. He said, "There are a lot of technologies that should deserve investment, View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

05 Sep 2006
First Look

First Look: September 5, 2006

Organization 13, no. 5 (September 2006): 653-676 Abstract While early neo-institutional studies did not explicitly tackle the issue of agency, more recent studies about institutional entrepreneurship have brought it to the forefront.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

December 2001
Case

Sarah Vickers-Willis: Career Decisions (B)

By: Myra M. Hart, Lynda M. Applegate, Sarah Harden and Susan Saltrick

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Leadership; Internet and the Web; Social Entrepreneurship; Personal Development and Career; Gender; Business Startups

April 2019 (Revised March 2020)
Case

Handy: The Future of Work? (A)

By: Nien-hê Hsieh and Kieron Stopforth

Witnessing numerous lawsuits alleging that online platform companies misclassified workers as contractors when they were actually employees, Handy’s founders faced a series of decisions. Handy was an online platform business that enabled customers to book appointments... View Details

Keywords: Employment; Working Conditions; Entrepreneurship; Compensation and Benefits; Internet and the Web; Ethics; Fairness; Service Industry; United States

30 Sep 2014
First Look

First Look: September 30

Publications September 2014 Social Entrepreneurship and Research Methods Building an Infrastructure for Empirical Research on Social Enterprise: Challenges and Opportunities By: Lee, Matthew, Julie Battilana, and Ting Wang... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 2000 (Revised November 2000)
Case

Handspring

By: Myra M. Hart and Mary Rotelli

Donna Dubinsky and Jeff Hawkins, founders of Palm Computing, have launched a new venture--Handspring. They are preparing for an IPO in the spring of 2000. When the markets begin to collapse and their investment bankers suggest a significantly lower price, they must... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Investment Banking; Initial Public Offering; Valuation; Business Processes; Technology Industry; Technology Industry

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March 2024
Teaching Note

'Storrowed': A Generative AI Exercise

By: Mitchell Weiss

Teaching Note for HBS Exercise No. 824-188. “Storrowed” is an exercise to help participants raise their proficiency with generative AI. It begins by highlighting a problem: trucks getting wedged underneath bridges in Boston, Massachusetts on the city’s Storrow Drive.... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Government Administration; Transportation Industry; Public Administration Industry

March 2020 (Revised July 2020)
Case

LULA: Transforming Transport and Mobility (A)

By: Siko Sikochi and Hayley (Le) Ma

Based in Cape Town, LULA was founded to create and operate a Mobility-as-a-Service platform with the aim to integrate different modes of transport through a one-ticket solution. LULA was “easy” in isiZulu, a language spoken in South Africa. Yet, it wasn’t easy for LULA... View Details

Keywords: Mobility; Transportation; Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Problems and Challenges; Opportunities; South Africa

20 Feb 2007
First Look

First Look: February 20, 2007

Working PapersNone this week. Cases & Course MaterialsFemale Entrepreneurship in Developing Countries Harvard Business School Note 807-018 Examines the extent of and challenges facing female entrepreneurs in developing countries.... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

October 2018
Supplement

Zenefits Board of Directors (B)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Business Model; Corporate Accountability; Governing and Advisory Boards; Corporate Governance; Crisis Management; Entrepreneurship; Human Resources; Leadership; Risk Management; Venture Capital; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; United States; California

July 2024
Case

Jacqueline Cook at Vendasta: Debating an IPO

By: Reza Satchu, Tom Quinn and Andrew Kosc

In May 2021, after a surge in demand for digital services that prompted high valuations for startups across the Canadian tech sector, Saskatchewan-based Vendasta entered the final stages of the initial public offering (IPO) process. COO Jacqueline Cook had invested her... View Details

January 1999 (Revised March 2001)
Case

MindSpring

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

In a business environment where Internet Service Providers (ISP) has become increasingly commodity-like, Charles Brewer, founder and CEO of MindSpring, the nation's sixth largest ISP and the recognized leader in customer satisfaction, ponders a proposed merger with... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Mergers and Acquisitions; Customer Satisfaction; Growth and Development Strategy; Web Services Industry; United States

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December 2024
Case

Core Innovation Capital: Investing in Fintech for Good

By: Ray Kluender, Natalia Rigol, Benjamin Roth and Nicole Tempest Keller

In 2017, Arjan Schütte, founder of Core Innovation Capital, faced a decision on whether to invest in Hugo Insurance, an auto insurance startup. Core, an early-stage social impact VC firm, focused on “fintech for good,” by investing in financial services for low- to... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; Venture Capital; Social Entrepreneurship; Insurance; Measurement and Metrics; Investment; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Product Positioning; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; United States

February 2023
Case

Adyen: Reshaping the Payment Ecosystem

By: Marco Di Maggio, Antonio Moreno and Elena Corsi

A payment services company rethinks its strategy to reach out to a different customer base. View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Entrepreneurship; Service Operations; Market Entry and Exit; Financial Services Industry; Europe