Publications

February 2022
Case

NFX Capital and Moov Technologies

By: Scott Duke Kominers and Nicole Tempest Keller

In July 2019, James Currier, a general partner at San Francisco-based NFX Ventures, was considering a seed stage investment of $1.5 million in Moov Technologies, a B2B marketplace for used industrial equipment. NFX was a venture capital firm focused on seed-stage... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Network Effects; Marketplace Matching; Digital Platforms; Market Design; Applications and Software; Semiconductor Industry; Semiconductor Industry; San Francisco

2013
Working Paper

Visualizing and Measuring Enterprise Application Architecture: An Exploratory Telecom Case

By: Robert Lagerstrom, Carliss Y. Baldwin, Alan MacCormack and Stephan Aier

We test a method for visualizing and measuring enterprise application architectures. The method was designed and previously used to reveal the hidden internal architectural structure of software applications. The focus of this paper is to test if it can also uncover... View Details

Keywords: Communication Technology; Complexity; Applications and Software; Product Design; Telecommunications Industry

Read Now

09 Mar 2016
HBS Seminar

Katja Seim of The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

2009
Case

Mercury Athletic Footwear, Inc.: Valuing the Opportunity: Brief Case No. 4050.

By: Timothy A. Luehrman and Joel L. Heilprin

In January 2007, West Coast Fashions, Inc., a large designer and marketer of branded apparel, announced a strategic reorganization that would result in the divestiture of their wholly owned footwear subsidiary, Mercury Athletic. John Liedtke, the head of business... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Restructuring; Valuation; Apparel and Accessories Industry

Web

Latin America - Global

entrepreneurs so that they can navigate the complexities of their environment more effectively. October 2024 EVENT Revitalize, Reinvent, Reskill: Unlocking Workforce Productivity Event in Medellín In October, in collaboration with the Digital Data View Details

Web

MBA Experience - Leadership

and seniors over whom the manager has no formal authority. The intermediate modules look at successful leaders in action to see how they: Develop a vision of the future. Align the organization behind that vision. Motivate people to achieve the vision. View Details

September 2022
Case

BancoSol: Financial Inclusion in the Perfect Storm

By: Michael Chu and Carla Larangeira

In the pandemic, financial inclusion icon BancoSol faces a government-mandated year-long deferral of all loan payments, followed by the sudden Covid death of its CEO. In a Bolivia mired in political turmoil following a failed presidential election, with clients not... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Crisis Management; Management Succession; Business Strategy; Innovation Leadership; Risk and Uncertainty; Financing and Loans; Restructuring; Financial Services Industry; Latin America; Bolivia

Web

About | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

classroom, school, and district levels. Emily has a B.A. from the University of Miami and Masters degrees from Queens College and Pace University. Sarah Appleby Assistant Director Sarah Appleby manages an array of Social Enterprise Executive Education programs which... View Details

Web

Middle East & North Africa - Global

Chairman and CEO, Edita Food Industries and Khalid Al Rumaihi , Executive Chairman, Amriya Group W.L.L. MAY 2025 MBA Admissions HBS MBA Admissions Events in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia On May 20th, the MENA Research Center held an event in... View Details

March 1992 (Revised June 1995)
Case

Introduction of FM Radio (A): Finally, A ""Staticless"" Radio

Describes the evolution of radio technology and business from the initial days of wireless telegraphy to the advent, growth, and establishment of amplitude-modulated (AM) radio manufacturing and broadcasting. Begins and ends with a description of a decision the Radio... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Leading Change; Product Design; Product Development; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States

Web

Private Capital Project

the strategic use of private capital is inextricably tied to Harvard Business School. The first modern PE fund, American Research and Development, was designed and led by Professor Georges Doriot in the years after World War II at HBS.... View Details

07 Feb 2022
Research & Ideas

Digital Transformation: A New Roadmap for Success

services. Others talked about the benefits of running design thinking labs with customers to incubate new offerings. These approaches helped employees across the organization develop a shared understanding of the customer journey. As... View Details

Keywords: by Linda A. Hill, Ann Le Cam, Sunand Menon, and Emily Tedards

January 2008 (Revised January 2010)
Case

iBasis, Inc.

By: Andrew Wasynczuk, Katherine Dowd and Nicole Kravec

iBasis examines the development of a long-term relationship between equipment manufacturer Cisco and start-up iBasis, a voice-over-internet wholesaler. Questions arise for iBasis founders as to how best to build a beneficial relationship with the much larger partner.... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Intellectual Property; Value Creation; Equality and Inequality; Partners and Partnerships; Business Growth and Maturation; Price Bubble; Trust; Business Startups; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry

Article

Visualizing and Measuring Software Portfolio Architecture: A Power Utility Case

By: Robert Lagerström, Carliss Y. Baldwin and Alan MacCormack

In this paper, we test a Design Structure Matrix (DSM) based method for visualizing and measuring software portfolio architectures. Our data is drawn from a power utility company, comprising 192 software applications with 614 dependencies between them. We show that the... View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Infrastructure; Utilities Industry

September 2003 (Revised October 2005)
Case

Performance Pay for MGOA Physicians (A)

Examines the transition of an orthopedic surgical group at a premier teaching and research hospital from a system in which the surgeons are compensated with flat salaries to a system where they are compensated based on profitability. Allows for an examination of... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Motivation and Incentives; Nonprofit Organizations; Health Care and Treatment; Compensation and Benefits; Health Industry

August 2017 (Revised March 2020)
Case

Flex Hungary: Launching Production (A)

By: Willy Shih

This case examines design choices in the construction of flow lines. Flow lines are a popular way of arranging production because they are simple and inherently efficient. Equipment or workstations are arranged according to the sequence of steps in which a product is... View Details

Keywords: Manufacturing; Line-balancing; Flow Line; Conveyor-paced Line; Consumer Goods; Consumer Products; Production Management; Production Planning; Production Scheduling; Operations; Production; Management; Supply Chain; Design; Analysis; Goods and Commodities; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; European Union

August 2019
Case

Preserving Trust at Care.com (A)

By: Krishna G. Palepu and Julia Kelley

Care.com was an online platform designed to match caregivers with individuals seeking care for themselves, others, and pets, through job postings, caregiver profiles, and directories of local day care centers. In March 2019, the Wall Street Journal had just published a... View Details

Keywords: Business Strategy; Corporate Governance; Digital Platforms; Market Design; Emerging Markets; Trust; Technology Industry; United States

February 2007
Case

IBM Culture in Its Architecture

By: A. Eugene Kohn and Kerry Herman

In 1992, Lou Gerstner was the CEO of IBM during a period where the firm was losing money and a turnaround was desperately needed. In a bold decision, Gerstner chose to build a new headquarters in Armonk, NY that had strict limits on expandability. His idea was to use... View Details

Keywords: Design; Leadership; Job Design and Levels; Organizational Structure; Buildings and Facilities; Business Headquarters; Decisions; Organizational Culture; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Information Technology Industry; New York (state, US)