Publications

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June 2006 (Revised April 2007)
Case

BioScale

By: H. Kent Bowen and Bradley R. Staats

In 2004, Mark Lundstrom must decide on a funding method and strategic approach for BioScale, a biotechnology company that he founded. BioScale has developed a microchip-based bioanalytical platform that can be used to detect very small concentrations of cells, viruses,... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Science-Based Business; Capital; Financing and Loans; Partners and Partnerships; Biotechnology Industry

12 PM – 1 PM EST, 18 Feb 2015
Webinars: Trending@HBS

U.S. Competitiveness: An Economy Doing Half Its Job

The HBS U.S. Competitiveness Projects report on the most recent alumni survey highlighted a troubling divergence in the U.S. economy. Middle- and working-class citizens are struggling, as are many small businesses. Professor Jan Rivkin will focus on aspects of the U.S.... View Details

December 1973 (Revised November 1993)
Case

Cooper Industries, Inc.

By: Thomas R. Piper

The executive president of a major industrial company must decide 1) whether to acquire a small hand tool company and, if so, 2) the value and form that the acquisition package should take. View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Valuation; Acquisition; Management Teams; Consumer Products Industry

May 1998 (Revised October 1998)
Case

Teleswitch (A)

Describes the financing history of Teleswitch, a maker of small digital telephone switches for the wireless/cellular industry. As the case ends, Teleswitch is revisiting its selection of an investment banker for its hoped-for IPO. A rewritten version of an earlier... View Details

Keywords: Initial Public Offering; Investment Banking; Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Wireless Technology; Manufacturing Industry; Telecommunications Industry

March 1999 (Revised April 1999)
Case

AccuFlow, Inc.

By: Jay O. Light

A small hydraulic-valve manufacturer attempts a second buyout in order to take out its current equity partners. A three-way deal must be negotiated between management, the new mezzanine lender, and the departing equity owners. View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Types; Leveraged Buyouts; Equity; Manufacturing Industry; Industrial Products Industry

November 1991 (Revised April 1994)
Case

Nucleon, Inc.

By: Gary P. Pisano

Nucleon is a small biotechnology company whose first potential product is about to enter clinical testing. Before Nucleon can begin clinical trials, however, its management must decide how and where to manufacture the product. Three options are being contemplated: 1)... View Details

Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Entrepreneurship; Health Testing and Trials; Rights; Product Development; Production; Partners and Partnerships; Research and Development; Biotechnology Industry

06 Nov 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, November 6, 2018

average, NPEs appear to behave as opportunistic “patent trolls.” NPEs sue cash-rich firms and target cash in business segments unrelated to alleged infringement at essentially the same frequency as they target cash in segments related to... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

Myra M. Hart

Myra Hart's research focus is high potential entrepreneurship. She has taught MBA and executive programs, co-chaired the entrepreneurship unit, and led several HBS initiatives. As a founding memberView Details

Keywords: consumer products; e-commerce industry; education industry; real estate; retailing

March 2000 (Revised August 2000)
Case

Ethan Berman at RiskMetrics Group (A)

Ethan Berman, CEO of J.P. Morgan's risk management spinoff, has grown RiskMetrics Group (RMG) from a small team of 30 to a 70-person firm contemplating an IPO. Along the way, the consensus-based decision-making process that he espoused started to prove unwieldy; his... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Management Style; Business Growth and Maturation; Decision Making; Service Industry; Consulting Industry

2010
Working Paper

Employee Selection as a Control System

By: Dennis Campbell

Theories from the economics, management control, and organizational behavior literatures predict that when it is difficult to align incentives by contracting on output, aligning preferences via employee selection may provide a useful alternative. This study... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Decision Making; Governance Controls; Employees; Selection and Staffing; Management Systems; Financial Services Industry

2009
Working Paper

Banking Deregulations, Financing Constraints and Firm Entry Size

By: William R. Kerr and Ramana Nanda

We examine the effect of US branch banking deregulations on the entry size of new firms using micro-data from the US Census Bureau. We find that the average entry size for startups did not change following the deregulations. However, among firms that survived at least... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Financing and Loans; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Market Entry and Exit; Banking Industry; United States

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11 Dec 2020
Research & Ideas

Economic Jitters Push Pandemic Job Seekers to Big Companies, Not Startups

talent to draw from, write the authors of a recent working paper titled Flight to Safety: How Economic Downturns Affect Talent Flows to Startups. This has important implications, says Shai Bernstein, an associate professor of business... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

2008
Working Paper

Can the Virtuous Mouse and the Wealthy Elephant Live Happily Ever After?

By: James E. Austin and Herman B. Leonard

What happens when small iconic socially-oriented businesses are acquired by large corporations? Such mergers create significant opportunities for creating both business value and substantially expanded social value, but also pose unusually difficult challenges because... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Management Style; Agreements and Arrangements; Social Enterprise; Social Issues

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May 2003
Supplement

Jim Sharpe: Extrusion Technology, Inc.

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Paul W. Marshall

Jim Sharpe discusses his early career at General Electric to his decision to purchase and run a small company. The discussion includes a detailed acquisition financing proposal, which resulted in Sharpe being able to raise virtually all of the financing from some... View Details

Keywords: Personal Development and Career; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Mergers and Acquisitions; Financing and Loans

January – February 2011
Article

Creating Shared Value

By: Michael E. Porter and Mark R. Kramer

The capitalist system is under siege. In recent years business has been criticized as a major cause of social, environmental, and economic problems. Companies are widely thought to be prospering at the expense of their communities. Trust in business has fallen to new... View Details

Keywords: Customer Value and Value Chain; Economic Growth; Economic Systems; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Trust; Human Needs; Welfare; Competitive Advantage; Value Creation

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June 2023
Case

ByteDance: TikTok and the Trials of Going Viral in 2023

By: William C. Kirby, Noah B. Truwit and John P. McHugh

In March 2023, Chew, with an army of well-paid U.S. lobbyists and TikTok creators, descended on Washington. In his testimony, he planned to highlight the 150 million daily active American users on TikTok and how the platform had benefitted small business owners and... View Details

Keywords: Social Media; International Relations; Government Legislation; China; United States