Publications

October 2010 (Revised November 2012)
Case

Shenzhen Capital Group

By: Paul A. Gompers, Shaohui Chen, Jessie Lin and Shelley Ling

Haitao Jin, chairman of Shenzhen Capital Group Co., Ltd. (SCGC), and Wanshou Li, president of SCGC, must decide how to continue to grow their venture capital/private equity firm in China. SCGC is a premier VC/PE fund in China and a pioneer of the Government Sponsored... View Details

Keywords: Government And Business; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Investment Funds; Growth and Development Strategy; Business and Government Relations; Financial Services Industry; China

October 2007 (Revised March 2009)
Case

Engineering a Renaissance: The Launch of the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

Dean Venky of the newly launched School of Engineering and Applied Sciences is faced with a range of opportunities and challenges as he presides over the launching of a new school of engineering at Harvard University. His opportunities include an ample endowment, a... View Details

Keywords: Higher Education; Engineering; Leading Change; Product Launch; Service Operations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Alliances; Competitive Strategy

July 2006 (Revised August 2007)
Case

The Mozilla Foundation: Launching Firefox 1.0 (A)

Explores the Mozilla Foundation's decisions leading up to the launch of Firefox 1.0, including its default browser, managing corporate partnerships, managing product development, and moving toward a revenue-based model. Mitchell Baker, president of the Mozilla... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Commercialization; Open Source Distribution; Partners and Partnerships; Information Technology; Social Entrepreneurship; Applications and Software; Innovation and Invention; Information Technology Industry; United States

January 2005 (Revised April 2006)
Case

Stonewall Kitchen

By: Myra M. Hart, Victoria Winston, Kristin Lieb, Kenna Wyllie Baudin, Alison Bell and Leslie Simmons

Jonathan King and Jim Stott, the founders of Stonewall Kitchen, started out in 1992 with a simple business selling jams and jellies at local farmers' markets. By 2004, they had grown the company into a $25 million organization with 250 employees. They expanded their... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Food; Expansion; Business Growth and Maturation; Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

11 Dec 2019
News

How AI shifts enterprise decision-making into self-driving mode

18 Nov 2020
Video

Taking it to the Street: Health Care Startups Bet on Success Despite COVID-19

Web

Lifelong Learning - Alumni

Purpose The nuts and bolts of turn-around strategy, from the HBR on Strategy podcast Re: Hubert Joly (Senior Lecturer of Business Administration) 05 Feb 2024 HBS Deep Purpose What it Takes to Lead a Successful Turnaround in Health Care José (Joe) E. Almeida, Chairman,... View Details

W. Carl Kester

Carl Kester is a Baker Foundation Professor and the George Fisher Baker Jr. Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus at Harvard Business School. He is a member of the Finance Unit. He served as Deputy Dean for Academic Affairs (2006-2010), Chairman of the... View Details

Keywords: asset management; banking; education industry; financial services; investment banking industry; pharmaceuticals; private equity (LBO funds)

13 Nov 2020
News

Global Ambition

business as executive director of the board and president of the international division. “HBS opened my eyes to different perspectives that I never would have been exposed to,” says Chew, who remains grateful for the fellowship he... View Details

2018
Working Paper

Towards a New Approach for Upgrading Europe's Competitiveness

By: Christian Ketels and Michael E. Porter

The traumatic experience of the European sovereign debt crisis, followed by the outcome of the British referendum on leaving the European Union, has sent shockwaves through Europe. For the first time since the signing of the Treaties of Rome six decades ago, the very... View Details

Keywords: Competitiveness; Economy; Policy; Problems and Challenges; Europe; European Union

Read Now

November 2017
Case

Outrageous Ambition: Duke University

By: William C. Kirby and Yuanzhuo Wang

Duke University had grown from a one room schoolhouse in rural North Carolina in 1859 to one of the leading research universities in the U.S. and the world. Since the late 1950s, Duke’s leaders had consciously used the process of strategic planning to guide the... View Details

February 2013 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Iz-Lynn Chan at Far East Organization

By: Linda A. Hill, Anthony J. Mayo and Dana M. Teppert

Iz-Lynn Chan, assistant director of retail business group and service quality and vice president of Far East retail consultancy for Far East Organization, a private real estate developer group in Singapore, raises service standards in the company's hospitality... View Details

Keywords: Hospitality; Organizational Change And Transformation; Leadership; Leading Change; Change Management; Service Industry; Singapore

November 2009 (Revised October 2010)
Case

AME Learning Inc.

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Ann Leamon

Justin Joffe is about to graduate from HBS in Spring 2009. He must decide whether to join his father's company, Toronto-based AME Learning, as president working alongside his father who will be CEO. AME has been in business for 12 years, mostly as a small consulting... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Family Business; Age; Private Equity; Financing and Loans; Growth and Development Strategy; Family and Family Relationships

Find at Harvard

July 2009 (Revised December 2009)
Case

Diageo and East African Breweries Ltd.: Tapping New Markets for Social Good

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Matthew Bird

James Musyoki, Lemmy Mutahi, and Ken Kariuki, all from East African Breweries Limited (EABL), a subsidiary of London-based Diageo, heard the disheartening news in the first week of December 2008. For the second time in six months, the Kenyan Finance Ministry had raised... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Innovation and Management; Emerging Markets; Taxation; Price; Food and Beverage Industry; Kenya; United Kingdom

June 2006 (Revised July 2009)
Case

MassMEDIC: The Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council

By: Willis M. Emmons III, Michael E. Porter and Spencer Wallace

Set in 2004, as Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council (MassMEDIC) President Tom Sommer contemplates the future direction of a successful medical device cluster association. Focuses on the formation of cluster organizations and their roles and effectiveness,... View Details

Keywords: Economic Growth; Industry Clusters; Nonprofit Organizations; Social and Collaborative Networks; Cooperation; Massachusetts

March 2002 (Revised June 2002)
Case

EMCF: A New Approach at an Old Foundation

By: Allen S. Grossman and Daniel F. Curran

Michael Bailin, president of the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation (EMCF), embarked on a three-year effort to transform the foundation's grant-making in theory and practice. This case details his efforts to move from an "initiatives-based" approach in philanthropy to a... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Leadership; Management Practices and Processes; Performance Expectations; Non-Governmental Organizations; Cognition and Thinking; Customization and Personalization; Theory