Publications

25 Jun 2014
Lessons from the Classroom

FIELD Trip: Conquering the Gap Between Knowing and Doing

The mission: To sell more laptops. The market: Rural China. The challenge: The business partner wants to know what laptop features would be appealing to customers in rural China. Landing in Shanghai with eight days to find out, a team of... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Education

21 Jun 2022
HBS Case

Free Isn’t Always Better: How Slack Holds Its Own Against Microsoft Teams

Salesforce, which acquired the firm in 2021. Microsoft, meanwhile, was finally able to draw users to Teams, the free business communication platform it introduced in 2017 as part of Office 365. "Can these collaborative software platforms... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Information Technology; Technology

07 Apr 2003
Research & Ideas

XTV: Xerox’s Attempted Recovery From “Fumbling the Future”

wagon, so what?" Fumbling the Future was published in 1988, and the impact of this book reverberated throughout Xerox, stimulating many responses. As the story was recounted in the business and financial press, PARC's technological... View Details

Keywords: by Henry Chesbrough

20 Feb 2019
Research & Ideas

Rocket-tunity: Can Private Firms Turn a Profit in Space?

As entrepreneurial rocket companies come closer to shooting the first space tourist into the void, perhaps even this year, another reality is dawning: The business of space is no different than new industries everywhere else. It’s tough... View Details

Keywords: by Scott Wallask; Aerospace; Tourism; Transportation

January 2000 (Revised February 2007)
Case

Asia Renal Care

Presents a business plan for a start-up company focused on building a network of high-quality dialysis centers in the Asia-Pacific region. Includes a detailed financial forecast. An executable spreadsheet is available by contacting HBSP Customer Service at... View Details

Keywords: Business Plan; Forecasting and Prediction; Business Startups; Financial Strategy; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Asia

December 2012
Article

How Much Is Sweat Equity Worth?

By: Christopher Marquis and Joshua D. Margolis

The article presents a case study of a business decision related to the valuing of sweat equity in a start-up business. One man starts a premium vodka business, bringing in his cousin at an early stage, but with no initial discussion of the eventual split of equity or... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Ownership Stake; Business Startups

Find at Harvard

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February 1998 (Revised August 1998)
Case

Teradyne, Inc.: Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III

Alexander d'Arbeloff, Teradyne's founder and CEO, is launching his company into the software and network testing business. He has acquired three external start-ups and is beginning to integrate them with the rest of the company. While Teradyne's core... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Business Startups; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Leadership Style; Success; Horizontal Integration

July 2010 (Revised October 2012)
Case

Employment Vignettes

By: Lena G. Goldberg and Chad M. Carr

Six vignettes drawn from decided cases explore legal and business issues in hiring, firing, promoting, and demoting employees, with an emphasis on protected classes, pretext, and anti-discrimination laws in the setting of start-ups and privately held companies. View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; For-Profit Firms; Employees; Resignation and Termination; Selection and Staffing; Laws and Statutes; Lawsuits and Litigation

11 Mar 2019
Research & Ideas

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

complicated history still dominate public consciousness. Memories of failed peace talks tend to loom larger than Israel’s image as a startup nation. Thousands of Instagram posts from Tel Aviv’s gay pride festivities or the buzz from... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Tourism

October 2012
Case

Sirtris Pharmaceuticals: Living Healthier, Longer (Abridged)

By: Toby Stuart and James Weber

Describes a set of key strategic decisions facing the scientific founder and CEO of a promising, early stage bio-pharmaceuticals company. Should the company establish a proposed alliance with a pharmaceutical firm? Should it create a nutraceuticals business in parallel... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Risk Management; Brands and Branding; Pharmaceutical Industry

July 2018 (Revised August 2018)
Case

Rocky Mountain Condiments: Close Encounters with the Legal System for the First Time

By: Lena G. Goldberg

The founder of a Colorado start-up focused on developing a line of condiments confronts a host of legal issues that threaten the viability of her young enterprise. She is suing a co-packer for, among other things, breach of contract, theft of recipes and trade secrets,... View Details

Keywords: Law And Regulation; Start-ups; Founders' Agreements; Cross-Border Jurisdiction; Torts; Consumer Protection; Non-disclosure Agreements; Intellectual Property Protection; Fraud; Legal Remedies; Law; Lawsuits and Litigation; Laws and Statutes; Business Startups; Contracts; Intellectual Property; Food and Beverage Industry

January 2020 (Revised May 2020)
Case

Direct to Consumer Brands

By: Sunil Gupta

Recent years have seen the dramatic rise of direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands by several startups. Many of these brands, such as Dollar Shave Club, Harry’s, Glossier, and Allbirds, entered mature markets dominated by established companies, and yet they grew rapidly to... View Details

Keywords: Direct-to-consumer; Digital Marketing; Industry Evolution; Business Startups; Internet and the Web; Brands and Branding; Marketing; Change

12 May 2023
Blog Post

Breaking Barriers and Building Community: Get to Know the HBS Women's Student Association (WSA)

What is the WSA? The WSA, or Women’s Student Association, is a student-led organization at Harvard Business School for anyone who identifies as a woman. We’re the largest student organization on campus. What do we do? Our role is to make... View Details

Keywords: All Industries

08 Jul 2021
Blog Post

Managing Sustainable Advantage with Key ESG Co-Founders, Anne-Marie Schoonbeek and Heleen van Poecke

Anne-Marie Schoonbeek (MBA 2017) and Heleen van Poecke (MBA 2017), grew up in small towns in The Netherlands fifteen minutes apart from one another. Yet in all those years, their paths never crossed. Instead, over 3,000 miles away from home, Harvard View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Technology

07 Jul 2023
Blog Post

Harvard Innovation Labs: Where Passion and Purpose Meet

alumni-founded ventures across the globe, and a wet-lab building for life sciences ventures. It is overseen by Thomas Eisenmann, the Howard H. Stevenson Professor of Business Administration and the Peter O. Crisp Chair of the Harvard... View Details

September 2023 (Revised July 2024)
Case

Honest Jobs: A Path to Redemption

By: Paul A. Gompers and Jeffrey Barkas

Founded by a formerly incarcerated job seeker, Honest Jobs' mission is to be the hub where people with criminal records come to build careers and employers come to find great talent. Honest Jobs faced early challenges as a two-sided platform for justice-involved job... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Venture Capital; Recruitment; Entrepreneurial Finance; Selection and Staffing; Digital Platforms; Job Search; Mission and Purpose; Expansion; Employment Industry; United States; Colorado; Ohio; Texas