Publications

Teaching Interest

Overview

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang

Launching Technology Ventures
Launching Technology Ventures (LTV) is designed for students who are actively working on their own startups or who will work at early-stage startups. The course material is, in particular, focused on new businesses in the... View Details

June 2019 (Revised February 2020)
Case

Eric Hawkins Leading Agile Teams @ Digitally-Born AppFolio (A)

By: Tsedal Neeley, Paul Leonardi and Michael Norris

Eric Hawkins, director of engineering at AppFolio—a digital technology firm that offered cloud-based business software to small and medium sized companies—was shocked by an unusual request from his senior leadership team. Could Hawkins and one of his agile teams build... View Details

Keywords: Values; Agile; Vision; Corporate Culture; Leadership; Values and Beliefs; Organizational Culture; Decision Choices and Conditions; Digital Transformation; Technology Industry; United States; California

09 Apr 2024
Book

Why Work Rituals Bring Teams Together and Create More Meaning

gather with your spouse and kids to enjoy pizza and a movie on Friday nights. These routines are actually rituals—and though we may not think much about them, they can play a meaningful role in our personal and professional lives, says Harvard View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

2013
Case

Advanced Leadership Pathways: Junko Yoda and Her Collaboration to Address Sex Trafficking in Asia

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, Juliane Calingo Schwetz and Patricia Bissett Higgins

n 2011, Junko Yoda with Pam McCambridge launched CLinked, a venture aimed to reduce human trafficking of women and children for sexual exploitation. Since incorporation, they launched several different pilot programs in partnership with local non-governmental... View Details

Keywords: Social Enterprise; Crime and Corruption; Gender; Social Issues; Business and Community Relations; Leadership; Change Management; Public Administration Industry; Indonesia; Asia

February 2018 (Revised March 2018)
Case

Artificial Intelligence and the Machine Learning Revolution in Finance: Cogent Labs and the Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

By: Lauren Cohen, Christopher Malloy and William Powley

This case examines the intersection of two firms (Cogent Labs—a machine learning software firm in Tokyo; and Google, the technology infrastructure giant) attempting to exploit the benefits of artificial intelligence and machine learning in the financial services... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Finance; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Model; Applications and Software; Infrastructure; Technology Industry; Financial Services Industry

February 2010
Case

Shurgard Self-Storage: Expansion to Europe (Abridged)

By: Richard G. Hamermesh

Shurgard, a U.S.-based firm that rents storage facilities to consumers and small businesses, is considering financing options for rapid expansion of its European operations. Five years after entering Europe, Shurgard Europe has opened 17 facilities in Belgium, France,... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Growth and Maturation; Multinational Firms and Management; Logistics; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Trade; Equity; Corporate Finance; United States; Europe

January 2019
Case

Arrow Electronics—The Apollo Integration

By: Stephen P. Kaufman

Having already made 10 acquisitions of competitors in the last decade, the CEO and Senior Vice President of Arrow are evaluating the acquisition of another small competitor to boost sales, become #1 in a niche market segment, and achieve economies of scale. They are... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Integration; Valuation; Performance Evaluation; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Strategic Planning; Growth and Development Strategy; Electronics Industry; United States

July 2002 (Revised April 2003)
Case

QuickMedx Inc.

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer and Jonathan P Groberg

QuickMedx has created a chain of small kiosks, located in drugstores and shopping malls in the Minneapolis area, that cater to patients with a limited range of very simple primary care conditions. Service is rapid and cheap and patients wait only a few minutes to be... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Decision Making; Disruptive Innovation; Expansion; Service Delivery; Business Processes; Design; Management; Health Industry

26 Jun 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, June 26, 2018

increases demand. Results also show that small third-party sellers affected by Amazon's entry appear to be discouraged from growing their businesses on the platform subsequently. The results have... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

01 Aug 2023
What Do You Think?

As Leaders, Why Do We Continue to Reward A, While Hoping for B?

footing the bills for the educational system. At other times, we are mindful of how incentives can go wrong, but we are unwilling to do anything about it. For example, we speak of the desirability of good long-term business performance,... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

July 2002 (Revised March 2003)
Case

Restructuring Bulong's Project Debt

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Michael Kane

Preston Resources, a small Australian gold mining company, bought the Bulong nickel mine for A$319 million in November 1998 and financed the acquisition by issuing a US$185 million (A$294 million) project bond. At the time, mining had been underway for several months,... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Projects; Restructuring; Bonds; Borrowing and Debt; Business Startups; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Valuation; Mining Industry; Australia

2010
Working Paper

Growth through Heterogeneous Innovations

By: Ufuk Akcigit and William R. Kerr

We study how exploration versus exploitation innovations impact economic growth through a tractable endogenous growth framework that contains multiple innovation sizes, multi-product firms, and entry/exit. Firms invest in exploration R&D to acquire new product lines... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Decision Choices and Conditions; Economic Growth; Investment; Innovation and Invention; Patents; Size; Research and Development; United States

14 Jun 2022
Blog Post

Meet the HBS Jewish Student Association

The Jewish Student Association (JSA) serves as a resource to develop, inform, support, and enrich Harvard Business School’s Jewish students and those interested in learning more about the Jewish faith and heritage. Open to the full gamut... View Details

March 1985 (Revised November 1988)
Case

Precision Parts, Inc. (A)

By: William A. Sahlman

Contains a description of a decision confronting two entrepreneurs in mid-1981. They are considering purchasing a small manufacturer of precision electromechanical parts. Among the issues in the case are the following: 1) Should Taylor and Grayson buy Precision Parts,... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Venture Capital; Financing and Loans; Cost vs Benefits; Investment Return; Strategy; Management Practices and Processes; Risk and Uncertainty; Outcome or Result; Manufacturing Industry

March 2004 (Revised May 2005)
Case

Shurgard Self-Storage: Expansion to Europe

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Indra Reinbergs

Shurgard, a U.S.-based firm that rents storage facilities to consumers and small businesses, is considering financing options for rapid expansion of its European operations. Five years after entering Europe, Shurgard Europe has opened 17 facilities in Belgium, France,... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Valuation; Business Model; Governing and Advisory Boards; Entrepreneurship; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Service Industry; Belgium; France; Sweden; United States; Europe