Publications

01 May 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, May 1, 2018

Point’s market opportunity and growth rate but can be seen as a change in their growth strategy. The founder needs to decide his strategy for his next board meeting. Should he focus on past performance? Or should he spend time outlining... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

16 Nov 2016
Research & Ideas

Turning One Thousand Customers into One Million

than Uber, which ramped up its business incredibly fast. Having proven the original business model in San Francisco and New York City, Uber’s founders realized that in order to choose their next target cities, they needed to understand... View Details

Keywords: by Thales S. Teixeira and Michael Blanding; Retail; Transportation; Accommodations

2022
Case

Interface: The Journey Toward Carbon Negative

By: Andrew J. Hoffman

Interface has been a leading innovator in the carpet industry, specializing in the manufacturing of carpet tiles for commercial flooring. This case describes the history, context, and technology behind the company's development of its newest sustainable... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Innovation and Invention; Environmental Sustainability; Environmental Accounting

March 2019 (Revised August 2019)
Case

CareerWise Colorado

By: Rawi Abdelal, Joseph B. Fuller and Matthew Preble

CareerWise Colorado (CWC) is an organization that equips high school students with the skills to build successful careers through apprenticeships. Founded in 2016, the young organization has attracted interest from different groups and civic leaders from across the... View Details

Keywords: Apprenticeship; Nonprofit; Not For Profit; Labor Markets; Skills; Nonprofit Organizations; Education; Competency and Skills; Personal Development and Career; Growth and Development Strategy

February 2016 (Revised October 2016)
Case

Linda Rabbitt at rand* construction

By: Boris Groysberg and Katherine Connolly

Linda Rabbitt, founder and CEO of rand* construction, walked into her office at the company's headquarters in Alexandria, VA, and closed the door behind her. It was 10:00 a.m. on Monday, September 22, 2014, and she had just addressed her staff after the sudden and... View Details

Keywords: Women And Leadership; Women Executives; Succession Planning; Leadership; Entrepreneurship; Management Succession; Construction Industry; District of Columbia

Article

Business Groups, Entrepreneurship and the Growth of the Koç Group in Turkey

By: Geoffrey Jones and Asli M. Colpan

This article examines the emergence and development of what became the largest business group in Turkey, the Koç Group. This venture was an important factor in the emergence of modern business enterprise in the new state of the Republic of Turkey from the 1920s. After... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Governance; History; Strategy; Auto Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Service Industry; Turkey

Find at Harvard

June 2013 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Hennes & Mauritz, 2012

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

In 2012, Hennes & Maurtiz (H&M) was the second-largest specialty apparel retailer in the world. Sales for fiscal 2012 were $18.1 billion and operating profits were $3.3 billion. H&M operated 2,776 stores, 93% of them outside its home base of Sweden. Over the past... View Details

Keywords: Fashion; Strategic Decision Making; Strategy; Supply Chain; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Fashion Industry; Europe; Sweden

February 2008 (Revised February 2009)
Case

Spiegel-Verlag Rudolf Augstein GmbH & Co. KG

By: Belen Villalonga, Daniela Beyersdorfer and Vincent Dessain

Der Spiegel is Germany's most influential political news magazine. In the 1970s, its founder Rudolf Augstein gave a 50% ownership stake to his employees and sold another 25% to rival publisher Gruner+Jahr, but retained significant control during his lifetime by... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Governance Controls; Employee Ownership; Family Ownership; Business and Shareholder Relations; Journalism and News Industry; Publishing Industry; Germany

Web

Entrepreneurship - Faculty & Research

agencies, and Fortune 500 executives. The bet: by providing "no-strings-attached" help to ecosystem partners, the partners might someday reciprocate by steering founders seeking funding to a16z. The case closes by asking whether a16z... View Details

15 Aug 2023
HBS Case

(Virtual) Reality Check: How Long Before We Live in the 'Metaverse'?

virtual-reality future yet to materialize as hoped by its biggest proponents. Chief among its backers: Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who two years ago went so far as to change his social media company’s name to Meta and vowed to spend... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald; Technology; Computer; Information Technology

April 2025
Case

Breezm: Innovative 3D-Printed Eyewear (A)

By: Juan Alcácer, Brian Mao Fu and Adina Wong

In 2023, Breezm, a South Korean startup, faced a strategic decision about how to grow its innovative 3D-printed, custom-fit eyewear business. Co-founded in 2017 by Zenma Park and Wooseok Sung, Breezm combined facial scanning, AI, and in-house production to solve the... View Details

Keywords: 3D Printing; Eyeyewear; Growth; Business Startups; AI and Machine Learning; Technological Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Risk and Uncertainty; Expansion; South Korea

January 2025
Case

Untapped Global: Financing Africa's Missing Middle

By: Raymond Kluender and Emanuele Colonnelli

In November 2024, Jim Chu, founder and CEO of Untapped Global, faced mounting internal tensions over the company’s strategic direction. Untapped had developed a data-driven revenue-based financing (RBF) model to address the “missing middle” problem—the $5.2 trillion... View Details

March 2019
Case

Investing in the Future: Corning Inc. and the Alternative School for Math and Science

By: Derek van Bever and Miho Kubagawa

In early 2017, Kim Frock (MBA 1987), founder and administrative head of school for the Alternative School for Math and Science (ASMS) in Corning, New York, is beginning to think through the issue of leadership succession at the school. Founded in close partnership with... View Details

Keywords: Middle School Education; Leadership; Management Succession; Partners and Partnerships; Business and Community Relations

July 2018
Teaching Note

Cumplo.com

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Teaching Note for HBS No. 818-039. Teaching Note for HBS No. 818-039. Cumplo is a Chilean-based fin-tech startup that provides investors and small businesses with opportunities to access loans and investments in ways distinct from traditional financial institutions in... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; Alternative Finance; Crowdfunding; Crowdlending; Marketing Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Social Entrepreneurship; Expansion; Financial Services Industry; Latin America; South America; Chile