Publications

August 2011 (Revised October 2011)
Case

PureTech Ventures in 2011

By: Andrei Hagiu, Cesar Castro and Sarah Murphy

In early May 2011, Daphne Zohar, founder and managing partner of PureTech Ventures, a life science venture creation company in Boston, MA, was reviewing a term sheet she had just received from a venture capital (VC) firm for one of PureTech's portfolio companies. The... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Business Startups; Venture Capital; Investment; Innovation and Invention; Negotiation; Partners and Partnerships; Science-Based Business; Opportunities; Boston

May 2006 (Revised June 2006)
Case

Codon Devices

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and David Kiron

In December 2005, 40-year-old John Danner was about to make his first presentation to the board of directors of Codon Devices, a one-year-old biotechnology start-up based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. After a month as the company's CEO, Danner was prepared to lay out... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Venture Capital; Intellectual Property; Governing and Advisory Boards; Genetics; Competitive Advantage; Science-Based Business; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Biotechnology Industry; Cambridge

Find at Harvard

December 2000
Case

CellFor, Inc.

By: Ray A. Goldberg, Carin-Isabel Knoop, Frantz Edward Alphonse and Laure Mougeot Stroock

A new private company has developed a process to clone and multiply seeds for the forestry industry. View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Transition; Technological Innovation; Private Ownership; Research and Development; Science-Based Business; Technology Adoption; Forestry Industry

15 Oct 2013
First Look

First Look: October 15

designated partners within the larger fluid department. Our multi-method study reveals the design and benefit of minimal team structures (team scaffolds) in fluid work settings. Download working paper: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1987724 Cases & Course Materials... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2023 (Revised April 2024)
Case

BiomX: Bringing Phage Back to the Stage

By: Paul A. Gompers, Elie Ofek, Orna Dan and Emilie Billaud

In the spring of 2023, and following the favorable results of a trial involving its phage cocktail for treating lung infections among cystic fibrosis (CF) patients, the leadership of BiomX had several critical issues to wrestle with. First, given its precarious... View Details

Keywords: Working Capital; Financing and Loans; Health Testing and Trials; Product Development; Research and Development; Science-Based Business; Commercialization; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

November 2021 (Revised May 2022)
Case

QuantumScape's Mission to Revolutionize Energy Storage for a Sustainable Future

By: William A. Sahlman, Allison M. Ciechanover and Jeff Huizinga

QuantumScape CEO Jagdeep Singh juggles the many activities required to lead the next-generation battery pioneer. Founded in 2010, QuantumScape’s mission was to develop new “solid-state” car batteries that would improve upon traditional lithium-ion batteries in key... View Details

Keywords: Batteries; Electric Vehicles; SPACs; Innovation and Management; Technological Innovation; Science-Based Business; Environmental Sustainability; Auto Industry; Energy Industry; California; San Jose

November 2019 (Revised June 2020)
Case

Indigo Agriculture: Harnessing Nature

By: Marco Iansiti, Michael W. Toffel and James Barnett

Indigo Agriculture used a digital-enabled research and development (R&D) process to launch its initial product, microbial coatings for agricultural seeds, which increase crop yields while reducing the need for fertilizers. In doing so, the company developed direct... View Details

Keywords: Carbon Sequestration; Operations; Supply Chain; Social Enterprise; Product Development; Distribution Channels; Business Strategy; Digital Platforms; Environmental Sustainability; Science-Based Business; Climate Change; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Green Technology Industry; United States; Massachusetts

July 1997 (Revised June 2001)
Case

H.E. Butt Grocery Company: A Leader in ECR Implementation (B) (Abridged)

By: Robert D. Austin and F. Warren McFarlan

H.E. Butt Grocery Co. led the grocery industry in adopting many innovations, including category management, electronic data interchange, and continuous replenishment. They have also moved aggressively and profitably into newer applications such as Scanner-based payment... View Details

Keywords: Information Management; Independent Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Invention; Business Organization; Risk and Uncertainty; Science-Based Business; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Risk Management; Electronics Industry; Computer Industry

July 2011 (Revised January 2013)
Case

Digital Microscopy Is Making Me Crazy!

By: Willy Shih

For Carl Zeiss Microimaging, modular hardware and software enabled customers to tailor Zeiss's broad range of microscopy systems hardware and software to meet a wide range of needs from basic scientific research in the biological and medical sciences to clinical... View Details

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Corporate Strategy; Disruptive Innovation; Science-Based Business; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Business Conglomerates; Digital Platforms; Opportunities; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Computer Industry

01 Mar 2005
News

Campaign Passes Goal, Continues

SALTER: student financial aid vital to HBS. With little fanfare, The Campaign for Harvard Business School reached the $500 million mark at the end of 2004. The School’s first-ever campaign will continue through its December 2005... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations; Personal Services

28 Feb 2019
Cold Call Podcast

Pursuing Precision Medicine at Intermountain Healthcare

Keywords: Re: Richard G. Hamermesh; Health; Biotechnology; Pharmaceutical

December 1998 (Revised September 1999)
Case

Novartis: Betting on Life Sciences

By: Ray A. Goldberg, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Srinivas Sunder

The merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz produced genomic-based synergies for health care, agribusiness, and nutritional supplements. How to build on the strength of the individual divisions and provide synergies that would continue Novartis' leadership role is the question... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Divisions; Health Care and Treatment; Leadership; Product Positioning; Science-Based Business; Corporate Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry

01 Mar 2003
News

Inside the Revolution

The kids in Ms. Gubler’s fifth-grade science class are watching Juan Enriquez’s every move — they can’t quite believe that this visitor from Harvard Business School has just denuded a floppy disk. (One girl, Diana, is not so surprised —... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons; Eileen McCluskey; Jonathan West; Life Sciences Project; LSP; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

01 Dec 2018
News

Alumni and Faculty Books for December 2018

common challenges and outlining real-life solutions. The authors posit that managers are the chief mental health officers of their teams, offering both a science-based framework for taking stock of their own impact on the workplace and... View Details

October 2016 (Revised November 2016)
Case

Innovating Beyond Ochsner

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Olivia Hull

The Ochsner Health System has developed a proprietary software tool designed to treat hypertension. Built into the system’s electronic medical records, the Hypertension Digital Medicine program allows patients to record their blood pressure at home and share readings... View Details

22 Apr 2008
First Look

First Look: April 22, 2008

Business Harvard Business School Case 608-136 Novartis is a science-based drug company, which has important implications for its business... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

December 2023 (Revised March 2024)
Case

Manufacturing Moderna's Future

By: Satish Tadikonda and William Marks

In 2019, Moderna faced long odds of survival having failed to develop a successful clinical program out of the vast platform technology they had built around mRNA. Nearly overnight, the company skyrocketed to success with a vaccine for COVID-19, leading to an extremely... View Details

Keywords: Health Pandemics; Health Testing and Trials; Technological Innovation; Product Development; Production; Science-Based Business; Biotechnology Industry