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July 2022 (Revised February 2025)
Case

A Soul and a Service: North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance

By: Tom Nicholas and John Masko

The North Carolina Mutual and Provident Association (the Mutual) was founded in 1898 as a for-profit entity selling life insurance catering to the Black community. The Mutual was entering a field crowded with established White-owned competitors that largely refused to... View Details

Keywords: Black Entrepreneurs; Insurance; History; Race; Prejudice and Bias; Entrepreneurship; Decision Choices and Conditions; Growth and Development Strategy; Insurance Industry; United States

January 2014 (Revised April 2025)
Supplement

The PGA Tour (C)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Cole Magrath

In 1994, the PGA Tour (the "Tour"), the dominant incumbent professional golf circuit, had created tremendous value for its players. In the 1974 season, players competed for $8 million in prize money; by the 1994 season, the total prize purse had increased to $56... View Details

Keywords: PGA Tour; Tim Finchem; Deane Beman; Golf; Professional Golf; Business Model; Value Creation; Adaptation; Sports; Business Strategy; Sports Industry; United States

27 Jul 2017
Video

The Value of Local Independent Bookstores

06 Aug 2020
News

Interview with Professor Regina Herzlinger on Balancing Entrepreneurship and Corporate Governance with a Prominent Academic Career

8 AM – 8 PM EDT, 26 Apr 2025
Industry Events

Real Estate Symposium at Harvard 2025

The Real Estate Club, a student club at Harvard Business School, and the Harvard GSD Real Estate Club are excited to announce the Real Estate Symposium at Harvard 2025. Join our diverse audience of over 500 attendees, including industry professionals, alumni,... View Details

April 2012 (Revised October 2013)
Supplement

eBay, Inc. and Amazon.com (B)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Anant Thaker

A decade after BusinessWeek declared the competitive battle between eBay, Inc., and Amazon.com "a defining moment for e-commerce," Amazon established itself as the leader. eBay must decide what strategy to use in order to regain the upper hand: maintain its current... View Details

28 Jun 2021
News

What's the Rush? A Debate about Remote vs. In-Person Work

February 2025
Supplement

eBee: Affordable Mobility for Africa

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Gamze Yucaoglu and Jordan Mitchell

The case opens in March 2023, as Sten van der Ham and Jaap Maljers, CEO and co-founder of eBee, an electric bike (e-bike) company in Africa, are contemplating the different avenues for growth and path to profitability for the young and ambitious company. In 2023, the... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Value Creation; Competition; Logistics; Profit; Resource Allocation; Expansion; Business Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Distribution Channels; Entrepreneurial Finance; Bicycle Industry; Africa; Kenya

09 May 2012
Research & Ideas

Clayton Christensen’s “How Will You Measure Your Life?”

called Netflix emerged in the 1990s with a novel idea: rather than make people go to the video store, why don't we mail DVDs to them? Netflix's business model made profit in just the opposite way to... View Details

February 2002 (Revised May 2004)
Case

U.S. Labs

By: Michael J. Roberts and Robert F. Higgins

Describes the evolution of a start-up venture in the pathology lab segment of the clinical lab business. U.S. Labs tries a series of business models before running out of cash. The company is in dire need of financing, as its venture capital backers are refusing to put... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Venture Capital; Financial Strategy; Financing and Loans; Business Model; Business or Company Management; Planning; Business Strategy; Health Industry

Research Summary

Overview

Professor Begenau’s research agenda is directed at better understanding how financial markets work and how they affect the real economy. She uses quantitative analysis to build both prescriptive and descriptive models concerning financial risk in banking, and she also... View Details

08 Aug 2013
News

Study finds online ratings vulnerable to bias

February 2009 (Revised May 2010)
Case

Orange: Read&Go

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Toby E. Stuart, Bhaskar Chakravorti, Vincent Marie Dessain, Simon Harrow and Elena Corsi

In late 2008, Orange (aka France Telecom) must decide if launching Read&Go, an electronic newsstand built around an e-paper reader, would be successful. The case describes (1) Orange's strategy; (2) the company's new product development process; (3) e-paper technology,... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Technological Innovation; Demand and Consumers; Product Development; Partners and Partnerships; Competition; Publishing Industry; France

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November 2020 (Revised July 2022)
Case

Dell Technologies: Bringing the Cloud to the Ground

By: Navid Mojir and V. Kasturi Rangan

The case tells the story of Dell Technologies and its efforts to revitalize its value proposition and escape a commodity trap by acquiring EMC for $67 billion—the largest tech acquisition in history. It also shows the deeply intertwined connections between a company’s... View Details

Keywords: Value Proposition; Go-to-market; Strategic Positioning; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Technological Innovation; Business Divisions; Information Technology Industry; Computer Industry

January 2005 (Revised August 2005)
Background Note

A Note on Managing the Growing Venture

By: Richard G. Hamermesh, James L. Heskett and Michael J. Roberts

Focuses on the strategic and organizational challenges that confront growing enterprises and the entrepreneurs who lead them. Provides an overview of how a new venture needs to change as it passes from the initial start-up to the growth phase. Explores how a venture's... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Leading Change

December 2009 (Revised September 2014)
Case

TD Canada Trust

By: Dennis Campbell and Brent Kazan

The case illustrates the role of performance measurement and analytics in translating TD-Canada Trust's service model of "comfortable banking" into operational terms. In 2000, in a banking market where consumers and regulators were typically hostile to mergers and... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Commercial Banking; Profit; Balanced Scorecard; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Banking Industry; Canada

February 2010 (Revised January 2014)
Supplement

CommonAngels (B)

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Kaitlyn Simpson

This case discusses changes in CommonAngels' investment model and organization between 2005 and 2009. View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Investment; Organizational Structure; Social and Collaborative Networks; Financial Services Industry

25 Feb 2020
Working Paper Summaries

Reinventing Retail: The Novel Resurgence of Independent Bookstores

Keywords: by Ryan Raffaelli; Publishing

October 2001 (Revised December 2001)
Background Note

Extraterritorial Applications of Antitrust Law: U.S. and Japanese Approaches

By: Guhan Subramanian and Michelle Kalka

This case describes the differebt approaches the United States and Japan have taken to extend the jurisdiction of their antitrust laws to foreign companies. The section on the United States, in particular, focuses on the evolving logic of the Supreme Court in dealing... View Details

Keywords: Laws and Statutes; Lawfulness; Government Legislation; Policy; Business or Company Management; Government and Politics; Pulp and Paper Industry; United States; Japan