Publications

March 1999 (Revised April 2004)
Case

Mandic BBS-an Entreprenuerial Harvesting Decision

Describes Mandic BBS, one of Brazil's first Internet service providers. In April 1998, with competition increasing, its venture capitalist financier is looking to exit their investment. Aleksandar Mandic must decide which potential investor offers the best fit with his... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Internet and the Web; Business Exit or Shutdown; Business Plan; Financing and Loans; Web Services Industry; Brazil

Blog

Two-Year Action Plan Update: Q+A with Terrill Drake, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at Harvard Business School

our web presence, email, and logistics. We were lucky enough to hire coordinator Andy Martinez, who uses they/them pronouns, from the Harvard Chaplains Office. View Details

07 Jan 2015
What Do You Think?

SUMMING UP: What Are the Limits On Workplace Transparency?

it this way, privacy has been losing ground rapidly with the ascendancy of big data and the Internet of things. View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

01 Jun 1999
News

A Random Sampling of HBS Graduates in the News

is available on the Internet at www.nfcom.com/jokes.htm. HBS classmates Humphrey Chen (MBA '96) and George Searle (MBA '96) first met in the HBS... View Details

Keywords: Nancy O. Perry

July 2004 (Revised September 2004)
Background Note

A Conversation about Information Technology

Two managers discuss the benefits, costs, opportunities, and headaches of corporate computing. Topics include security, training, the Internet and Web, collaboration, productivity, Moore's Law, computer crashes, upgrades, open source software, network effects,... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Problems and Challenges

25 Apr 2012
What Do You Think?

How Will the “Age of Big Data” Affect Management?

data?'" That's Paul Nicholas' reaction after reading most of the responses to this month's column. It's not a bad "sense of the meeting," in which many contributors offered suggestions to managers wishing to... View Details

Keywords: Re: James L. Heskett

20 May 2014
First Look

First Look: May 20

relationship between the diffusion of advanced internet technology and the geographic concentration of invention, as measured by patents. First,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

April 2018 (Revised September 2019)
Case

Shanda Family Office

By: Christopher Malloy, Lauren Cohen and Essie Alamsyah

Tianqiao Chen, founder and CEO of Shanda Group, has set up his family office in the U.S. in 2016 after exiting from Shanda's Internet games business in China in 2014, again pioneering an unconventional approach to the management of a family office. View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Management; Strategy; Investment; Goals and Objectives; China; United States

August 2001 (Revised March 2003)
Case

PassAct, Inc.

PassAct is a virtual distributor for high-tech R&D components and products, taking orders from researchers within companies, passing them on to appropriate suppliers, and monitoring fulfillment. Customers order from a Web-based catalog with built-in work-flow... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Web Services Industry

Find at Harvard

06 Dec 2013
News

Double Vision: How TV ads can get second-screen surfers to shop

2011
Working Paper

Temptation at Work

By: Alessandro Bucciol, Daniel Houser and Marco Piovesan

To encourage worker productivity, offices prohibit Internet use. Consequently, many employees delay Internet activity to the end of the workday. Recent work in social psychology, however, suggests that using willpower to delay gratification can negatively impact... View Details

Keywords: Employees; Performance Productivity; Behavior; Power and Influence; Internet

Read Now

18 May 2021
Book

Launching a Career in the COVID Economy? Here Are 5 Tips.

manager isn’t clear on what or how, try asking them or a colleague what’s been tried before. Or look through internal files or the internet to find templates or examples. Compare View Details

Keywords: by Carolyn DiPaolo

January 2002 (Revised July 2002)
Case

Vialog Corporation

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Michele Lutz

Traces the origin of Vialog Corp.--from its founding in 1996 through a roll-up of several independent teleconferencing companies in 1997 and its initial public offering (1999) and eventually to a potential merger or acquisition in June 2000. The company has grown... View Details

Keywords: History; Business Exit or Shutdown; Internet and the Web; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Partners and Partnerships; Initial Public Offering; Business Growth and Maturation; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Processes; Information Technology Industry; Europe

September 2016
Case

Designing Performance Metrics at GoDaddy

By: C. Fritz Foley and Michael Lemm

Scott Wagner has recently joined GoDaddy, a leading provider of cloud-based software and services that helped individuals and small businesses establish a web presence, in the dual role of chief operating officer and chief financial officer. One of his first tasks is... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Management Practices and Processes; Performance Evaluation; Compensation and Benefits; Web Services Industry

28 Dec 2016
News

Retail price reality check

October 1999 (Revised October 2005)
Case

Autobytel.com

By: Youngme E. Moon

Autobytel enjoys first-mover advantage in the Internet new car buying space. According to a number of metrics, it is the online leader in this category. However, a number of competitors have sprung up, raising questions about the long-term viability of Autobytel's... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Internet and the Web; Marketing Channels; Strategy; Internet and the Web; Competition; Business Model; Service Operations; Budgets and Budgeting; Growth and Development; Auto Industry

02 Jul 2019
Blog Post

Summer Listening - HBS Podcasts to Take to the Beach

faculty discussing cases they’ve written and the lessons they impart. If the Key to Business Success is Focus, Why Does Amazon Work?Harvard Business School professor Sunil... View Details

December 2000 (Revised March 2001)
Case

DoubleTwist, Inc.

By: Joseph L. Bower and Christina L. Darwall

John Couch, CEO of DoubleTwist, has transformed a software products company into an Internet application service provider, racing to provide databases and tools for those working to explore the human genome. Crafting strategy and building organizational capability are... View Details

Keywords: Growth Management; Product Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Corporate Strategy; Customization and Personalization; Information Technology Industry