Publications

July 2001 (Revised August 2002)
Case

Jamcracker

Jamcracker, a well-financed, young company is attempting to transform how IT services are delivered during a period of high-tech pessimism. Jamcracker is trying to popularize an "application service provider" (ASP) model of service delivery that will, if successful,... View Details

Keywords: Service Delivery; Information Technology; Business Startups; Information Technology Industry; Service Industry

January 2011
Case

Aardvark

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Alison Berkley Wagonfeld and Lauren Barley

Aardvark is an online social search service that allows users to pose questions and receive answers from other users in their extended social network. The case explores the process that Aardvark's founders used to design and develop their product based on intensive... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Entrepreneurship; Product Design; Product Development; Social and Collaborative Networks; Internet and the Web

January 2011
Case

Founder-CEO Succession at Acer

By: Noam T. Wasserman, Michael Shih-ta Chen and Keith Chi-ho Wong

Stan Shih, founder-CEO of Acer, Inc., had proactively chosen and transitioned the "perfect" successor as CEO, but was now faced with major problems. Over the last two years, his heir apparent, Leonard Liu, had made the changes he had been hired to make, including... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Management Style; Management Succession; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Conflict Management

April 2005 (Revised November 2005)
Case

Tata Consultancy Services Iberoamerica

By: Michael Chu and Gustavo Herrero

To launch its Latin American operations, the Indian IT giant Tata Consultancy Services recruits a seasoned executive who becomes the only non-Indian member of senior management. Reviews the start-up operations, from the site selection to staffing and training, the... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Developing Countries and Economies; Initial Public Offering; Investment; Globalization; Human Resources; Selection and Staffing; Management Teams; Emerging Markets; Problems and Challenges; Consulting Industry; Latin America

August 1998 (Revised October 2002)
Case

Harbus Foundation, The

By: James E. Austin and Linda Carrigan

Describes the challenges faced by a group of HBS students as they create a foundation. Given surplus funds generated by the student-run newspaper, The Harbus leadership decides to find a meaningful use for the excess cash. Profiles both the entrepreneurial process used... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Asset Management; Financial Institutions; Investment Portfolio; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Problems and Challenges; Social Enterprise; Valuation; Financial Services Industry

Find at Harvard

21 Jan 2009
First Look

First Look: January 21, 2009

paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/08-012.pdf Cases & Course MaterialsArrow Electronics—The Apollo Acquisition Harvard Business School Case 607-007 Having already made 10 acquisitions of competitors in the last decade, the CEO... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

June 2008
Teaching Note

Transparent Value LLC (TN)

By: Sharon P. Katz and Krishna G. Palepu

Teaching Note for [108098]. View Details

Keywords: Agreements and Arrangements; Valuation; Stocks; Price; Performance Expectations; Cash Flow; Revenue; Business Startups; Investment Funds; Product Launch; Financial Services Industry

31 May 2016
HBS Case

Who Owns Space?

businesspersons are going to great lengths and great personal expense to put their stamp on commercial space travel and the so-called New Space sector, turning a very cold place into a hotbed of startup activity. Professor Matt Weinzierl... View Details

Keywords: Re: Matthew C. Weinzierl; Aerospace

June 2011
Teaching Note

Curt Schilling's Next Pitch (TN)

By: Noam Wasserman

Teaching Note for 810053. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Problems and Challenges; Selection and Staffing; Groups and Teams; Leadership Style; Business Startups; Internet and the Web; Financing and Loans; Games, Gaming, and Gambling

October 2009 (Revised July 2012)
Case

Emotiv Systems Inc.: It's the Thoughts that Count

By: Elie Ofek, Jason Riis and Paul Hamilton

Emotiv is getting ready to launch its innovative brain-computer interfacing (BCI) technology. The company has developed a special headset, called EPOC, and highly sophisticated software that can translate a person's emotions, cognitive thoughts, and facial expressions... View Details

Keywords: Technology Adoption; Sales; Technological Innovation; Demand and Consumers; Marketing Strategy; Partners and Partnerships; Entrepreneurship; Forecasting and Prediction; Product Launch; Business Startups; Technology Industry

December 2001
Teaching Note

Parenting Magazine TN

By: Paul A. Gompers

Teaching Note for (9-291-015). A rewritten version of an earlier teaching note. View Details

Keywords: Money; Capital; Capital Budgeting; Decisions; Cost Accounting; Economic Systems; Negotiation Process; Corporate Accountability; Negotiation Deal; Business Startups; Financial Strategy; Corporate Finance; Journalism and News Industry; Publishing Industry

March 2021
Supplement

CashDrop (B2)

By: Rembrand Koning, Paul A. Gompers and Sarah Gulick

After the events in CashDrop A, Jarrid Tingle and Henri Pierre-Jacques, the founders of Harlem Capital partners, worried that Ruben Flores-Martinez, CashDrop’s founder, would take another offer while he waited for them to officially make an offer. HCP traditionally... View Details

Keywords: Small Business; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Venture Capital; Online Technology; Technology Industry; Financial Services Industry; New York (city, NY)

April 1986 (Revised January 1993)
Case

Au Bon Pain

An eight-year-old company is in the midst of growth. This case follows the company from its inception through its growth stages. Teaching objectives are to understand the problems of growth, partnership, and operations-driven companies. View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Business Startups; Growth and Development; Service Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

December 1998
Supplement

Vermeer Technologies (A): A Company Is Born

By: Ashish Nanda

The founding team of Vermeer Technologies, an entrepreneurial software start-up, discusses the opportunities and challenges confronting the company. View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Information Technology Industry

September 1989 (Revised January 1990)
Case

Vinod Khosla and Sun Microsystems (A)

Describes how Vinod Khosla got Sun Microsystems started, and a critical marketing challenge the company faced at the end of the first year. Objective is to illustrate how bold creative thinking can make or break start-ups. View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Business Startups; Innovation and Invention; Information Technology Industry; Computer Industry

September 1991
Case

Momenta Corp. (B)

Momenta is a one-year-old corporation that has sought to build a distinct culture and identity through a structured process and organized rituals. The company is seeking to be a major player in the highly competitive pen-based computer market and has attracted... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Organizational Culture; Business Startups