Publications

2021
Chapter

Renewing the Relevance of IB: Can Some History Help?

By: Geoffrey Jones

International business (IB) as a discipline has given limited attention to contemporary grand challenges of inequality, global warming, aging populations, endemic health crises, and de-globalization, in all of which multinationals are either central to the problem or... View Details

Keywords: International Business; Globalization; History; Multinational Firms and Management

August 2024
Case

Pioneering Pain Management: CWC Alliance Combats the Opioid Epidemic

By: Susanna Gallani, Karen L. Sedatole and Sarah Mehta

Set in March 2024, this case is about CWC Alliance (CWC), a nonprofit working to prevent opioid addiction in the U.S. Founder Cammie Wolf Rice launched CWC in 2018 after her son, Christopher Wolf, died of a heroin overdose. Wolf’s dependence on opioids stemmed from a... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Innovation and Invention; Jobs and Positions; Nonprofit Organizations; Expansion; Growth and Development Strategy; Service Delivery; Mission and Purpose; Health Industry; United States; Georgia (state, US); Atlanta

October 2023
Case

Fixie and Conversational AI Sidekicks

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Carin-Isabel Knoop

In March 2023, Fixie Co-Founder and Chief Architect Matt Welsh and co-founders had the kind of meeting no founders want to have. The president of leading artificial intelligence (AI) research and deployment firm OpenAI, which had catapulted into fame with its ChatGPT... View Details

Keywords: Large Language Model; Entrepreneurship; Decision Choices and Conditions; AI and Machine Learning; Technological Innovation; Competitive Strategy; Technology Industry; United States

September 2017
Case

From 80 Thoreau to Mooncusser Fish House & Moon Bar (A)

By: Lena G. Goldberg and Sandra Bahous

After extensive planning, Ian Calhoun, (MBA 2010) who was also a chef trained in Paris at Le Cordon Bleu, and two co-founders launched 80 Thoreau, a “progressive fine dining” restaurant in Concord, Massachusetts, that became a local favorite as well as a special... View Details

Keywords: Small Business; Expansion; Decision Choices and Conditions; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Boston; Cambridge

January 2014
Case

Maricopa, Inc.: Finding the Right Treatment for Growth

By: William A. Sahlman, Thomas R. Eisenmann, Joseph B. Fuller and Shikhar Ghosh

The founders of Maricopa, Inc., a startup that sold proprietary hair-care products directly to salons, were preparing a board presentation to address the young company's inability to meet financial projections. While the products had caught on with customers, the... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Financial Condition; Venture Capital; Financial Strategy; Financing and Loans; Expansion; Planning; Fashion Industry; Iowa

May 2010
Supplement

Tim Westergren of Pandora Radio

By: Willy C. Shih and Halle Alicia Tecco

Pandora Radio is at a crossroads. Founder Tim Westergren has just been told by a well known VC to get rid of his unprofitable customers in order to get his costs down, but Westergren is not sure that such actions are consistent with his company's business model.... View Details

Keywords: History; Business Model; Customers; Venture Capital; Internet and the Web; Cost Management; Outcome or Result; Customization and Personalization; Growth and Development Strategy; Music Industry

April 2009 (Revised May 2017)
Case

Skyhook Wireless

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Thomas R. Eisenmann

Ted Morgan, the founder of Skyhook Wireless just received a call from Steve Jobs of Apple asking for a meeting. Ted must decide how to prepare for a meeting that could finally give Skyhook an anchor customer. Ted and his team have worked for three years to build a new... View Details

Keywords: Mobile and Wireless Technology; Information Technology; Business Ventures; Business Startups; Technology Industry

Celebrity endorsements of existing brands have been a part of marketing strategy for decades. But in a world where celebrities have built enormous social media followings and have become effective influencers, many stars are making a pivot: Instead of endorsing or... View Details

February 2025
Tutorial

Preparing Business Leaders for an Era of Climate Instability: Understanding and Managing Physical Climate Risk

By: Michael W. Toffel and Spencer Glendon

In this compelling video, Spencer Glendon, founder of Probable Futures and Executive Fellow at Harvard Business School, describes the profound implications of climate change for businesses, the economy, and societies around the world. Drawing from his background in... View Details

Keywords: Modeling; Climate Change; Adaptation; Risk and Uncertainty; Risk Management; Forecasting and Prediction

Web

Skydeck - Alumni

owner and 26 North founder Josh Harris (MBA 1990) on why anchoring leadership in personal passion and civic responsibility is a winning strategy The Vinyl Revival Caren Kelleher (MBA 2010) on why records are reclaiming their place in a... View Details

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

01 Sep 2023
News

Money Does Grow on (Family) Trees

But tech will never tell the whole story of one’s family history, says Mike Feerick (MBA 1993), founder of the nonprofit Ireland Reaching Out. As founder and CEO of Alison, an e-learning company, Feerick... View Details

Keywords: April White; Illustrations by Fabio Consoli; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; Information

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

Web

About - Entrepreneurship

explore their entrepreneurial path, both as founders and as those interested in joining early-stage startups, through a 10-week summer fellowship that provides not only financial support but a peer network and community for students. Read... View Details

Web

Summer Fellowships | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

offered to students in the summer between their RC and EC year, supporting student founders in the development of their social impact startup. The program is for students who are serious about pursuing their idea and are committed to a... View Details

08 Aug 2022
HBS Case

Building an 'ARMY' of Fans: Marketing Lessons from K-Pop Sensation BTS

since. Some analysts predicted that the band would do more to grow South Korea’s gross domestic product over 10 years than the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. Underdogs with a strategy The band’s explosion was the result of a carefully designed and well-executed... View Details

Keywords: by Shalene Gupta; Media & Broadcasting; Music

20 Jul 2010
First Look

First Look: July 20

Publications Market Reaction to and Valuation of IFRS Reconciliation Adjustments: First Evidence from the UK Authors: Joanne Horton and George Serafeim Publication: Review of Accounting Studies (forthcoming) Abstract We investigate the market reaction to, and the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

April 2023
Supplement

Fresh Food Generation

By: Brian Trelstad

Instructors should consider the timing of making videos available to students, as they may reveal key case details.

This case highlights one of five BIPOC entrepreneuers in the Boston area as part of the HBS Impact Investment Fund. In fall 2021, a team of... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Race; Food and Beverage Industry

September 2020
Case

The Black New Venture Competition

By: Karen Mills, Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Martin Sinozich and Gabriella Elanbeck

Black entrepreneurs encounter many unique obstacles when raising capital to start and grow a business. During their second year at Harvard Business School (HBS), MBA students Kimberly Foster and Tyler Simpson decided to do something to make a difference for... View Details