Publications

Find at Harvard

10 Feb 2014
HBS Case

Stressing Safety in South Africa’s Platinum Mines

dropped straight to the bottom line," Mukunda says. "Mining is a fixed-cost industry." The situation made international headlines, and a quick web search will reveal what Carroll actually decided to do. But when he assigns... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Manufacturing

27 Aug 2012
Research & Ideas

Employee-Suggestion Programs That Work

health care has led her to study nurses, who, as direct care providers, are at the center of the web of supply chains of equipment, supplies, medications, and even physicians. Singer received a grant from the Agency for Healthcare... View Details

Keywords: by Paul Guttry

27 Apr 2009
Research & Ideas

Building Businesses in Turbulent Times

specialist. In the IT industry, opportunities are arising to replace high-cost data centers and incompatible networks with lower-cost Web services platforms. As a result, we've seen renewed interest in "cloud computing" and... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

03 Mar 2003
Research & Ideas

The Ingredients of a Deal Disaster

relationships with CEOs in their client companies. But if the CEO leaves, the consulting firm may lose the account. Consciously creating a wider web of involvements and dependencies throughout the firm would result in a more sustainable... View Details

Keywords: by Ron S. Fortgang, David A. Lax & James K. Sebenius

24 Sep 2001
Research & Ideas

How To Be an Angel Investor

interact is also crucial. For example, in one opportunity at Capitalyst 3, a Web developer with $5 million in sales was raising its first round of capital on a $10 million valuation. Two comparable companies in the marketplace were worth... View Details

Keywords: by David Amis & Howard Stevenson

March 17, 2021
Other Article

Beyond Pajamas: Sizing Up the Pandemic Shopper

By: Ayelet Israeli, Eva Ascarza and Laura Castrillo

A first look at how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted e-commerce apparel shopping in the US and the UK. Extensive analysis and interactive graphics utilizing millions of transactions.
While the pandemic is still playing out, our preliminary investigations... View Details

Read Now

October 2016
Case

Triangulate: Stay, Pivot or Exit?

By: Thomas Eisenmann, Shikhar Ghosh and Christopher Payton

Sunil Nagaraj, Triangulate's founder had spent a few years trying to launch a dating application that matched users based on their behavior on social media. Based on input from advisors, the company changed its focus from a B2B site to a B2C dating site with a unique... View Details

Keywords: Early Stage; Pivot; Two Sided Markets; Business Model; Business Exit or Shutdown; Product Launch; Venture Capital; Failure; Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Information Technology; Social and Collaborative Networks; United States; North America

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

January 2021 (Revised May 2021)
Case

Ocado Group: Ready for the Future

By: José B. Alvarez, Damien McLoughlin and Natalie Kindred

September 2013
Case

PadFone vs. FonePad

By: Willy Shih and Sen Chai

To Jonney Shih, Chairman of ASUSTek Computer, the introduction of Apple's iPad made clear the need to transition his company to a new cloud-computing era. But the company's roots in the manufacture of Windows-powered desktop and notebook PCs bounded the creativity of... View Details

22 Sep 2009
First Look

First Look: September 22

the mechanism of industry migration proposed in models like Duranton (2007). Shaping Online Consumer Choice by Partitioning the Web Authors:Jolie M. Martin and Michael I. Norton Publication:Psychology and Marketing 26, no. 10 (October... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

13 Mar 2007
First Look

First Look: March 13, 2007

surprise, none of these manipulations led to a better understanding of the task. Our results demonstrate and emphasize the robustness of the winner's curse phenomenon. Innovation and Its Discontents Authors:Adam B. Jaffe and Josh Lerner Periodical:Capitalism and... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

23 May 2016
Research & Ideas

A Little Understanding Motivates Copyright Abusers to Pay Up

obtained from the Internet. Furthermore, many businesses use a third-party designer, whom is presumed to have cleared related rights. Motivating copyright compliance on the Web is complicated by users who don’t know they are violating the... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Media & Broadcasting; Publishing

07 Sep 2010
Research & Ideas

Mindful Leadership: When East Meets West

that a Buddhist Rinpoche and a leadership professor have joined forces to explore this subject and see how Eastern teaching can inform our Western thinking about leadership and vice versa," George says. You can read George's summary of the Mindful Leadership... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

August 2021
Case

Livongo: Scaling a Purpose-Driven Organization in Healthcare

By: Ranjay Gulati, Aseem Shukla and Reva Nohria

When seasoned entrepreneur Glen Tullman founded the chronic health care startup Livongo in 2014, it was personal. His son lived with diabetes, and Tullman knew firsthand how taxing it could be to manage such an unrelenting disease. Livongo set out to empower people... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare Industry; Scaling; Telehealth; Health Care and Treatment; Small Business; Internet and the Web; Customer Focus and Relationships; Growth and Development Strategy; Opportunities; Mergers and Acquisitions; Health 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

April 2001 (Revised August 2001)
Case

UNext: Business Education and e-Learning

By: Michael G. Rukstad, David J. Collis and Tyrell Levine

UNEXT has signed agreements with Columbia, Stanford, Chicago, Carnegie Mellon, and the London School of Economics to create online business courses. The company is backed by Michael Milken and Larry Ellison and has four Nobel laureates on its advisory board. Describes... View Details

Keywords: Business Education; Curriculum and Courses; Technological Innovation; Internet and the Web; Competition; Disruptive Innovation; Performance Efficiency; Higher Education; Learning; Education Industry

Find at Harvard

February 2001 (Revised August 2001)
Case

Dialpad Communications (A)

By: Alan D. MacCormack and Kerry Herman

Describes the evolution of Dialpad, a voice-over-Internet-protocol telephony company. Set in September 2000, CEO Brad Garlinghouse faces a dilemma: what to do about the large number of international users who use Dialpad to call the United States for free. He must also... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business or Company Management; Organizational Design; Competitive Strategy; Investment; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Internet and the Web; Venture Capital; Telecommunications Industry; California