Publications

2008
Working Paper

Cost of External Finance and Selection into Entrepreneurship

By: Ramana Nanda

This paper examines the extent to which the positive relationship between personal wealth and entry into entrepreneurship is due to financing constraints. I exploit a tax reform and use unique micro-data from Denmark to study how exogenous changes in the cost of... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Cost; Financing and Loans; Personal Finance; Human Capital; Wealth; Denmark

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January 2022 (Revised November 2023)
Supplement

Uber in China (C): The Cost of Success for Didi

By: William C. Kirby and Noah B. Truwit

On June 30, 2021, ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing (Didi) raised $4.4 billion in its initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the largest IPO of a Chinese company listed on an American exchange since Alibaba raised $25 billion in 2014.... View Details

Keywords: Uber; Didi Chuxing; Start-up Growth; Regulation; Ride-sharing; Transportation; Business Startups; Business and Government Relations; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Growth and Development; Policy; Competition; Laws and Statutes; Transportation Industry; Technology Industry; China

28 Aug 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, August 28, 2018

periods 1970–89 and 2000–15, patenting in the current period has been primarily by entrant assignees, with the exception of neural networks Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=54903 Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

March 2006 (Revised September 2006)
Case

Irizar in 2005

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Jordan Mitchell

In June 2005, Koldo Saratxaga, the leader of Basque-based luxury coach manufacturer Irizar, decided to leave after 14 years at the helm of the worker-owned cooperative. Under Saratxaga's stewardship, Irizar was saved from near bankruptcy in 1991 and has become a highly... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Startups; Customer Focus and Relationships; Resignation and Termination; Leadership Style; Production; Quality; Luxury; Competitive Advantage; Construction Industry; Real Estate Industry; South Africa; China; India; Mexico; Brazil

11 Sep 2012
First Look

First Look: September 11

Carin-Isabel Knoop, and Markus MittermaierHarvard Business School Case 812-002 Using the financing history and exit choices of a German clean-tech startup as a lens, this case explores the reasons why... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

02 Aug 2016
First Look

August 2, 2016

Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=50792 Harvard Business School Case 315-046 Intrapreneurship at DaVita HealthCare Partners Josh Golomb, president and general manager of DaVita Rx (Rx), was about to... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

08 Oct 2013
First Look

First Look: October 8

http://hbr.org/search/114007-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 514-011 TaKaDu In December 2012, Amir Peleg, founder and CEO of TaKaDu, reflected on how to position his young firm for the next fiscal year and beyond. The small Israeli... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

08 Aug 2017
First Look

First Look at Research and Ideas, August 8, 2017

Business School Case 817-051 Bootstrapping at Lightricks By August 2015, two-year-old mobile imaging software startup Lightricks had developed and released two best-selling paid mobile apps, grown to a team... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2024
Case

Tabby: Winning Consumers' Digital Wallets

By: Eva Ascarza and Fares Khrais

Hosam Arab (MBA 2009), cofounder and CEO of Tabby, a Saudi-based fintech startup, raised its Series D funding round in October 2023, four years after its inception, valuing it as a regional unicorn. Tabby's core product, a buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) service, allowed... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Startups; Risk Management; Competitive Strategy; Expansion; Financial Services Industry; Technology Industry; Saudi Arabia

24 Jul 2007
First Look

First Look: July 24, 2007

processes were already equipped for the challenge. Successful firms, by contrast, developed an explicit strategy for collaboration and made organizational changes to aid performance in these efforts. Ultimately, these actions allowed them to identify and exploit new... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

25 Apr 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research, April 25

2017 CA: BVT Publishing Global Marketing Management: A Casebook By: Quelch, John A. Abstract—During the last quarter century, international business was shaken by a revolution in global competition unlike any previously experienced. As... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 2002 (Revised December 2003)
Case

eShip-4U

By: Roy D. Shapiro and Timothy M. Laseter

eShip is a small Israeli start-up with a potentially exciting new concept for the residential package-delivery value chain--the Automatic Delivery Machine (ADM). Much like today's ubiquitous ATMs, ADMs would allow consumers to have parcels delivered to a nearby ADM... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Business Model; Service Operations; Logistics; Corporate Strategy; Information Technology; Competitive Strategy; Value Creation; Saving; Innovation and Invention; Transportation Industry; Service Industry; Shipping Industry; Israel; United States

21 Feb 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: February 21

paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=52309 Harvard Business School Case 817-056 IguanaFix IguanaFix is a rapidly scaling Latin American startup that provides an online platform connecting... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

15 Nov 2016
First Look

November 15, 2016

thin representation at senior levels remains in place. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=51896 Are 'Better' Ideas More Likely to Succeed? An Empirical Analysis of Startup Evaluation By: Scott, Erin L.,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2013
Case

Advanced Leadership Pathways: Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, Juliane Calingo Schwetz and Patricia Bissett Higgins

After a successful career as Chairman and CEO of Paris-based luxury food company, Fauchon, Laurent Adamowicz, sought to reduce obesity and improve health outcomes. Adamowicz created a mobile application to provide consumers with more accessible and interpretable... View Details

Keywords: Nutritional Information; Obesity; Weight Loss; App Development; Business Startups; Nutrition; Health; Information; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Entrepreneurship; Social Enterprise; Information Technology Industry; Health Industry

14 Sep 2010
First Look

First Look: September 14, 2010

technologies in the U.S. While there are several startups in clean energy that are well-suited to the traditional venture capital investment model, our analysis highlights a number of structural challenges related to venture capital (VC)... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 2022
Supplement

Maestro Pizza (C): Taking the Fight Outside

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Fares Khrais

Maestro pizza opened its first store in 2013 after its founder, Khalid Al Omran, recognized an opportunity in Saudi Arabia to offer high quality pizza at affordable prices. The business grew rapidly and under the radar at first, but soon enough caught the attention of... View Details

December 2018 (Revised June 2021)
Supplement

Bulb 2017: Launch

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

On August 21, 2015, Amit Gudka and Hayden Wood, co-founders of Bulb Ltd. (Bulb) launched a new business to supply energy to the United Kingdom’s 27 million residential homes with a promise of 100% renewable electricity at affordable prices. By the end of March 2017,... View Details

July 2020
Supplement

Instabeat—Crossing the Finish Line

By: Shikhar Ghosh, Nicole Tempest Keller and Alpana Thapar

Lebanese entrepreneur Hind Hobeika was just 21 years old when she launched her startup, Instabeat, which had developed the first real-time bio-feedback device for swimmers to monitor and improve their performance. It had been an extremely testing 10-year journey to... View Details

Keywords: Start-up; Wearables; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Information Technology; Information Infrastructure; Strategy; Operations; Management; United States; Lebanon