Publications

Web

OWN: The Power of Company Ownership - Course Catalog

companies are privately held, or they are publicly traded but controlled by founders (e.g., Google, Facebook), families (e.g., Ford), or charities (e.g., Novo Nordisk). In all these cases, a relatively small... View Details

22 May 2024
HBS Case

Banned or Not, TikTok Is a Force Companies Can’t Afford to Ignore

trust Even first-time users can easily create short videos that achieve wide visibility. Each video is guaranteed a small viewership of up to 500 people to assess its appeal through metrics like watch time; depending on its performance, a... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Technology

2003
Book

When You Say Yes But Mean No: How Silencing Conflict Wrecks Relationships and Companies

By: Leslie Perlow

“Saying yes when you really mean no” is a problem that haunts organizations from start-ups to multi-nationals. It exists across industries, levels, and functions. And it’s exacerbated by a down economy, when the fear of losing one’s job is on everybody’s mind and the... View Details

Keywords: Conflict and Resolution; Relationships; Business Ventures

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Web

Four Ways to Make The Most of Your Company Events - Recruiting

Insights & Advice 07 Oct 2024 Four Ways to Make The Most of Your Company Events Molly DeCastro & Lia Mastrogiacomo Author HBS Team tag Know Your Audience Recruiting Advice If you are looking to engage with Harvard Business School students... View Details

01 Dec 2013
News

Your Own Medicine

hospital bed in jeans and Chuck Taylors, mussed brown hair, smiling just enough to reveal dimples, with his hand out in front of him, holding two small white pills. "First dose of HT-100. That's it," she says, pulling up the photo on the... View Details

Keywords: Morrell, Daniel; biomedicine; biopharmaceutical company; Ambulatory Health Care Services; Health, Social Assistance

August 2024 (Revised February 2025)
Case

Novo Nordisk Foundation

By: Debora L. Spar and Julia M. Comeau

In 2024, Novo Nordisk A/S was one of the most profitable firms in the world, thanks largely to just two GLP-1-based drugs, Ozempic and Wegovy. Unusually, this incredibly profitable firm was controlled not by individual private shareholders, but by a non-profit... View Details

Keywords: Pharmaceutical Companies; Diabetes; Obesity; Foundation; Non-profit Management; Profit; Corporate Governance; Business or Company Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Expansion; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Nonprofit Organizations; Pharmaceutical Industry; Denmark; Europe

April 2015
Case

Dutch Bros. Coffee: A Compelling Future

By: Joshua Margolis and Christine Snively

Travis Boersma, co-founder and President of the Dutch Bros. coffee chain, faces three operational decisions that will shape the company's growth trajectory and distinctive culture. First, should they offer a specialty coffee at a subset of their stores in one region... View Details

Keywords: Culture And Community; Service Management; Retail; Food; Managing Growth; Family Business; Small Business; Leadership; Culture; Food and Beverage Industry; Oregon

01 Mar 2011
News

Two Kinds of Green

social and environmental concerns into daily operations. In the multimedia case “Burt’s Bees: Balancing Growth and Sustainability,” HBS associate professor Christopher Marquis uses text exhibits and video interviews to show how the small... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; natural products company; Miscellaneous Manufacturing; Manufacturing; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

March 2011 (Revised November 2011)
Case

Harmonic Hearing Co.

By: Howard H. Stevenson and Craig H. Stephenson

Harmonic is a small, privately held manufacturer of hearing aids. Harriet Burns and Marc Davis, two employees at Harmonic, have an opportunity to purchase the company from the founder. As well-informed insiders who understand the industry, Burns and Davis believe the... View Details

Keywords: Debts; Quantitative Analysis; Financing; Entrepreneurial Finance; Development Stage Enterprises; Small ＆ Medium-sized Enterprises; Small Business; Business Growth and Maturation; Cash Flow; Mathematical Methods; Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Borrowing and Debt; Equity; Manufacturing Industry

01 Jun 2001
News

A Match Made in Heaven

thought was an impossible situation, I said, ‘Yeah, Martin, go.’” Six months later, Koch offered Roper a job as vice president of operations. A Baker Scholar, the England-born Roper came to Boston Beer in 1994 after specializing in turning around View Details

Keywords: Samuel Adams; The Boston Beer Company; Beverage and Tobacco Product Manufacturing; Manufacturing

2021
Chapter

Multinationals' Need for State Protection: The Creation of the Swiss Investment Risk Guarantee in the 1960s

By: Sabine Pitteloud

This chapter focuses on the role of Industrie-Holding, the Federation of Swiss Industrial Multinational Companies, in the introduction of an investment risk guarantee during the 1960s. The chapter therefore contributes to a) the growing body of literature on how... View Details

Keywords: Investments; Multinational Companies; Political Risk; Business ＆ Government Relations; Investment; Multinational Firms and Management; Risk and Uncertainty; Business and Government Relations; Switzerland

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2014
Working Paper

Bridging Science and Technology Through Academic-Industry Partnerships

By: Sen Chai and Willy C. Shih

Scientific research and its translation into commercialized technology is a driver of wealth creation and economic growth. Partnerships to foster the translational processes from public research organizations, such as universities and hospitals, to private firms are a... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Firm Performance; Public-private Partnership Funding; Translational Research; Small And Medium Enterprises; Partners and Partnerships; Public Sector; Private Sector; Performance; Science-Based Business; Innovation and Invention

SSRN

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January 2020
Case

Celata Bioinnovations

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

In December 2019, Jon Hu (HBS ‘19) and Dr. Samantha Dale Strasser, co-founders of Celata Bioinnovations, were raising $1 million to launch their company. They had founded Celata less than six months earlier with the aim of redefining the drug discovery process.... View Details

2017
Working Paper

The Benefits of Selective Disclosure: Evidence from Private Firms

By: Joan Farre-Mensa

Private firms’ ability to communicate confidentially with selected investors implies that valuation disagreements between firms and investors are larger at public firms than at private ones. Consistent with the notion that misvaluation concerns lead public firms to... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Equity; Private Companies; Corporate Cash; Precautionary Motives; Share Issuance; IPOs; Selective Disclosure; Private Ownership; Cash; Market Timing; Corporate Finance; Public Ownership; Corporate Disclosure; United States

SSRN

01 Dec 2017
News

2017 in Media: Courting the Cord-Cutters

When the phenomenon of cord-cutting— dropping a cable subscription in favor of one or more online streaming services—started attracting media attention a couple of years ago, the TV industry didn’t respond quickly. Cord-cutters were a very View Details

Keywords: Laura Martin (MBA 1983) , entertainment and internet analyst, Needham & Company

September 2018 (Revised August 2019)
Case

The Progressive Corporation, 2018

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

In early 2019, The Progressive Corporation (Progressive), the USA’s third-largest auto insurance writer, reported earned premiums were up 20% in 2018 compared to the previous year, and net income was up 64%. Direct sales of personal auto policies rose 21%, while agent... View Details