Publications

July 2008 (Revised December 2011)
Case

ghSMART & Co., 2006: Pioneering in Professional Services

By: Noam T. Wasserman and Ashraf Haque

Geoff Smart, founder and CEO of ghSMART & Co., wanted to build ghSMART into the #1 management-assessment firm for CEOs and investors. However, he had just received two pieces of very bad news: the demise of an existing project and the loss of a $1 million engagement he... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Entrepreneurship; Corporate Governance; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Structure; Service Industry

August 2004 (Revised December 2005)
Case

Li Ka-Shing

By: Nitin Nohria and Bridget Gurtler

From his humble beginnings in China as a teacher's son, a refugee, and later as a salesman, Li provides a lesson in integrity and adaptability. Through hard work, and a reputation for remaining true to his internal moral compass, he was able to build a business empire... View Details

Keywords: Leadership Development; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Leadership Style; Success; Business Conglomerates; Ethics; Values and Beliefs; China

01 Apr 1998
News

Microfinance's Big Payoff: Michael Chu and ACCION International

Michael Chu (MBA '76) is president and CEO of ACCION International, a private nonprofit corporation founded in 1961 and based in Somerville, Massachusetts. ACCION's affiliates in thirteen Latin American countries and the United States... View Details

19 Nov 2014
News

The Power of Yes

money to good use: Dichter would simply open his wallet. At the time, Dichter was director of business development at Acumen Fund, a nonprofit global venture fund that invests in early-stage companies to solve issues stemming from... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna

Profile

Arjun Goyal

always at the back of my mind.” HBS stood out for two reasons. “It has a great network of alumni and professors in the biotech and pharmaceutical fields — both in world-leading corporations and start-ups,” says Arjun. “And HBS has a... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Health Care

01 Oct 2001
News

New Economy Notables: Thomas S. Volpe

But his longtime fascination with both the stock market and inventors came to the fore when he entered the New York investment world. After setting up a science and technology investment banking group at Blyth Eastman PaineWebber, he became a partner in View Details

Keywords: Young, Susan; Finance

01 Jun 2004
News

Books

dominance of corporate icons such as Heinz, Coca-Cola, General Motors, NCR, and Procter & Gamble. Chapters on the 20th century consider how mass production, mass media, and technology have influenced the way goods are marketed and sold.... View Details

Keywords: book review; faculty books; Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

01 Dec 2009
News

Seven Honored with Alumni Achievement Award

Partner U.S. Venture Partners Bowes Jr. After founding U.S. Venture Partners in San Francisco in 1981, Bill Bowes helped shape companies such as Sun Microsystems, Callaway Golf, Applied Biosystems, and Ross... View Details

Keywords: Susan Young; awards; fishing; Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles; Finance; Beverage and Tobacco Product Manufacturing; Manufacturing; General Merchandise Stores; Retail Trade

December 1999 (Revised September 2000)
Case

Excite@Home: Betting on a Broadband Revolution

By: Stephen P. Bradley and Matthew Sandoval

In January 1999, @Home, a high-speed Internet access provider, announced the $6.7 billion purchase of Excite, the second largest of the major Internet "portals." This purchase marked a continuing consolidation of companies in the Internet "content" and "access"... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Joint Ventures; Technological Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Internet and the Web; Information Technology Industry; Web Services Industry

Find at Harvard

Profile

Shabrina Jiva

With a father who bought out his corporate employer and a mother who managed businesses from laundries to hotels, the Jiva family enjoyed dinners lively with business conversations. "We'd sit every night and discuss the issues they... View Details

January 1988 (Revised May 1988)
Case

General Motors' Asian Alliances

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr.

Describes all of General Motors' major alliances with Asian firms. These include Toyota, Fanuc, Isuzu, Daewoo, Suzuki, Nissan, and Hitachi. Students can discuss the rationale of each alliance, their risks, their management problems, and their likely evolution. Also... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Cost Management; Globalized Firms and Management; Problems and Challenges; Alliances; Risk and Uncertainty; Adoption; Corporate Strategy

01 Dec 2019
News

Capitalizing the Corner Shop

to macro shocks in the global economy, and there were few places to turn to for financial support. “There’s not much venture capital now, and for sure there wasn’t much venture capital back then,” he adds.... View Details

Keywords: Dan Morrell

01 Jan 2003
News

Greylock

One of the country's most renowned venture capital firms, for nearly four decades Greylock has emphasized building businesses rather than stocks, providing hands-on assistance to entrepreneurs, and helping companies contribute new... View Details

December 1999 (Revised February 2001)
Case

CVS: The Web Strategy

By: John A. Deighton and Anjali C. Shah

How should America's second-largest pharmacy chain respond to the challenge from online drugstores? What threat does the web pose to bricks and mortar distribution of prescription drugs and the other items that make up 50% of a drugstore's sales? This case describes... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Marketing Channels; Distribution Channels; Service Operations; Corporate Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry; Web Services Industry