Publications

Web

Joiner - Entrepreneurship

research and prep for outreach. Attend an Immersion Field Course (IFC) to Israel, London, or Silicon Valley SPRING Take EC Courses to build startup skills and experience: Scaling Tech Ventures... View Details

10 Jan 2023
Op-Ed

Time to Move On? Career Advice for Entrepreneurs Preparing for the Next Stage

learn more about creating a sales playbook or experience venture from an investor’s perspective versus as the fundraiser. What tools are missing from your toolbox? What existing tools in your toolbox do you wish to HONE? For example, a... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Austin

March 2003 (Revised January 2008)
Case

Northrop versus TRW

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin and James Quinn

TRW, a leading supplier of advanced technology products for the auto, defense, and aerospace markets, receives an unexpected stock-for-stock offer from defense company Northrop Grumman Corp. The $11.4 billion aggregate offer, which represents a 22% premium over the... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Decision Choices and Conditions; Governing and Advisory Boards; Laws and Statutes; Negotiation Tactics; Valuation; Aerospace Industry; Auto Industry; Ohio

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24 May 2011
First Look

First Look: May 24

responsibility. Working PapersInducement Prizes and Innovation Authors:Liam Brunt, Josh Lerner, and Tom Nicholas Abstract We examine the effect of prizes on innovation using data on awards for technological development offered by the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

16 Oct 2017
Research & Ideas

The Most Successful Startups Have Hands-On Founders

Source: iPhoto Startup founders with a hands-on management style are more likely to retain employees and see their firms thrive, new research shows. The results are particularly applicable to knowledge-intensive technology firms, where... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

January 2002 (Revised April 2002)
Case

Space Data Corporation

By: Alan D. MacCormack and Jay Wynn

Space Data Corp. plans to partner with the U.S. National Weather Service to place transceivers on weather balloons and thereby create a national mobile communications network. The company is in the late development stages and is planning to launch a regional test that... View Details

Keywords: Wireless Technology; Business Startups; Business Processes; Adaptation; Partners and Partnerships; Opportunities; Telecommunications Industry; Public Administration Industry; United States

07 Oct 2014
First Look

First Look: October 7

transformation of the very nature of the innovation search process. We find intermediate disclosure has the advantage of efficiently steering development towards improving existing solution approaches, but also the effect of limiting experimentation and narrowing View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 1990 (Revised June 1995)
Case

Colliers International Property Consultants

By: Nitin Nohria

Describes the origins, organizational structure, management practices, and use of information technology (IT) in Colliers, a real estate network. Colliers provides local firms with a way to maintain local autonomy while gaining national and international coverage.... View Details

Keywords: Property; Organizational Structure; Information Technology; Management Practices and Processes; Partners and Partnerships; Business Model; Mission and Purpose; Business Growth and Maturation; Conflict and Resolution; Quality; Real Estate Industry

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April 1998
Case

Jim Sharpe: Extrusion Technology, Inc. (C)

By: H. Kent Bowen and Barbara Feinberg

Jim Sharpe, president of Extrusion Technology, describes the first five years at the aluminum extrusion company he purchased. He begins with day one as he introduced himself to the employees in 1987 and assured them of the company's continuity. Over the next two years,... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Forecasting and Prediction; Cost Management; Profit; Innovation Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Problems and Challenges; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Mining Industry

02 Aug 2020
What Do You Think?

Is the 'Experimentation Organization' Becoming the Competitive Gold Standard?

the relentless quest for adaptation and improvement in the so-called technology sectors seems to fuel the need for experimentation, the nature of experimentation in other sectors, including the high hazard/high reliability industries, may... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Technology

September 2012 (Revised September 2014)
Case

Doing Business in Malaysia

By: C. Fritz Foley, Michael Shih-Ta Chen and Keith Chi-Ho Wong

This case focuses on the current business environment in Malaysia as of 2012 by introducing the main economic, political and cultural aspects of the country for those interested in doing business there. The advantages and challenges of investing and doing business in... View Details

Keywords: Emerging Market Finance; Emergent Countries; Business History; Economic History; Fieldwork; Emerging Markets; Business Ventures; Strategy; Malaysia

December 2021 (Revised March 2022)
Case

Collaboration Wars: Slack vs. Microsoft Teams

By: David B. Yoffie, Kriti Gupta, Mehek Punatar, Poonam Sacheti and Poorvi Vijay

In 2021, Slack was acquired by Salesforce. While widely viewed as the best corporate collaboration and messaging software, Slack was being challenged by Microsoft, which was giving away its competitive product, Microsoft Teams, for free with a subscription to... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Applications and Software; Technology Adoption; Acquisition; Business Model; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Competition; Expansion; Technology Industry

October 2023 (Revised November 2023)
Case

Rheaply: Circularity For Every Business

By: Rembrand Koning and Alicia Dadlani

In March 2023, Garry Cooper, cofounder and CEO of Chicago-based Rheaply, needed to demonstrate that Rheaply’s expanded vision could translate into building cash flows and metrics needed to raise a Series B and turn the business into a model for financial and... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Social Entrepreneurship; Technological Innovation; Environmental Sustainability; Entrepreneurial Finance; Technology Industry; Green Technology Industry; United States; Illinois; Chicago

2016
Chapter

Ignore, Avoid, Abandon, and Embrace: What Drives Firm Responses to Environmental Regulation?

By: David F. Drake and Robin L. Just

A regulator's ability to incentivize environmental improvement among firms is vital in achieving long-term sustainability. However, firms can and do respond to environmental regulation in a variety of ways: complying with its intent; avoiding the regulation by... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Environmental Operations; Regulation; Cost vs Benefits; For-Profit Firms; Operations; Environmental Sustainability

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June 2025
Case

TagHive: Edtech Pricing and Distributor Decisions

By: Isamar Troncoso, Frank V. Cespedes and Stacy Straaberg

Education technology (edtech) company TagHive, founded in 2017, used a direct sales team and third-party distributors to sell its Class Saathi hardware and software solution to 300 clients, mainly primary and secondary schools in India. The product aimed to improve... View Details

01 Dec 2023
News

Alumni and Faculty Books and Podcasts

best-practice scheduling at the elementary, middle, and high school levels, this book will help school and district leaders—and the teachers and students they serve—make the most of every school day and year. Higher Purpose Venture... View Details

Keywords: podcasts

April 2000
Article

The Fable of Fisher Body

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Daniel F. Spulber

General Motors' (GM) acquisition of Fisher Body is the classic example of market failure in the literature on contracts and the theory of the firm. According to the standard account, GM merged vertically with Fisher Body in 1926, a maker of auto bodies, because of... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Failure; Contracts; Vertical Integration; Market Transactions; Investment; Trust; Production; Assets; Supply Chain; Opportunities; Technology; Auto Industry

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Read Now

January 2010 (Revised April 2011)
Case

Google Inc.

By: Benjamin Edelman and Thomas R. Eisenmann

Describes Google's history, business model, governance structure, corporate culture, and processes for managing innovation. Reviews Google's recent strategic initiatives and the threats they pose to Yahoo, Microsoft, and others. Asks what Google should do next. One... View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Network Effects; Mission and Purpose; Expansion; Internet and the Web; Information Technology Industry