Publications

2013
Dissertation

Designing Freemium: A Model of Consumer Usage, Upgrade, and Referral Dynamics

By: Clarence Lee, Vineet Kumar and Sunil Gupta

Abstract. Over the past decade "freemium" (free + premium) has become the dominant business model among internet start-ups for its ability to acquire and monetize a large install-base with limited marketing resources. Freemium is a hybrid strategy where a firm offers... View Details

Keywords: Discrete-Continuous Choice Dynamic Structural Models; Bayesian Estimation; Word-of-Mouth; Digital Services; Freemium; Entrepreneurship; Business Model; Motivation and Incentives; Marketing Strategy; Internet and the Web; Consumer Behavior; Marketing Reference Programs; Business Startups

Profile

Anthony Tan

distributor in Malaysia, Tan had a bright and well assured future. But while earning his MBA at HBS in 2011, Tan was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug and began to envision the rewards of starting an enterprise from scratch, especially one that could do View Details

01 Jun 2015
News

Case Study: Sneak Peak

1,000 retail outlets, including Target and Toys “R” Us. Revenue has grown rapidly with just one flavor, but after multiple discussions with venture capital groups, it became clear that investors were looking for companies that had reached... View Details

Keywords: Whole Foods; Beverage and Tobacco Product Manufacturing; Manufacturing; Food and Beverage Stores; Retail Trade

02 Aug 2016
First Look

August 2, 2016

households. The quality of the liquidity services provided by bank liabilities depends on their safety in case of default. Commercial bank debt is fully insured and thus provides full liquidity. However, commercial banks do not internalize the View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2002 (Revised June 2002)
Case

EMCF: A New Approach at an Old Foundation

By: Allen S. Grossman and Daniel F. Curran

Michael Bailin, president of the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation (EMCF), embarked on a three-year effort to transform the foundation's grant-making in theory and practice. This case details his efforts to move from an "initiatives-based" approach in philanthropy to a... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Leadership; Management Practices and Processes; Performance Expectations; Non-Governmental Organizations; Cognition and Thinking; Customization and Personalization; Theory

16 Dec 2020
News

A Creator in the Era of Disruption

those days. There were very few VC-backed startups and not much of an entrepreneurial ecosystem. It was what author and venture capitalist Alex Lazarow would define as a “frontier market”—a place where entrepreneurs face significant... View Details

28 May 2019
News

INK: Maker’s Manual

for everything from market research to packaging. What do you hope the book will do for would-be entrepreneurs? I’d like it to give them confidence to start their ventures with a playbook so that the path is not as lonely or ambiguous.... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint

01 Jun 2006
News

India Arrives

emergence as an economic powerhouse has been the rise of the country’s private-equity and venture-capital industries over the past five years. When Renuka Ramnath (AMP 156, 1999) was appointed managing director and CEO of ICICI Venture... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna

Career Coach

Eileen Stephan

Eileen offers over 20 years of professional experience in recruiting, career management and career coaching in both the corporate and academic worlds. Her most recent position as Global Head of Graduate Recruitment and Program Management for Citigroup followed roles as... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Venture Capital; Venture Capital; Venture Capital; Venture Capital; Venture Capital; Venture Capital; Venture Capital; Venture Capital; Venture Capital; Venture Capital; Venture Capital; Venture Capital; Venture Capital

27 Apr 2009
Research & Ideas

Building Businesses in Turbulent Times

explains how large and small companies can position themselves to survive—and thrive—in turbulent times. Applegate is head of the School's Entrepreneurial Management Unit and faculty chair of the Executive Education Owner/President Management program, Building View Details

Keywords: by Staff

February 2024
Teaching Note

TimeCredit

By: Emanuele Colonnelli, Raymond Kluender and Shai Benjamin Bernstein

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 824-139. TimeCredit is an artificial intelligence (AI) startup that is developing large language models (LLMs) to generate accounting memos. The case follows Ndonga Sagnia, a Gambian Harvard Business School MBA student with an accounting... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; AI and Machine Learning; Entrepreneurial Finance; Identity; Partners and Partnerships; Technology Industry

November 2002 (Revised January 2004)
Case

Gary Rodkin At Pepsi-Cola North America (B) (Abridged)

By: David A. Thomas, Gina Carioggia and Ayesha Kanji

After assuming the position of CEO of Pepsi-Cola North America (PCNA), Gary Rodkin faces organizational problems within PCNA and external friction between PCNA and its largest bottler, the Pepsi Bottling Group. In addition to the challenge of organizational alignment,... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Leadership; Brands and Branding; Problems and Challenges; Situation or Environment; Conflict Management; Alignment; Food and Beverage Industry; North America

July 2002 (Revised August 2003)
Case

EXP Systems

By: Malcolm S. Salter and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

Discusses selecting investors and avoiding board-level conflicts of interest in start-ups. Using the "term sheet" in third-round financing as a negotiation over future governance and control rights. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details

Keywords: Conflict of Interests; Governance Controls; Governing and Advisory Boards; Business Startups; Management Teams

December 2001
Case

Sarah Vickers-Willis: Career Decisions (B)

By: Myra M. Hart, Lynda M. Applegate, Sarah Harden and Susan Saltrick

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Leadership; Internet and the Web; Social Entrepreneurship; Personal Development and Career; Gender; Business Startups

July 2010 (Revised December 2010)
Case

Formosa Plastics Group: Business Continuity Forever

Wang Yung-ching, legendary Taiwanese businessman and philanthropist, passed away in 2008. He left behind an estate worth US $5.5 billion, but did not leave a will. The case discusses the potential motivation for Wang, and uses it to study succession planning for family... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Governance Controls; Management Succession; Family Ownership; Planning; Motivation and Incentives; Chemical Industry; Taiwan

July 1999 (Revised December 2005)
Case

Quickturn Design Systems, Inc. (G)

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Katharina Pick

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Patents; Governing and Advisory Boards; Behavior; Lawsuits and Litigation; Organizations; Acquisition; Corporate Governance; Service Industry

Find at Harvard

November 2007 (Revised April 2022)
Case

Control Data Corporation and the Urban Crisis

By: Tom Nicholas and Laura Gaie Singleton

Control Data Corporation is considering its response to the assassination of renowned civil rights activist Martin Luther King. Four months prior, William Norris, president of the Minneapolis-based computer firm had already committed to building a plant in a low-income... View Details

Keywords: Urban Development; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Urban Scope; Computer Industry; District of Columbia; Minneapolis

21 Apr 2009
First Look

First Look: April 21, 2009

ratings that guide investors to select "socially responsible," and avoid "socially irresponsible," companies. We examine how several hundred firms respond to corporate environmental ratings issued by a prominent independent View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

July 2008 (Revised December 2011)
Supplement

ghSMART(-er) & Co., 2008: 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 Ventures; Managerial Roles; Organizational Structure; Problems and Challenges; Loss; Motivation and Incentives; Service Industry