Publications

January 2002
Case

Metromove.com Business Plan

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Sheila Marcelo

Enables analysis of a business plan in a volatile market. Also enables analysis of the decisions entrepreneurs must make as they start a new business, develop the concept, choose partners, and find funding. View Details

Keywords: Business Plan; Decisions; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Business or Company Management; Partners and Partnerships

September 2000
Case

TruckitNow.com Business Plan

By: Myra M. Hart and Judith Marie Dror

Presents an original business plan. Students are challenged to develop assumptions and create financial projections and statements based on business plan text. View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Business Plan; Finance; Framework; Value Creation; Transportation Industry

September 1999
Case

Chemdex.com Business Plan

By: Lynda M. Applegate

Keywords: Business Plan; Chemical Industry

November 1996
Background Note

Some Thoughts on Business Plans

By: William A. Sahlman

A framework for assessing new business opportunities and the business plans used to describe them is developed. Useful for aspiring entrepreneurs in MBA programs. View Details

Keywords: Business Plan; Entrepreneurship; Framework; Opportunities

May 1983 (Revised November 1987)
Case

Technical Data Corp.: Business Plan

By: William A. Sahlman

Contains materials extracted from a business plan developed by the company in 1980. The purpose of the business plan was to raise $100,000 to finance the commencement of operations. The firm intended to provide analytical services to bond market traders. The product... View Details

Keywords: Business Plan

October 2003 (Revised March 2008)
Case

Salick Cardiovascular Centers: Business Plan

By: Regina E. Herzlinger, Kaushik Sen, Alex Tkachenko and Carolyn Wolff

A seasoned health services entrepreneur develops a business plan for a cardiovascular-focused factory. Will it work? View Details

Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Business Plan; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Medical Specialties; Health Industry

September 1999
Case

Throughline Company Business Plan

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Sheila L Marcelo

Keywords: Business Plan

06 Oct 2008
Research & Ideas

Updating a Classic: Writing a Great Business Plan

Sean Silverthorne: "How to Write a Great Business Plan" has been one of the most downloaded articles on Harvard Business Publishing since you wrote it in 1997. Why do you think you hit a nerve?... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

March 2013
Article

The Unintended Consequences of Ownership Transfer Planning

By: Josh Baron and Marion McCollom Hampton

The article discusses the challenges of passing down family businesses across generations, highlighting complexities in executive succession and estate planning. It emphasizes how emotional factors, complicated family dynamics, and unintended consequences influence... View Details

Keywords: Estate Planning; Family Business; Family and Family Relationships; Management Succession; Family Ownership; Manufacturing Industry; Financial Services Industry; Education Industry; Fashion Industry

19 May 2003
Lessons from the Classroom

Business Plan Winner Targets India Dropouts

Harvard Business School MBA '03 students Raj De Datta, Arvind Krishnamurthy, and Meghna Modi recently won the Social Enterprise track of the annual HBS Business Plan contest... View Details

Keywords: by Carla Tishler; Financial Services

1999
Chapter

Some Thoughts on Business Plans

By: William A. Sahlman

Keywords: Business Plan

October 2016 (Revised February 2019)
Module Note

Strategy Execution Module 5: Building a Profit Plan

By: Robert Simons

This module reading describes how to build a profit plan to reflect the strategy of a business in economic terms. After introducing the profit wheel, cash wheel, and ROE wheel, the module illustrates how to use a profit plan to assess the viability of different... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Execution; Profit Planning; Cash Flow Analysis; Asset Utilization; Return On Equity; Business Planning; Testing Strategy; Analyzing Strategic Alternative; Strategy; Asset Management; Cash Flow; Investment Return; Management Systems; Profit

November 1976 (Revised January 1984)
Case

Norton Co.: Strategic Planning for Diversified Business Operations

By: Francis Aguilar

Describes an elaborate approach to strategic planning for diversified business operations. Includes the use of the BCG experience curve and growth share matrices and of PIMS profit-factor data. (Both sets of ideas are described in appendices to the case.) Also... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Strategic Planning; Diversification; Operations; Business Growth and Maturation; Business or Company Management; Resource Allocation

18 Aug 2011
Lessons from the Classroom

Business Plan Contest: 15 Years of Building Better Entrepreneurs

the Aldrich classrooms on the Harvard Business School campus where other people's ventures are the usual topic of discussion. Judges—a mix of angel investors, VCs, serial entrepreneurs, and industry executives—score the View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Education

July 2005 (Revised February 2007)
Exercise

Family Business System Action Planning Worksheet

By: John A. Davis

Assist in thinking critically about facilitators and inhibitors to goals and preparing for change in a family business system. View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Change Management; Goals and Objectives; Organizational Change and Adaptation