Publications

23 May 2023
Cold Call Podcast

The Entrepreneurial Journey of China’s First Private Mental Health Hospital

Keywords: Re: William C. Kirby; Education

17 Sep 2024
Cold Call Podcast

Fawn Weaver’s Entrepreneurial Journey as an Outsider in the Spirits Industry

Keywords: Re: Hise O. Gibson; Food & Beverage; Tourism

March 2023
Teaching Note

Hikma Pharmaceuticals Governance Journey

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Jonah Goldberg

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 318108. The case opens with Said Darwazah, chairman and CEO of Hikma Pharmaceuticals, the multinational generics company, anticipating the company’s 2017 AGM and reflecting on changes made over the previous year to address concerns... View Details

Keywords: Jordan; Emerging Market; Private Sector; For-profit Firms; Boards Of Directors; Pharmaceuticals; Remuneration; Shareholder Engagement; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Business and Shareholder Relations; Executive Compensation; Business Growth and Maturation; Pharmaceutical Industry; Jordan

February 2018 (Revised October 2024)
Case

Hikma Pharmaceuticals Governance Journey

By: Lynn Paine, Suraj Srinivasan and Gamze Yucaoglu

The case opens with Said Darwazah, chairman and CEO of Hikma Pharmaceuticals, the multinational generics company, anticipating the company’s 2017 AGM and reflecting on changes made over the previous year to address concerns expressed by proxy advisors and some... View Details

Keywords: Boards Of Directors; Pharmaceuticals; Remuneration; Shareholder Engagement; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Business and Shareholder Relations; Executive Compensation; Business Growth and Maturation; Emerging Markets; Private Sector; For-Profit Firms; Pharmaceutical Industry; Jordan

Teaching Interest

HBS Startup Bootcamp

By: Martin A. Sinozich

The Startup Bootcamp is an immersion program for first-year HBS MBA candidates that uses a leaning-by-doing approach to build skills required as an early stage entrepreneur. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneur; Entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurial Ventures; Entrepreneurial Journey; Entrepreneurial Financing

April 2021
Teaching Note

Wuxi Lead Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd.

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

Within 20 years of launch, entrepreneur Wang Yanquing had built Wuxi Lead into the world’s largest manufacturer of equipment for manufacturing capacitors, lithium-ion batteries, and fuel cells.
The first big choice an entrepreneur faces is what sector to... View Details

Keywords: Lithium-ion Batteries; Industry Dynamics; Entrepreneurial Journey; Entrepreneurship; Markets; Strategy; Decision Making; Manufacturing Industry; China

August 2024
Case

Ashesi University: The Journey from Vision to Reality

By: Ranjay Gulati and Caroline de Lacvivier

In 1997, Patrick Awuah had a dream: to bring liberal arts education to Ghana. Amid the country’s declining economy and pervasive corruption problems, Awuah saw education as an opportunity to reverse its fortunes by investing in the next generation of African leaders.... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Higher Education; Entrepreneurship; Leadership Development; Growth Management; Mission and Purpose; Private Ownership; Education Industry; Ghana

March 2022 (Revised February 2023)
Case

Sunōmi Switchel: Time to Switch?

By: Lindsay N. Hyde, Shani Carter McKinney and Alexandra Horvitz

Nicole Blank has bootstrapped her functional beverage company, Sunōmi Switchel, to contracts with leading grocery retailers. She is now faced with a series of choices for if and how to continue to grow the business. View Details

Keywords: Startup; Start-up; Startup Management; Burnout; Entrepreneur; Entrepreneurial Journey; Bootstrap; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Startups; Crisis Management; Financial Condition; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; District of Columbia

April 1996
Case

The Road Well Traveled: A Note on the Journeys of HBS Entrepreneurs

Based on a 1992 mail survey of Harvard MBAs who started their own businesses. Questions focused on 4 areas: 1) development of the business concept, 2) sales and marketing, 3) finance, and 4) building a staff. The entrepreneurs surveyed include 24 in consulting, 17 in... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship

31 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

From SpinPop to SpinBrush: Entrepreneurial Lessons from John Osher

the more eclectic business careers of the last few decades. His entrepreneurial journey culminated (at least temporarily) in the sale of his electric toothbrush company to Procter & Gamble for almost a... View Details

Keywords: by Dennis Fisher; Consumer Products

12 Nov 2024
HBS Case

Inside One Startup's Journey to Break Down Hiring (and Funding) Barriers

venture capitalists working on the two coasts. Paul Gompers, the Eugene Holman Professor of Business Administration at HBS, met Blakeman through a former student as he created a course called “Entrepreneurship Outside the Valley” to explore how people can overcome... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman; Employment

December 2018 (Revised June 2021)
Supplement

Bulb 2017: Launch

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

On August 21, 2015, Amit Gudka and Hayden Wood, co-founders of Bulb Ltd. (Bulb) launched a new business to supply energy to the United Kingdom’s 27 million residential homes with a promise of 100% renewable electricity at affordable prices. By the end of March 2017,... View Details

April 2019
Case

Boxed

By: Laura Huang, Andy Wu and Jiayi Bao

Boxed.com (“Boxed”) is an ambitious e-commerce retailer start-up, founded by visionary CEO Chieh Huang in 2013. From starting in Huang’s garage in 2013, to winning Emerging E-Retailer of the Year in 2016, to having 4 operational distribution centers in 2018, Boxed used... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Management; Business Startups; Leadership; Strategy; Success; E-commerce; Retail Industry

January 12, 2023
Article

Progressive Decentralization: A High-level Framework

By: Jad Esber and Scott Duke Kominers

We explain a high-level framework for designing for future decentralization up front, and offer some guidance about when and how to do so. The guidelines apply to both web3 projects and more traditional organizations. View Details

Keywords: Crypto Economy; Cryptocurrency; Decentralization; Decentralized Autonomous Organizations; Entrepreneurial Journey; Entrepreneurial Management; Organization Behavior; Organization And Management Theory; Organization Form; Organizational Structure

Read Now

December 2018 (Revised June 2021)
Supplement

Bulb 2018: Hypergrowth

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

After a wild and volatile year, Bulb, a new entrant in the UK residential energy market, ended March 2018 with 329,171 properties, 1.2% of the total residential energy market). This was 150% ahead of a plan for 130,000 properties and almost ten times the size the... View Details

September 2019
Teaching Note

Boxed

By: Laura Huang and Andy Wu

Boxed.com (“Boxed”) is an ambitious e-commerce retailer start-up, founded by visionary CEO Chieh Huang in 2013. From starting in Huang’s garage in 2013, to winning Emerging E-Retailer of the Year in 2016, to having 4 operational distribution centers in 2018, Boxed used... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Management; Business Startups; Leadership; Strategy; Success; E-commerce; Retail Industry

December 2018 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Bulb 2015: Foundation

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

In late August 2015, Amit Gudka and Hayden Wood, co-founders of Bulb, Ltd (Bulb), were ready to offer affordable renewable energy to the United Kingdom’s 27 million households. They hoped to capitalize on the hundreds of thousands of customers switching their energy... View Details