Establishment and Charter
In July 1997, HBS opened a Silicon Valley outpost located at 3000 Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park. The center has three permanent employees, Alison Berkley Wagonfeld (MBA '96) —the Executive Director, Liz Kind (MBA '86) —Senior Researcher, and Lauren Barley (MBA '91) — Senior Researcher. The charter of the center is to facilitate faculty research and case writing in Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area in general, both to enrich Harvard's MBA and Executive Education programs and to further the state of knowledge about issues and industries that are focused in the area. The California Research Center was the first of several outposts planned by HBS, each outpost located in an area of the world where there are unusual and significant business issues worthy of research. In addition, the School looks for places where there is a core group of alumni who can help the center get established quickly. In September 1998, the School opened a second research center in Hong Kong to help promote research and case writing in Asia; a satellite office in Tokyo opened at a later date. The School opened its third research center, in Buenos Aires, in 2000, and its fourth center, in Paris in 2002. In 2006, the school opened a fifth center in Mumbai, India. For more information on these other centers, visit the HBS Global Initiative website.
Steering Committee
The research center's Advisory Board is currently chaired by Doug Mackenzie (HBS '89), an Affiliated Partner of Kleiner Perkins, Caufield & Byers. The previous chairmen were Arthur Rock (HBS '51), considered the "father" of venture capital, and James Breyer (HBS ’87), Managing Partner of Accel Partners. The Advisory Board includes HBS alumni, HBS professors, and several representatives from Stanford's Graduate School of Business and School of Engineering.
Activities to Date
The California Research Center will celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2007. During its first ten years, the center produced over 150 cases that have been used in the MBA and Executive Education programs at Harvard Business School, as well as other schools around the world. Cases have focused on topics such as the issues faced by very early stage companies, venture capital firms focusing on early stage companies, angel financing, sales force issues in entrepreneurial companies, acquisition-related manufacturing integration processes, the commercialization of technology, capacity issues at biotech companies, and people-related issues in companies of all sizes. In addition to supporting casewriting and research activities, the center supports student and alumni activities in a variety of ways. For example, the center assists the HBS Entrepreneurship Club, as well as HBS Career Services, in setting up the annual "WesTrek". Each January, hundreds of students travel to the San Francisco Bay Area for a week, visiting over 100 companies; hearing presentations by business executives and thought leaders in Silicon Valley; and interviewing with companies interested in hiring MBAs. The center also helps students who are looking for jobs in the Bay Area and helps with activities such as student research projects, and helping match interested companies with HBS teams interested in doing research in California. The center also contributes to several activities each year sponsored by the active HBS Alumni Club of Northern California.
