California Research Center
In July 1997, HBS opened the first of its off-campus research centers – the “California research Center” (CRC) in Silicon Valley. The CRC is located at 3000 Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, and run by Alison Berkley Wagonfeld (MBA '96), Executive Director.
The charter of the center is to facilitate faculty research and case writing in Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area in general. Since its opening, the CRC has helped develop more than 200 cases that are used in the School’s MBA and Executive Education programs. 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.
Advisory Board
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.
Recent Center-Assisted Cases
- Affinity Labs
- Barclays Global Investors - Exchange Traded Funds
- DermaCare: Zapping Zits Directly
- Earthbound Farm
- The Energy Foundation
- Flying J
- Genentech Capacity Planning
- How Venture Capitalists Evaluate Potential Venture Opportunities
- Lightspeed Venture Partners - International Expansion
- Ocean Tomo: Building a Market for Intellectual Property
- PayPal Merchant Services
- Pinnacle Ventures
- Prosper Marketplace, Inc.
- Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker
- St. HOPE Academy - The Expansion Decision
- Texas Pacific Group - J. Crew