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• Case | HBS Case Collection | January 2017 (Revised September 2020)

  Fitbit

  Regina E. Herzlinger, Christine Snively and Sarah Mehta

  In 2016, Fitbit remained the world’s leading producer of activity trackers—an increasingly crowded space—with over 21 million units sold that year. Fitbit’s suite of products allowed users to track the number of steps taken, calories burned, and heart rate activity. Fitbit devices were marketed to individual consumers as well as corporate wellness programs and employers. Though Fitbit was primarily focused on wellness, should management consider evolving into a chronic disease management company?

  Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Hardware; Technology; Health Testing and Trials; Health Industry;

  Citation:

  Herzlinger, Regina E., Christine Snively, and Sarah Mehta. "Fitbit." Harvard Business School Case 317-007, January 2017. (Revised September 2020.)  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | May 2020 (Revised September 2020)

  Soofa: Displaying the Right Path?

  Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Amy Klopfenstein and Amram Migdal

  In November 2019, Sandra Richter, co-founder and CEO of Soofa, a network of advertising-supported digital bulletin boards, must decide between two different fundraising and expansion plans for her company. One plan entails raising $15 million in a Series A round and pursuing an aggressive expansion strategy, while the other represents a more modest $3 million raise to bring the company to operating profitability. Richter had developed the $15 million plan with an executive introduced to her by her venture capital board members with extensive fundraising and startup experience; however, after months of pitching to investors, the aggressive expansion plan had failed to produce a term sheet. Richter must decide whether the rapid expansion is the right course of action for the company as she begins to question whether her business could realistically meet the plan’s projections even if she could secure the financing to fund it. Meanwhile, Soofa’s capital was rapidly dwindling. Richter must raise another round of capital by early 2020, or will be forced to lay off the majority of her staff and close her operations. Should she continue pursuing the aggressive expansion plan, pivot to the more modest plan based on operating profitability, or attempt to pursue both plans simultaneously? And how should she navigate the growing tension on her board given the company’s struggles?

  Keywords: Business Ventures; Business Model; Business Plan; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Decision Making; Decisions; Ethics; Geography; Geopolitical Units; Finance; Investment; Markets; Market Entry and Exit; Demand and Consumers; Network Effects; Media; Society; Urban Development; Sustainable Cities; Technology; Hardware; Technology Platform; Strategy; Business Strategy; Expansion; Relationships; Partners and Partnerships; Capital; Venture Capital; Advertising Industry; Technology Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; North and Central America; United States; Massachusetts; Cambridge;

  Citation:

  Bussgang, Jeffrey J., Amy Klopfenstein, and Amram Migdal. "Soofa: Displaying the Right Path?" Harvard Business School Case 820-098, May 2020. (Revised September 2020.)  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | November 2018 (Revised August 2020)

  The Reinvention of Kodak

  Ryan Raffaelli and Christine Snively

  The Eastman Kodak Company (Kodak) was a name familiar to most Americans. The company had dominated the film and photography industry through most of the 20th Century and was known for making affordable cameras (and the “Kodak Moment”) and supplying the movie industry with film. At its peak in 1997, Kodak had a market value of $30 billion. Despite inventing the first digital camera, Kodak stumbled to capitalize on the new technology and by 2011 the company was in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In September 2013, Kodak emerged from bankruptcy as a smaller business-to-business (B2B) digital imaging company. The following March, Jeff Clarke took over as Kodak’s new CEO. The company continued to produce and sell film to moviemakers, but Clarke, who needed to reinvent Kodak, wondered if keeping that business line made sense. To some inside the company, film was a “sacred cow” and fundamental to Kodak’s identity. In January 2016, Clarke and his executive team traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada, for the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) where the company unveiled a prototype of its new Super 8 camera—an analog motion picture camera initially launched in 1965 to shoot home movies—with updated features. Over the course of the four-day event, media and other industry players had overwhelmed the Kodak booth, excited to catch a glimpse of the camera, asking when they could expect to see the Super 8 on shelves. While the business-to-business (B2B) side of the company appeared to be growing, the new Super 8 reflected the culture and identity of a firm originally rooted in film and consumer products. Sentiment aside, Clarke needed to decide if the new Super 8 fit into the company’s overall strategy and whether Kodak was focused on the right markets for growth. What was the optimal path to reinvention?

  Keywords: CEO; Leadership; Asset Management; Transformation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Competitive Strategy;

  Citation:

  Raffaelli, Ryan, and Christine Snively. "The Reinvention of Kodak." Harvard Business School Case 419-012, November 2018. (Revised August 2020.)  View Details

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