Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • March 2017
  • Case
  • HBS Case Collection

Swagbucks

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and Matthew G. Preble
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:30
ShareBar

Abstract

In early 2016, Chuck Davis, chairman and CEO of Prodege LLC, parent company of the brand promotion business Swagbucks, and Josef Gorowitz, Prodege’s founder and president, must decide whether to acquire MyPoints, a competitor to Swagbucks, after the company’s significant cultural transformation. Over the preceding two years, Davis and Gorowitz had grown Swagbucks from a relatively small venture staffed by people from Gorowitz’s personal and professional networks into a professionally managed and rapidly scaling business. This had been no easy task because Davis had to be careful not to destabilize Prodege’s strong culture, which was built around the deeply held religious beliefs of the company’s founding employees, many of whom were devout ultra-Orthodox Hasidic Jews, as he introduced change. The culture had resulted in some unique challenges for a growing technology company, such as a requirement that the company shutter its office on Jewish holidays and every week for observance of Shabbat. By 2016, the company was thriving both financially and operationally. Considering the opportunity to acquire MyPoints, which was an established competitor with millions of members, Davis and Gorowitz must determine whether the company’s culture is sufficiently robust to integrate another business and its employees.

Keywords

Loyalty Management; Scaling; Scale; Entrepreneurship; Human Resources; Employees; Employee Relationship Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Design; Leading Change; Growth Management; Religion; Technology; Online Technology; Internet; Transition; Leadership; Web Services Industry; Technology Industry; United States

Citation

Rayport, Jeffrey F., and Matthew G. Preble. "Swagbucks." Harvard Business School Case 817-068, March 2017.
  • Educators
  • Purchase

About The Author

Jeffrey F. Rayport

Entrepreneurial Management
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • April 2025
    • Faculty Research

    Duolingo: On a 'Streak'

    By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and Nicole Tempest Keller
    • January 2025 (Revised April 2025)
    • Faculty Research

    Duolingo: On a 'Streak'

    By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Nicole Tempest Keller and Nicole Luo
    • September 2024
    • Faculty Research

    Xendit: Hiring for Growth

    By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Steve Castano, Quoc Anh Nguyen and Claire Wu
More from the Authors
  • Duolingo: On a 'Streak' By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and Nicole Tempest Keller
  • Duolingo: On a 'Streak' By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Nicole Tempest Keller and Nicole Luo
  • Xendit: Hiring for Growth By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Steve Castano, Quoc Anh Nguyen and Claire Wu
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College.