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- 2021
- Working Paper
Growth, Transformation and Digital Capital: The Importance of Technological and Organizational Architecture
By: Ruiqing Cao and Marco Iansiti
Since the early 2000s, we witnessed a decline in average firm productivity growth and a substantial increase in market concentration across the U.S. economy (Decker et al., 2014; Bessen, 2017; Van Reenen, 2018; Akicigit and Ates, 2019). At the same time, firm...
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- May–June 2021
- Article
Why Start-ups Fail
If you’re launching a business, the odds are against you: Two-thirds of start-ups never show a positive return. Unnerved by that statistic, a professor of entrepreneurship at Harvard Business School set out to discover why. Based on interviews and surveys with hundreds...
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- April 2021
- Background Note
HEAD vs. LEAD: Disruptions Originating at the High- vs. Low-End of the Market
By: Elie Ofek, Olivier Toubia and Didier Toubia
Twenty five years after it was initially proposed, Clay Christensen’s theory of disruptive innovation continues to be a major reference for entrepreneurs, corporate innovators, and investors. However, the term “disruptive innovation” is often used in ways and contexts...
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- 2021
- Working Paper
Venture Capital Booms and Startup Financing
By: William Janeway, Ramana Nanda and Matthew Rhodes-Kropf
We review the growing literature on the relationship between venture capital booms and startup financing, focusing on three broad areas: First, we discuss the drivers of large inflows into the venture capital asset class, particularly in recent years—which are related...
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- April 2021
- Case
StockX: The Stock Market of Things (Abridged)
By: Chiara Farronato, John J. Horton, Annelena Lobb and Julia Kelley
Founded in 2015 by Dan Gilbert, Josh Luber, and Greg Schwartz, StockX was an online platform where users could buy and sell unworn luxury and limited-edition sneakers. Sneaker resale prices often fluctuated over time based on supply and demand, creating a robust...
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Keywords:
Markets;
Auctions;
Bids and Bidding;
Demand and Consumers;
Consumer Behavior;
Data and Data Sets;
Market Design;
Market Platforms;
Two-Sided Platforms;
Multi-Sided Platforms;
Market Transactions;
Marketplace Matching;
Supply and Industry;
Analysis;
Price;
Product Marketing;
Product Launch;
Apparel and Accessories Industry;
Fashion Industry;
North and Central America;
United States;
Michigan;
Detroit
- April 2021
- Teaching Note
Drinkworks: Home Bar by Keurig
By: Sunil Gupta and Jonathan Levav
Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 521-010. In the summer of 2018, Drinkworks CEO Nathaniel Davis needed to make a number of go-to-market decisions ahead of his company’s upcoming product launch. Formed through a joint venture between Keurig Dr. Pepper and Anheuser-Busch...
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Keywords:
Marketing;
Marketing Strategy;
Product Marketing;
Product Launch;
Product Positioning;
Markets;
Bids and Bidding;
Demand and Consumers;
Consumer Behavior;
Market Design;
Distribution;
Distribution Channels;
Product;
Product Design;
Product Development;
Business Model;
Customers;
Customer Value and Value Chain;
Decision Making;
Decisions;
Goods and Commodities;
Innovation and Invention;
Technological Innovation;
Business or Company Management;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Research;
Research and Development;
Strategy;
Adoption;
Competitive Advantage;
Segmentation;
Technology;
Hardware;
Value;
Value Creation;
Food and Beverage Industry;
Consumer Products Industry;
North and Central America;
United States
- March 2021 (Revised April 2021)
- Case
Making Impact Investing Markets: IFC (A)
By: Shawn A. Cole, John Masko and T. Robert Zochowski
In 2017, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) faced the first big investment decision in its new Scaling Solar project. Founded in 1956, IFC was an international investment body with national governments as shareholders, whose mission was to promote economic...
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Keywords:
Development Economics;
Developing Countries and Economies;
Renewable Energy;
Climate Change;
Environmental Sustainability;
Borrowing and Debt;
Credit;
Equity;
Bonds;
Financing and Loans;
Growth and Development;
Emerging Markets;
Non-Governmental Organizations;
Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact;
Financial Services Industry;
Energy Industry;
Zambia
- March 2021
- Supplement
Making Impact Investing Markets: IFC (B)
By: Shawn A. Cole, John Masko and T. Robert Zochowski
In 2018, Thailand’s Bank of Ayudhya (known as Krungsri), was considering whether to participate in the first issue of a new financial instrument from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), known as a gender bond. Building on the success of the Green Bond program...
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- March 2021
- Case
Proteak: Valuing Forestry Assets
By: Gerardo Pérez Cavazos and Carla Larangeira
In early 2020, 414 Capital was hired by Proteak, Mexico´s largest forestry platform, to perform a valuation of its teak business, a high-grade hardwood commonly used to build boat decks, outdoor walls, furniture, doors and small objects. Teak plantations typically...
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Keywords:
Forestry;
Assets;
Valuation;
Forest Products Industry;
Financial Services Industry;
Mexico
- March 2021
- Teaching Note
Afterpay U.S.: The Omnichannel Dilemma
By: Antonio Moreno and Anibha Singh
In 2018, Nick Molnar, the founder of the Australia-based online payment service Afterpay began its expansion to the U.S. market. The service had gained a loyal following in Australia by enabling customers to pay for online purchases through four interest-free...
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Keywords:
Online Advertising;
Business Startups;
Business Growth and Maturation;
Business Model;
Business Organization;
For-Profit Firms;
Change Management;
Customer Value and Value Chain;
Customer Relationship Management;
Customer Satisfaction;
Financing and Loans;
Microfinance;
Global Strategy;
Marketing Strategy;
Market Entry and Exit;
Market Platforms;
Multi-Sided Platforms;
Product Development;
Supply Chain Management;
Business and Stakeholder Relations;
Networks;
Network Effects;
Online Technology;
Financial Services Industry;
Technology Industry;
United States;
Australia
- March 2021
- Technical Note
Competitive Strategy in International Construction
By: John D. Macomber and Emrah Ergelen
Construction of buildings and infrastructure is one of the largest industries in the world in terms of volume. It is also one of the most physically risky, financially uncertain, and politically impacted. The industry is highly fragmented since there are few economies...
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- March 2021
- Case
VideaHealth: Building the AI Factory
By: Karim R. Lakhani and Amy Klopfenstein
Florian Hillen, co-founder and CEO of VideaHealth, a startup that used artificial intelligence (AI) to detect dental conditions on x-rays, spent the early years of his company laying the groundwork for an AI factory. A process for quickly building and iterating on new...
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Keywords:
Artificial Intelligence;
Innovation and Invention;
Disruptive Innovation;
Technological Innovation;
Technology;
Software;
Technology Adoption;
Technology Platform;
Entrepreneurship;
Technology Industry;
Medical Devices and Supplies Industry;
North and Central America;
United States;
Massachusetts;
Cambridge
- March 2021 (Revised March 2021)
- Case
M-KOPA: Empowering Lives
By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Wale Lawal and Pippa Tubman Armerding
The Pay As You Go solar power company in East Africa had sales of $71 million in 2019. It wished to grow to $300 million by 2025. M-KOPA founded by three entrepreneurs in 2011 had grown nicely in Kenya and Uganda to reach nearly 750,000 households with an innovative...
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- March 2021
- Article
The Customer May Not Always Be Right: Customer Compatibility and Service Performance
This paper investigates the impact of customer compatibility – the degree of fit between the needs of customers and the capabilities of the operations serving them – on customer experiences and firm performance. We use a variance decomposition analysis to quantify the...
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- March–April 2021
- Article
Selling After the Crisis
Like perishable goods in grocery stores, sales models have a sell-by date. As product standards evolve and new entrants emerge, buyers have more choices and demand more in terms of quality and performance across vendors. Firms that fail to adjust to changing customer...
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- 2021
- Working Paper
Information Spillovers in Experience Goods Competition
By: Zhuoqiong Charlie Chen, Christopher Stanton and Catherine Thomas
When experience goods compete, consuming one product can be informative about value for similar untried products. We study a two-period model of duopoly competition in markets that have this feature and where firms can price discriminate between consumers based on...
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- February 2021
- Background Note
Jobs to Be Done: A Toolbox
By: Derek C. M. van Bever, Bob Moesta, Iuliana Mogosanu, Shaye Roseman and Katie Zandbergen
The Jobs to Be Done methodology is both a theory and a practical approach for understanding customer behavior and why people make the choices they make. Many practitioners, whether they work for startups or incumbent businesses, find Jobs to Be Done useful because it...
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- February 2021
- Case
White Claw: Defending Market Share as Competition Encroaches
By: Jill Avery
By the end of 2019, two brands accounted for 84% of hard seltzer sales, a segment that had recently taken the U.S. beer market by storm, growing from $3 million in 2015 to over $2.7 billion by the start of the summer of 2020. White Claw was the dominant market leader...
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Keywords:
Brand Management;
Alcoholic Beverages;
Beer/brewing Industry;
Brand Positioning;
Growth;
Competitive Positioning;
Consumer Products;
Beverage Industry;
Value Proposition;
Marketing;
Brands and Branding;
Competition;
Product Positioning;
Competitive Strategy;
Consumer Behavior;
Consumer Products Industry;
Food and Beverage Industry;
United States
- February 2021
- Case
Threadless: The Renewal of an Online Community
By: Shane Greenstein, Karim Lakhani and Christian Godwin
Threadless, an online apparel company and artist community which Jake Nickell founded in 2000, continued to maintain its status as a top company in the online apparel industry during its second decade. From 2010 to 2020, Threadless continued to operate its...
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Keywords:
Business Model;
Decision Making;
Entrepreneurship;
Innovation and Invention;
Leading Change;
Management;
Marketing;
Product Launch;
Operations;
Supply Chain;
Distribution;
Networks;
Sales;
Strategy;
Adaptation;
Technology;
Software;
Technology Platform;
Apparel and Accessories Industry;
Technology Industry;
North America
- February 2021
- Article
A Dynamic Theory of Multiple Borrowing
By: Daniel Green and Ernest Liu
Multiple borrowing—a borrower obtains overlapping loans from multiple lenders—is a common phenomenon in many credit markets. We build a highly tractable, dynamic model of multiple borrowing and show that, because overlapping creditors may impose default externalities...
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