Entrepreneurial Management
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- March 2023
- Case
Akamai Technologies: Expanding the Talent Pipeline
By: Christopher Stanton, Lynda M. Applegate, Allison Ciechanover, Emily Grandjean and Sophie BeckIn 2022, senior executives of Cambridge, MA-based Akamai Technologies met to consider whether and how to scale a successful technical training program. The program, Akamai Technical Academy (ATA), was launched in 2016 to address a key challenge at Akamai and in the technology industry at large—the need to create an inclusive and diverse workforce. ATA participants came from communities typically underrepresented in the tech industry. They went through six months of in-class training followed by a six-month on-the-job contract working with Akamai project teams. By early 2022, nearly 150 ATA graduates from the U.S., Poland, and Costa Rica had converted to full-time employment, and internal hiring managers were interested in recruiting future ATA graduates. Ultimately, the company wanted to build a robust and diverse global talent pipeline, as well as promote inclusion and diversity in the global technology industry. If ATA were to be a catalyst for these changes, it would need to scale. As they prepared for their meeting, the ATA executives grappled with whether and how to scale the ATA to meet growing internal demand, while also building the platform to transform Akamai and the global technology industry.
- March 2023
- Case
Akamai Technologies: Expanding the Talent Pipeline
By: Christopher Stanton, Lynda M. Applegate, Allison Ciechanover, Emily Grandjean and Sophie BeckIn 2022, senior executives of Cambridge, MA-based Akamai Technologies met to consider whether and how to scale a successful technical training program. The program, Akamai Technical Academy (ATA), was launched in 2016 to address a key challenge at Akamai and in the technology industry at large—the need to create an inclusive and diverse workforce....
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- March 2023
- Case
Interior Collab
By: Lindsay N. Hyde, Thomas R. Eisenmann and Tom QuinnAfter venture capital-funded online interior design agency Homepolish collapsed, its former freelance designers met to discuss next steps. The bitter experience led some of them to create a workers’ collaborative called Interior Collab. The founding members needed to recruit members and build a business plan – how could they do that while staying away from the traps Homepolish had fallen into?
- March 2023
- Case
Interior Collab
By: Lindsay N. Hyde, Thomas R. Eisenmann and Tom QuinnAfter venture capital-funded online interior design agency Homepolish collapsed, its former freelance designers met to discuss next steps. The bitter experience led some of them to create a workers’ collaborative called Interior Collab. The founding members needed to recruit members and build a business plan – how could they do that while staying...
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- February 2023
- Case
Doing Business in Nairobi, Kenya
By: Archie Jones, Leonard A. Schlesinger, Pippa Tubman Armerding and Kuria KamauThis case examines the challenges and opportunities of doing business in Nairobi, Kenya. It highlights Kenya's economic transformation in the decades leading up to 2023 in the context of its history, culture, and politics. The case gives an overview of some of the main obstacles faced by businesses operating in the country and contrasting these with the efforts undertaken by the government to improve the country's business climate. This is illustrated through the discussion of a business dilemma in which Enda Sportswear is looking to grow its sales in Kenya through increased domestic production.
- February 2023
- Case
Doing Business in Nairobi, Kenya
By: Archie Jones, Leonard A. Schlesinger, Pippa Tubman Armerding and Kuria KamauThis case examines the challenges and opportunities of doing business in Nairobi, Kenya. It highlights Kenya's economic transformation in the decades leading up to 2023 in the context of its history, culture, and politics. The case gives an overview of some of the main obstacles faced by businesses operating in the country and contrasting these...
About the Unit
The Entrepreneurial Management Unit strives to raise the level of academic work in the field of entrepreneurship, in methodological rigor, conceptual depth, and managerial applicability. We also strive to improve the odds of entrepreneurial success for our students and for practitioners worldwide.
Because it is such a complex phenomenon, entrepreneurship must be studied through multiple lenses. We use three.
- The process of entrepreneurship - We seek to understand the processes of entrepreneurial activity in start-ups and established firms by examining the antecedents and consequences of various forms of entrepreneurial opportunity identification and opportunity pursuit for individuals, organizations, and industries. We see experimentation and innovation in products, services, processes, and business models as central to entrepreneurial activity.
- The finance of entrepreneurship - We seek to understand the financing of entrepreneurial ventures by studying the antecedents and consequences of entrepreneurial funding decisions both domestically and internationally.
- The context of entrepreneurship - We seek to understand the ways in which entrepreneurs both respond to and shape the context in which they operate, by examining the history of entrepreneurship across time and national borders and by analyzing the legal and cultural contexts for managerial action.
Please also visit the Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship.
Recent Publications
The Traits of Entrepreneurs
- March 2023 |
- Technical Note |
- Faculty Research
Akamai Technologies: Expanding the Talent Pipeline
- March 2023 |
- Case |
- Faculty Research
Interior Collab
- March 2023 |
- Case |
- Faculty Research
Into the Raging Sea: Final Voyage of the SS El Faro
- March 2023 |
- Teaching Plan |
- Faculty Research
Doing Business in Nairobi, Kenya
- February 2023 |
- Case |
- Faculty Research
Doing Business in Helsinki, Finland
- February 2023 |
- Case |
- Faculty Research
Doing Business in New Delhi, India
- February 2023 |
- Case |
- Faculty Research
Harvard Business Publishing
Seminars & Conferences
- 05 Apr 2023