Shai Bernstein, Arthur Korteweg, Sara Rosenthal
2013
It was the spring of 2010 and Cindy Padnos had just been named to Fast Company’s list of “The Most Influential Women in Technology in 2010.” Cindy had worked in the venture capital (VC) space for over a decade, launching her own firm, Illuminate Ventures…
Jennifer Aaker, Sarah Joyce
2013
Circle Du Soleil was one of the most successful entertainment companies in the world, a cross between a vibrant acrobatic show and a compelling narrative musical framework that captivated audiences since 1984. However, building one of the world’s…
Robert A. Burgelman, Steve W. Chung, Jon F. Nathanson, Won-yoh Lee
2013
The case details the strategic decisions that SK Planet, a leader in web and mobile services in its home country of Korea, needed to make regarding the best way to carry out an aggressive global expansion—most importantly into the United States. The $1…
Robert Burgelman, Martina Ludescher
2013
The case discusses the post-IPO strategies, opportunities and challenges for Swiss global trading company DKSH, the leading market expansion (MES) provider with a focus on Asia. DKSH was well positioned to capitalize on three key MES industry trends: 1)…
William Meehan, Davina Drabkin
2013
When Jacob Harold became head of the Hewlett Foundation’s Philanthropy Program, he began to see GuideStar as much more than just a website. GuideStar was the result of founder Arthur “Buzz” Schmidt’s vision of bringing transparency and accountability to…
Stefan Reichelstein, Sara Rosenthal, Anshuman Sahoo
2013
In 2012, KiOR was in the process of starting biofuels production at its first plant in Columbus, Mississippi. This initial plant was to provide a commercial scale proof-of-concept of KiOR’s production technology, and the company expected to build another…
Robert A. Burgelman, Robert Eric Siegel, Maalika Manoharan
2013
An update of Zuora’s activities since 2009. The growth of SaaS adoption in enterprise software enabled the leadership team to achieve tremendous growth since the writing of the (A) case, but the company struggled in keeping a flexible and empowering…
John Glynn, Tim Hsia
2013
Case describes the funding landscape for enterprise technology startups and how there has been a renewed interest in these types of companies in 2012 and 2013. The case highlights recent IPOs within this sector and the venture capitalists who have created…
John Glynn, Tim Hsia
2013
Case describes the funding landscape for enterprise technology startups and how there has been a renewed interest in these types of companies in 2012 and 2013. The case highlights recent IPOs within this sector and the venture capitalists who have created…
Robert Burgelman, Robert Siegel, Shalie Gaskill
2013
CEO Aaron Levie co-founded Box as a student at USC in 2004. Less than 10 years later, Box had become one of the fastest growing enterprise software companies in Silicon Valley, serving more than 180,000 businesses including marquee customers such as…
Robert Burgelman, Christopher Nguyen, David Hoyt
2013
This note describes the mobile telecommunications industry in 2012, and how the various participants were positioned for the future. This was a period of rapid change, as some competitors were rapidly growing, while others were undergoing equally rapid…
George Foster, David Hoyt
2013
Professional boxing was once a mainstream sport, whose stars were widely known to the general public. Major fights were broadcast on network television. By the 2000s, the landscape had changed dramatically. Boxing had become a niche sport in the United…
Jennifer Aaker, Jake Poses, Debra Schifrin
2013
The case describes how five organizations (Salesforce.com, Indiegogo, Ferrari, Thumbtack’s Team Philippines, and the U.S. military) developed successful strategies to foster happiness within their organizations and align it with their business objectives…
Sarah Soule, Michael Golomb, Debra Schifrin
2013
The case discusses LinkedIn’s corporate culture in 2012-2103 and the importance the professional networking company put on maintaining that culture as it dramatically expanded in headcount domestically and internationally. LinkedIn’s leadership believed…
Robert Burgelman, Jean-Bernard Rolland
2013
In 2012, after several failed attempts at establishing a cloud computing solution for its entire Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) suite, SAP announced two major acquisitions: SuccessFactors, a major SaaS provider for Human Resources software and Ariba…
Robert Siegel
2013
An update on TTTech after the (B) case from the period 2010-2013
Jeffrey Pfeffer
2013
Despite the likelihood of being named the next CEO within a few years, Zia Yusuf decided to leave SAP in the fall of 2009. He spent the next six months or so as an executive-in-residence for two prominent venture capital firms, joined the board of…
Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen
2013
Following an employer’s liquidity event, Linda Shoemaker and her husband, Steve Brett, unexpectedly came into significant financial resources. As a result, they founded the Brett Family Foundation, which Shoemaker ran as president. Based on her experience…
Donald Kennedy, Debra Schifrin
2013
The case presents the challenges confronting BrightSource, a company building a commercial-scale concentrated solar power plant in California in 2013: 1) environmentalists wanted to protect a threatened species at the site of the new plant, 2) competing…
Robert A. Burgelman, Robert Eric Siegel, Morgan Hallmon
2013
An update to First Solar (A), this case highlights changes to the solar energy market between 2010 and 2013 and the resulting challenges that First Solar had to overcome. In addition to increased competition from highly subsidized Chinese manufacturers…
Jesper Sorensen, Debra Schifrin, Kevin Hettrich
2013
The (A) case presents a 2009 critical expansion decision for health care nonprofit Health Leads: whether to expand rapidly while it had momentum, strong advocates, very high demand for its services, and funder support for growth; or whether to postpone…
Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen, Victoria Chang
2013
John Goldman is a sixth generation San Franciscan and a descendant of Levi Strauss, the entrepreneur who started the apparel company that bore his name. For generations, philanthropy has been an important part of the Goldman family’s lives and for John…
Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen, Victoria Chang
2013
John Goldman is a sixth generation San Franciscan and a descendant of Levi Strauss, the entrepreneur who started the apparel company that bore his name. For generations, philanthropy has been an important part of the Goldman family’s lives and for John…
Donald Kennedy, Debra Schifrin
2013
“Natural Gas and Its Role in the New Energy Dynamics” presents a comprehensive look at new natural gas extraction technology (hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” and horizontal drilling), as well as the economic and climate effects of the recent dramatic…