Mark Leslie, James Lattin, Mike Harkey
2006
This case introduces the fictional software company Clearion Software as a tool for evaluating different strategies for setting quotas, allocating headcount, and assigning territories in a growing sales organization. The protagonist of the case is Mark…
Robert Chess, Mark Leslie, Joshua Spitzer
2006
The case follows the Connetics, a biotechnology and pharmaceutical company, from its founding in 1993 through the final clinical trials of its flagship drug compound in 2000. Through that time, the company had experienced the failure of another compound…
Dick Allen, Mike Harkey
2006
This case presents a study of Don Milder’s path to entrepreneurship out of business school. He began his post-business school career in a corporate development role at Dynatech Corporation. At 27, he was offered the opportunity to run a small division…
Charles Holloway, John Morgridge, Joshua Spitzer
2006
“EXL Service: Business Process Outsourcing in India” charts the development of outsourcing service provider EXL Service. Founded by Indian nationals Vikram Talwar and Rohit Kapoor, the firm has moved through several phases of evolution. At the conclusion…
William Barnett, Ziad Mokhtar, Gabriel Tavridis
2006
In just over two years, Mark Zuckerberg had built the Internet directory service Facebook from nothing more than an idea into a national phenomenon worthy of a reported $750 million buyout offer. The organization had grown from just a few friends…
Andrew Rachleff, Joshua Spitzer
2006
FHP Wireless develops and sells Wi-Fi networking hardware with value-added software to create “wireless meshes,” the technology that makes metro-scale Wi-Fi coverage possible. A wireless mesh connects many wireless routers together in a network that…
R. Ellis, Garth Saloner, Alex Tauber
2006
The case starts by describing a typical day in the life of Randy Hetrick, the founder and sole full-time employee of Fitness Anywhere. Hetrick starts his work day on Friday, September 10, 2004, at 6:00 a.m. By 8:30 p.m., he has accomplished a lot….
Patrick Arippol, R. Ellis, Joshua Spitzer
2006
The University Games case chronicles the board game company’s early formation and growth, and culminates in two issues often faced by business owners: (a) what to do about the over-dependence that the company has developed with its founder/CEO, and (b)…
Aneesha Capur, Charles O'Reilly III, Tim Perlstein
2006
In 2001, Libby Sartain, Chief People Officer, arrived at Yahoo! to find a demoralized Internet company without a well-defined culture, a coordinated method to communicate with employees, or developed processes, policies and procedures. In Sartain’s first…
James Lattin, Mark Leslie, Joshua Spitzer
2006
“Nektar Therapeutics” examines a drug program within a biopharmaceutical company that specializes in drug delivery and formulation technologies. Through the company’s 16-year history, it developed technologies and then established partnerships that would…
Robert Daines, Davina Drabkin, Vinay Nair
2006
In June of 2003, PeopleSoft management announced a merger with J.D. Edwards. Within hours of the announcment, Oracle had launched an hostile takeover attempt of PeopleSoft. Oracle’s bid raised enormously difficult questions for the PeopleSoft board…
Robert Daines, Davina Drabkin
2006
The B case summarizes what PeopleSoft decided regarding the “Customer Assurance Plan” (CAP), the result of court hearings, and how Oracle’s hostile takeover bid was resolved. This case should be used with the A case.
Mark Leslie, James Lattin, Joshua Spitzer
2006
Acquired through a search fund, Presidio Solutions offers an outsourced sales solution for technology companies. Presidio Solutions only sells renewals of service and maintenance contracts on their clients’ hardware and software products. The rapidly…
H. Grousbeck, Mike Harkey
2006
This case tracks three difficult situations faced by Rick Corcoran during his tenure career as an aspiring entrepreneur. In September 2003, his partner abruptly abandoned their handshake agreement and left him without a source of income. With his second…
David Hoyt, Hayagreeva Rao
2006
Rite-Solutions, a software company headquartered in Rhode Island, was founded by two successful executives that had seen innovation stifled in traditional companies. They observed that people with ideas generally had to present them to management for…
Antonio Davila, George Foster, Corinne Putt, Anne Somjen
2006
Starbucks was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Ziegler and Gordon Bowker - three men from Seattle who loved coffee. By 1995, Starbucks had expanded to 676 stores, all within the U.S. or Vancouver, Canada. Only in the next decade did Starbucks make…
H. Grousbeck, Joshua Spitzer
2006
“Tea Collection” presents several dilemmas faced by Leigh Rawdon, Tea Collection’s co-founder and CEO. Rawdon and two partners launched the company in 2002 to design and sell what she calls “lifestyle products that celebrate the beauty of cultures around…
R. McKern, Marisol Vidal Palma
2006
In 2006, the confectionery industry was one of the most dynamic and innovative sectors within the food industry. Although its fragmented nature across the globe allowed the entrance of new competitors, consumers favored established brands and new entrants…
Harold Grousbeck, Joel Peterson, Jeffrey Pfeffer, Alex Tauber
2006
The goal of this note is to explore three common CEO missteps frequently witnessed by these three directors which can cause great damage to an organization. A three-step approach is used to discuss each misstep: Identify the issue; Use literature on…
William Barnett, Mike Harkey
2006
This case tracks the development of telecommunications software provider Volantis from its launch in 2000 to March 2006. The company’s investors and founders had mis-timed its market opportunity and, by March 2006, had spent more than five years waiting…
Victoria Chang, William Guttentag, Roderick Kramer
2006
By 2006, 40-year-old Nina Jacobson, described as “lean as a marathoner, energetic, verbal and intense, all sharp angles and elbows,” had become one of the heavy-hitters in the traditionally male-dominated entertainment business, as the president of Walt…
Katherine Bose, John Glynn Jr.
2006
The protagonist is Bruce Dunlevie, a cofounder of venture firm Benchmark Capital. In early 2007, Dunlevie and his partners are faced with whether to expand their firm into China and/or India, as many other well-respected VC firms had been doing at the…
Margaret Eaton, Mark Xu
2006
In 1987, Eli Lilly began to market Prozac, the first available drug in a new class of psychotropic drugs called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Prozac, and other SSRIs that followed it, revolutionized the treatment of depression and…
John Glynn Jr., Alex Tauber, Peter Ziebelman
2006
This case is used in the Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital class. Its purpose is to present to students: • The not-so-frequently discussed reality of when venture capitalist board members see a company’s performance deteriorate drastically to the point…