SM124B
Robert Burgelman, Christof Wittig
2006
MySQL, an open source software firm, grew from a small $10M in 2004 into a successful $60M business by 2006. As it had anticipated, MySQL attracted the attention of the big three IT companies, IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle. Actively defending their high…
SM91
William Barnett, Peter Lorentzen
2006
In 1999, Bo Shao, a Chinese national with a U.S. BA and MBA, returned to China to set up an online auction firm. While initial venture capital funding came easily, China’s low level of development created many other challenges that would not have arisen…
OB54
Jeffrey Pfeffer
2006
DaVita, one of the largest operators of kidney dialysis centers in the U.S., has undergone a remarkable turnaround between 2000 and 2005, a transformation premised on building a strong values-driven culture with an emphasis on fact-based decision making…
SM151
Robert Burgelman, Aneesha Capur
2006
This case describes Infosys Technologies’ approach to growing the company by expanding its service offerings; moving up the value chain to offer higher end consulting services; improving its brand equity and recognition as a global company; increasing…
SM148
Robert Burgelman, Lyn Denend, Robert Siegel
2006
In January 2005, Robert Siegel paused to reflect on the whirlwind of activities that had consumed him over the past three months. In August 2004, Siegel joined General Electric’s $1.3 billion security division as the general manager of GE Video Solutions…
M312
Lyn,Denend , Brian Lowery, S. Wheeler
2006
Christine Hamilton, Karen Knight, and Brenda Haden had all played an instrumental role in helping develop PacifiCare’s African American Health Solutions (AAHS), a program focused on improving the health outcomes of African Americans by providing…
SM149B
Debbie Choy, Justin McNabney, James Phills, Erica Vaughan, Yubo Zhou
2006
This B case describes what became of Teach For America’s (TFA) attempt to expand its program into the San Francisco Unified School District. It discusses what TFA learned from this attempt and what changes were made throughout the organization to promote…
SM149A
Debbie Choy, Justin McNabney, James Phills, Erica Vaughan, Yubo Zhou
2006
Founded in 1989, Teach for America (TFA) was a nonprofit organization that placed highly qualified college graduates into 1,000 under-resourced urban and rural public schools across the country to teach for two years. The enthusiasm of the founding…
SI14
Chip Heath, James Phills
2006
Established in the late 1960s, Interplast was the first international humanitarian organization to send American medical professionals overseas to provide free reconstructive surgery to children and adults in developing countries. Over the next 30 years…
SI69A
James Phills, Hilary Stockton
2006
Circus Oz was Australia’s premier international circus, having performed in 26 countries on five continents. The organization was best known for cutting-edge acts and its quintessentially Australian combination of social satire, inclusiveness…
SI71
Davina Drabkin, David Hanley, James Phills
2006
Iftekhar Enayetullah and Maqsood Sinha, co-founders of Waste Concern in Bangladesh, had earned an international reputation for their innovative approach to dealing with the vast quantities of waste that threatened to overwhelm the overcrowded city of…
EM2
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…
E201
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…
E220
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…
E222
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…
E224
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…
HR25B
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…
E235
H. Grousbeck, Alex Tauber
2006
This case chronicles the travails of two young entrepreneurs who conducted a search fund in San Juan, Puerto Rico. After running out of acquisition options, the entrepreneurs decided to pursue a start-up in the billboard industry. The case then…
HR27
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…
GS40
Hau Lee, Seungjin Whang
2006
Founded in 1987, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) was the world’s first pure foundry, focused solely on the manufacturing of semiconductors. Operating in the cyclical semiconductor market, the company managed to grow rapidly and to…
GS46
Hau Lee, Guy Michlin
2006
In 2005, Erez Meltzer, the president and CEO of Netafim (the world leading manufacturer of drip irrigation equipment), was wondering whether Netafim’s supply chain was strong enough to support the change in strategy he was planning for the company…
SM141
Charles Bonini, William Meehan III, Brian Tayan
2005
Nongovernmental organizations have become an increasingly important intermediary for international development. This class note explains how the nongovernmental organization has evolved and the role they play in the early 90s as agencies and nonprofit…
E77A
William Barnett, Keith Sigg
2005
In early 2000, Louis Borders, founder and chairman of Webvan, the newest and boldest entrant into the Internet grocery business, was reviewing the events of his recent board meeting. Sales growth at the company’s first distribution center (DC) was on…
E194
Dennis Rohan, Alex Tauber
2005
This note is used in S356: Evaluating Entrepreneurial Opportunities. This course teaches students how to write a business plan, a necessary step in launching a venture. This note is intended to help teach students how to construct a financial model that…
