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…
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…
SM92
William Barnett, Peter Lorentzen
2005
UFSoft was one of the first completely non-governmental domestic firms to succeed in China. Established in 1988 in Beijing, the firm began by making Chinese-language bookkeeping software and gradually moved toward much more complex enterprise resource…
SI73
Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen, David Hoyt
2005
On September 30, 2004, approximately 250 practitioners and academics met at Stanford University to discuss the rapidly developing field of venture philanthropy. Venture philanthropy draws on lessons from the venture capital industry to help develop…
E215
H. Grousbeck, Mike Harkey
2005
A search fund is a pool of capital raised to financially support the efforts of an entrepreneur, or a team of entrepreneurs, to locate a privately held company for acquisition. This study, as well as its predecessors in 1996, 1998, 2001, and 2003…
SI54
William Barnett, Dave Boennighausen
2004
This case explores the economic growth issues of Bozeman, Montana, and the role that a new non-profit organization, the Yellowstone Business Partnership, could have in directing Bozeman’s future. Bozeman’s economy had grown rapidly, but with growth came…
OIT38
Magali Delmas, Erica Plambeck, Monifa Porter
2004
The case traces the greening of Hayward Lumber Company, a family-owned company based in California. As an initial step toward serving an environmentally focused market niche, the firm began selling Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Certified Lumber to meet…
IB56
John McMillan
2004
Reggae music has swept the world. From its origins in Jamaica, it can now be heard in clubs and bars from Senegal to Samoa. It has also influenced music from other countries, such as American rap. In the late 1990s, annual sales of reggae recordings…
EC36
Philip Meza, Garth Saloner
2004
This case examines Overture Services, Inc., the Internet search engine and online advertising company that was acquired by Yahoo!. Overture was a leader in the market for sponsored search, in which a search engine sells to advertisers keywords that users…
E140B
William Barnett, Brad Wolfe
2004
This case documents the many challenges faced by protagonists John Fowler and Josh Greenberg, two young post-MBAs who embarked on a brave journey otherwise known as the search fund process. Although possessing limited real-world experience, these best…
IB53
David Hoyt, John McMillan
2004
In 2003, the 25 million international coffee growers faced a crisis. Prices for coffee beans were the lowest they had been (in real terms) in 100 years. The coffee growing business had historically been one of boom-and-bust. Several countries had to…
IB52
John McMillan
2004
This case focuses on corruption in Angola surrounding oil production. In 2001, corruption in Angola was extreme. More than US$1 billion per year of Angola’s oil revenues had reportedly disappeared in each of the five previous years. Angola presented a…
SI48
William Barnett, William Durham
2003
In 1985, Daniel Janzen, one of the world’s foremost tropical ecologists, proposed a bold plan to preserve and restore a substantial tropical forest in Costa Rica, called the Area de Conservación Guanacaste (ACG). The project reformed the Costa Rican…
SI66
Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen, David Hoyt
2003
Philanthropy as an industry, with professionally managed organizations addressing the root causes of social problems, was developed in the United States. This paper traces is development from early colonial days through the formation of the first great…
SM116
John McMillan, David Hanley
2003
Grameen Bank was a microcredit bank in Bangladesh, annually lending hundreds of millions of dollars to its millions of poor entrepreneurs. The bank’s managing director, Muhammad Yunus, was faced with tremendous challenges brought about by the political…
SI64
Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen, David Hoyt
2003
This short paper introduces considerations in corporate philanthropy. It discusses possible motivations for corporate philanthropy, and the forms such philanthropy can take. It also introduces arguments for and against corporate philanthropy: is…
SI65
Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen, David Hoyt
2003
Investors in for-profit companies have clear measures of company performance in meeting their economic objectives. However, the effectiveness of investments in not-for-profit organizations is more difficult to measure, since a significant objective of…
SM122
William Barnett, James March, Mooweon Rhee
2003
This case discusses the entry of Hyundai Motor Corporation (HMC) into the United States. After a promising beginning in the U.S. automotive market, sales tanked as “Hyundai” became synonymous for cheap car. After leadership changes within HMC, the company…
E55C
William Barnett, Charles Holloway, Jamie Earle
2003
Network Appliance faces challenges amid the rapid growth of the server and storage technology sector.
E55B
William Barnett, Jamie Earle
2003
The case picks up where the A case leaves off and describes the company’s leadership transition from Mike Malcolm to Dan Warmenhoven. It also describes the decision process the company makes to distribute through channels versus directly.
E55D
William Barnett, Charles Holloway, Jamie Earle
2003
The case picks up where the C case leaves off in 1998 and describes the company’s transition from being a tool for development departments to being an enterprise solution. It offers an overview of the transition the salesforce, customer service…
IB48
David Hoyt, John McMillan
2003
Luis Moreno Ocampo, a prominent attorney who had fought human rights abuses in Argentina, viewed corruption in public procurement as the next major human rights issue. Struggling citizens were being taxed for services that were not provided because the…
E162
H. Grousbeck, Mu Li
2003
A search fund is an investment vehicle in which investors financially support an entrepreneur’s efforts to locate and acquire a privately held company. This study, as part of an on-going effort at the Stanford GSB to monitor the performance and evolution…
SI57
Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen, Victoria Chang
2002
Founded in 1969, Interplast was a Silicon Valley-based nonprofit organization that provided free reconstructive surgery for needy children and adults in developing nations. It partnered with local medical professionals to provide surgery and related care…
