Browse abstracts and ordering information for case studies written and published by faculty at Stanford GSB.
For publicly available cases in this collection, Harvard Business Impact and Ivey Publishing distribute in North America, and The Case Centre and IESE Publishing in Europe.
Search the database of case studies or narrow your results by keyword, academic area, center, or initiative. Many of our cases are available to download at no charge.
In June 2009, Greenpeace accused the cattle industry of contributing to deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. Big brands that bought beef and leather were named as silent partners to the practice. Pressure from Greenpeace and the Brazilian government led…
In the spring of 2016, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, or SFMOMA, opened its doors for a series of celebrations following a three-year closure. The museum had much to rejoice: a $305 million renovation that included a spectacular new ten-story…
The Thumbtack case explores the major challenges associated with raising money at a technology start-up in Silicon Valley. In 2008, Marco Zappacosta, Jonathan Swanson, and Sander Daniels founded Thumbtack, an online marketplace that connects customers…
The case describes the journey of Zola, an online wedding registry designed to greatly improve the clunky and impersonal wedding registry process. With innovative features such as group gifting, scheduled delivery, and honeymoon donations, Zola was…
In November 2015, U.S.-based biopharmaceuticals company Pfizer [NYSE: PFE] and Ireland-based pharmaceutical company Allergan [NYSE: AGN] announced a $160 billion merger to move Pfizer’s domicile out of the United States to Ireland in the largest inversion…
In 2007, Jody Greenstone Miller founded Business Talent Group (BTG), a company that connected top independent professionals, including consultants and executives, with global companies for project-based work at a lower cost and with more precision than…
In May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) issued a converged standard on revenue recognition (ASC Topic 606 and IFRS 15, respectively) aimed at ameliorating difficulties associated…
In 2017, AmorePacific (AP) was the world’s seventh-largest cosmetics company, competing head-to-head with leading companies like L’Oréal and Estée Lauder. This case describes AP’s unique approach to beauty products, which reflected the corporate credo of…
In early 2017, camera manufacturer GoPro stunned investors by reporting its first recorded annual profit loss and a revenue forecast that sharply missed analyst estimates. What had once been widely heralded as one of the biggest initial public offerings…
By 2017, pervasive mobile connectivity and the rise of the on-demand economy resulted in an explosion of businesses attempting to fulfill immediate consumer demand in the food delivery market. A broad, secular shift was occurring: Online or mobile orders…
Innovium seeks to disrupt an entrenched space where little VC funding has flowed. The experienced founding team came from the VC world and thus leverages a unique approach to customer innovation. By achieving product/market fit in a non-conventional way…
Lending Club follows the path of founder and CEO Renaud Laplanche as he scales his successful P2P lending company both pre- and post-IPO. From debating with bankers on the proper valuation metrics for the company, to managing customer acquisition costs as…
Mariam Naficy (Minted CEO) and Melissa Kim (Minted COO) have grown the company to become a leader in the online printed cards, independent design and art market segments. As the business has continued to scale they wrestle with simultaneously growing…
Back in 1999, the Spanish oil company Repsol purchased 98 percent of the Argentine oil company YPF’s shares for more than $15 billion and changed its name to Repsol-YPF. At the time, the New York Times said the deal “appears to be a perfect marriage” and…
Back in 1999, the Spanish oil company Repsol purchased 98 percent of the Argentine oil company YPF’s shares for more than $15 billion and changed its name to Repsol-YPF. At the time, the New York Times said the deal “appears to be a perfect marriage” and…
Back in 1999, the Spanish oil company Repsol purchased 98 percent of the Argentine oil company YPF’s shares for more than $15 billion and changed its name to Repsol-YPF. At the time, the New York Times said the deal “appears to be a perfect marriage” and…
In 2014, Mar Hershenson and Pejman Nozad teamed up to form Pear VC, a venture capital firm that invested in start-ups spanning three stages of company development: 1) pre-seed, which Pear termed “soil”; 2) seed; and 3) Series A. The duo had known each…
Tableau: The Creation of Tableau Public highlights a product manager’s role in the creation of a new technology product. In particular, the case discusses the creation of a free public data visualization tool to help publicize a paid enterprise product…
Checkr, founded in 2014 by Daniel Yanisse and Jonathon Perichon, offered an innovative approach to background checks intended to disrupt the $1.8 billion industry, which was dominated by three incumbent firms—First Advantage, Sterling BackCheck, and…
Part B of the case reveals the option Checkr chose to pursue, and engages the students in a discussion about the factors (operational, financial, cultural, etc.) they must consider in making such a decision as the CEO of a rapidly growing company.
Also…
Atlassian: Sales examines the company’s unique, no-touch sales model for enterprise products that help teams track projects, collaborate, and build products. The case explores how the company developed and sold its first product, JIRA, and how early…
When Judith Rodin became president of The Rockefeller Foundation in 2005, she identified a pressing need to re-organize the foundation to meet the challenges in an increasingly complex world. Rodin also recognized that for philanthropy to make meaningful…
