E503
James Lattin, Kirk Bowman, Maryanna Quigless
2014
CEO, Ryan Smith and the rest of the founding team at Qualtrics grew the company to 350 employees and an estimated $50M in revenue through an inside-sales model. After ten years of bootstrapping however, the company took on $70M in funding from prominent…
E500
Jonathan Levav, Jason Luther
2014
Waze successfully developed a free smartphone mapping application that gave consumers turn-by-turn directions and real-time traffic data. This digital map compiled driver-generated data from Waze’s community of users to relay constantly updated…
E477
Andrew Rachleff, Peter Reiss, Sara Rosenthal
2014
The Wealthfront case tells the story of Andrew Rachleff, co-founder of Benchmark Capital and Stanford GSB faculty member, who starts a new company in 2007 based on his personal interest to provide endowment-quality investment management to the mainstream…
ETH4
Neil Malhotra, Ken Shotts, Sheila Melvin
2014
Driverless cars – once the stuff of science fiction – are fast becoming reality. Indeed, some automotive companies have said they expect to sell autonomous vehicles to the public by 2020. The advent of such self-driving vehicles raises numerous ethical…
OB89
Charles O'Reilly, Jeffrey Pfeffer, David Hoyt, Davina Drabkin
2014
This case describes the challenges facing CEO Kent Thiry and DaVita as they being thinking about how to integrate a recent acquisition, Health Care Partners (HCP). DaVita had been primarily a kidney dialysis company with a very strong culture built around…
A217
Madhav Rajan, Anne Beyer, Jaclyn Foroughi
2014
In early December 2013, Jim Madsen, co-founder and owner of The Farm Winery was preparing the company’s current and longer-term financing needs. Madsen needed to develop plans for fiscal year 2014, which included specific goals that were crucial to the…
E481
George Foster, Justin Randolph
2014
The case profiles Brad Handler, co-founder of Inspirato, as he contemplates and ultimately founds the luxury and leisure membership-based ‘destination club,’ shortly after selling and leaving an analogous company that he previously also founded (Exclusive…
A216
Madhav Rajan, Anne Beyer, Jaclyn Foroughi
2014
Dr. John Anderson plans to license a technology that will be used to develop a device that would help physicians detect early-stage cancers. Patients would breathe directly into the device, which would analyze a user’s breath for traces of key compounds…
SM235
Robert Burgelman, Robert Siegel, Cyril Labidi
2014
This industry note covers how new players in cloud file sharing and storage (such as Dropbox and Box) are reshaping the overall enterprise content management (ECM) software industry in 2014. The note presents the major incumbent firms in the ECM industry…
HR40
Hayagreeva Rao, Carter Bowen, Gib Lopez
2014
The SEALs are the elite special forces of the U.S. Navy. Their selection and training is exceptionally rigorous, with a heavy emphasis on physical condition, stamina, and mental toughness. However, the SEALs have a wide range of missions, many of which…
M349
Harikesh Nair, David Hoyt
2014
In 2013 and 2014, eBay deployed several sets of large, interactive touch screens and related technologies in shopping malls and retail stores. These “connected technologies” were used in a variety of ways intended to benefit both shoppers and retailers…
IDE07
Jesper B. Sørensen, Laurent De Clara
2014
In early 2014, Sanjay Swamy and Valerie Rozycki Wagoner, respectively chairman and CEO of ZipDial, were discussing the possibility of extending the company’s operations to Indonesia and the Philippines, two key markets in Southeast Asia. Having…
SM234
Stefan Reichelstein, Christos Makridis
2014
This case illustrates the tragedy of the commons through an interactive game to be played by students. At a United Nations world climate conference, students are divided into 10 regional blocs. With less than a day to go and no agreement among the…
E524
Robert Burgelman, Robert Siegel, Sara Rosenthal
2014
The SurveyMonkey case portrays the evolution of the company from its founding in 1999 through to 2014. SurveyMonkey was launched by Ryan Finley, a young computer science graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, to address the dearth of easy-to…
M352
Jennifer Aaker, Patricia Mason
2014
Avenues the World School, an international private school with around 20 campuses in cities around the world, was designed to be the “learning community of the future” that used technology to connect students, professionals, and curriculum. In just 18…
SM209C
Robert Burgelman, Robert Siegel, Rosy Lee
2014
This short case discusses the process of Life Technologies’ acquisition by Thermo Fisher in 2013 and 2014. The case is a complement to SM-209A and SM-209B, which highlight the various growth and acquisition strategies the company undertook over the…
E528
Robert Siegel, Yin Li
2014
This case focuses on the investment strategy employed by 500 Startups, an early-stage investment firm founded by Dave McClure. McClure, an outspoken personality in Silicon Valley, believes that the venture capital industry is not innovating quickly enough…
E527
Robert Siegel, Yin Li
2014
The case follows Scott Painter and his executive team as they deal with a crisis that threatens the survival of TrueCar, a company founded by Painter to improve consumers’ car buying experiences. TrueCar’s automotive dealer network, from which the…
E494B
Hayagreeva Rao, Yin Li
2014
This case follows Julio Vasconcellos (MBA 2007) as he launches Peixe Urbano, a daily deals company in Brazil. Daily deals are coupons that offer savings at local merchants and are sold en masse to consumers by companies such as Peixe Urbano, Groupon, and…
E494A
Hayagreeva Rao, Yin Li
2014
This case follows Julio Vasconcellos (MBA 2007) as he launches Peixe Urbano, a daily deals company in Brazil. Daily deals are coupons that offer savings at local merchants and are sold en masse to consumers by companies such as Peixe Urbano, Groupon, and…
E489
Robert Chess, Jason Luther
2014
International healthcare and reimbursement systems underwent a radical transformation in the 2000s, resulting from growing financial pressures incited by economic depression and a steady rise in healthcare spending. This phenomenon was most pronounced in…
F309
Ilya A. Strebulaev, Jaclyn Foroughi, Theresia Gouw
2014
In mid-2011, as global markets corrected amid worldwide economic uncertainty, Drew Houston, co-founder and CEO of Dropbox, the fast-growing file synchronization and sharing company, found himself in a difficult, albeit enviable, situation. Houston, who…
HR38
Rebecca Hinds, Robert Sutton, Hayagreeva Rao
2014
In 2012, software company Adobe Systems transitioned from using annual performance reviews to a system of ongoing, flexible, “check-ins.” The check-ins involved setting and tracking expectations, ongoing feedback and coaching, and opportunities for growth…
E497
Yin Li, Howard Rosen, Stephen Ciesinski
2014
Entrepreneurs seeking to start companies in developing economies face significant human resource challenges. Before embarking on their ventures, entrepreneurs should articulate a talent management strategy that describes how they will source, identify…
