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S&P Indices and the Indexing Business in 2012
Viceira, Luis M.; Wagonfeld, Alison BerkleyCase HBS-213049-EFinanceIn June 2012, Standard & Poor's Indices is finalizing a deal with the CME Group, the largest global exchange for futures and options and majority owner of Dow Jones Indexes, to combine their respective indices business into a new joint venture called S&P Dow Jones Indices. This case discusses the index provider business model through the lenses of this transaction: sources of revenue and profitability, business valuation, uses of indexes in the m...Starting at €8.20
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Amyris Biotechnologies: Commercializing Biofuel
Pisano, Gary P.; Wagonfeld, Alison BerkleyCase HBS-610031-EService and Operations ManagementIn 2009, Amyris Biotechnologies was building a plant in Brazil that used synthetic biology to convert sugarcane into both renewable fuels and renewable chemicals. The Amyris' marketing team was investigating the commercial interest for both types of products, while the research and development team and the operations group were building processes that could accommodate both as well. CEO John Melo hoped to have commercial product available in 2011...Starting at €8.20
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Nanosolar, Inc.
Steenburgh, Thomas; Wagonfeld, Alison BerkleyCase HBS-510037-EMarketingNanosolar is a start-up company in the clean tech sector. It expects to be one of the first manufacturers to produce thin-film solar panels using copper indium gallium (di)selenide (CIGS) technology. Although this technology is less efficient in producing electricity than polysilicone, it is much less costly too. As it is about to enter the market, Nanosolar is facing the decision on which market to enter. Should it attempt to go into the Europea...Starting at €8.20
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Khosla Ventures: Biofuels Strategy
Lassiter, Joseph B.; Sahlman, William A.; Wagonfeld, Alison BerkleyCase HBS-809004-EFinanceBy 2008, a number of the firm's early cleantech investments were showing promise, and the companies were starting to need significantly more money to create the massive scale required in the energy sector. As Khosla thought about the hundreds of millions of dollars required by his portfolio companies, he wondered how he should position his firm at this stage of development. Should Khosla develop a new fund that focused on later-stage investments?...Starting at €8.20
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1366 Technologies: Scaling the Venture (Abridged)
Lassiter, Joseph B.; Nanda, Ramana; Richardson, Evan; Wagonfeld, Alison BerkleyCase HBS-812133-EEntrepreneurshipTo maximize their effectiveness, color cases should be printed in color. For some time, 1366's co-founders, Frank van Mierlo and Ely Sachs, had faced a choice, which was now made all the more stark: 1366 could expand to produce silicon wafers itself, raising the required capital from "friendly" investors and building shipment volume slowly, or 1366 could accelerate its market entry dramatically by partnering with the Asian manufacturers that had ...Starting at €8.20
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Steven Carpenter at Cake Financial
Eisenmann, Thomas R.; Wagonfeld, Alison BerkleyCase HBS-811041-EEntrepreneurshipAfter investing $9 million of venture capital, Cake Financial had failed to reach critical mass. In early 2010 Cake's assets were sold and the company was dissolved. Founded in 2006, the San Francisco-based Internet company allowed users to monitor their investments and communicate with each other about their portfolio strategies. The case recounts key decisions made by founder and CEO Steve Carpenter, including several "pivots" -- shifts in busi...Starting at €8.20
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Intellectual Ventures
Hagiu, Andrei; Yoffie, David B.; Wagonfeld, Alison BerkleyCase HBS-710423-EStrategyIntellectual Ventures creates and acquires intellectual property, which it then seeks to monetize through non-exclusive licensing. In early 2009, as an increasing number of companies were trying to position themselves as leading intermediaries in the market for intellectual property, IV was looking for the best business model to become such a leading intermediary. Its model was predicated on making it easy for small inventors to monetize their in...Starting at €8.20
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Scaling a Startup: People and Organizational Issues
Eisenmann, Thomas R.; Wagonfeld, Alison BerkleyCase HBS-812100-EEntrepreneurshipThis note discusses the organizational challenges that startups often encounter as they begin to scale rapidly, along with approaches to addressing these challenges suggested by scholars, investors, and experienced entrepreneurs. The challenges fall into five broad areas: the need to formalize organizational structure; executive transitions; the need for management systems/processes; evolution of the board of directors role; and, preservation of ...Starting at €8.20
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Ocean Tomo: Building a Market for Intellectual Property
Hagiu, Andrei; Coles, Peter A.; Wagonfeld, Alison BerkleyCase HBS-709404-EStrategyOcean Tomo's management team sought to turn the company into the leading intermediary for intellectual property. Despite its increasingly important role in the global marketplace, IP remained a notoriously illiquid asset--difficult to value, harder to trade, and often underutilized by owners. CEO Jim Malackowski and his colleagues hoped to capitalize on this inefficiency by designing and operating innovative marketplaces for intellectual property...Starting at €8.20
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Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker (A)
Snow, Daniel C.; Wheelwright, Steven C.; Wagonfeld, Alison BerkleyCase HBS-606043-EService and Operations ManagementScharffen Berger, a premium brand chocolate, is growing rapidly and must decide where and when to add capacity in the production line and with what technology. The company must consider the demands of marketing, the impact on quality and reputation, and the economics of alternative approaches to increasing output in both the short term and long term. Provides an opportunity for students to examine the existing process technology and flow, to unde...Starting at €8.20