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Crosley
Nicholas, Tom; Chen, DavidCase HBS-809160-EEntrepreneurshipIn October 1941, a top secret envoy from the U.S. military was sent to Crosley Corporation in Cincinnati, Ohio to request their assistance to construct a weapon that would drastically strengthen the defenses of U.S. troops: the proximity fuze. Such a fuze would allow enemy aircraft to be shot down with a rate of accuracy well above that of previous weaponry. The task would be a challenging one, as conventional wisdom held that it took at least fo...Starting at €8.20
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Arthur Rock
Hardymon, G. Felda; Nicholas, Tom; Kind, LizCase HBS-813138-EEntrepreneurshipArthur Rock was known as one of the country's first venture capitalists and was instrumental in launching major Silicon Valley firms, such as Fairchild Semiconductor, Intel Corporation, Apple Computer, Inc., Scientific Data Systems and Teledyne Incorporated. He was the first venture capitalist to be featured on the cover of Time magazine. Rock was adamant that his success was due to luck and being in the right place at the right time. Others argu...Starting at €8.20
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New Enterprise Associates
Hardymon, G. Felda; Nicholas, TomCase HBS-813097-EEntrepreneurshipNEA was established in 1977 and it subsequently morphed into one of the largest venture capital firms in the world. Despite its size and significance, some other firms established during the same era such as Kleiner-Perkins and Sequoia (both were established in 1972), are arguably better-known. No venture firm, however, can parallel NEA in terms of its scale and its commitment to organizational and operational innovation. From early on the founde...Starting at €8.20
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Napalm: From Soldiers Field to Trang Bang
Nicholas, Tom; Akins, Jonas PeterCase HBS-815060-EEntrepreneurshipNapalm is one of the most destructive weapons ever to be invented. Yet, at its original inception it was nothing more than a technical challenge, and it was never intended to be used in indiscriminate antipersonnel warfare. The pathway of its development by a Harvard research scientist to its use in flamethrowers by U.S. ground troops in World War Two, and as an incendiary device during the Vietnam War (1959-75) was unanticipated. Many of the ear...Starting at €8.20
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The Whiz Kids
Nicholas, Tom; Chen, DavidCase HBS-811042-EAccounting and ControlIn October 1945, Henry Ford II received a telegram in his office at the Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, Michigan written by Charles "Tex" Thornton, a U.S. Air Force colonel. The telegram presented an opportunity for Ford to deploy a system of statistical control which had been developed and applied successfully in the management of the Army Air Forces. Henry Ford II had recently assumed control of his grandfather's troubled automotive empire, and...Starting at €8.20
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Neoprene
Nicholas, Tom; Tamega Fernandes, FelipeCase HBS-810084-EIn 1931, during one of the worst economic crises in US history, Du Pont announced the discovery of an innovative rubber synthetic product - neoprene. Yet at the time of the announcement, Du Pont did not have any neoprene to sell. Manufacturing facilities were still being erected and production remained at laboratory scale. Rubber synthetics had been developed in Russia, Germany and even in the United States before, but large scale production had ...Starting at €8.20
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Lehman Brothers
Nicholas, Tom; Chen, DavidCase HBS-810106-EEntrepreneurshipIn 2008, the U.S. financial system was in a state of crisis and Lehman Brothers went from a major Wall Street investment bank to an insolvent institution. It was a swift end for a firm that had its beginnings over 150 years prior. What would be the firm's legacy? And how, if at all, had its activities changed the course of American history?Starting at €8.20
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Bessemer Trust: Guardians of Capital
Nicholas, Tom; Chen, DavidCase HBS-811031-EEntrepreneurshipHenry Phipps, Jr. made his fortune in the steel industry alongside one of America's most celebrated entrepreneurs - Andrew Carnegie. His wealth was administered in the form of trusts, which he hoped would provide a stream of income for his family and their descendants into the future. Phipps had a clear vision for the intergenerational disposition of his assets, which required both an efficient organizational structure for the wealth to be admini...Starting at €8.20
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Greylock Partners
Hardymon, G. Felda; Nicholas, Tom; Lane, DavidCase HBS-813002-EEntrepreneurshipIn 1965 William Elfers left Georges Doriot's American Research and Development Corporation to found Greylock, his own venture capital firm. Over the ensuing three decades followed a series of eight Greylock partnerships, during which time Elfers never lost a general partner or saw a colleague leave to start his own venture capital firm. Furthermore, each of the investors in Greylock's first fund participated in all succeeding partnerships. Elfers...Starting at €8.20
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Venture Capital at the Harvard Management Company in Historical Perspective
Hardymon, G. Felda; Nicholas, Tom; Fouka, VasilikiCase HBS-815047-EFinanceThe compromise between capital preservation and growth has always been central to the performance of the Harvard endowment. Setting an institutional structure for effectively governing this compromise became especially important when the Harvard Management Company began operating in July of 1974. HMCs investments in venture capital, which began within a decade, created tensions around risk-return tradeoffs. HMC grappled with issues surrounding sh...Starting at €8.20