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Wikipedia: Project Esperanza
Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan; Gorbatai, Andreea; Zuzul, TionaCase HBS-712493-EStrategyIn October 2006, Wikipedia was the largest volunteer-run on-line encyclopedia which could be freely read and edited by anyone with internet access. Within almost six years of its founding in 2001, the project had attracted hundreds of thousands of editors who had written over 1.2 million articles in English alone. Almost 10 percent of world-wide internet users accessed Wikipedia at least once a month. Just as Wales was stepping down, the editor c...Starting at €8.20
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Yammer (A)
Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan; Herman, Kerry; Smith, AaronCase HBS-713407-EStrategyIn spring 2012, Yammer was on track to become a highly successful standalone company. Yammer was a leading Enterprise Social Network (ESN), providing companies a private social network in which employees could collaborate securely and efficiently. However, later that year, Microsoft executives unexpectedly reached out with an offer to acquire Yammer for $1.2 billion and integrate Yammer into the Microsoft Office division. An integration with Micr...Starting at €8.20
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Yammer (B)
Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan; Smith, AaronCase HBS-713483-EStrategySupplement to Yammer (A), case 712-494.Starting at €5.74
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Going Social: Durex in China
Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan; Smith, AaronCase HBS-714430-EStrategyWhen Reckitt Benckiser (RB), a leading consumer goods company, first entered China, it encountered significant challenges. RB's strategy relied on selling high margin products supported by cost-effective advertising and distribution, but the highly competitive Chinese market made it hard to sustain high margins, inflated television advertising rates made marketing expensive, and an inefficient distribution system increased costs further. In 2010,...Starting at €8.20
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Zopa: The Power of Peer-to-Peer Lending
Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan; Fernandez-Mateo, Isabel; Chen, DavidCase HBS-709469-EStrategyZopa, a U.K.-based peer-to-peer lending company, connected individual lenders and borrowers via an online interface. The company charged a small fee for completed loan transactions but has not turned a profit. Zopa offered two platforms, Markets and Listings. Markets was an automated system that assembled loans by combining lowest loan offers from different Zopa lenders. Zopa Listings allowed prospective borrowers to post eBay-like listings expla...Starting at €8.20
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DBL Partners: Double Bottom Line Venture Capital, Teaching Note
Kramer, Mark R.; Cole, Shawn; Reimers, CaitlinTeaching Note HBS-219048-EFinanceTeaching note for case 217022.Starting at €0.00
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Mission Related Investments at the Ford Foundation (A)
Cole, Shawn; Norris, Michael; Zochowski, T. RobertCase HBS-220026-EFinanceIn 2017, Darren Walker, the President of the Ford Foundation, one of the largest philanthropic foundations in the world, was preparing to meet with his board of directors to discuss beginning a mission related investments (MRI) program. Walker hoped to devote $1 billion of the Ford Foundation's $13 billion endowment to the MRI program. The case explores the reasoning behind the program, design choices that were made in its development, and potent...Starting at €8.20
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China Life: Microinsurance for the Poor
Cole, Shawn; Xu, LileiCase HBS-212030-EFinanceChina Life must decide whether to accept the government's "invitation" to develop a microinsurance product for the rural poor. Can it be done profitably?Starting at €8.20
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BASIX (Abridged)
Cole, Shawn; Tufano, PeterCase HBS-213035-EFinanceBASIX, an Indian microfinance corporation, must decide whether to continue to sell weather insurance to its clients. A brand-new financial product, weather insurance pays if measured rainfall during the growing season falls below a pre-specified limit. Mr. Sattaiah, managing director of the BASIX's bank, considers a revised insurance policy for the coming season, weighing the costs and potential risks of expanding the product against the potentia...Starting at €8.20
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Nirvana Vihar Rehabilitation Homes
Cole, Shawn; Rotenberg, Andreas; van den Aarssen, ThomasCase HBS-217013-EFinanceKumar Builders KUL was finally nearing completion on the four luxury condominium towers that comprised the first phase of its bold vision for the redevelopment of more than 70-acres of prime real estate in downtown Pune, India. The Nirvana Hills development also involved working with the Slum Redevelopment Authority to relocate and build on the site homes in towers for at least 20,000 slum dwellers and restoring much of the site to green space. A...Starting at €8.20