Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Each module recommends four to six items. Whenever possible at least one alternative item for each
main recommendation is included. Cases form the core of many modules, but we also include readings
from Harvard Business Review, HBS background notes, and other course materials.
II. Rationale for selection and sequencing the items in this module
This module concentrates on the concerns of more established entrepreneurs. Some evaluate the
opportunity to build further, through franchising, global expansion, or other means. Others consider how
to harvest what they’ve grown.
The first segment features an HBS background note that surveys a range of challenges facing
entrepreneurs as a result of growth.
The cases in segment 2 focus on the evolution of a young brand to near-maturity. The main
recommendation (on fruit-drink purveyor Nantucket Nectars) and the first alternative (on handbag
designer Kate Spade) both explain at length the entrepreneurs’ efforts to establish brands in the shadow
of giant competitors. Both cases also examine the possible effect on the brand if the founders sell out (as
Nantucket Nectars is considering) or when they partner with a large corporation (as Kate Spade did).
The challenges of expanding a business concept while it’s still young are explored in Segment 3. USA
Golf Holidays, Innocent Drinks, and Honest Tea all evaluate various growth options.
One growth option worthy of detailed examination is franchising. The cases in segment 4 view the pros
and cons of franchising from somewhat different perspectives: DayOne, serving prenatal and neonatal
needs, is still a very small business, while Noodles & Co. is becoming a well established chain of
restaurants. Student analysis of either case could be enhanced by prior reading of the Note on
Franchising, which offers a strongly research-oriented view.
What some entrepreneurs would consider the ultimate growth opportunities are examined in segment 5.
The Knoll Furniture case examines the decision to go public. The RightNow Technologies case presents
competing opportunities: going public or selling out. Finally, the Shurgard Self-Storage case looks at the
expansion in the European markets.
If you have time for a sixth segment, we suggest stepping back from the financial data and deal-making
issues and giving students a more psychological perspective, via the HBR article “Why Entrepreneurs
Don’t Scale.”
1. Introduction
A Note on Managing the Growing Venture Richard Hamermesh, James Heskett and Michael Roberts
(HBS background note)
Focuses on the strategic and organizational challenges that confront growing enterprises and the
entrepreneurs who lead them. Provides an overview of how a new venture needs to change as it passes
from the initial start-up to the growth phase. Explores how a venture's leadership, strategy, and execution
need to evolve to deal with rapid growth. A rewritten version of an earlier note.
Learning Objective: To provide an overview for the course module Managing the Growing Venture.
Subjects: Change management; Complexity; Control; Entrepreneurial management; Entrepreneurship;
Growth management; Growth strategy; Leadership; Organizational behavior.
2. Establishing a Brand
Nantucket Nectars Joseph B. Lassiter and William A. Sahlman
The founders of Nantucket Nectars are trying to decide whether to sell their company. The case
describes how the founders started the company and grew the Nantucket Nectars brand name.
Learning Objective: To examine guerilla marketing, and the development of a brand, to analyze when to
think about selling a brand. Subjects: Beverages; Brands; Entrepreneurial finance; Entrepreneurial
management; Marketing strategy; Strategic planning.
The three founders of a London-based, start-up smoothie company must decide between three growth
options: expansion of the existing product line into Europe, extension of the brand into other product
categories, or continued organic growth within the United Kingdom.
Learning Objective: To evaluate entrepreneurial growth opportunities from a financial perspective and
with an ambiguous data set. Subjects: Beverages; Entrepreneurial finance; Entrepreneurial management;
Entrepreneurship; Expansion.
Learning Objective: To understand the decision to go public. Subjects: Entrepreneurial finance; Furniture;
IPO; Venture capital. Subjects: Entrepreneurial finance; Furniture; IPO; Venture capital.