”INNOVATE OR DIE”
Overview
The process of innovation is not always pretty and rarely successful, but when it works it is
beautiful and powerful. This course focuses on the accomplishments and challenges of
selected entrepreneurs, U.S. and internationally, as they struggled to create and implement
disruptive business models while introducing new products and services. Each class pulls
examples from a variety of different industries such as information technology, automotive,
venture capital, retailing, media, social ventures and the arts, while looking at enterprises as
diverse as Apple, IKEA, Federal Express, the High Line, and the Manhattan Project, and
entrepreneurs ranging from Henry Ford, Ted Turner (CNN), microfinance creator
Muhammad Yunus (Grameen Bank), Hugh Hefner (Playboy), Joan Ganz Cooney (Sesame
Street), Guy Laliberté (Cirque du Soleil) and Walt Disney. By examining the past we will
work to develop reasonable expectations and scenarios for the future.
Classes will include company evaluations, financial analysis, lectures, videos, guests, and
group discussions. Class participation is essential to a successful course. The Socratic
method is used, including cold-calling, with all students expected to participate in the
discussion each week. Some classes will require a short written submission or brief
quantitative analysis. Students should expect an average of 2-3 hours of preparation
for each class. The course should prove useful to those interested in corporate strategy,
entrepreneurship, business history, innovation, and venture capital.
Class limited to 40 students
Course Requirements (Grade Weightings)
 Class participation (quality, not quantity) (40%)
 Written homework submissions (20%)
 4-5 page mid-term individual paper on the viability of Tesla Motors (20%)
 10-15 page written paper including bibliography; groups of 2-3; Topic: the
disruption to graduate schools of business from online technologies (20%)
Class 1 – Evolutions and Revolutions
(February 3, 2014)
Weapons of mass innovation
Course Introduction
Lecture: Entrepreneurial perspective, international competitiveness and the role of government
in creating the foundation for entrepreneurship and innovation; technology waves in creating the
industrial and post-industrial age.
Required Readings
Thomas Friedman: “It’s A Flat World, After All” The New York Times Magazine
Transformative Entrepreneurs: How Walt Disney, Steve Jobs, Muhammad Yunus and Other
Innovators Succeeded by Jeffrey Harris. Please read the Introduction plus Chapters 13 and 14.
Daniel Isenberg: “How To Start An Entrepreneurial Revolution” Harvard Business Review
(B8516)
Class 2 – Financing Innovation
(February 10, 2014)
Venture capital risk and opportunity
Venture Capital
 Bob Zider: “How Venture Capital Works” Harvard Business Review (Reprint 98611)
 Michael Roberts and Lauren Barley: “How Venture Capitalists Evaluate Potential Venture
Opportunities” (HBSP 9-805-019)
 Bill Sahlman: “Risk and Reward in Venture Capital” (HBSP 9-811-036)
 Vivek Wadhwa: “Venture Capital: The Good, Bad, and Ugly”, BusinessWeek Online
 William Kerr and Ramana Nanda: “Financing New Ventures” (HBSP 9-811-093)
 Thomas Eisenmann: “Business Model Analysis For Entrepreneurs” (HBSP 9-812-096)
Discussions with three entrepreneurs in the formative stages of launching new ventures:
 Melissa Thompson, CBS ’11 – TalkSession
 Julia Levy, CBS ’11 – Culture Craver
 Elenor Mak, HBS ’11 – Keaton Row
Class 3 – Cataclysmic Catalysts
(February 17, 2014)
Redefining our life and times
The Manhattan Project
The District Columbia CaseWorks #090328 by Jeffrey Harris
In-class video: “Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie”
Michael Milken: Drexel Burnham Lambert
The Predator Columbia CaseWorks #090329 by Jeffrey Harris
Napster
Napster: Catalyst For A New Industry Or Just Another Dot.Com (901M16) by Michael Singer
Amy Kover: “Napster: The Hot Idea Of The Year” Fortune June 26, 2000
Submit a half-page write-up describing your final paper topic and
identifying your group members.
At the beginning of class submit a 1-2 page paper describing why
The Manhattan Project succeeded.
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(B8516)
Class 4 – PC Genesis
(February 24, 2014)
In the beginning…
XEROX PARC
A Walk In The PARC Columbia CaseWorks #090321 by Jeffrey Harris
Steve Jobs: Apple Computer + Apple, Inc.
Apple’s Core (HBSP 9-809-063) by Noam Wasserman
Apple A (W12774) by Tom Watson
Apple B (W12775) by Tom Watson
Apple Inc. in 2012 (HBSP 9-712-490) by David Yoffie
Walter Isaacson: “The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs” Harvard Business Review
(Reprint R1204F)
In-class Video: Triumph of the Nerds – Part I and III
Background Reading
Eddie Yoon and Linda Deeken: “Why It Pays To Be A Category Creator” Harvard Business
Review
At the beginning of class please submit a 1-2 page paper outlining
how large companies can develop a culture of business model
innovation (vs. product line extensions).
Class 5 – Next Mover Advantage
(March 3, 2014)
Patience is a virtue
Sergey Brin and Larry Page: Google
Harold Evans: They Made America: From The Steam Engine To The Search Engine: Two
Centuries of Innovators; p.613-624
Google, Inc. (HBSP 9-910-036) by Benjamin Edelman and Thomas Eisenmann
Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google (HBSP-9-513-060) by John Deighton and Leora
Kornfeld
At the beginning of class please submit a two-page paper describing
your expectations for how Google will evolve over the next five-ten
years.
Herb Kelleher: Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines (A) (HBSP 9-575-060) by Christopher H. Lovelock
Southwest Airlines 2008 (A07-08-0008) by Andrew C. Inkpen
3
(B8516)
Class 6 – Choppy Waters
(March 10, 2014)
Potholes, speed bumps, and Murphy’s Law
Segway
The Human Transporter Columbia CaseWorks #090313 by Jeffrey Harris
The Sports Museum of America
The Sports Museum of America (A) Columbia CaseWorks #090308 by Jeffrey Harris
Bicycle Sharing
Modern Urban Mobility: Bike Sharing For New York City Columbia CaseWorks #110312 by
Jeffrey Harris and Elisabeth Rotrou
At the beginning of class please submit a sensitivity analysis
examining the potential financial success of The Sports Museum of
America, and Bike Sharing For New York City.
Class 7 – Cars
(March 24, 2014)
We are what we drive
Henry Ford
Brands, H.W., “Masters of Enterprise: Giants of American Business” The Free Press; p. 95-106
Preston Tucker: Tucker Motors
The Car of Tomorrow – Today Columbia CaseWorks #090320 by Jeffrey Harris
In-class video: “Tucker: The Man and His Car”
John De Lorean: De Lorean Motor Company
The Playboy Columbia CaseWorks #090324 by Jeffrey Harris
Electric/Hybrid Cars
 Hybrid Electric Vehicles: A 2011 Update (HBSP 9-511-125) by John Gourville
 The Global Electric Car Industry In 2009: Developments In The U.S., China, and The Rest
of The World (SM-175) by Debra Schifrin
 The Growth Of The Electric Vehicle Industry: Facilitating and Impeding Forces (SM 193)
by Debra Schifrin and Robert Burgelman
 Copeland, Michael V. “Tesla’s Wild Ride” Fortune July 10, 2008
 Davis, Joshua “How Elon Musk Turned Tesla Into the Car Company of the Future” Wired
September 27, 2010
 Other material on Tesla
Please submit a 4-5 page paper at the beginning of class discussing
the viability of Tesla, why they have succeeded thus far versus the
4
(B8516)
other electric/hybrid engine company start-ups, and your
expectations for the future of the company.
Class 8 – True Grit
(March 31, 2014)
Everything to lose
Fred Smith: Federal Express
The Hub Columbia CaseWorks #090319 by Jeffrey Harris
Ted Turner: CNN
H.W. Brands: “Masters of Enterprise: Giants of American Business” The Free Press p. 275-291
Priscilla Painton: “The Taming of Ted Turner” Time
In-class video: Ted Turner: “They Made America”
At the beginning of class please submit a two-page paper
outlining why Fred Smith and Ted Turner proved to be
successful entrepreneurs.
Background Reading
Harold Evans: “The Eureka Myth” Harvard Business Review
Class 9 – Noble Endeavors
(April 7, 2014)
The power of social entrepreneurs
Muhammad Yunus: Grameen Bank
It Took A Village Columbia CaseWorks #090318 by Jeffrey Harris
Joan Ganz Cooney: Children’s Television Workshop (Sesame Street)
The Street Columbia CaseWorks #090322 by Jeffrey Harris
The High Line
Elevated Innovation: Urban Entrepreneurship and New York City’s High Line Columbia
CaseWorks #120314 by Jeffrey Harris
Class 10 – New Ideas Conquer Old Markets
(April 14, 2014)
Storied reinvention
Howard Schultz: Starbucks
Howard Schultz and Starbucks Coffee Company (HBSP 9-801-361) by Nancy Koehn
Tom Stemberg: Staples
Staples: A Year In The Life of a Start-Up (HBSP 9-800-241) by Myra M. Hart
Ingvar Kamprad: IKEA
Ingvar Kamprad and IKEA (HBSP 9-390-132) by Christopher Bartlett
5
(B8516)
Submit a two-page write-up outlining your group’s final paper.
Class 11 – The Magic Of Imagination
(April 21, 2014)
Exploiting the child within us
Walt Disney
Brands, H.W. “Masters of Enterprise: Giants of American Business” The Free Press; p. 182-194
Disney Productions: The Walt Years (UVA-BP-0332) by Jeanne Liedtka
Hugh Hefner: Playboy
After Dark Columbia CaseWorks #090325 by Jeffrey Harris
In-class video: “Hugh Hefner American Playboy”
Guy Laliberté: Cirque du Soleil
The Evolution of the Circus Industry (A) Insead 2002 BOS007
Even A Clown Can Do It: Cirque du Soleil Recreates Live Entertainment (B) Insead 2002
BOS008
Cirque du Soleil – The High-Wire Act of Building Sustainable Partnerships (HBSP 9-709-411)
by Ramon Masanell and Maxime Aucoin
Please submit a one-two page paper at the beginning of
class discussing why many of the most successful
entrepreneurs succeeded despite having no business
training.
Class 12 – Creativity Is Good Business
(April 28, 2014)
Art as enterprise, artist as entrepreneur.
Christo
Christo and Jeanne-Claude: The Art of the Entrepreneur (HBSP N9-806-014) by Felda
Hardymon
James Pagliasotti: “Interview with Christo and Jeanne-Claude” Eye Level
In Class video: Christo: 5 Films
Reading
Steve Jobs: Commencement address delivered at Stanford University June 12, 2005
e-mail to me by noon on Sunday April 27th responses to the
entrepreneurial comparison grid
e-mail your group’s final paper to me by 6 p.m. Friday May 2nd
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