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Harvard Business Review on Entrepreneurship

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Beginning with the basics of writing a business plan, this wide-ranging resource moves on to cover sophisticated topics such as how to navigate the world of venture capital funding and strategies for turning technological innovations into successful marketplace realities. Harvard Business Review on Entrepreneurship offers valuable insights for all types of business pioneers. The Harvard Business Review Paperback Series is designed to bring today's managers and professionals the fundamental information they need to stay competitive in a fast-moving world. Here are the landmark ideas that have established the Harvard Business Review as required reading for ambitious business people in organizations around the globe. Articles include: The Questions Every Entrepreneur Must Answer by Amar V. Bhide; How to Write a Great Business Plan by William A. Sahlman; How Entrepreneurs Craft Strategies That Work by Amar V. Bhide; How Much Money Does Your New Venture Need? by James McNeill Stancill; Milestones for Successful Venture Planning by Zenus Block and Ian C. MacMillan; Strategy vs. Tactics from a Venture Capitalist by Arthur Rock; Bootstrap Finance: The Art of Start-Ups by Amar V. Bhide; and Commercializing Technology: What the Best Companies Do by J. Michael Nevens, Gregory L. Summe, and Bro Uttal.

217 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1999

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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
Profile Image for Emmanuel B..
117 reviews4 followers
June 27, 2023
Very disjointed series of essays. The formatting was also very peculiar. I found it of little use, to be honest.
25 reviews11 followers
March 25, 2013
meh? dated info, without the "prophetic" charm of older business books. still a decent read if it's all you've got, but there are better uses of your time than to read this book.
Profile Image for Antonio Gallo.
Author 6 books58 followers
March 20, 2017
Non sono un manager, non mi intendo affatto di economia, eppure ho creduto opportuno inserire qui su GR, questo numero di una importante ed affermata rivista economica che porta il nome di una prestigiosa università. La ragione è dovuta al fatto che sono un dinosauro, figlio di un tipografo post-gutenberghiano del secolo e del millennio scorsi, non mi stancherò mai di scriverlo per affermare l'evoluzione della specie.

Mi piace occuparmi dei nuovi media e della editoria in genere e delle sue trasformazioni in atto, alla luce del grande dibattito in corso tra mondo cartaceo e realtà digitale. Questa rivista è stata sempre considerata un mensile molto autorevole e all'avanguardia, per un pubblico di operatori economici di grande impresa a livello mondiale. Con il primo numero di questo anno la casa editrice ha deciso di farla diventare bimestrale. Un chiaro segnale che a mio modesto parere va letto alla luce del grande duello in atto tra la comunicazione cartacea e quella digitale.

Ovviamente il direttore nel suo editoriale scrive che questa trasformazione, che prevede sei numeri l'anno, invece dei canonici tradizionali dodici, non intende essere una riduzione o contrazione bensì prevede un aumento di contenuti anche in chiave digitale sull'apposita piattaforma.

Ma quello che mi ha colpito di più è la produzione grafica della rivista. A parte la tradizionale, brillante e lucida carta patinata, con straordinaria stampa a colori, il responsabile della grafica ha dato alla rivista una qualità visiva davvero forte e quanto mai dinamica. Ci sono diverse "finestre" interne che danno al lettore la medesima impressione di quando si sfoglia una rivista online.

Caratteri e titoli cubitali catturano l'attenzione cercando di farlo restare sulla gigantesca titolazione, e convincerlo a leggere l'articolo che segue. Frequenti sono i richiami e gli inviti a scaricare dalla edizione digitale gli opportuni approfondimenti, fino ad arrivare ad una vera e propria personalizzazione dei suoi bisogni ed interessi. Si parla chiaramente di una edizione "dawnloadable and customizable".

Ecco il punto al quale volevo arrivare: la comunicazione cartacea allunga la sua vita entrando nel digitale, alla stessa maniera di come questa acquista una sua identità che potrà anche essere ridefinita. In fondo il procedimento non è altro che quello della realtà quotidiana nella quale ci troviamo a vivere e che non è mai finita e compiuta. Ha bisogno di essere continuamente rivista, riconsiderata e ridefinita.

Morale della trasformazione: cartaceo e digitale devono imparare a convivere in una sorta di rinnovata e proficua "convergenza parallela". Grazie a mio figlio che assicura e continua l'evoluzione della specie familiare nel suo lavoro quotidiano nella realtà digitale, questo dinosauro vive una sua propria continuità che dà senso alla sua esistenza.
Profile Image for Aleksandar.
57 reviews4 followers
July 14, 2025
- Offer more standard, less customized products.

- the bootstrapper must earn healthy margins, practically from day one, not only to cover the company's costs but also to finance growth.

- The risk of dealing with us was small compared with the risk of not solving the problem.

- They sent out 5,000 mailers and got only 25 responses. 24 of them led nowhere but the twenty-fifth, from BMW of North America, said,
"This is the product we've been waiting for.

- need to establish mechanisms to monitor employees and standard operating procedures and policies.

- many start-ups, which don't have formal control systems, decision-making processes, or clear roles for employees, can hardly be called organizations.

- A new venture will not be able to grow rapidly if there is a shortage of skilled employees.
Profile Image for Vairavel.
142 reviews4 followers
December 11, 2017
This is book a collection of articles (total of 8). Needless to say, HBR articles are of good quality and this one is not an exception. While a couple of articles are not very useful or up to the mark, the rest make it up. A good read for entrepreneurs and the like!
Profile Image for May Ling.
1,086 reviews286 followers
April 6, 2018
Interesting for a young entrepreneur or someone who is really starting out. It's likely not relevant for a more seasoned entrepreneur or senior executive.

19 reviews4 followers
April 13, 2011
The Harvard Business Review on Entrepreneurship is the type of book that one can easily read during a two-hour flight. It contains eight articles, all authored by seasoned business professionals. If you are even remotely interested in starting your own business then you will surely appreciate this collection of wisdom. I have been referring to this book for several years and regard it as one of the more important reference works for my consultancy.

The Harvard Business Review publishes a catalog of high-quality books on business as well as a monthly magazine.

The Harvard Business Review website contains numerous resources on topics ranging from leadership, innovation and strategy to communications, sales & marketing and technology & operations. Go to the following link to learn more:

http://hbr.harvardbusiness.org/
Profile Image for Lauren.
115 reviews14 followers
July 24, 2011
Excellent book with extremely pertinent cases. However, somewhat outdated as it does not reflect the changes in entrepreneurship, VC, and the tech industry after the dot com boom, bust, and recent recession. If you are in the industry, it will spur some considerable discussion and debate. If you're not, I do not recommend this book for a beginner as you'll receive an outdated view of the start up world and its requirements.
111 reviews5 followers
August 12, 2008
Reading this book gave me my first twang of remorse that I didn't get into Harvard. It was phenomenal. Must read for anyone interested in starting a company.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews

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