Publications

September 2012
Case

Natural Gas

By: Rawi Abdelal and Sogomon Tarontsi

In an overview of natural gas as a fossil fuel and traded commodity, the case describes various regional markets of natural gas, highlighting diversity of price formation mechanisms across and within those markets. Recent changes in the economics of unconventional... View Details

Keywords: Markets; Strategy; Energy Sources; Energy Industry; Mining Industry

2022
Working Paper

TalkToModel: Explaining Machine Learning Models with Interactive Natural Language Conversations

By: Dylan Slack, Satyapriya Krishna, Himabindu Lakkaraju and Sameer Singh

Practitioners increasingly use machine learning (ML) models, yet they have become more complex and harder to understand. To address this issue, researchers have proposed techniques to explain model predictions. However, practitioners struggle to use explainability... View Details

Keywords: Natural Language Conversations; Predictive Models; AI and Machine Learning

Read Now

12 Mar 2019
News

Acting Naturally

what comes next in everything that we do. We have a very diverse group of people that we work with, because the business is complex. And somehow it all works, where everybody has bought into this common purpose of creating natural... View Details

Keywords: Miscellaneous Store Retailers; Retail Trade

August 1997
Supplement

Natural Blends, Inc., Analysis

By: H. Kent Bowen, Ramchandran Jaikumar and Karen Krause

Designed to be used after Natural Blends, Inc. View Details

February 2003 (Revised March 2003)
Case

The Nature Conservancy

By: Allen S. Grossman and Jane Wei-Skillern

Almost immediately upon being appointed CEO of The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Steve McCormick undertakes a radical reorganization of this global institution. TNC is the largest and, by most measures, the most successful environment organization in the world, with... View Details

Keywords: Globalization; Leading Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategic Planning; Natural Environment; Nonprofit Organizations; United States

15 Jun 2010
News

Natural Causes

Keywords: Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

May 2012
Case

Evergreen Natural Markets 2012

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Paul S. Myers

Evergreen Natural Markets is a successful food retailer located in the Rocky Mountain region of the U.S. Having grown through acquisition, it has a reputation for improving the companies it purchases while retaining previous management. This strategy has succeeded due... View Details

Keywords: United States; Operating Systems; Acquisitions; Strategy; Human Resource Management; Consolidations; Retail Trade; Food; Growth Management; Organizational Culture; Consolidation; Acquisition; Business Processes; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Las Vegas; Western United States

September 1981
Case

Mexican Natural Gas

By: Richard H.K. Vietor

Keywords: Energy Industry; Mexico

Find at Harvard

01 Apr 2013
News

Rx: Human Nature

01 Sep 2010
News

The Natural World

TERCEK: A tight strategic focus. Courtesy The Nature Conservancy Two years ago, Mark Tercek (MBA ’84) left his job at Goldman Sachs to become head of The Nature Conservancy (TNC), the habitat-preserving... View Details

Keywords: Conservation; Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments; Finance

Research Summary

Understanding Human Nature

By: Nitin Nohria

Recent advances in biological sciences provide great insights into the workings of the human brain and thereby into human nature. Drawing upon this research, my colleague Paul Lawrence and I propose a neo-Darwinian theory of human motivation based on four basic human... View Details

December 2001
Case

Natural Pork Production

By: Ray A. Goldberg and James M Beagle

An entrepreneurial hog farmer's creative use of contracts and capital structure drives very successful growth and returns in a depressed commodity industry. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Capital Structure; Futures and Commodity Futures; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Goods and Commodities; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Contracts; Success; Consumer Products Industry

Web

Art Nature Business

Skip to Main Content Art Nature Business Search Baker Library Search Search Search Overview Art, Nature, and Business: Perspectives on the Environment October 2019–December 2020 (extended through 2023) Spangler Center, Harvard Business... View Details

August 1997
Case

Natural Blends, Inc.

By: H. Kent Bowen, Ramchandran Jaikumar and Karen Krause

Describes the continuous flow process used to generate orange juice concentrate. Production involves several tightly coupled process steps with varying production rates and setup times. Given production constraints and customer requirements, management choices must be... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Decisions; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Product; Performance Capacity; Performance Productivity

Research Summary

Nature of Organizations

By: Regina E. Herzlinger

Why do non-profit, public, and private business organizations exist? This project, begun in 2005, will became a seminar in 2007, focusing on the unique missions of these organizational forms and the resulting mechanisms for effective oversight.

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01 Jun 2000
News

A Natural Balance

Cavan Mahony and Ayla Hussain (both MBA '96) became friends and business partners through a mutual devotion to yoga and health -- and a conviction that beauty is more than skin deep. The two have joined with a third partner, supermodel Christy Turlington, to form... View Details

July 2007 (Revised November 2009)
Case

World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Jordan Mitchell

Nearly all environmental organizations have a similar aim: to stop the degradation of the natural environment. However, the strategies which environmental organizations choose to employ are sometimes starkly different. Compares the models of two dissimilar... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Environmental Sustainability; Non-Governmental Organizations; Business Strategy

01 Apr 2001
News

The Natural Advantage

result is Heeks’s new book, The Natural Advantage, which lays out seven organic farming-derived principles that visiting executives learn during stays at Magdalen Farm. Lessons include the importance of drawing energy from “clean... View Details

Keywords: Crop Production; Agriculture; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services

April 2022
Article

Demand Interactions in Sharing Economies: Evidence from a Natural Experiment Involving Airbnb and Uber/Lyft

By: Shunyuan Zhang, Dokyun Lee, Param Singh and Tridas Mukhopadhyay

We examine whether and how ride-sharing services influence the demand for home-sharing services. Our identification strategy hinges on a natural experiment in which Uber/Lyft exited Austin, Texas, in May 2016 due to local regulation. Using a 12-month longitudinal... View Details

Keywords: Airbnb; Uber; Natural Experiment; Geographic Demand Dispersion; Sharing Economy; Transportation; Demand and Consumers; Geographic Scope