Publications

2019
Working Paper

Intelligent Design of Inclusive Growth Strategies

By: Robert S. Kaplan, George Serafeim and Eduardo Tugendhat

Improving corporate engagement with society, as advocated in the Business Roundtable’s 2019 statement, should not be viewed as a zero-sum proposition where attention to new stakeholders detracts from delivering shareholder value. Corporate programs for sustainable and... View Details

Keywords: Inclusion; Sustainability; Performance Measures; Environmental Sustainability; Social Issues; Strategy; Governance; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Stakeholder Relations

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June 2010
Case

Managing the Client Portfolio

By: Nitin Nohria and Ashish Nanda

The German country managing partner of a global law firm must decide how to respond to a corporate mandate to restructure its client portfolio. The case enables a discussion of different types of clients in a global professional service firm in terms of relative... View Details

Keywords: Attorney and Client Relationships; Management Style; Corporate Governance; Business Subsidiaries; Business Headquarters; Conflict and Resolution

March 1994 (Revised October 1994)
Case

Reading Energy

By: Forest L. Reinhardt

Reading Energy builds facilities that produce energy from nontraditional fuels. A privately held, entrepreneurial organization, it has spent six years developing a plan to build a waste-to-energy plant in the town of Robbins, Illinois. The plant would burn municipal... View Details

Keywords: Energy Generation; Wastes and Waste Processing; Business and Community Relations; Business Plan; Agreements and Arrangements; Contracts; Risk and Uncertainty; Government and Politics; Environmental Sustainability; Business Strategy; Energy Industry; Utilities Industry; Illinois

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May 2006 (Revised November 2006)
Case

China: To Float or Not To Float? (F)- Alcatel and Strong Chinese Competition

By: Laura Alfaro, Rafael M. Di Tella and Ingrid Vogel

The Chinese operations of Alcatel, a global communications solution provider based in France, were faced with strong local competition and a difficult market. It remained unclear how Alcatel would be able to recover growth in the Chinese market. Initiatives were... View Details

Keywords: Currency Exchange Rate; International Relations; Growth and Development Strategy; Research and Development; Competitive Strategy; Horizontal Integration; Communications Industry; China; France; United States

07 Sep 2019
Op-Ed

Even for Non-Believers, These Are the Next Steps on Climate Change

trillion-dollar plans to attempt to mitigate carbon. Businesses, homeowners, and local governments must focus on what can be done today to address these direct threats to people and property. There are three... View Details

Keywords: by John Macomber

07 Oct 2013
Research & Ideas

The Case for Combating Climate Change with Nuclear Power and Fracking

If you ask any given environmentalist to identify the biggest threat to the planet, you may expect to hear about man-made climate change, consumerism, or overpopulation. But if you ask Harvard Business School's Joseph B. Lassiter, he'll toss in another: single-issue... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Energy; Utilities

Research Summary

Overview

By: Boris Vallee

Professor Vallée focuses on financial innovation, investigating it from different angles. This research thread has led him to relate the methods and insights of corporate finance and banking with those of other subfields, including household finance, public finance,... View Details

11 Feb 2008
Research & Ideas

Does Democracy Need a Marketing Manager?

A: The federal government and local governments can market themselves more effectively to constituents. First of all, they have to view their organization from a customer... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

Article

The Role of Finance and Private Investment in Developing Sustainable Cities

By: John D. Macomber

Three trends will drive urban investment, development, and entrepreneurship in the next two decades. This article provides tools to identify the situations and circumstances that will be most favorable for private sector involvement in consideration of these trends.... View Details

Keywords: Trends; Demographics; Private Sector; Investment; City; Infrastructure; Opportunities; Urban Development

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28 Jul 2006
Research & Ideas

Meeting China’s Need for Management Education

business there? What should they watch out for? What opportunities are ripe for exploration? A: In all areas of greater China, understanding the local systems, the role of government regulation, and the... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Education

28 Sep 2009
Research & Ideas

Improving Accountability at the World Bank

and sub-national levels than in global public institutions, such as the World Bank. As a result, while it is essential for the Bank to increase participation in its own governance and operations, it is equally important for it to respect... View Details

Keywords: by Alnoor Ebrahim

10 Mar 2015
First Look

First Look: March 10

education in local communities? To switch to renewable power? All of these actions might improve social welfare, and some of them might improve profitability, but they are very different, and the business case for each of them is... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

08 Nov 2024
Op-Ed

How Private Investors Can Help Solve Africa's Climate Crisis

necessary expertise either.” How can investors, businesses, and global society confront these challenges? Governments and development finance institutions (DFIs) clearly don’t have the capital needed to turn things around—and often don’t... View Details

Keywords: by John Macomber; Green Technology; Energy

20 Feb 2007
First Look

First Look: February 20, 2007

http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=807018 Goodyear and the Threat of Government Tire Grading Harvard Business School Case 707-494 In the spring of 1977, Goodyear CEO Charles J. Pilliod Jr. was looking at an... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

February 2010 (Revised August 2010)
Case

Sheikh Mohammed and the Making of 'Dubai, Inc.'

By: Anthony Mayo, Nitin Nohria, Umaimah Mendhro and Johnathan Cromwell

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has converted Dubai from a sleepy little coastal village into a world-class city, famous for its ambition, drive, and economic promise. He is the founder, part-owner, and visionary behind companies such as Emirates Airlines, a... View Details

Keywords: Development Economics; Leadership Style; Emerging Markets; Personal Development and Career; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Dubai

September 1998 (Revised May 2004)
Case

Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine

Becton Dickinson's Global One-Company Operations Group must decide on the company's global policy on gifts, gratuities, and business entertainment. A central issue is whether the policy should be established centrally and made uniform worldwide or whether it should be... View Details

Keywords: Policy; Ethics; Law; Organizational Culture; Business Strategy; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Global Strategy; Trade; Business or Company Management

Article

Pre-colonial Ethnic Institutions and Contemporary African Development

By: Stelios Michalopoulos and Elias Papaioannou

We investigate the role of deeply rooted pre-colonial ethnic institutions in shaping comparative regional development within African countries. We combine information on the spatial distribution of ethnicities before colonization with regional variation in contemporary... View Details

Keywords: Ethnicity; Development Economics; Local Range; Government and Politics; Africa

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January 2008
Article

Entrepreneurship and Urban Success: Toward a Policy Consensus

By: Zoltan J. Acs, Edward L. Glaeser, Robert E. Litan, Lee Fleming, Stephan J. Goetz, William R. Kerr, Steven Klepper, Stuart S. Rosenthal, Olav Sorenson and William C. Strange

Like all politics, all entrepreneurship is local. Individuals launch firms and, if successful, expand their enterprises to other locations. But new firms must start somewhere, even if their businesses are conducted largely or exclusively on the Internet. Likewise,... View Details

Keywords: Business Headquarters; Business Startups; Development Economics; Economy; Entrepreneurship; Policy; Taxation; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Development; Business Processes; Expansion; Internet