Publications

March 2024
Case

Nomad: A License to Bank

By: Paul A. Gompers and Pedro Levindo

In late 2023, Lucas Vargas, CEO and co-founder of Nomad, a fintech that offered financial services in the United States for Brazilian residents, had to decide what to do to ensure the company’s continued expansion. Nomad launched its first product, a U.S. digital bank... View Details

26 Jul 2023
News

Is Your Start-Up’s Growth Sustainable?

18 Aug 2017
Op-Ed

Op-Ed: Courageous Leader Triggers a Moral Revolt of CEOs Against Trump

business community. It all came down to moral leadership. When the president refused to take the lead in speaking out against the demonstration in Charlottesville by neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klan, and white supremacist groups, America’s CEOs... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George

01 Sep 2015
News

Ink

the coin of the realm in business strategy, too, says Benjamin Gomes-Casseres (DBA 1985). In his new book, Remix Strategy: The Three Laws of Business Combinations, the author defines the View Details

Student-Profile

Rohan Kekre

financial system. The next two years were an incredible learning opportunity, as I got to serve financial services clients reevaluating business strategy in an extremely challenging economic environment. The... View Details

01 Mar 2010
News

Faculty Books

achieve sustained high commitment and high performance. Basing his approach on leaders who have the right values, Beer shows how to build a complete system that will spell business success no matter how challenging the economic climate.... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Management

2002
Case

Hindustan Lever

By: Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble

Hindustan Lever, Ltg (HLL), the Indian subsidiary of Unilever PLC, is one of the most respected multinationals operating in India and one of the first multinationals to recognize that the poor in developing countries represent an untapped growth opportunity. They... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Marketing Strategy; Brands and Branding; Consumer Products Industry; India

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October 2021 (Revised January 2022)
Case

Chia Network: Reimagining Programmable Money

By: William A. Sahlman and George Gonzalez

Chia Network developed a novel blockchain platform that was more eco-friendly, decentralized, and scalable than Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other blockchains. Now, company leadership must decide how to scale the startup and prioritize various partnerships, use cases, and... View Details

Keywords: Blockchain; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Technology Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States

January 2003 (Revised April 2003)
Case

KIPP National, 1999 (A): Designing a School Network

Covers the origin, evolution, and nature of the KIPP Academies, two high-performing public middle schools founded in 1995 by Michael Feinberg and David Levin in Houston and New York. In January 2000, Feinberg and Levin meet with Scott Hamilton, managing director of the... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Middle School Education; Expansion; Education Industry; Houston

2024
Working Paper

Do Collusive Norms Maximize Profits? Evidence From a Vegetable Market Experiment in India

By: Abhijit Banerjee, Greg Fischer, Dean Karlan, Matt Lowe and Benjamin N. Roth

Social norms have been shown to facilitate anti-competitive behavior in decentralized markets. We demonstrate that these norms can also reduce aggregate profits. First, we present descriptive evidence of competition-suppressing norms in Kolkata vegetable markets.... View Details

Keywords: Collusion; Competition; Market Entry and Exit; Small Business; Microeconomics; Kolkata

SSRN

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August 2016
Case

S'well: The Mass Market Decision

By: Youngme Moon

This case tells the story of how Sarah Kauss, a young female entrepreneur, built a premium water bottle brand from scratch. After having built a high-end brand, the key decision in the case is whether to begin expanding the S'well product portfolio to the mass market. View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Marketing; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Distribution; Strategy; United States

April 1995
Case

Montague Corporation (A)

By: Norman A. Berg and James Weber

The Montague Corp. is a small company started in 1987 and owned by David Montague, age 31, and his father. The company designs, manufactures in Taiwan, and sells through distributors worldwide a high-quality "bicycle that folds." The company offices are located in... View Details

Keywords: Business Strategy; Financial Strategy; Financial Management; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Globalized Firms and Management; Family Business; Bicycle Industry; Taiwan; Cambridge

Find at Harvard

September 2013 (Revised November 2023)
Case

Antoine Leboyer and GSX

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Antoine Leboyer (HBS '92) acquired the Swiss-based software company GSX in February 2008. He managed through the recession of 2008–2009, dealt with a tumultuous separation from the founder/owner, rebuilt the management team, and upgraded the company's software... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Small Business; Finance; Private Equity; Growth and Development Strategy; France; Switzerland

June 2010
Teaching Note

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (TN)

By: Anita L. Tucker

Teaching Note for 609109. View Details

Keywords: Quality; Performance Improvement; Management Practices and Processes; Strategy; Business Units; Science; Health Industry

01 Sep 2006
News

Light Years Ahead

Photos by Webb Chappell Forty years ago, in September 1966, a young mission analyst named Jay Light left the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California and headed east to Harvard Business School. At JPL, Light used his undergraduate... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training

01 Mar 2008
News

An American Odyssey

Africa within the space of a couple of weeks, Richard America (MBA ’63) appears upbeat and none the worse for jet lag. Dressed in a crisp suit and tie, the tall and affable Georgetown University Business School professor chats easily... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons; Lawrence Fouraker; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training

December 2016
Background Note

Cross-sector Collaborations for Shared Prosperity

By: Jan Rivkin

In cities and towns across America, leaders in local governments, businesses, nonprofits, educational institutions, faith-based organizations, labor unions, and other organizations are coming together in new ways to help their communities prosper. Why are such... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Business and Community Relations; Cooperation; United States