Publications

April 2005 (Revised April 2005)
Background Note

An Overview of Project Finance - 2004 Update

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Aldo Sesia

Introduces the field of project finance and provides a statistical overview of the project-financed investments over the last five years. Defines project finance and contrasts it with other well-known financing structures. Describes the evolution of project finance,... View Details

Keywords: Project Finance; Investment; Projects; Trends

31 Oct 2011
Research & Ideas

The Most Powerful Workplace Motivator

workplace motivator is our natural tendency to measure our own performance against the performance of others. "Traditionally, [the field of] economics has held a very rational view of people, and there's a gigantic amount of literature... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

August 2019 (Revised March 2022)
Case

Lemonade: Disrupting Insurance with Instant Everything, Killer Prices, and a Big Heart

By: Elie Ofek and Danielle Golan

Launching its first products in the fall of 2016 in New York, insurtech startup Lemonade was on a mission to disrupt the insurance market by using AI and behavioral economics principles. The company offered renters, homeowners, and condo insurance and mainly targeted... View Details

Keywords: AI; Business Startups; Insurance; Technological Innovation; Business Model; Disruption; Brands and Branding; Growth and Development Strategy; Global Strategy; Decision Making; Insurance Industry; Technology Industry

2016
Working Paper

Entrepreneurs and the Co-Creation of Ecotourism in Costa Rica

By: Geoffrey Jones and Andrew Spadafora

Between the 1970s and the 2000s, Costa Rica became established as the world’s leading ecotourism destination. This working paper suggests that although Costa Rica benefited from biodiversity and a pleasant climate, the country’s preeminence in ecotourism requires more... View Details

Keywords: Tourism; Latin America; Business History; Sustainable Strategy; Sustainability; Nonprofit; Entrepreneurs; Environment; Entrepreneurship; History; Environmental Sustainability; Tourism Industry; Costa Rica

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2007
Chapter

Beyond Dependence: Conceptualizing Information and Accountability in NGO-Funder Relations

By: Alnoor Ebrahim

This paper explores the linkages between information systems and accountability in nongovernmental and nonprofit organizations (NGOs). The information systems in four NGOs are introduced: two Indian NGOs engaged in natural resource management and rural development, an... View Details

Keywords: Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Corporate Accountability; Information Management; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Non-Governmental Organizations; Information Technology; India; District of Columbia

February 2018
Supplement

People Analytics at Teach For America (B)

By: Jeffrey T. Polzer and Julia Kelley

This is a supplement to the People Analytics at Teach For America (A) case. In this supplement, Managing Director Michael Metzger must decide how to extend his team’s predictive analytics work using Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques. View Details

Keywords: Analytics and Data Science; Forecasting and Prediction; Recruitment; Analysis

April 1999
Article

Diversification Strategies of British Trading Companies: Harrisons & Crosfield c1900-c1980

By: G. Jones and Judith Wale

This article examines the diversification strategies and organisational competencies of Harrisons & Crosfield, a British-based multinational, between 1900 and 1980. There is an accumulating body of case study evidence on the historical evolution of British... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Diversification; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Competency and Skills; Great Britain

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August 29, 2022
Other Article

Income Inequality Is Rising. Are We Even Measuring It Correctly?

By: Jon M. Jachimowicz, K. Blesch and Oliver P. Hauser

Income inequality is on the rise in many countries around the world, according to the United Nations. What’s more, disparities in global income were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, with some countries facing greater economic losses than others. Policymakers... View Details

Keywords: Income Inequality; Gini Coefficient; COVID-19 Pandemic; Government Administration; Equality and Inequality; Health Pandemics; Measurement and Metrics

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September 2023
Case

Diamond Standard

By: Lauren H. Cohen, Zhaoheng Gong and Grace Headinger

Cormac Kinney, Founder and CEO of Diamond Standard, was on a mission to transform the U.S. diamond market through unlocking the precious gems as market-traded assets. As a serial FinTech entrepreneur, he hoped to add an additional service to his vault: Carats. The... View Details

01 Feb 2011
First Look

First Look: Feb. 1

the conditions to thrive tomorrow. We argue that organizational sustainability depends on attending to strategic paradox, engaging contradictory yet interrelated strategies simultaneously. Drawing on our research and the work of others, we explore the paradoxical View Details

15 Nov 2012
Research & Ideas

Funding the Design of Livable Cities

innovative design in the built environment. To create an environmentally sustainable built environment, design that focuses on maximizing natural resource efficiency, planning that fosters public health,... View Details

Keywords: by Lisa Chase; Construction; Real Estate; Energy; Utilities

April 2002 (Revised May 2003)
Supplement

An Overview of Project Finance-2002 Update

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Irina L. Christov

This case introduces to the field of project finance and provides a statistical overview of the project-financed investments over the last five years. It consists of four sections. The first section defines project finance and contrasts it with other well-known... View Details

Keywords: Measurement and Metrics; Project Finance; Investment

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11 Apr 2007
Research & Ideas

Adding Time to Activity-Based Costing

1990s, many companies introduced ERP systems that captured data at the transaction level. It was natural to think how we could modify ABC systems to benefit from the ready availability of transactional data about orders, products, and... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert

05 Jul 2023
Cold Call Podcast

How Unilever Is Preparing for the Future of Work

Keywords: Re: William R. Kerr; Retail; Consumer Products

04 Dec 2013
Research & Ideas

The Fantastic Horizon: How to Invest in a New City

Editor's Note: Rapid urbanization and resource scarcity pose problems—and opportunities—for businesses and governments all over the world. But who can best lead the building and developing of these municipalities? One model: promotion and... View Details

Keywords: by John Macomber; Construction; Real Estate

26 Sep 2019
Research & Ideas

What Can the World’s Largest Refugee Camp Teach Us About the Meaning of Work?

Rohingya Refugee: Past, Genocide, Future. Preparing for refugees of climate change The study’s results might inform new ways to help the more than 70 million people who have been displaced globally by conflict and natural disasters as of... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

2023
Working Paper

When Does Gamified Training Improve Performance? The Roles of Office and Leader Engagement

By: Ryan W. Buell, Wei Cai and Tatiana Sandino

Gamified training is a novel management control system in which companies use gamification techniques to engage and motivate employees to learn. This study empirically examines the performance consequences of gamified training using data from a natural field... View Details

Keywords: Gamified Training; Management Control Systems; Employee Engagement; Employees; Learning; Training; Motivation and Incentives; Performance

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2019
Article

Fair Algorithms for Learning in Allocation Problems

By: Hadi Elzayn, Shahin Jabbari, Christopher Jung, Michael J Kearns, Seth Neel, Aaron Leon Roth and Zachary Schutzman

Settings such as lending and policing can be modeled by a centralized agent allocating a scarce resource (e.g. loans or police officers) amongst several groups, in order to maximize some objective (e.g. loans given that are repaid, or criminals that are apprehended).... View Details

Keywords: Allocation Problems; Algorithms; Fairness; Learning

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June 2009 (Revised May 2013)
Case

Australia: The Riches and Challenges of Commodities

By: Laura Alfaro and Renee Kim

Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd faced a daunting task that he never imagined he would have to face when he was elected two years ago. Australia at that time was poised to enter its 17th year of uninterrupted growth. Commodity exports were booming, largely driven... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Trade; Foreign Direct Investment; Policy; Crisis Management; China; Australia