Publications
Publications
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(11,147)
- Faculty Publications (2,968)
- Article
The Social Purpose of Corporations
By: Nien-he Hsieh, Marco Meyer, David Rodin and Jens van ‘t Klooster
To think about the purpose of corporations is to think about what corporations are for. In this article, we argue that the concept of a purpose has an important role in thinking about the moral evaluation of corporations. We make three contributions. First, we... View Details
- 2018
- Working Paper
OTC Intermediaries
By: Andrea L. Eisfeldt, Bernard Herskovic, Sriram Rajan and Emil Siriwardane
Over-the-counter (OTC) markets for financial assets are dominated by a relatively small number of core intermediaries and a large number of peripheral customers. In this paper, we develop a model of trade in a core-periphery network and estimate its key structural... View Details
- November 2018 (Revised June 2022)
- Teaching Note
AirFox (A): Embracing the Blockchain and an ICO
By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Nathaniel Schwalb
Teaching Note for HBS No. 818-097. In summer 2017, Victor Santos, CEO of AirFox, considered whether to pivot his startup towards a new product built with blockchain—a quickly growing technology at the time. AirFox was an early stage startup that sold... View Details
- November 2018 (Revised June 2019)
- Case
ofo
By: Mitchell Weiss
Dai Wei and his co-founders grew Beijing-based ofo from a school-based startup to a bike-share behemoth in a matter of months, topped an all-out market-share battle fueled with almost $1 billion in venture capital, provided 2 billion bicycle rides, soaked up the... View Details
Keywords: Ofo; Bikeshare; Scale; Platforms; Government As A Platform; Platform Mechanics; Dai Wei; Dockless Bikes; Mobike; Bike-share; Online-to-offline; Mobility; Digital Platforms; Infrastructure; Transportation; Bicycle Transportation; Growth and Development Strategy; Bicycle Industry; China; Beijing
- November 2018 (Revised January 2019)
- Module Note
Responsibilities to Investors (Abridged)
By: Lena G. Goldberg and Joseph L. Badaracco
This note focuses on managers’ responsibilities—economic, legal, and ethical—to investors. In capitalist and some socialist economies, these responsibilities traditionally have been grounded in fiduciary duties and are typically part of the common law or statutory law... View Details
- November 2018 (Revised April 2019)
- Case
Zespri Grows
By: David E. Bell and Natalie Kindred
Controlling about a third of global kiwifruit exports by volume and nearly half by value in 2018, Zespri was a grower-owned “corporatized cooperative” with the exclusive right to export New Zealand-grown kiwifruit (except to Australia). Zespri did not grow fruit but... View Details
Keywords: Agribusiness; Kiwi; Kiwifruit; Agriculture; Global Supply Chain; Branding; Produce; Coordinated Industry Structure; Industry Coordination; Countercyclical Supply; New Product Development; Product Strategy; Differentiation; Food; Quality; Trade; Brands and Branding; Marketing; Strategy; Global Strategy; Change Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Globalization; Globalized Firms and Management; Competitive Strategy; Resource Allocation; Product Development; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; New Zealand
- November 2018 (Revised May 2019)
- Case
California Closets: Organizing the Customer Experience
By: Boris Groysberg and Annelena Lobb
California Closets had used robust net promoter score (NPS) data, surveyed across its locations, to create a more consistent and satisfying customer experience. CEO Bill Barton wanted to further optimize the customer experience around best practices. He also wanted to... View Details
- November 2018 (Revised December 2018)
- Case
CalSTRS Takes on Gun Violence
By: Vikram S Gandhi and Caitlin Reimers
In Spring of 2018, Chris Ailman, CIO of the $200 billion pension plan for California public school teachers (CalSTRS) was mandated by his board to “prioritize engagement with makers and retailers of firearms in California” following a series of gun-related tragedies in... View Details
- November 2018
- Case
Cepuros Foods Malaysia: Finding the Secret Sauce for Growth (Brief Case)
By: John A. Quelch and Katherine B. Hartman
Shelby Diaz, country manager for Cepuros Foods International—Malaysia (CFI-M), must decide a growth strategy for the expansion of CFI-M's line of salsas, particularly regarding whom to target and how to allocate marketing investments. CFI-M could expand aggressively by... View Details
- November 2018 (Revised January 2022)
- Case
JUUL and the Vaping Revolution
By: Michael W. Toffel, John Masko and Sarah Mehta
In late 2019, San Francisco-based electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) maker JUUL Labs (pronounced “jewel”) faced intense pressure. Sales of JUUL products exceeded $1 billion in 2018, dominating the e-cigarette category. While JUUL Labs’ stated goal was to help current... View Details
Keywords: Electronic Cigarettes; E-Cigarettes; Vaping; Nicotine Replacement; JUUL; Juuling; Advertising; Digital Marketing; Customers; Innovation and Invention; Marketing; Ethics; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Social Issues; Information Technology; Technology Industry; San Francisco; California
- November 2018
- Case
frog design
By: Srikant M. Datar and Caitlin N. Bowler
The case follows the genesis and development of Palo, a radical urban communications hub designed to replace payphone booths on Manhattan’s city streets, through a joint venture between frog design and a venture-backed firm LQD WiFi. The case explores the complexity of... View Details
- November–December 2018
- Article
Uncertainty about Managers' Reporting Objectives and Investors' Response to Earnings Reports: Evidence from the 2006 Executive Compensation Disclosures
By: Fabrizio Ferri, Ronghuo Zheng and Yuan Zou
- October 2018
- Case
Corruption and Business in Emerging Markets
By: Geoffrey Jones, Tarun Khanna and Nataliya Langburd Wright
The case is built around video clips from top business leaders in emerging markets who were interviewed for Harvard Business School’s innovative Creating Emerging Markets oral history project. Corruption is a widespread problem in emerging markets, and this case is... View Details
- October 2018
- Case
Booking.com
By: Stefan Thomke and Daniela Beyersdorfer
The case reveals how Booking.com has become the world's leading travel accommodation platform. The company has put online experimentation at the heart of how it designs digital experiences for its customers and partners. To unlock the potential of large-scale testing,... View Details
- October 2018
- Case
African Bank Investments Limited (A)
By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz
Less than a year after joining the board of African Bank Investments Limited (ABIL), the newest director finds himself in difficult discussions with other directors about removing the struggling company’s CEO. The case is set in South Africa in mid-2014 as shares in... View Details
- October 2018
- Supplement
African Bank Investments Limited (B)
By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz
Less than a year after joining the board of African Bank Investments Limited (ABIL), the newest director finds himself in difficult discussions with other directors about removing the struggling company’s CEO. The case is set in South Africa in mid-2014 as shares in... View Details
- October 2018 (Revised February 2020)
- Case
Commonwealth Bank of Australia: Unbanklike Experimentation
By: Ryan W. Buell and Leslie K. John
Email mking@hbs.edu for a courtesy copy.
In August 2017, Commonwealth Bank of Australia was looking for ways to differentiate itself from competing banks and was also trying to improve the financial well-being of... View Details
In August 2017, Commonwealth Bank of Australia was looking for ways to differentiate itself from competing banks and was also trying to improve the financial well-being of... View Details
- October 2018
- Case
BreezoMeter: Making Air Pollution Data Actionable
By: Frank V. Cespedes, Allison M. Ciechanover and Margot Eiran
The case focuses on an Israeli startup that provides actionable air pollution data and forecasts. The company has over 50 enterprise customers and its tool reached a million people daily in 67 countries. The co-founders wrestle with which markets and customers to focus... View Details
- October 2018
- Case
Shield AI
By: Mitchell Weiss and A.J. Steinlage
Shield AI’s quadcopter – with no pilot and no flight plan – could clear a building and outpace human warfighters by almost five minutes. This was not to say that it was better than the warfighters or would replace their jobs, but it was evidence that autonomous robots... View Details
Keywords: Public Entrepreneurship; Artificial Intelligence; AI; Entrepreneurial Sales; Government; Defense; Shield AI; Brandon Tseng; Ryan Tseng; Andrew Reiter; Robots; Robotics; UAV; UAVs; Government Sales; Entrepreneurship; Public Sector; Sales; Government Administration; National Security; Business and Government Relations; AI and Machine Learning; Technology Industry; United States
- Article
You Can't Always Get What You Want: The Real Exchange Rate and Manufacturing Performance in a World of Global Value Chains
By: Laura Alfaro, Alejandro Cuñat, Harald Fadinger and Yanping Liu
Real exchange rate devaluations are typically seen as a viable development strategy, but the effectiveness of the approach may vary over time and across countries. This column explores this issue by focusing on the microeconomics of firm-level responses to exchange... View Details