Publications

June 2007 (Revised December 2008)
Case

Marie Trellu-Kane at Unis-Cite

By: Michel Anteby, Julie Battilana and Anne-Claire Pache

Marie Trellu-Kane is trying to decide how Unis-Cite should respond to French President Jacques Chirac's announcement in 2005 of a new national voluntary civil service program. Since 1994, Trellu-Kane and her co-founders had been creating and overseeing a civil service... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Design; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Social Enterprise; Paris

February 2003 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Centre Suisse d'Electronique et de Microtechnique (CSEM)

By: Michael E. Porter, Willis M. Emmons III and Christian Fenner

Le Centre Suisse d'Electronique et de Microtechnique S.A. (CSEM)--the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology--was a major nonprofit research institution located in Neuchatel, Switzerland, with roots in the Swiss watch industry. CSEM maintained close links to... View Details

Keywords: Cooperation; Information Technology; Alliances; Research and Development; Performance Productivity; Innovation and Invention; Nonprofit Organizations; Electronics Industry; Switzerland

October 2001
Case

Transforming Singapore's Public Libraries

By: Roger H. Hallowell, Neo Boon Siong and Carin-Isabel Knoop

The Singapore Public Library system was transformed from being mediocre at best to world class using information technology, progressive human resources management, and marketing approaches unusual for governmental agencies. View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Marketing Strategy; Information Technology; Transformation; Books; Human Resources; Government and Politics; Public Administration Industry; Singapore

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

Value Judgments: Business Ethics Across Borders

of the individual, and concern for social responsibility. As Siam Cement expanded beyond Thailand, however, managers felt pressured to compromise the corporate code of ethics. The company's standards regarding improper payments, for... View Details

Keywords: by Judith A. Ross

16 May 2018
Research & Ideas

How Companies Managed Risk (and Even Benefitted) in World War Internment Camps

An internment camp for German citizens in England. Chronicle/Alamy Stock Photo Global enterprises that do business in emerging economies face significant political risks—in extreme cases, imprisonment of their civilian employees during... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Manufacturing

March 2020 (Revised August 2020)
Case

Last Mile Health (A)

By: Brian Trelstad and V. Kasturi Rangan

As the Ebola outbreak threatens the fragile health system of Liberia, Raj Panjabi, the founder of Last Mile Health, faces a dilemma: should he expand beyond the organizaton's core mission to help the country build emergency health care capacity, or should he stick to... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare; Ebola; Nonprofit Organizations; Health Care and Treatment; Rural Scope; Health Pandemics; Growth and Development; Decisions; Health Industry; Africa

2012
Book

The Rate and Direction of Inventive Activity Revisited

By: Josh Lerner and Scott Stern

While the importance of innovation to economic development is widely understood, the conditions conducive to it remain the focus of much attention. This volume offers new theoretical and empirical contributions to fundamental questions relating to the economics of... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Opportunities; Nonprofit Organizations; Resource Allocation; Economic Growth; Research and Development

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January 2008 (Revised September 2008)
Supplement

Marketing the "$100 Laptop" (C)

By: John A. Quelch and David Chen

In October 2007, the OLPC reported production delays and missed its shipment date. In early November, the $100 PC finally went into production, with initial shipments planned for Uruguay and Mongolia, and mid-month launched the "Give One, Get One" program. It enabled... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; For-Profit Firms; Partners and Partnerships; Information Infrastructure; Problems and Challenges; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Computer Industry; Canada; Mongolia; Uruguay; United States

21 Sep 2009
Research & Ideas

Excessive Executive Pay: What’s the Solution?

business. As somebody who loves the free enterprise system, I believe excessive compensation has contributed to lowering the legitimacy of the free market system because it ends up making the system look more like a game than an... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson

19 Dec 2017
First Look

New Research and Ideas, December 19, 2017

https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/product/518006-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 518-005 Magic Bus: From Childhood to Livelihood Founded in 1999 by Matthew Spacie to give poor children an opportunity to play, Magic Bus had evolved to a leading View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

February 2009 (Revised April 2011)
Supplement

Mistry Architects (C)

By: Amy C. Edmondson, Robert G. Eccles and Mona Sinha

This case is a follow-up to "Mistry Architects: Innovating for Sustainability (A)" (Case 609-044) and (B) (Case 609-064). In Case (A) Sharukh and Renu Mistry founded and run an architectural firm dedicated to being both client-oriented and environmentally responsible.... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Succession; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Community Relations; Nonprofit Organizations; Environmental Sustainability

09 Apr 2008
Research & Ideas

The Matchmaker of the Modern Economy

position to do something about it. Money for new enterprises had been restricted, they believed, by the New Deal's onerous tax system, and by the increasing prominence of ultraconservative investment trusts. Investment trusts and life... View Details

Keywords: by Spencer E. Ante

31 May 2016
First Look

May 31, 2016

Experimental Social Psychology Visual Attention to Powerful Postures: People Reflexively Avert Their Gaze from Nonverbal Dominance Displays By: Holland, Elise, Elizabeth Baily Wolf, Christine Looser, and Amy Cuddy Abstract—This paper... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

25 Feb 2015
Lessons from the Classroom

Scholars and Students Unpack the Digital Business Revolution

initiatives and projects created by the School to foster interdisciplinary research on the great problems and opportunities facing society—including such topics as business and the environment, health care, US competitiveness, social... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Education; Technology

August 2008 (Revised June 2013)
Background Note

Note on the Nonprofit Coherence Framework

By: Allen S. Grossman and Stacey Childress

This note presents the Nonprofit Coherence Framework. It helps nonprofit leaders identify the key elements that support an organizational strategy focused on attaining high performance, bring those elements into a coherent relationship with the strategy and each other,... View Details

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Performance Improvement; Nonprofit Organizations; Corporate Strategy

Article

In Microfinance, Clients Must Come First

By: Srikant M. Datar, Marc J. Epstein and Kristi Yuthas

In the debate over whether microfinance works, few microfinance institutions articulate what, exactly, their ultimate goals are and how, exactly, they will achieve them. The authors cut through the confusion by mapping a clear theory of change for microfinance. If the... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Customer Focus and Relationships; Social Entrepreneurship; Microfinance; Goals and Objectives; Success; Social Enterprise; Poverty

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October 2011 (Revised May 2015)
Case

The American Repertory Theater

By: Rohit Deshpande, Allen S. Grossman and Ryan Johnson

When Diane Paulus, artistic director and CEO of the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) first started in 2008, she attracted media coverage around an aesthetic that aimed to give the audience more ownership over the theater experience, excited theatergoers by... View Details

Keywords: Advertising Campaigns; Arts; Business Model; Leading Change; Media; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Nonprofit Organizations; Competitive Strategy; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; North and Central America

April 2009 (Revised October 2010)
Case

Bob Beall at the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation

By: Robert Steven Kaplan and Sophie Hood

Bob Beall is the Chief Executive Officer of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF). CFF is an extremely successful organization, but Beall has to determine how to manage the organization through the financial crisis of 2008-2009. In this situation, donations are likely... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Crisis; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Governing and Advisory Boards; Leadership; Crisis Management; Nonprofit Organizations

October 2001
Case

SchoolSuccess.net

By: James E. Austin and Arthur McCaffrey

The mission of the nonprofit Jumpstart for Young Children was to address the problem of school readiness of low-income family preschoolers. It had been growing significantly, and to achieve its projected expansion would require major increases in funding. After... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Early Childhood Education; Venture Capital; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Startups; Management Teams