Publications

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August 2020 (Revised August 2023)
Case

Nubank: Democratizing Financial Services

By: Michael Chu, Carla Larangeira and Pedro Levindo

Nubank, a wholly-digital solution created to disrupt Brazilian banking, with 6 million clients and a $4 billion valuation after five years, must decide whether to expand to Mexico. The company was founded in São Paulo in 2013 by Colombian-born David Vélez to seize what... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; Financial Inclusion; Digital Banking; Credit Cards; Banks and Banking; Disruption; Expansion; Growth and Development Strategy; Financial Services Industry; South America; Brazil; North America; Mexico

12 Sep 2023
Research & Ideas

How Can Financial Advisors Thrive in Shifting Markets? Diversify, Diversify, Diversify

finding of a new study by Harvard Business School associate professor Marco Di Maggio. “Having a broader view of the financial picture of the client helps [advisers] keep their clients and helps with growing the clientele as well.”... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Financial Services

Meg Rithmire

Meg Rithmire is the James E. Robison Professor in the Business, Government, and International Economy Unit. Professor Rithmire holds a PhD in Government from Harvard University, and her primary expertise is in the comparative political economy of development with a... View Details

Keywords: real estate

06 May 2013
News

The Benefits of Embracing Conflict and Integration

08 Mar 2021
In Practice

COVID Killed the Traditional Workplace. What Should Companies Do Now?

A year ago, COVID-19 forced many companies to send employees home—often with a laptop and a prayer. Now, with COVID cases subsiding and vaccinations rising, the prospect of returning to old office routines appears more possible. But will employees want to flock back to... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

12 Apr 2022
Book

Racism, Colonialism, and Britain's Legacy of Violence

Britain’s 20th century empire was the largest in human history, with a quarter of the world’s land and nearly 700 million people. Yet the empire drew its strength from violence. That’s the conclusion Harvard Business School Professor Caroline Elkins draws in her new... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

Leila Doumi

Leila Doumi is a PhD Candidate in the Strategy Unit and an affiliate of the Digital Data and Design (D^3) Institute at Harvard. She conducts research on technology adoption, corporate strategy, and the future of work with a focus... View Details

21 Feb 2018
Research & Ideas

When a Competitor Abandons the Market, Should You Advance or Retreat?

opportunity to redouble their efforts and grab more market share, or take it as a warning that it might be time to get out while the getting was good? A new research study suggests that more companies than expected see a half-empty glass... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Pharmaceutical; Health

February 2019 (Revised June 2019)
Case

Where to Grow Next at Online Marketplace OLX

By: Thales Teixeira, Leandro A. Guissoni and Samy Dana

The CEO of OLX Brazil, an online classifieds platform business, is debating among multiple paths to grow sustainably (i.e., profitably) without the need for investor money. The options under consideration are (1) penetration growth by focusing on the core, (2) new... View Details

Keywords: Online Marketplace; Growth; Customer Acquisition; Facebook; Two-sided Network; E-commerce; Classifieds; Naspers; Schibsted; Innovation; Startup; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Model; Innovation and Invention; Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Brazil

07 Jun 2014
Video

Christina Hsu - Making A Difference

August 2000 (Revised September 2005)
Case

Omnitel Pronto Italia

By: Rajiv Lal, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Suma Raju

Describes the situation faced by Omnitel soon after launching its mobile telecommunication services in Italy in December 1995. Competing against the Italian monopoly, TIM, Omnitel had positioned its services to be better on the quality dimension. However, sales were... View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Marketing Channels; Marketing Strategy; Product Positioning; Market Entry and Exit; Product Development; Sales; Competition; Segmentation; Value Creation; Telecommunications Industry; Italy

2021
Working Paper

Quantifying the Value of Iterative Experimentation

By: Iavor I Bojinov and Jialiang Mao

Over the past decade, most technology companies and a growing number of conventional firms have adopted online experimentation (or A/B testing) into their product development process. Initially, A/B testing was deployed as a static procedure in which an experiment was... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Value Creation; Research

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March 2022
Teaching Note

Tomorrow.io Goes To Space

By: Joshua Lev Krieger, Abhishek Nagaraj and James Barnett

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 822-005. In March 2021, the weather company Tomorrow.io announced a new project to develop satellites equipped with radar for weather monitoring and launch them into Earth’s orbit. Company leadership considers execution strategies. View Details

Keywords: Communication; Competency and Skills; Decision Making; Design; Engineering; Globalization; Innovation and Invention; Performance; Technological Innovation; Aerospace Industry

10 Oct 2018
Video

FIELD Global Immersion Locations Revealed

December 1999 (Revised August 2001)
Case

Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (A)

By: Stefan H. Thomke and Ashok Nimgade

Focuses on Millennium's strategy to grow and revolutionize drug development through the use of new technologies such as genomics. Describes how Millennium Pharmaceuticals--a fast-growing biotechnology firm in Cambridge, MA--has used strategic alliances to finance the... View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Financing and Loans; Medical Specialties; Retention; Growth and Development Strategy; Time Management; Product Development; Problems and Challenges; Alliances; Technology; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Cambridge

07 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

Why Companies Fail—and How Their Founders Can Bounce Back

Most companies fail. It's an unsettling fact for bright-eyed entrepreneurs, but old news to start-up veterans. But here's the good news: Experienced entrepreneurs know that running a company that eventually fails can actually help a... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

25 Aug 2016
Video

Seth Pinsky responds to MOC class discussion in 2016

2009
Working Paper

Virtual Team Learning: Reflecting and Acting, Alone or With Others

By: Deborah L. Soule and Lynda M. Applegate

This paper examines virtual team learning in new product development situations. New product development activities manifest novelty, uncertainty and complexity, presenting an extreme need for learning in the course of the work. We present data from an exploratory... View Details

Keywords: Competency and Skills; Learning; Knowledge Acquisition; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Product Development; Groups and Teams; Behavior

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2003
Case

Analog Devices, Inc.: Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS)

By: Vijay Govindarajan, Chris Trimble and Julie Lang

In the late 1980s, Analog Devices, Inc., a semiconductor company, developed a technology known as Microelectromagnetic Machines, or MEMS. The technology allows tiny moving parts to be embedded within traditional silicon chips. The potential applications are widespread.... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Commercialization; Semiconductor Industry