small businesses - Publications - Faculty & Research

February 2009 (Revised July 2012)
Case

Jieliang Phone Home! (A)

By: Willy Shih, Ethan Bernstein and Nina Bilimoria

At Precision Electro-Tek's mobile phone manufacturing facility in southern China, thousands of operators—bright and capable young men and (mostly) women like Jieliang Hao—are motivated to improve line productivity through small innovations for faster assembly and have... View Details

Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Job Design and Levels; Business Processes; Behavior; Motivation and Incentives; Manufacturing Industry; China

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December 2023 (Revised February 2024)
Case

21Seeds: Taking Shots at Breakout Growth

By: Elie Ofek, Julian De Freitas, Michael Moynihan and Nicole Tempest Keller

21Seeds, a female-founded flavor-infused tequila startup launched in 2019, had made inroads into the alcoholic beverage industry by focusing on an underserved consumer segment in spirits—women, primarily in their 30s and 40s, many of whom were moms—and by following a... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Brands and Branding; Product Positioning; Distribution Channels; Sales; Food and Beverage Industry

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04 Mar 2002
Research & Ideas

Don’t Lose Money With Customers

Investors diligently manage financial portfolios to maximize returns on their assets; yet corporate managers who invariably proclaim their business customers to be "valuable assets" rarely manage their relationships with them... View Details

Keywords: by Peter K. Jacobs

Web

Baker Library / Bloomberg Center | About

Baker Library / Bloomberg Center Harvard Business School’s first benefactor, George F. Baker & Michael R. Bloomberg (MBA 1966) Baker Library is named after Harvard Business School’s first benefactor, George... View Details

20 Jul 2015
Blog Post

My Journey to Working with At Night Management / PRMD Music

From the time I arrived at HBS, I knew that my path to finding a summer internship wouldn’t be very traditional. Although I’ve managed to find others that share my career interests, working in the music industry remains an uncommon path out of View Details

Keywords: Entertainment / Media / Sports

19 Nov 2021
Blog Post

Alumni Spotlight: Career Advice from Alums Working in Climate

This year the theme of Climate Week is highlighting what businesses and governments can do to meet their climate targets. In that spirit, we have reached out to recent HBS alums working in the climate space and asked them the following,... View Details

19 Feb 2016
Blog Post

4 Updates About Peek Weekend at HBS

Peek has changed a lot since its founding in 2015! Please visit the Peek website for the most up to date information on dates, registration, and program events. In 2015 Harvard Business School launched its inaugural Peek Weekend. Peek was... View Details

Profile

Meagan Hill

an unparalleled management experience very early in my career," Meagan says. "I love working with small teams and feeling connected to every employee." Through HSA, Meagan connected with HSA alums who had also graduated... View Details

Keywords: Financial Services

17 Apr 2013
Research Event

Conference Challenges Gender Conventions

A recent conference at Harvard Business School addressed the on-the-ground reality of women leaders 50 years after the first women were admitted to the School's two-year MBA Program. And the reality is that women leaders are stuck—for... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish

31 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

From SpinPop to SpinBrush: Entrepreneurial Lessons from John Osher

the more eclectic business careers of the last few decades. His entrepreneurial journey culminated (at least temporarily) in the sale of his electric toothbrush company to Procter & Gamble for almost a half-billion dollars. Not bad... View Details

Keywords: by Dennis Fisher; Consumer Products

31 Jul 2023
News

Striving for Imperfection

conservationist, and a longtime board member and chair of Patagonia. He’s also an investor and co-founder of Monograph Capital, a life-sciences venture firm. From his perspective across so many sectors and industries, Conn sees a business... View Details

Keywords: Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management

30 Jun 2014
Lessons from the Classroom

The Role of Emotions in Effective Negotiations

intuitive about the process” Emotions such as satisfaction and elation can be quite rare in negotiation, says Andy Wasynczuk, MBA Class of 1953 Senior Lecturer of Business Administration at Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Entertainment & Recreation; Sports

26 Oct 2017
Research Event

In an Era of 'Fake News,' What is the Future of Advertising and Publishing?

A year ago, discussions of the business of digital media may have focused on the plateauing ebook market or the diminishing pay for content providers. But after the 2016 presidential election, in which Russian operatives allegedly used... View Details

Keywords: by Jen Deaderick; Media & Broadcasting; Journalism & News

01 Sep 2022
What Do You Think?

Is It Time to Consider Lifting Tariffs on Chinese Imports?

pretty long list for the world’s two largest economies, which are connected by some of the busiest trade routes. If the situation were a business analogy, it would be as if a company not only competed intensely with both its important... View Details

Keywords: Re: James L. Heskett

09 Dec 2015
Research Event

When Hosts Attack: The Competitive Threat of Online Platforms

application developers turn to the App Store for digital distribution. The platform providers are their selling partners, scraping off a little bit for themselves on each sale. It’s a great arrangement for small businesses—until their... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Retail; Technology; Web Services

12 Jul 2016
First Look

July 12, 2016

Immigrant Entrepreneurs and the Social Safety Net By: Olds, Gareth Abstract—This paper explores the role of public health insurance in small business ownership among immigrants, a group with high rates of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Web

The New Role for Government & NGOs - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

& Melinda Gates Foundation, have begun to see the power of working with businesses to create shared value. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, for example, has formed partnerships with leading global corporations to foster agricultural... View Details

19 Jul 2017
Research & Ideas

Why Government 'Nudges' Motivate Good Citizen Behavior

suitcases at the airport. But now agencies are finding that subtle “nudges” can motivate behavior much better than ads, fines, or deadlines. Nudges, or small changes to the context in which decisions are made, are the subject of a new... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

21 Aug 2019
Blog Post

Leveraging Academic Opportunities to Attain My Post-HBS Job

of my HBS recommendation letters, was now Plaid’s Head of Finance, so I reached out to him to set up the project. Next, I asked Karen Mills, professor of The Entrepreneurial Manager (TEM), to supervise. As the previous Administrator of the View Details

February 2009 (Revised March 2013)
Case

Shanghai Diligence Law Firm (A)

By: Robert G. Eccles and Catherine Zhang

Shanghai Diligence Law Firm, started in January 2006, is a rapidly growing law firm in China's burgeoning legal services market. In addition to the usual challenges facing all professional service firms (picking and retaining talent and building a desired client... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Compensation and Benefits; Retention; Growth and Development Strategy; Service Operations; Motivation and Incentives; Legal Services Industry; China

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