Publications

May 2020 (Revised March 2022)
Case

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic and the Global Economy (A)

By: Alberto Cavallo and Christian Godwin

In April 2020, the world struggled to contain the exponential escalation of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Dozens of countries had imposed restrictions on travel, work, and social gatherings. A large share of the global population was under lockdowns and... View Details

February 2021 (Revised March 2023)
Supplement

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic and the Global Economy (B)

By: Alberto Cavallo and Christian Godwin

By December 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic had swept across the globe, creating widespread disruption in all aspects of everyday life. Almost 90 million people had been infected and nearly two million had died from the disease. By this point in the pandemic—a year since... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Economy; Health Pandemics; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Global Range; Crisis Management; Disruption

26 Mar 2020
News

Coronavirus Pandemic Could Elevate ESG Factors

2020
Working Paper

Demystifying the Math of the Coronavirus

By: Elon Kohlberg and Abraham Neyman

We provide an elementary mathematical description of the spread of the coronavirus. We explain two fundamental relationships: How the rate of growth in new infections is determined by the “effective reproductive number” and how the effective reproductive number is... View Details

Keywords: Coronavirus; Health Pandemics; Mathematical Methods

June 24, 2020
Article

Wolfgang Puck on Leading His Restaurants Through the Pandemic

By: Boris Groysberg

Chef Wolfgang Puck shares his experience leading his restaurants and other businesses through the pandemic crisis. He explains how his company has pivoted to find new sources of revenue and how he has become a vocal advocate for the restaurant industry. He also... View Details

Keywords: Coronavirus Pandemic; Restaurants; Restaurant Industry; Reopening; Health Pandemics; Crisis Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Safety

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March 30, 2020
Article

Why Is the U.S. Behind on Coronavirus Testing?

By: Stefan Thomke

Coronavirus testing is needed to address the uncertainty in making decisions about patient treatment, resource allocation, policy, and so much more. Answers to questions such as “When should we relax social distancing measures—and for whom?” or “How many ventilators... View Details

Keywords: Testing; Coronavirus; Culture; Trump; Data; Experiments; Health Pandemics; Health Testing and Trials; Government and Politics; United States

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26 Mar 2020
News

Small businesses face 'nightmare' cash crunch from coronavirus pandemic

May 6, 2020
Editorial

Separated by a Common Infection

By: Amar Bhide and Leif Pagrotsky

Unprecedented lockdowns and quarantines to combat the COVID-19 pandemic have evoked emotional disagreements, both between and within different countries. Yet, the consequences of this or any future pandemic depend as much on responses and capabilities on the front... View Details

Keywords: Coronavirus; Coronavirus Pandemic; Governance; Policy; Health Pandemics

March 5, 2020
Editorial

Murky Data Calls into Question Quarantine Strategy

By: Amar Bhide

Like sepsis, a life-threatening, uncontrolled immune response to infections, draconian efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak may cause more harm than the infection itself. Yet the measures now paralysing the western world before many have actually died are based... View Details

Keywords: Coronavirus; Coronavirus Pandemic; Data; Health Pandemics; Data and Data Sets

April 2020
Background Note

U.S. Food Retail During the Pandemic: March 2020

By: José B. Alvarez and Natalie Kindred

This note, written in late March 2020 and mainly U.S. focused, looks at the unfolding impact of the coronavirus pandemic on food retailers and their suppliers. It allows student to consider the challenges facing food retail executives as they navigate urgent supply... View Details

Keywords: Coronavirus Pandemic; Risk and Uncertainty; Risk Management; Food; Supply Chain; Consumer Behavior; Demand and Consumers; Trade; Crisis Management; Health Pandemics; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Retail Industry; United States

19 Mar 2020
News

Small businesses could crumble in mere weeks as coronavirus pandemic exacts toll

May–June 2023
Article

Unmasking Behaviors During the Pandemic with Video Analytics

By: Shunyuan Zhang, Kaiquan Xu and Kannan Srinivasan

In 2020, as the novel coronavirus spread globally, face masks were recommended in public settings to protect against and slow down viral transmission. People complied to varying extents, and their reactions may have been driven by a variety of psychological factors.... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Social Influence; Social Norms; Health Pandemics; Behavior

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February 2023
Teaching Note

China's Management of COVID-19: People’s War or Chernobyl Moment? (A)

By: Meg Rithmire

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 720-035. View Details

Keywords: China; Coronavirus; Coronavirus Pandemic; China

September 2020
Supplement

China's Management of COVID-19 (B): Victory?

By: Meg Rithmire and Courtney Han

Keywords: Coronavirus; Pandemic; China

March 16, 2020
Article

15 Questions About Remote Work, Answered

By: Tsedal Neeley

How should corporate leaders, managers and individual workers shift to remote work in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic? Tsedal Neeley, a professor at Harvard Business School, has spent two decades helping companies learn how to manage dispersed teams. In this... View Details

Keywords: Coronavirus Pandemic; Remote Work; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Management Practices and Processes

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16 Mar 2020
Research & Ideas

How the Coronavirus Is Already Rewriting the Future of Business

With COVID-19 cases growing worldwide, business leaders are scrambling to deal with a wide variety of problems, from slumping sales and stalling supply chains to keeping employees healthy and making sure they can continue working. We asked professors of Harvard... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

August 2020 (Revised December 2020)
Case

Latam Airlines and COVID-19: Seeking Bankruptcy Protection in the United States

By: Laura Alfaro, Mauricio Larrain, Carlos Vilches and Sarah Jeong

On May 26, 2020, Latam Airlines became the largest airline in the world to be driven to bankruptcy by COVID-19. With a complex debt structure and international investor composition, the company decided to file for bankruptcy protection in the United States, which... View Details

Keywords: Airlines; Pandemic; Coronavirus Pandemic; Health Pandemics; Air Transportation; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Capital Markets; Strategy; Latin America; Chile; United States

March 27, 2020
Other Article

Lessons from Italy's Response to Coronavirus

By: Gary P. Pisano, Raffaella Sadun and Michele Zanini

Policymakers in many parts of Europe and the United States are struggling to bring the rapidly spreading Covid-19 pandemic under control. In doing so, they are repeating many of the mistakes made in Italy, where the pandemic turned into a disaster. A major contributing... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Health Pandemics; Crisis Management; Government and Politics; Decision Making; Italy

June 2021 (Revised October 2021)
Case

Nissan's Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

By: Ananth Raman, William Schmidt and Ann Winslow

In January 2020, Ashwani Gupta took over as COO at Nissan Motor Corporation, and several weeks later, the COVID-19 pandemic began. Nissan’s Business Continuity Plan (BCP) had been key to the resilience of Nissan’s supply chain. It had enabled Nissan to recover from... View Details

Keywords: Operations; Supply Chain Management; Health Pandemics; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Japan; India