Publications

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24 Mar 2015
First Look

First Look: March 24

http://publications.iadb.org/bitstream/handle/11319/6820/Socios%20o%20acreedores%20ENG%202-25-15%20web.pdf?sequence=1 March 2015 The Routledge Handbook of Responsible Investment Reliable Sustainability Ratings: The Influence of Business... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

July–September 2012
Article

The (Un)Hidden Turmoil of Language in Global Collaboration

By: Tsedal Neeley, Pamela J. Hinds and Catherine D. Cramton

Companies are increasingly relying on a lingua franca, or common language (usually English), to facilitate cross-border collaboration. Despite the numerous benefits of a lingua franca, our research reveals myriad challenges that disrupt collaboration and contribute to... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Loss; Spoken Communication; Performance Productivity; Research; Global Range; Problems and Challenges; Diversity; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues

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December 2006 (Revised January 2007)
Case

Chief Timothy Adeola Odutola and Nigeria's Manufacturing Sector

By: Nitin Nohria, Anthony Mayo, Foluke Otudeko and Mark Benson

Chief Timothy Adeola Odutola was an important contributor to Nigeria's manufacturing sector, creating a multimillion-dollar conglomerate including three factories, a retail franchise, a cattle ranch, a 5,000-acre plantation, a sawmill, and an exporting business before... View Details

Keywords: History; Business Conglomerates; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Success; Leadership Style; Business History; Market Entry and Exit; Personal Development and Career; Business Startups; Manufacturing Industry; Nigeria

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August 15, 2014
Article

Can an Outside CEO Run a Family-Owned Business?

By: Josh Baron and Rob Lachenauer

This article explores the intricate dynamics that often characterize family-owned businesses, shedding light on key archetypes that play prominent roles within these organizations. Using a narrative approach, the article illustrates the challenges faced by leaders... View Details

Keywords: Family Ownership; Personal Characteristics; Family and Family Relationships; Management Practices and Processes

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January 2009
Supplement

KPMG (B): Risk and Reform

By: Robert G. Eccles and Eliot Sherman

Under the leadership of Tim Flynn, Chairman and CEO of KPMG, the firm made a number of changes in compensation, governance, and culture in order to address the underlying reasons for actions that occurred prior to him becoming CEO that led to the accounting giant... View Details

Keywords: Communication Strategy; Ethics; Corporate Governance; Governance Compliance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Governing and Advisory Boards; Compensation and Benefits; Employee Relationship Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation

Summer 2023
Article

(Un)principled Agents: Monitoring Loyalty after the End of the Royal African Company Monopoly

By: Anne Ruderman and Marlous van Waijenburg

The revocation of the Royal African Company's monopoly in 1698 inaugurated a transformation of the transatlantic slave trade. While the RAC’s exit from the slave trade has received scholarly attention, little is known about the company’s response to the loss of its... View Details

Keywords: Slavery; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business History; Monopoly; History; Business and Government Relations

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30 Oct 2019
Research & Ideas

How to Recover Gracefully After Shutting Down Your Startup

more than 230 creditors, including a bakery owner who held a special bake sale to express her outrage. Did a company that had raised more than $120 million in venture capital need to stiff so many people? Tom Eisenmann, the Howard H. Stevenson Professor of View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

February 2001 (Revised March 2004)
Case

Ducati & Texas Pacific Group - A "Wild Ride" Leveraged Buyout

Describes the attempt of Texas Pacific Group (TPG), a buyout firm, to purchase a controlling stake in Ducati Motor, the world's leading high-performance motorcycle company, based in Bologna, Italy. Ducati is part of Cagiva Group, a family-controlled industrial group.... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Leveraged Buyouts; Entrepreneurship; Investment; Manufacturing Industry; Motorcycle Industry; Texas; Italy

Career Coach

Alejandro Maldonado

key players in the industry and was then acquired by a strategic player. Since 2012, Alejandro has trained and been a coach for students and alumni at Harvard Business School, where he developed his passion for talent and career... View Details

Keywords: Consulting; Education; Emerging Markets; Investment Banking; Financial Services (All); Private Equity; Financial Services (All); Social Enterprise; Impact Investing; Financial Services (All)

September 2014 (Revised March 2015)
Case

Fast Ion Battery

By: Ramana Nanda, Robert F. White and Stephanie Puzio

John Davidson, a partner at Ware Street Capital (WSC) and a board member at Fast Ion Battery, had just received a phone call from Don Lerner at Bluelock Ventures telling him that Bluelock would not participate in the $5M bridge financing for Fast Ion Battery. Lerner's... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Finance; Real Options; Term Sheets; Clean Technology; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital

January 2016
Case

Haiti Hope: Innovating the Mango Value Chain

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Jean-François Harvey

This case study examines a market-based approach to economic development through the eyes of NGO TechnoServe's project manager, implementing a US$9.5 million five-year public-private partnership between Coca-Cola, IDB, and USAID. The case ends at the beginning of the... View Details

09 Jan 2012
Research & Ideas

Location, Location, Location: The Strategy of Place

what works in one location may not work somewhere else.” "The decision to expand is sometimes driven by the wrong reasons," says Associate Professor Juan Alcácer, who teaches in the Strategy Unit at Harvard Business School.... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

September 2008 (Revised June 2013)
Case

Odyssey Healthcare

By: Robert F. Higgins, Virginia Fuller and Umer Raffat

In January 2001, Dick Burnham, CEO of Odyssey Healthcare, and Odyssey's Board of Directors were considering selling the hospice care company to a larger provider or making an initial public offering (IPO). With 38 hospice locations in 21 states, Odyssey had been... View Details

Keywords: Liquidity; Venture Creation/development; Hospice; Venture Capital; Financial Liquidity; Business Exit or Shutdown; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Plan; Entrepreneurship; Health Industry; United States

23 Oct 2013
Research & Ideas

Overcoming Nervous Nelly

Harvard Business School Assistant Professor Alison Wood Brooks. “It was surprising to see such a devious twist that people would take advantage of someone in an anxious state” "People who are perfectly healthy feel anxious many times... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

02 Mar 2021
HBS Case

The Tulsa Massacre: Is Racial Justice Possible 100 Years Later?

Early on the morning of June 1, 1921, more than 5,000 white residents of Tulsa, Oklahoma, invaded the African-American neighborhood of Greenwood. They came armed with guns, sticks, and other weapons—some supplied by the city’s police department—and set fire to homes... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

Program

Private Equity and Venture Capital

portfolio companies and choose appropriate exit strategies Scale your firm by managing deals and integrating operations across multiple locations Expand your personal and professional network Extend your network by living and working with... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Finance

30 Mar 2018
What Do You Think?

What Should Mark Zuckerberg Do?

amesy SUMMING UP: Should Facebook Change Its Business Model? Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, received a great deal of advice from respondents to this month’s column. It included ideas that haven’t gained much attention in the press.... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Web Services; Information Technology

June 2009 (Revised February 2010)
Case

Cirque du Soleil -- The High-Wire Act of Building Sustainable Partnerships

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Maxime Aucoin

The case describes the history and business model of Cirque du Soleil (CdS). The case allows for a rich discussion and analysis of Cirque du Soleil's business model with an emphasis on how it interacts with that of MGM Mirage. Le Cirque and MGM's business models... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Investment; Profit; Globalized Markets and Industries; Growth and Development Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Partners and Partnerships; Trust; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

March 2023 (Revised May 2025)
Case

On

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Karolin Frankenberger and Sascha Mader

Founded in 2010, in just one decade, the Swiss company On had established itself as a main player in global sports footwear and apparel. Based on an unconventional strategy which one of the founders labeled as “obsessively distinct,” On grew its sales with a compound... View Details