Publications

30 Mar 2021
Research & Ideas

Commuting Hurts Productivity and Your Best Talent Suffers Most

as the COVID-19 pandemic wanes and remote employees—perhaps grudgingly—contemplate returning to offices. Wu’s conclusions were clear: A long commute hurts workers and their employers by hindering creativity and productivity, which stifles innovation, according to his... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

16 Jan 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, January 16, 2018

outcomes. (2) Selecting or developing leaders for the future requires a forward-looking strategy and culture. (3) In a merger, designing a new culture on the basis of complementary strengths can speed up integration and create more value... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

December 2006 (Revised November 2008)
Case

West Wacker Drive: To Build or Not to Build?

In 1980, Thomas J. Klutznick, president of a Chicago-based development company, was considering whether he should build a Class A building on a second-rate site outside the Central Loop or not. He had a promising design, but the economic conditions, concurrent... View Details

Keywords: Development Economics; Interest Rates; Geographic Location; Risk Management; Urban Development; Construction Industry; Real Estate Industry; Chicago

Find at Harvard

27 Jan 2003
Research & Ideas

New Cluster Mapping Project Helps Companies Locate Facilities

economic development decisions to a new level of sophistication. In a cluster, a company can draw on a local supplier base of skilled people, specialized service providers, and local institutions that can provide training and perform... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

04 Apr 2018
Research & Ideas

Smart Cities are Complicated and Costly: Here's How to Build Them

Chombosan Much promotion of smart cities assumes that municipalities will take a proactive, top-down, technology-first approach to urban progress. Thus far, these initiatives look for some forward-thinking city official (or immensely deep-pocketed private investor) to... View Details

Keywords: by John Macomber; Construction; Green Technology

21 Nov 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Caste and Entrepreneurship in India

Keywords: by Lakshmi Iyer, Tarun Khanna & Ashutosh Varshney

23 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

China’s 60-Year Road from Revolution to World Power

This was a growth fueled above all by private enterprise, urban and rural, in what we may now consider the first "golden age" of Chinese capitalism. This new economic activity began and spread outward from China's centers of... View Details

Keywords: by William C. Kirby

01 Jun 2023
HBS Case

A Nike Executive Hid His Criminal Past to Turn His Life Around. What If He Didn't Have To?

in Miller’s hometown. Deindustrialization was leading to the large-scale loss of urban jobs, increasing poverty in the city. While many Whites began moving to the suburbs, Black residents mostly remained in the city. After all, Black... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Apparel & Accessories

June 2013 (Revised August 2020)
Case

Rawabi

By: Arthur I. Segel, Sarika Agrawal, Nimrod Brandt, Daniel Kuhagen, Thomas Reithinger and Margot Eiran

Bashar Masri is developing the first new stand-alone Palestinian city 25 kilometers north of Jerusalem and 9 kilometers north of Ramallah in the West Bank on 6300 dunams (1556 acres) for 40,000 people with financial support from the Qatari investment authority and... View Details

Keywords: Housing; Urban Development; Projects; Problems and Challenges; Construction Industry; Middle East

September 2005 (Revised June 2012)
Case

New Songdo City

By: Arthur I Segel, Brandon Blaser, Gerardo Garza, Albert Kim, John Richard and Andrew Murphy

The government of South Korea has chosen John Hynes and Gale International to construct New Songdo City. This is an entirely new city, about the size of Boston, between the new Incheon airport and the capital of Seoul. The proposed city is the government's attempt to... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Urban Development; Construction; Design; Climate Change; South Korea

December 2006 (Revised November 2008)
Case

The New York Jets--A West Side Story

In 2005, Jay Cross, New York Jets president, must decide how to proceed with finding a new home for the football team he heads after New York's Public Authorities Control Board rejects a $1.4 billion plan to build the New York Sports and Convention Center (NYSCC) on... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Investment; Negotiation Deal; Negotiation Process; Partners and Partnerships; Urban Development; Sports; Real Estate Industry; Sports Industry

August 2016
Teaching Note

Mahindra Lifespace Developers' Venture into Affordable Housing

By: Joseph B. Fuller and Monica Baraldi

Mahindra Lifespace Developers Limited (MLDL) was the infrastructure and real estate arm of the Mahindra Group, an Indian conglomerate with revenues of $16.5 billion in 2014. Employing 400 experts in land acquisition, design, project management, sales and marketing, and... View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Business Startups; Development Economics; Developing Countries and Economies; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Social Entrepreneurship; Housing; Emerging Markets; Business and Government Relations; Human Needs; Social Issues; Urban Development; Real Estate Industry; India

23 Apr 2024
Cold Call Podcast

Amazon in Seattle: The Role of Business in Causing and Solving a Housing Crisis

Keywords: Re: Paul M. Healy; Technology

August 1989 (Revised January 1992)
Case

Prospect Hill

By: William J. Poorvu and Katherine Sweetman

Bill Hassett, a partner in the Nelson Companies, has to make some important decisions regarding the expansion of Prospect Hill Executive Office Park in Waltham, Massachusetts. The pre-development issues concerning him about the Hillside Building include how to position... View Details

Keywords: Expansion; Growth and Development Strategy; Property; Decisions; Interest Rates; Urban Development; Organizational Structure; Real Estate Industry; Massachusetts

February 2022 (Revised March 2022)
Case

National Electric Vehicles Sweden (NEVS): Materializing a Vision

By: Shane Greenstein and Elena Corsi

In 2021, the car manufacturer National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) faced the challenge of securing funding from its investor to launch an innovative mobility solution based on fleets of shared autonomous driving (AD) cars. The system was complex as it required the... View Details

Keywords: Autonomous Vehicles; Product Design; Sustainable Cities; Transportation Networks; Auto Industry; Sweden; Europe