Publications

March 2018
Case

GiveDirectly

By: John Beshears, Joshua Schwartzstein, Tiffany Y. Chang and Brian J. Hall

How should nonprofits design compensation systems to attract and retain talent? GiveDirectly is a respected charitable organization with an unconventional approach. Instead of spending on traditional aid programs in areas such as health care and food access in... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofits; Charity; Effective Altruism; International Aid; Compensation; Goals; Bonuses; Incentives; GiveDirectly; Compensation and Benefits; Motivation and Incentives; Goals and Objectives; Recruitment; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving

2007
Working Paper

Recognizing the New: A Multi-Agent Model of Analogy in Strategic Decision-Making

By: Giovanni Gavetti and Massimo Warglien

In novel environments, strategic decision-making is often premised on analogy, and recognition lies at its heart. Recognition refers to a class of cognitive processes through which a problem is interpreted associatively in terms of something that has been experienced... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Decision Choices and Conditions; Mathematical Methods; Cognition and Thinking; Power and Influence

Read Now

07 Jun 2021
Book

9 Tips from an Expert Fundraiser: Help Donors 'Invest in Their Passion'

key. You are not begging but, rather, offering an unusual and attractive opportunity to the prospective donors to invest in their passion and to have their names associated with it long term. You are not... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

06 Oct 2015
First Look

October 6, 2015

2015 University of Chicago Press Economic Analysis of the Digital Economy By: Goldfarb, Avi, Shane Greenstein, and Catherine Tucker, eds. Abstract—As the cost of storing, sharing, and analyzing data has... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2013
Case

Omidyar Network: Pioneering Impact Investment

By: Michael Chu and Lauren Barley

Omidyar Network, having deployed to date over $500 million in ways ranging from donations to commercial equity capital, must decide whether to back Anudip, an Indian organization dedicated to providing the rural unemployed and marginalized with livelihoods linked to... View Details

Keywords: Social Enterprise; Social Entrepreneurship; Investment; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; India

27 Feb 2023
Research & Ideas

How One Late Employee Can Hurt Your Business: Data from 25 Million Timecards

reduce the elements of surprise and give employees certainty about expectations, the authors suggest. Managers should understand, "If they call people on Monday and say, 'hey,... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Retail

20 Oct 2023
News

Highlights from the Fall 2023 Alumni Board Meeting

On the evening of Wednesday, October 11, Alumni Board members joined with current HBS students in the Spangler Center for "A Conversation about Life Lessons", which was led by Leslie Perlow, the Konosuke Matsushita Professor of Leadership. This October, more than 75... View Details

January 2015 (Revised January 2017)
Case

Curriculum Associates: Turning the Page from Tradition to Innovation

By: John J-H Kim and Christine S. An

Set in Fall 2014, the traditional textbook publishing industry is being transformed by technological innovations and new student achievement standards. This case chronicles how Rob Waldron, CEO, and his team bring Curriculum Associates (CA), a traditional supplemental... View Details

Keywords: Education Technology; SaaS; Turnaround; Textbook Publishing; Innovation; Sales Cycle; HR Strategy; Privately-funded Businesses; Sustainable Growth; Product Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Technological Innovation; Competitive Advantage; Publishing Industry

01 Dec 2023
News

Wide Horizon

There were three critical events that led John Rodakis (MBA 1997) to form the nonprofit N of One in 2014 and ultimately dedicate his life to surfacing breakthrough autism research. The first occurred on Thanksgiving of 2012. He had driven about four hours with his wife... View Details

Keywords: Dan Morrell; Photos by Sarah Wilson

30 Sep 2019
Book

6 Steps to Building a Better Workplace for Black Employees

false illusion of a post-racial society, where many people thought we had transcended issues of race,” he says. “But that was not the case at all.” It certainly wasn’t the experience for many of the black business executives included in the book Race, Work, View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

April 2007 (Revised October 2007)
Background Note

An Overview of Project Finance & Infrastructure Finance - 2006 Update

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Aldo Sesia

Provides an introduction to the fields of project finance and infrastructure finance, and gives a statistical overview of project-financed investments over the years from 2002 to 2006. Examples of project-financed investments include the $4 billion Chad-Cameroon... View Details

Keywords: Project Finance; Infrastructure; Investment; Projects; Trends

Funding to scale Citizens Connect, Boston's 311 app, is both a blessing and a burden and tests two public entrepreneurs. In 2012, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts provides Boston's Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics with a grant to scale Citizens Connect... View Details

September 2009
Article

Are You Having Trouble Keeping Your Operations Focused?

By: Robert S. Huckman

As a business broadens over time, it can lose the operational edge that led to its original success. Core strengths atrophy, efficiency or quality suffers, and sharper rivals close in to take advantage of the loss of focus. In his classic article "The Focused Factory"... View Details

Keywords: Business Units; Business Growth and Maturation; Goals and Objectives; Resource Allocation; Operations; Performance Efficiency

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