Publications

17 Mar 2022
Research & Ideas

Navigating Tradeoffs: How Purpose Becomes a Company's ‘Lighthouse in the Storm’

commitments that influence the supply chain, and governments creating proper incentives and market dynamics to fuel innovation and usher in improvements.” Puri and his team did indeed make the decision to... View Details

Keywords: by Ranjay Gulati

28 Jun 2024
News

Honoring Leadership in New York; PRIDE Alumni Share HBS Stories

New York Leadership Dinner Honors Leaders Challenging the Status Quo At its 55th Annual Leadership Dinner in May, the HBS Club of New York (HBSCNY) honored four leaders whose careers and contributions to the world embody this year’s theme, “Challenging the Status Quo.”... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley

March 2018 (Revised October 2019)
Case

Yo-Yo Ma and Silkroad

By: Rohit Deshpandé, Paul A. Gompers and Scott Duke Kominers

Silkroad—a cross-cultural music collaboration that world-famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma had spearheaded since 1998, was preparing to celebrate its 20th anniversary. In parallel, Ma was stepping back from his role as the organization’s Artistic Director. Silkroad had come of... View Details

Keywords: Managing Diverse Teams; Leadership Transitions; Global Innovation; Music; Cultural Entrepreneurship; Nonprofit Organizations; Music Entertainment; Leadership; Transition

August 2011 (Revised November 2015)
Case

CFW Clinics in Kenya: To Profit or Not for Profit

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Katharine Lee

Ten years after having launched a chain of non-profit health clinics, its founder is now debating the merits of scaling the operation by converting to a for-profit enterprise. View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Business Model; Social Enterprise; Nonprofit Organizations; Transformation; For-Profit Firms; Health Industry; Kenya

23 May 2023
Research & Ideas

Lessons on Life, Graffiti, and Value: 'It's in That Darkness That You Can Actually Develop and Evolve'

bringing. “It’s really about reconciliation and that’s going to take seeing and admitting that everyone has contributed, and everyone can contribute.” This article originally appeared in the Harvard Gazette. You Might Also Like: 8... View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette

24 Apr 2014
News

Growing a new model for the forestry industry in Chile

Michele Golodetz (MBA 1977) discusses her innovations in the forestry industry in Chile and how this helps small farmers become self-supporting. (Published April 2014) View Details

November 2022
Supplement

Arcos Dorados’ Quest for the Digitalization of Last-Mile Delivery in Colombia (B)

By: Jorge Tamayo, Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago and Mariana Cal

In 2020, Francisco Staton, president of Arcos Dorados’ Caribbean Division, and Héctor Orozco, Managing Director of Arcos Dorados Colombia, were looking into Arcos Dorados’ options to consolidate its food delivery service in Colombia. This time the matter at hand hinged... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Decision Making; Decision Choices and Conditions; Global Strategy; Technological Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Agreements and Arrangements; Negotiation Tactics; Logistics; Service Delivery; Organizational Culture; Performance Improvement; Partners and Partnerships; Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; Latin America; South America; Colombia

27 Apr 2017
News

Helping Veterans Gain Skills to Thrive in the Business World

Goldman, where he has worked since earning his MBA. The company actively looks to hire veterans through its Veterans Integration Program and other initiatives, and York is involved in nonprofit programs... View Details

2012
Case

Zhejiang Semir Garment Co., Ltd.

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Jie Jiao and Yuren Fang

With the rapid growth of China's economy and China's increasing integration into the global economy in the past two decades, China's leisure clothing and garment enterprises achieved a rapid rise and became an important competitive force confronting the foreign brands... View Details

Keywords: Business Model Innovation; Competitive Strategy; Management Controls; China; China

April 2019
Article

Incentives for Public Goods Inside Organizations: Field Experimental Evidence

By: Andrea Blasco, Olivia S. Jung, Karim R. Lakhani and Michael Menietti

Understanding why employees go the extra mile at work is a key problem for many organizations. We conduct a field experiment at a medical organization to study motivations for employees to submit project proposals for organizational improvement. In total, we analyze... View Details

Keywords: Field Experiment; Innovation; Contest; Incentives; Free-rider Problem; Healthcare Organizations; Employees; Motivation and Incentives; Innovation and Invention; Organizations; Performance Improvement; Perspective

Find at Harvard

In industry after industry, data, analytics, and AI-driven processes are transforming the nature of work. While we often still treat AI as the domain of a specific skill, business function, or sector, we have entered a new era in which AI is challenging the very... View Details

12 Sep 2024
Blog Post

Amager Bakke: I Like This Waste Incinerator in My Backyard!

In January 2024, Professors Willy Shih and Mike Toffel led 45 HBS MBA students on site visits to witness the energy transition and innovative sustainable production activities throughout Denmark and the... View Details

December 2023 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Research In Motion: Launching and Scaling the World's First Smartphone Empire (A)

By: Tatiana Sandino and Samuel Grad

In 2005, Research In Motion’s (RIM) BlackBerry smartphone was a sensation. After its launch in 1999, the groundbreaking BlackBerry had captured the hearts and minds of corporate America through its secure wireless email service. The device was so addictive and... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Decision Choices and Conditions; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Innovation and Management; Technological Innovation; Business or Company Management; Management Style; Product Development; Managerial Roles; Growth and Development Strategy; Technology Industry; United States; Canada

Web

Europe’s green transition | Institute for Business in Global Society

Roundtable in Paris. Discover how European firms are leading climate action Learn key insights on climate innovation and how business leaders are reshaping industries for a sustainable future . Read the full... View Details

28 Mar 2019
News

California Alumni Explore Role of Capitalism in Addressing Climate Change

Association of Germany Winter Retreat More than 50 alumni and guests from the HBS Association of Germany (HBSAG) attended the club’s Winter Retreat on a weekend in February at the McKinsey Alpine University Kitzbühel, enjoying dinner,... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley

April 2016 (Revised June 2019)
Case

The Walt Disney Studios

By: Anita Elberse

In December 2015, Alan Horn, chairman of The Walt Disney Studios, celebrates the world premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens—only the latest in a string of big bets that he has overseen. Disney pursues a “tentpole strategy” that revolves around at least eight... View Details

January 2014
Technical Note

Learning From Extreme Consumers

By: Jill Avery and Michael Norton

Traditional market research methods focus on understanding the average experiences of average consumers. This focus leads to gaps in our knowledge of consumer behavior and often fails to uncover insights that can drive revolutionary, rather than evolutionary... View Details

Keywords: Market Research; Ethnography; Design Thinking; Innovation; New Product Development; Research; Marketing; Consumer Behavior; Innovation and Invention

March 1994
Article

Expropriation and Inventions: Appropriable Rents in the Absence of Property Rights

By: J. Anton and Dennis Yao

We analyze the problem faced by a financially weak independent inventor when selling a valuable, but easily imitated, invention for which no property rights exist. The inventor can protect his or her intellectual property by negotiating a contingent contract (with a... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Intellectual Property; Rights; Sales; Contracts; Negotiation