Publications

May 2019 (Revised February 2020)
Case

Bill Cummings: The Cummings Way

By: Christina R. Wing, Robert F. White and Michael Norris

In 2019, Bill Cummings, founder of Cummings Properties and Cummings Foundation and billionaire signer of the Giving Pledge, is winding down his roles at his company and foundation. How should the management move the company forward? View Details

Keywords: Real Estate Development; Philanthropy; Family Business; Nonprofit Organizations; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Management Succession; Real Estate Industry; United States; Boston

April 2019 (Revised July 2019)
Case

Aperture Investors

By: Krishna G. Palepu, George Serafeim and David Lane

Aperture Investors is a startup investment firm that seeks to disrupt the asset management industry through competitive differentiation by charging investors primarily when its portfolio managers outperform the marketplace. Headed by Wall Street veteran Peter Kraus and... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Talent and Talent Management; Investment; Investment Funds; Asset Management; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Marketing Channels; Emerging Markets; Partners and Partnerships; Motivation and Incentives; Financial Services Industry

April 2019 (Revised December 2021)
Case

Sears: The Demise of an American Icon

By: Kristin Mugford and Sarah L. Abbott

In 2019, ESL Investments’ $5.2 billion offer to purchase Sears Holdings out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, was accepted, despite opposition from the company's unsecured creditors and other parties. ESL, which was led by Eddie Lampert, had acquired a stake in Sears following... View Details

Keywords: Bankruptcy; Reorganization; Bonds; Restructuring; Business Divisions; Transformation; Fairness; Borrowing and Debt; Credit; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Corporate Governance; Motivation and Incentives; Retail Industry; United States

2019
Working Paper

Rehabilitating Corporate Purpose

By: Malcolm S. Salter

In this paper, I address how the ascendance of the theory of shareholder value maximization into the central consciousness of public corporations and its canonization as the only legitimate expression of corporate purpose has contributed to both a widening breach... View Details

Keywords: Capitalism; Justice; Corporate Purpose; Shareholder Value Maximization; Ethical Reciprocity; Economic Systems; Business Ventures; Mission and Purpose; Ethics; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact

SSRN

2019
Working Paper

Government Technology Policy, Social Value, and National Competitiveness

By: Frank Nagle

This study seeks to better understand the impact that government technology procurement regulations have on social value and national competitiveness. To do this, it examines the impact of a change in France’s technology procurement policy that required government... View Details

Keywords: Social Value; Competitiveness; Government Administration; Information Technology; Acquisition; Policy; Value

SSRN

March 2019 (Revised March 2023)
Case

Accion's Fintech Strategy

By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Michael Chu and Tricia Gregg

Accion, an NGO, had been a pioneer in microfinance since its entry into that sector in the early 1970s. Its investments in Banco Compartamos paid off, when the microfinance bank went IPO in 2007, leaving an influx of $138 million for Accion. Under a new CEO, Michael... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; Impact Investing; Financial Inclusion; Technological Innovation; Strategy; Strategic Planning; Performance Effectiveness; Non-Governmental Organizations; Microfinance; Financial Institutions; Business Growth and Maturation; Customer Focus and Relationships; Industry Growth

March 2019 (Revised April 2021)
Case

The DivaCup: Navigating Distribution and Growth

By: Ayelet Israeli

When the mother-daughter founders of DivaCup set out with a mission to disrupt the menstrual care industry with an innovative product form, they initially struggled to gain legitimacy and convince retailers to carry their unique product. Fifteen years later, the... View Details

March–April 2019
Article

The Dual-Purpose Playbook

By: Julie Battilana, Anne-Claire Pache, Metin Sengul and Marissa Kimsey

Corporations are being pushed to dial down their single-minded pursuit of financial gain and pay closer attention to their impact on employees, customers, communities, and the environment. But changing an organization’s DNA may require upending the existing business... View Details

Keywords: Hybrid Organizing; Business And Society; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business Model; Goals and Objectives; Organizational Structure; Leadership

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January 2019 (Revised February 2024)
Teaching Note

Hubble Contact Lenses: Data Driven Direct-to-Consumer Marketing

By: Ayelet Israeli

Teaching Note for HBS No. 519-011. As its Series A extension round approaches, the founders of Hubble, a subscription-based, social-media fueled, direct-to-consumer (DTC) brand of contact lenses, are reflecting on the marketing strategies that have taken them to a... View Details

2019
Working Paper

Immigrant Networking and Collaboration: Survey Evidence from CIC

By: Sari Pekkala Kerr and William R. Kerr

Networking and the giving and receiving of advice outside of one’s own firm are important features of entrepreneurship and innovation. We study how immigrants and natives utilize the potential networking opportunities provided by CIC, formerly known as the Cambridge... View Details

Keywords: Immigrants; Networking; Advice; Entrepreneurs; Inventors; Start-up Employees; Venturing; Co-working; Agglomeration; Immigration; Entrepreneurship; Networks; Innovation and Invention; Social and Collaborative Networks

January 2019 (Revised July 2022)
Case

Jain Irrigation Systems Limited: Continuing a Legacy

By: Forest Reinhardt, Gunnar Trumbull and Mahima Rao-Kachroo

Founded in 1963 by Bhavarlal Jain (Bhau), who believed in “providing solutions for every problem,” Jain Irrigation in 2018 had a global footprint and $1.1 billion in revenue. Bhau had insisted that his business add value to farmers' lives and promote sustainable... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Mission and Purpose; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Strategic Planning; Problems and Challenges; India

2019
Book

Creative Construction: The DNA of Sustained Innovation

By: Gary P. Pisano

Creative Construction tackles the myth that larger enterprises are inherently incapable of transformative innovation and are doomed to be disrupted by nimble start-ups. If larger enterprises seem incapable of transformative innovation, it is due to how we design... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Business Growth and Maturation; Innovation Strategy; Organizational Culture; Management Systems; Creativity; Leading Change

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December 26, 2018
Article

Why Family Businesses Need to Find the Right Level of Conflict

By: Josh Baron

Many families avoid conflict because it makes them uncomfortable. For families that own and manage businesses, this is a problem. Conflict avoidance leads people to avoid difficult–but necessary–conversations and decisions. Instead of avoiding conflict, the people who... View Details

Keywords: Management Skills; Conflict and Resolution; Family Business

December 2018 (Revised February 2020)
Case

Fishbowl: Scaling Up

By: Leslie K. John

Fishbowl is a social media app that allows professionals to connect with other relevant professionals both within their company and across industry. Unlike many other social media apps, on which users typically present idealized portraits of themselves, on Fishbowl,... View Details

December 2018
Case

Choosy

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Julia Kelley

Founded in 2017, Choosy is a data-driven fashion startup that uses algorithms to identify styles trending on social media. After manufacturing similar items using a China-based supply chain, Choosy sells them to consumers through its website and social media pages.... View Details

November 2018
Teaching Note

The Tax Man: Taxes in Private Equity Real Estate

By: Nori Gerardo Lietz and Sayiddah Fatima McCree

Teaching Note for HBS No. 218-077. This teaching note provides the back up analysis for the various alternatives to be considered in choosing the optimal investment structure for the real estate acquisition. It contrasts the interests of the tax exempt investors... View Details

Keywords: Real Estate; Alternative Investment Structures; Taxation; Private Equity; Property; Acquisition; Conflict of Interests; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

October 2018 (Revised August 2023)
Case

Safecast: Bootstrapping Human Capital to Big Data

By: Ethan Bernstein and Stephanie Marton

On March 11, 2011, at 2:46pm, a 9.1-on-the-Richter-scale, six-minute long earthquake unleashed a tsunami that ravaged the Tohoku region of Japan, damaging the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power facility and releasing sufficient radioactive material into the air and ocean... View Details

October 2018 (Revised February 2018)
Case

Masayoshi Son and the Vision Fund

By: Tom Nicholas, Ramana Nanda and Benjamin N. Roth

In October 2016, SoftBank Group Corp., the Japanese conglomerate giant caused a significant shock to the worldwide market for venture capital and private equity by announcing the Vision Fund, the largest tech investment fund in the world at close to $100 billion. The... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Entrepreneurship; Competitive Strategy

2018
Other Teaching and Training Material

Finance Reading: Corporate Governance

By: John Coates and Suraj Srinivasan

Core Curriculum Readings in Finance cover the fundamental concepts, theories, and frameworks in finance. This reading presents an overview of corporate governance, focusing on for-profit businesses that are privately owned by dispersed investors—that is, not owned by a... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Corporate Governance; For-Profit Firms; Private Ownership; Conflict of Interests