Publications

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05 Mar 2015
News

Wearable Tech Enables New Era of Employee Monitoring

December 1973 (Revised November 1993)
Case

Cooper Industries, Inc.

By: Thomas R. Piper

The executive president of a major industrial company must decide 1) whether to acquire a small hand tool company and, if so, 2) the value and form that the acquisition package should take. View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Valuation; Acquisition; Management Teams; Consumer Products Industry

18 Aug 2008
Research & Ideas

How Disruptive Innovation Changes Education

to study education through the lenses of your research on innovation. How did you come to approach the problem in this way, and what makes the analysis of public education similar to, and different from, other industries you have studied... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Education

February 2023 (Revised May 2023)
Case

CalPERS Private Equity 2.0

By: Josh Lerner, John D. Dionne and Alys Ferragamo

Yup Kim, the Head of Investments, Private Equity at the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), reflected on the pension fund’s private equity strategy. In July of 2022, the fund was in the midst of a multi-year turnaround strategy with the goal to... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Investment Portfolio; Retirement; Leadership; Strategy; Public Sector

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

2004
Case

Neology: Embedded Opportunities in the RFID Space (A)

By: Roberto Charvel and Atul Joshi

Neology was a pioneer in the RFID industry that was able to attract U.S. Army contracts and secure financing by creating a holding company in the U.S., while being a Mexican company. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Finance; Venture Capital; Emerging Market; Business Startups; Innovation and Invention; Technology

12 Jun 2015
News

Report: In bitter energy debate, nobody wins

12 Apr 2013
News

Deleveraging in the U.S. Just Started

June 2003 (Revised March 2008)
Case

Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Marc Aquino

Personalized medicine requires the identification of mutated genes. Schering-Plough's search for the one related to asthma requires finding families with the disease. Examines the industry that helps conduct such research, including contract research organizations. View Details

Keywords: Health Disorders; Research and Development; Genetics; Biotechnology Industry; Biotechnology Industry

Roberto Verganti (rverganti@hbs.edu) is in the Technology and Operations Management Unit at Harvard Business School. He teaches Design Theory and Practice for the View Details

Keywords: industrial goods; industrial goods; industrial goods; industrial goods; industrial goods; industrial goods; industrial goods; industrial goods; industrial goods; industrial goods; industrial goods; industrial goods; industrial goods; industrial goods; industrial goods

September 2013 (Revised June 2014)
Case

Rana Plaza: Workplace Safety In Bangladesh (A)

By: John A. Quelch and Margaret L. Rodriguez

On April 24, 2013 the Rana Plaza factory building collapsed in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. Over 1,100 people were killed in the worst industrial accident since the Union Carbide plant gas leak in Bhopal, India. Most of the victims worked for garment factories,... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Public Health; Safety; Workplace; Human Rights; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Bangladesh

23 Nov 2014
News

Brewing Your Own Beer, With Help From an App

Syed Babar Ali

Keywords: Education; Government

September 2002
Case

Abercrombie & Kent

By: Frances X. Frei, Brian Corbett, Mark Partin and Daniel Rethazy

Describes Abercrombie & Kent, the outdoor adventure company that has provided services throughout the entire history of the outdoor adventure industry. Provides an opportunity to learn how the company successfully grown into a premier player in the industry by adapting... View Details

Keywords: History; Financial Management; Activity Based Costing and Management; Service Operations; Marketing Reference Programs; Product Development; Business Growth and Maturation; Balance and Stability; Marketing Channels; Transportation; Growth and Development Strategy; Travel Industry

Find at Harvard

24 Mar 2016
Blog Post

Learning to Code at Business School

These days more and more MBA students are choosing to pursue a career in tech. At HBS, 20% of the Class of 2015 went into the tech industry after graduation and the Code Club is an active student group on campus. For many, having some... View Details

April 2021 (Revised January 2022)
Case

SA Taxi: A Vehicle for Empowerment? (A)

By: Nien-he Hsieh, Dilyana Karadzhova Botha and F. Christopher Eaglin

SA Taxi was a vertically integrated business that operated in South Africa’s distinctive taxi industry. Despite being plagued by violence, informal structures, unsafe road practices and lack of government support, the taxi industry had grown to become South Africa’s... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Accountability; Ownership; Ownership Stake; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Equality and Inequality; Race; Situation or Environment; Transportation Industry; South Africa; Africa

August 2018 (Revised August 2018)
Case

The De Beers Group: Launching Lightbox Jewelry for Lab-Grown Diamonds

By: Benjamin C. Esty

In May 2018, the De Beers Group shocked the diamond industry when it announced it was launching a new fashion jewelry brand of laboratory-grown (synthetic) diamonds. The reaction was swift as people sought to understand the company’s motivations: was it a “huge gamble”... View Details