Publications

March 2018
Case

GoFundMe: The Giving Layer of the Internet

By: Scott Duke Kominers and Allison M. Ciechanover

By 2017, GoFundMe is the world’s largest social fundraising platform. Gross donation volume is growing rapidly, yet the number of monthly campaign starts is relatively flat. The CEO contemplates a variety of growth initiatives. View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Expansion; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Technology Industry

February 1997
Background Note

Errors in Social Judgment: Implications for Negotiation and Conflict Resolution--Part 2: Partisan Perceptions

For the past quarter-century, the field of social cognition has documented a number of ways in which individuals and groups are prone to make characteristic errors when judging others. This note examines the ways in which these tendencies pose difficulties for... View Details

Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; Negotiation; Conflict and Resolution

June 1991 (Revised April 1993)
Case

General Electric: Jack Welch's Second Wave (A)

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

By the mid 1980's Jack Welch had completely transformed General Electric with more than 300 divestitures and acquisitions since the beginning of the decade. Welch insisted that his business units be number one or number two in their markets, and have the strength of... View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Transformation; Employee Relationship Management; Planning; Corporate Strategy

December 2003 (Revised October 2006)
Case

Maverick Capital

By: Andre F. Perold, Chris McIsaac and Marc Ricks

Maverick Capital, a $7 billion hedge fund, faced a number of long-term strategic questions, particularly the issue of growth. With all of its assets invested with one strategy, Maverick was already managing more capital in a dedicated approach than any hedge fund in... View Details

Keywords: Assets; Capital; Stocks; Financial Strategy; Investment Funds; Investment Portfolio; Growth and Development Strategy

July 1973 (Revised August 1987)
Case

Central Express Corp.

Deals with the choice between debt and equity as a vehicle for financing expansion. Introduces the concept of EBIT charts and raises a number of other issues (e.g. dilution, leverage, etc.). View Details

Keywords: Expansion; Financing and Loans

Find at Harvard

10 May 2010
Research & Ideas

What Top Scholars Say About Leadership

Works on the subject of leadership weigh down bookstore shelves the world over. Tomes tell you how to be a 30-second manager, how to inspire your employees like Churchill, and the three keys to "strength-based leadership." Everyone has been writing about... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Education

06 May 2015
Research & Ideas

A Flood of Picassos Threatens to Water Down the Art Market

Pablo Picasso's legacy is a curious one in that he composed and left behind some 70,000 works of art, but never did draft a will. Thus, the divvying up of his assets has been a charged and factious exercise in a family already made brittle in various ways by the great... View Details

27 Dec 2017
News

Switching queues does NOT make your wait shorter: Decision to move is caused by 'last place aversion' but often backfires, reveal Harvard researchers

Ananth Raman

Ananth Raman is a professor in the Technology and Operations Management area where he has taught courses on various aspects of Operational Excellence—supply chain management, technology and operations management, and service operations—to MBA students... View Details

Keywords: apparel; retailing; software

November 2016 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Square, Inc. IPO

By: Ramana Nanda, Robert White and Lauren G. Pickle

In November 2015, Square, Inc. launched its initial public offering (IPO). The IPO had an offering price of $9 per share, lower than the $11 to $13 estimate that had been outlined in the preliminary prospectus and 42% below the $15.50 share price in its most recent... View Details

Keywords: Business Finance; Initial Public Offering; Equity; Capital Markets; Public Equity; Stocks; Venture Capital; Financial Services Industry; United States

April 2009
Case

Young Presidents' Organization

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, John D. Macomber and David Chen

The board of Young Presidents' Organization needs to decide on the future of its Networks Initiative, designed to connect its geographically dispersed membership base through 60 different interest-based networks. So far, one half of these networks have been considered... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Governing and Advisory Boards; Leadership Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizations; Social and Collaborative Networks

Find at Harvard

September 2003 (Revised June 2005)
Case

Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Christopher Dede and Susan Saltrick

Explores the success factors leading to one's company's rise to the number three ranking in the aggressively competitive toy industry. LeapFrog has made the strategic decision to exploit its educational model in two industry sectors: consumer toys and educational... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Decisions; Education; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Growth Management; Media; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Research; Value Creation

08 Oct 2014
Research & Ideas

Who Is the Chief Sustainability Officer?

CSOs are of critical importance in successful sustainability efforts, but ironically become less central as sustainability efforts blossom. Although often linked with environmental issues such as water and energy use, a growing number of... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Manufacturing

November 2018
Case

Governance Transition at Anadolu Group

By: Paul M. Healy and Esel Y. Cekin

Kamil Yazici and Izzet Ozilhan founded and built Anadolu Group Holding—a family business that grew into a multi-billion-dollar regional powerhouse. For 57 years they were equal partners in running the company. They then handed over a leadership role to a next... View Details

December 2010
Background Note

Risk and Reward in Venture Capital

By: William A. Sahlman

This note describes the payoff structure of investment in individual venture capital–backed companies and in venture capital portfolios. Venture Capital investments are characterized by high failure rate (0ver 50%) and a small number of given successes (greater than... View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Venture Capital; Investment Return; Investment Portfolio; Analytics and Data Science; Failure; Performance; Information Technology

18 Jan 2012
News

Beyond Heroic Entrepreneurs

Dennis A. Yao

Dennis Yao is the Lawrence E. Fouraker Professor of Business Administration and Chair of the Doctoral Programs at Harvard Business School. He joined the faculty in 2004 after having been at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. From 1991-1994 he served as... View Details

Keywords: automotive; defense; federal government; high technology

12 Jun 2024
News

The Impact of HBS Staff Affinity Groups

2022
Article

The Great Resignation Didn't Start with the Pandemic

By: Joseph B. Fuller and William R. Kerr

COVID-19 spurred on the Great Resignation of 2021, during which record numbers of employees voluntarily quit their jobs. But what we are living through is not just short-term turbulence provoked by the pandemic. Instead, it’s the continuation of a trend of rising quit... View Details

Keywords: Quit Rate; Labor Market; Great Resignation; Jobs and Positions; Employees; Resignation and Termination; Health Pandemics