Publications

January 1998 (Revised September 2000)
Case

Neiman Marcus (A)

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Marie Bell

The management of Neiman Marcus, a highly successful luxury goods retailer, is considering ways to grow the business and continue to return in excess of 15% on capital. Among the options on the table is a jewelry store concept called The Galleries. View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Investment; Investment Return; Operations; Luxury; Retail Industry

2020
Book

Work, Mate, Marry, Love: How Machines Shape Our Human Destiny

By: Debora L. Spar

Covering a time frame that ranges from 8000 BC to the present, and drawing upon both Marxist and feminist theories, the book argues that nearly all the decisions we make in our most intimate lives—whom to marry, how to have children, how to have sex, how to think about... View Details

13 May 2014
News

Willing Hands

Frank Spencer (MBA 1986) helped to build his first Habitat for Humanity house in 1988. It was in the Belmont neighborhood of Charlotte, North Carolina, and, like many Habitat homes, was constructed over approximately 10 weeks, with Spencer and other members of his... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Construction; Real Estate

Portrait Project

Jessica Gelman

company or professional sports league, write a book, publish my poetry, positively impact and give back to society by mentoring younger people and improving the educational system, sit on four company boards, allow myself to fall in love,... View Details

Profile

Ann Lucena

Organization where she is consulting with the American Society of Addiction Medicine. "I'm helping them create a business plan for software they'd like to launch. It's an exploratory project: Is it feasible? If so, what's the best... View Details

25 Sep 2019
Working Paper Summaries

Corporate Purpose and Firm Ownership

Keywords: by Claudine Gartenberg and George Serafeim

March 2025
Article

Limited Accountability and Awareness of Corporate Emissions Target Outcomes

By: Xiaoyan Jiang, Shawn Kim and Shirley Lu

Firms are increasingly announcing targets to reduce their carbon emissions, but it is unclear whether firms are held accountable for these targets. Here we examine emissions targets that ended in 2020 to investigate the final target outcomes, the transparency of target... View Details

Keywords: Carbon Emissions; Goals and Objectives; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Corporate Accountability; Environmental Sustainability; Public Opinion

December 2021 (Revised May 2022)
Case

Troverie (A)

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Lindsay N. Hyde and Olivia Graham

Six months after the August 2018 launch of Troverie, a U.S.-based online retailer of luxury watches, the average cost of acquiring a customer is much higher than originally projected, and the startup is incurring a substantial loss on each sales transaction. Could... View Details

Keywords: Startup; Luxury Goods; Customer Acquisition; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Luxury; Failure; Internet and the Web; Revenue; Fashion Industry; United States

December 2020 (Revised April 2021)
Teaching Note

Women Entrepreneurs and Tech Ecosystems: One City, Two Realities, and Four Diverse Women

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Joyce J. Kim

Four diverse women entrepreneurs launched their ventures in a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem that was part of a shift to a creative technology-driven economy for Miami. Although Miami was rated the #1 U.S. city for startups in 2017, the region contained structural... View Details

Keywords: Women; Racism; Black Entrepreneurs; Entrepreneurship; Diversity; Gender; Race; Prejudice and Bias; Innovation and Invention; City; Culture; Miami

2019
Working Paper

Intelligent Design of Inclusive Growth Strategies

By: Robert S. Kaplan, George Serafeim and Eduardo Tugendhat

Improving corporate engagement with society, as advocated in the Business Roundtable’s 2019 statement, should not be viewed as a zero-sum proposition where attention to new stakeholders detracts from delivering shareholder value. Corporate programs for sustainable and... View Details

Keywords: Inclusion; Sustainability; Performance Measures; Environmental Sustainability; Social Issues; Strategy; Governance; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Stakeholder Relations

SSRN

July 2012
Case

Generation Investment Management

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Matthew Preble

Examines the investment process of Generation Investment Management, a "sustainable" investing firm established in 2004 by David Blood and U.S. Vice President Al Gore. Places students in the position of David Lowish, director of global industrials, who must decide... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Energy Generation; Investment; Environmental Sustainability; Pollutants; Welfare; Financial Services Industry; India; United Kingdom

Article

Spanning the Institutional Abyss: The Intergovernmental Network and the Governance of Foreign Direct Investment

By: Juan Alcacer and Paul Ingram

Global economic transactions such as foreign direct investment must extend over an institutional abyss between the jurisdiction, and therefore protection, of the states involved. Intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), whose members are states, represent an important... View Details

Keywords: Globalization; Market Transactions; Foreign Direct Investment; Government and Politics; Risk and Uncertainty; Networks; Culture; Complexity; Public Administration Industry

April 2011 (Revised January 2015)
Case

The Eleganzia Group

By: Elie Ofek, Elena Corsi, Bharat Sajnani, Sorina Casian-Botez and Francesco Tronci

Eleganzia Group management faces tough decisions heading into the summer of 2010. With tourism on the decline due to the global economic recession, General Manager Giannuzzi must decide how to set prices at the Forte Village Resort, the Group's most well-known... View Details

Keywords: Pricing; Pricing Strategy; Customer Management; Branding; Customer Relationship Management; Price; Luxury; Business Strategy; Brands and Branding; Accommodations Industry; Travel Industry; Italy

August 1989 (Revised January 1992)
Case

Prospect Hill

By: William J. Poorvu and Katherine Sweetman

Bill Hassett, a partner in the Nelson Companies, has to make some important decisions regarding the expansion of Prospect Hill Executive Office Park in Waltham, Massachusetts. The pre-development issues concerning him about the Hillside Building include how to position... View Details

Keywords: Expansion; Growth and Development Strategy; Property; Decisions; Interest Rates; Urban Development; Organizational Structure; Real Estate Industry; Massachusetts