Publications

August 2018 (Revised February 2023)
Case

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

By: Jill Avery and Ayelet Israeli

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 valuation of $200 million and debating... View Details

2024
Working Paper

Bounded Solidarity: The Role of Migrants in Shaping Entrepreneurial Ventures

By: Astrid Marinoni and Prithwiraj Choudhury

We explore a previously unexamined aspect of migrants’ contributions to local entrepreneurial ecosystems: the value created by cooperative interactions between migrants and locals in entrepreneurial ventures. Specifically, we analyze whether mixed teams composed of... View Details

Keywords: Migration; Mobility; Entrepreneurship; Immigration; Demographics; Groups and Teams

SSRN

12 PM – 1 PM EST, 11 Dec 2014
Webinars: Trending@HBS

Leadership Lessons from the 2010 Chilean Mine Rescue

Professor Edmondson will explore teaming as a dynamic response to the demands of knowledge intensive businesses. Organizations that do it well have a competitive advantage, because teaming is how organizations learn how they anticipate and respond to shifts in the... View Details

22 Dec 2022
Blog Post

Climate Stories Episode #13: Democratizing Climate Returns - Nisha Desai (HBS 1997), Founder and CEO of Invest With Intention

Climate Stories Episode #13 – Democratizing Climate Returns: Nisha Desai (HBS 1997) Founder and CEO of Invest With Intention “We’re democratizing impact investing, not just for impact, but for returns for View Details

November 2007
Background Note

Event Arbitrage

By: Joshua D. Coval and Erik Stafford

The event arbitrage module includes two simulation sessions. The first simulation focuses on analyzing and evaluating individual merger transactions, while the second simulation emphasizes managing a portfolio of individual positions and the limitations of arbitrage... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Capital Markets; Financial Management; Investment Portfolio; Risk Management

January 2004 (Revised April 2004)
Case

Excel Academy Charter Middle School, The

This case is set in the summer of 2002 in a recently approved charter middle school in Boston. The school's founders face a choice of compensation plans as they finalize the initial teaching team in the school. In particular, the founders are actively considering two... View Details

Keywords: Teaching; Performance; Compensation and Benefits; Boston

January 2022
Article

Why is Corporate Virtue in the Eye of The Beholder? The Case of ESG Ratings

By: Dane Christensen, George Serafeim and Anywhere Sikochi

Despite the rising use of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings, there is substantial disagreement across rating agencies regarding what rating to give to individual firms. As what drives this disagreement is unclear, we examine whether a firm’s ESG... View Details

Keywords: ESG Ratings; Rating Agency Disagreement; ESG Disclosure; Corporate Social Responsibility; Sustainability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Disclosure

August 1998 (Revised July 2002)
Case

Innovation at 3M Corporation (A)

By: Stefan H. Thomke and Ashok Nimgade

Describes how 3M Corp. introduces and learns a new and innovative methodology called Lead User research to understand future customer and market needs. A team from 3M's Medical-Surgical Markets Division applies the Lead User methodology to the field of surgical... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Managerial Roles; Marketing Strategy; Demand and Consumers; Market Timing; Product Development; Problems and Challenges; Business Strategy; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

August 2013 (Revised October 2013)
Case

Modern Family Planning: The Business of Circle Surrogacy

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Blake Landro

The business of surrogacy, a boutique practice with client costs upwards of $100,000, allowed couples and individuals from a variety of backgrounds, ages, and sexual orientations to build families. This case examines Circle Surrogacy (CS), one of the premier surrogacy... View Details

Keywords: Family Planning; Platform; Competitive Advantage; Law; Globalization; Competitive Strategy; Digital Platforms; United States; Ukraine

March 2024 (Revised April 2024)
Case

Coursera's Foray into GenAI

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Michael Parzen and Radhika Kak

In early 2023, Maggioncalda, CEO of US EdTech firm Coursera, launched Project Genesis to develop a strategy for incorporating GenAI capabilities into the firm's offerings, asking his teams to focus on value to the firm and cost of implementation. The team identified... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; AI and Machine Learning; Brands and Branding; Business Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Technological Innovation; Education Industry; Technology Industry; United States

11 Feb 2019
HBS Seminar

Peter Belmi, University of Virginia Darden School of Business

2020
Working Paper

Engineering Serendipity: When Does Knowledge Sharing Lead to Knowledge Production?

By: Jacqueline N. Lane, Ina Ganguli, Patrick Gaule, Eva C. Guinan and Karim R. Lakhani

We investigate how knowledge similarity between two individuals is systematically related to the likelihood that a serendipitous encounter results in knowledge production. We conduct a natural field experiment at a medical research symposium, where we exogenously... View Details

Keywords: Cognitive Similarity; Knowledge Creation; Knowledge Sharing; Knowledge Dissemination; Relationships

SSRN

Article

Who Benefits from Religion?

By: Daniel Mochon, Michael I. Norton and Dan Ariely

Many studies have documented the benefits of religious involvement. Indeed, highly religious people tend to be healthier, live longer, and have higher levels of subjective well-being. While religious involvement offers clear benefits to many, in this paper we explore... View Details

Keywords: Religion; Values and Beliefs; Welfare

19 Apr 2018
Video

Alpha Vantage Final Pitch New Venture Competition 2018 Business Track

July 2020 (Revised May 2021)
Case

Oxygen Esports

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

On May 4, 2020, a press release from Boston, Massachusetts, announced the launch of Oxygen Esports (Oxygen), a new organization that hoped to dominate the rising esports scene in New England. Oxygen was created from a merger between Helix eSports (Helix), an owner and... View Details

Keywords: Esports; Sports; Online Technology; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Entrepreneurship; Strategy

Research Summary

My research is concerned with the way in which people find their way to meaningful and satisfying work. I am also interested in the way in which the culture and productivity of business organizations are enhanced when individuals are able to move toward work activities... View Details

Article

Why Leadership Training Fails—and What to Do about It

By: Michael Beer, Magnus Finnström and Derek Schrader

U.S. corporations spend enormous amounts of money—some $456 billion globally in 2015 alone—on employee training and education, but they aren't getting a good return on their investment. People soon revert to old ways of doing things, and company performance doesn't... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leadership Development; Organizational Design; Employees; Business Processes; United States

Register to Read

October 2003 (Revised January 2016)
Supplement

The BCPC Internet Strategy Team: Morgan Jones

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Laura Feldman

Accompanies The BCPC Internet Strategy Team: An Exercise and provides unique background information on one of the team members. View Details

Keywords: Groups and Teams; Decision Choices and Conditions