Publications

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George Serafeim is the Charles M. Williams Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He co-leads a Lab, within Harvard's Digital, Data, Design Institute, and serves on the faculty steering commitee of Harvard University's Salata Institute. He... View Details

Keywords: asset management; insurance industry; automobiles; industrial goods; fashion; food; green technology

January 2008
Class Lecture

Billions of Entrepreneurs: The Yin and Yang of China and India (FSS)

By: Tarun Khanna

Two emerging nations, China and India, are on the move to wards economic development. They are entering the world economy on their own terms. China's model has received greater attention. India's is a diametrically different model-yin to China's yang-with different... View Details

Keywords: Development Economics; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Emerging Markets; Business and Government Relations; China; India

January 2024 (Revised May 2024)
Case

Generation Investment Management

By: Vikram S. Gandhi, Michael Norris and David Allen

In September 2021, the sustainable investment firm Generation Investment Management (Generation) considered whether to add Schneider Electric to the focus list of companies in which it was prepared to invest. Dedicated to promoting a sustainable world through its... View Details

Keywords: Sustainable Investing; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Governance; Private Equity; Public Equity; Financial Markets; Investment Return; Investment Activism; Investment Funds; Investment Portfolio; Institutional Investing; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Financial Services Industry; United Kingdom; England; London

2017
Working Paper

Minimizing Justified Envy in School Choice: The Design of New Orleans' OneApp

By: Atila Abdulkadiroglu, Yeon-Koo Che, Parag A. Pathak, Alvin E. Roth and Oliver Tercieux

In 2012, New Orleans Recovery School District (RSD) became the first U.S. district to unify charter and traditional public school admissions in a single-offer assignment mechanism known as OneApp. The RSD also became the first district to use a mechanism based on Top... View Details

Keywords: Education; Decision Choices and Conditions; Marketplace Matching; Mathematical Methods; Design

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October 2007 (Revised January 2009)
Case

The Hertz Corporation (A)

By: Timothy A. Luehrman and Douglas Scott

Examines the leveraged buyout of Hertz in 2005, a complex, high-profile deal and a good example of cutting-edge practice in private equity. The first of a two-part series on the Hertz LBO, adopts the perspective of Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, the leader of a private... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Private Equity; Bids and Bidding; Negotiation Deal; Valuation; Value Creation; Financial Services Industry; United States

28 Jul 2008
Research & Ideas

Making the Decision to Franchise (or not)

decentralize their operations more; or they may provide more variable pay to employees when operating across diverse market types," Campbell continues. "Reporting structures, performance measurement systems, communication, IT strategies... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail

14 Oct 2008
Research & Ideas

Should You Bring Advertising Expertise In-House?

reasons include structural changes in the advertising industry such as the unbundling of agency services, and improved communication tools that make it easier and more cost efficient for firms to manage some aspect of their own... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Advertising

12 Aug 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Culture Clash: The Costs and Benefits of Homogeneity

Keywords: by Eric J. Van den Steen

September 2024
Case

Leadership for Stretch Goals: Inspiring Employees to Achieve the Impossible at Charter Next Generation

By: Ethan Rouen and Elisabeth Powell

In 2023, Kathy Bolhous, CEO of Charter Next Generation (CNG), set out to achieve an ambitious "Moonshot"—increasing profits by $100 million within three years, purely through internal innovations and efficiency gains, without layoffs or new revenue streams. After years... View Details

Keywords: Profit; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Leadership; Growth Management; Mission and Purpose; Employee Ownership; Motivation and Incentives

21 May 2007
Research & Ideas

Fixing the Marketing-CEO Disconnect

the emergence of the CMO position, one might expect that oversight of marketing would be efficiently consolidated. However, marketing decision making has been increasingly... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

January 2021 (Revised July 2022)
Case

Snapp: Scaling Under Sanctions in Iran (A)

By: Meg Rithmire and Gamze Yucaoglu

The case opens in November 2019 as Eyad Alkassar and Mahmoud Fouz, co-founders of Iran’s first and leading ride-hailing platform, Snapp, find out about Apple’s and Google’s decisions to remove all Iranian apps from their respective application stores.
The case... View Details

Keywords: Sanctions; Change Management; Disruption; Volatility; Decision Choices and Conditions; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Government and Politics; International Relations; National Security; Risk Management; Crisis Management; Transportation Industry; Iran; Middle East

August 2000
Article

Corporate Reorganizations and Non-Cash Auctions

By: Matthew Rhodes-Kropf and S. Viswanathan

This paper extends the theory of non-cash auctions by considering the revenue and efficiency of using different securities. Research on bankruptcy and privatization suggests using non-cash auctions to increase cash-constrained bidder participation. We examine this... View Details

Keywords: Auctions; Revenue; Debt Securities; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Privatization; Capital Structure; Bids and Bidding; Motivation and Incentives; Performance Efficiency; Contracts

June 2024
Case

Growing Foodology into Latin America's Largest Platform for Virtual Restaurants

By: Jorge Tamayo, Rembrand Koning and Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago

This case delves into the expansion strategy of Foodology, a cloud kitchen startup based in Bogotá that operated across four Latin American countries (Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, and Peru). Co-founders Daniela Izquierdo and Juan Guillermo Azuero (both HBS, 2019) grappled... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Food; Digital Platforms; Product Launch; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; Business Model; Business Startups; Profit; Marketing Strategy; Expansion; Diversification; Food and Beverage Industry; Latin America; South America; Colombia; Brazil; Mexico; Peru

2008
Working Paper

Extending Producer Responsibility: An Evaluation Framework for Product Take-Back Policies

By: Michael W. Toffel, Antoinette Stein and Katharine Lee

Manufacturers are increasingly being required to adhere to product take-back regulations that require them to manage their products at the end of life. Such regulations seek to internalize products' entire life cycle costs into market prices, with the ultimate... View Details

Keywords: Product; Cost; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability

SSRN

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December 2003 (Revised March 2004)
Case

FIRA: Confronting the Mexican Agricultural Crisis

By: James E. Austin, Michael Chu and Cate Reavis

In fall 2003, Mexico's agriculture sector was facing a crisis brought on largely by a surge in cheap U.S. imports resulting from NAFTA and inaccessible and/or expensive terms of credit for Mexican agricultural producers. It was getting harder for Mexican producers to... View Details

Keywords: Development Economics; Public Sector; Trade; Financial Instruments; Crisis Management; Markets; Strategic Planning; Partners and Partnerships; Competitive Strategy; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

November–December 2014
Article

Accountable? The Problems and Solutions of Online Ad Optimization

By: Benjamin Edelman

Online advertising might seem to be the most measurable form of marketing ever invented. Comprehensive records can track who clicked what ad—and often who saw what ad—to compare those clicks with users' subsequent purchases. Ever-cheaper IT makes this tracking... View Details

Keywords: Online Advertising; Fraud; Optimization; Incentives; Digital Marketing; Contracts; Marketing Strategy; Organizational Design