Publications

July 2009 (Revised August 2009)
Case

From Little Things Big Things Grow: The Clontarf Foundation Program for Aboriginal Boys

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Michael Vitale

This case focuses on the growth of an innovative non-profit institution that motivates aboriginal children to attend school by harnessing their love of football. View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Business or Company Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Problems and Challenges; Welfare; Education; Sports; Service Industry

17 Nov 2003
Research & Ideas

The Business Case for Diabetes Disease Management

a year to treat a newly diagnosed diabetic patient; obviously, the numbers go up if a diabetic suffers serious complications. Healthcare providers have attempted a number of disease management strategies over the last ten years or so. The... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Health

February 2010 (Revised June 2011)
Case

SEWA Trade Facilitation Center: Changing the Spool

By: Mukti Khaire and Kathleen L. McGinn

The case is about the decision to convert a not-for-profit organization into a for-profit company. SEWA Trade Facilitation Center (STFC), which is part of a larger non-profit organization—the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA)—works to improve the livelihoods of... View Details

Keywords: Cooperative Ownership; For-Profit Firms; Gender; Business Model; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Nonprofit Organizations; Arts; Entrepreneurship; Economic Growth; Growth and Development Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; India

12 Dec 2012
Research & Ideas

Book Excerpt: Strength in Numbers

effort of the nonprofit March of Dimes in the 1920s to raise funding for polio research. The organization's strategies to induce contributions relied heavily on social pressure. Popular culture icons such as... View Details

Keywords: Re: Gunnar Trumbull

January 2008 (Revised January 2008)
Case

Two Brattle Center: A Mental-Health Clinic in Search of a Viable Operating Model

By: Robert G. Eccles

Two Brattle Center (TBC) is a struggling for-profit private mental health clinic based in Harvard Square. Its founder, Dr. Joan Wheelis, is a nationally recognized practicing psychiatrist who has developed outpatient treatment programs based on Dialectical Behavior... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Strategy; Health Care and Treatment; Health Disorders; Medical Specialties; Nonprofit Organizations; Emotions; Health Industry; United States

26 Feb 2008
First Look

First Look: February 26, 2008

Truth and Deception, edited by M. S. McGlone and M. L. Knapp. Routledge, 2008 Abstract When people behave in ways that might appear selfish, prejudiced or perverted, they engage in a host of strategies designed to justify questionable... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

10 Jun 2014
First Look

First Look: June 10

make their mission-driven product a reality. The case explores the co-founders' decision to pursue either a for-profit or nonprofit structure and their strategy for scaling their product, Teach to One.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 2024
Case

Open Door Legal: Universal Legal Access

By: Brian Trelstad, Taylor Greenthal and Sarah Mehta

This case is about Open Door Legal (ODL), a San Francisco-based civil legal aid nonprofit. CEO Adrian Tirtanadi founded the organization in 2012 with a mission to achieve universal access to legal representation for all city residents. By 2024, ODL had opened four... View Details

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Law; Growth Management; Nonprofit Organizations; Civil Society or Community; Business Model; Expansion; Legal Services Industry; United States; California; Los Angeles; San Francisco

November 2002 (Revised March 2006)
Case

ApproTEC Kenya: Technologies to Fight Poverty and Create Wealth

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

ApproTEC markets a range of technologies to improve the income of subsistence farmers and other small-scale entrepreneurs in East Africa. Having achieved considerable success in its first eight years, the two founders/entrepreneurs are seeking ways to scale the impact... View Details

Keywords: Social Enterprise; Development Economics; Poverty; Information Technology; Entrepreneurship; Nonprofit Organizations; Growth and Development Strategy; Kenya; Africa

April 2006
Case

Adrian Ivinson at the Harvard Center for Neurodegeneration and Repair

By: Robert Steven Kaplan and Ayesha Kanji

Adrian Ivinson is the director of Harvard Center for Neurodegeneration and Repair (HCNR), a not-for-profit research center at the Harvard Medical School (HMS). The center was started in late 2000 with a gift of $37.5 million from an anonymous donor. Its mandate was to... View Details

Keywords: Leadership Style; Power and Influence; Organizational Culture; Research and Development; Nonprofit Organizations; Motivation and Incentives; Change Management; Alignment; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Health Industry; Massachusetts

01 May 2007
First Look

First Look: May 1, 2007

Dot Public Schools: To Collaborate or Compete? Harvard Business School Case 307-086 In order to execute a strategy to transform the entire 768-school Los Angeles public school district, Green Dot Public Schools, a View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

06 May 2013
Research & Ideas

How Local Events Shake Up Corporate Philanthropy

philanthropy because even global companies tend to focus corporate giving on local nonprofits. Charitable behavior is a key area of interest for Marquis, whose research and teaching focuses on businesses' social strategies and activities.... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

29 May 2020
Op-Ed

How Leaders Are Fighting Food Insecurity on Three Continents

COVID-19 is creating unprecedented strains on food security worldwide. The United Nations' World Food Programme warns that the pandemic could almost double the number of people facing food crises in low- and middle-income populations to 265 million by the end of 2020.... View Details

Keywords: by Howard Stevenson and Shirley Spence; Agriculture & Agribusiness

September 2011
Teaching Note

Salud Digna: Successfully Competing with For-Profit Organizations (TN)

By: Allen S. Grossman

Teaching Note for 311-051. View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Profit; Capital; Mission and Purpose; Growth Management; Nonprofit Organizations; Competitive Strategy; Mexico