Publications

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October 2014
Case

Progressive, 2007-2013

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

In 2013, Progressive was the fourth largest player in the auto insurance market, having lost the third position to GEICO in 2008. As the industry shifted from agency to online sales, GEICO's direct selling model positioned it strongly for growth. Progressive's direct... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Change; Insurance Companies; Insurance; Strategy; Insurance Industry; North America

October 2023
Case

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: A Curriculum Provider Puts Itself on the Hook for Student Outcomes

By: John J-H Kim, Derek C. M. van Bever, Michael Norris and Max Hancock

Jack Lynch, CEO of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) since 2017, was leading the company’s transformation from a legacy textbook publisher to a digital-first student outcomes provider, which earned subscription revenue from digital products and curriculum. In 2023, HMH... View Details

Keywords: Edtech; Textbook; Publishing; Leading Change; Change Management; Transformation; Digital Transformation; Expansion; Business Strategy; Publishing Industry; Publishing Industry; United States

October 2020
Case

PraDigi Open Learning: Transforming Rural India

By: John J-H Kim and Malini Sen

Pratham is a non-governmental organization, focusing on high-quality, low-cost and replicable interventions to address gaps in the Indian education system. Co-founder Madhav Chavan is interested in using technology for education but differed in the way it is used in... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Social Entrepreneurship; Education; Information Technology; Learning; Growth and Development Strategy; Non-Governmental Organizations; Social Issues; Education Industry; India; Asia

Spring 2024
Other Article

Introduction: International Innovation & American Challenges

By: William C. Kirby

While the United States remains a leader in higher education, the largest systems of higher education today are in India and China, and new colleges and universities spread across the world have become the leading sites of ambitious experimentation.
What are... View Details

Keywords: Innovation Leadership; Trends; Global Range; Education Industry

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03 Aug 2016
What Do You Think?

How Can We Hold the “Leadership Industry” Accountable?

Why Does the Leadership Industry Continue to Thrive? The unstated assumption underlying most of responses to this month’s column is that the leadership industry has done little or nothing to improve... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Education

January 2001 (Revised September 2002)
Case

First Marblehead Corporation (A)

By: D. Quinn Mills and Matt Salloway

Daniel Meyers, chairman and CEO of First Marblehead Corp., provides financial engineering services to educational institutions. This case deals with the market for student loans. View Details

Keywords: Financing and Loans; Education; Markets; Microfinance; Management Teams; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry

William C. Kirby is T. M. Chang Professor of China Studies at Harvard University and Spangler Family Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. He is a Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor. He serves as Chairman of the Harvard... View Details

Keywords: education industry; education industry

23 Dec 2014
Research & Ideas

The Founder of Modern Venture Capital

Georges F. Doriot, an educator and a founder of the modern venture capital industry, is the subject of a new exhibition and website at Harvard Business School, where he spent 40 years. The charismatic professor taught business and... View Details

Keywords: Education; Education

28 Mar 2012
What Do You Think?

Are Factory Jobs Important to the Economy?

which the directors toured a newly-created "beauty park" in the US, where companies cooperating to create and manufacture new fashion beauty products are located together in one light industrial park. It is a reflection of colleagues Gary... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Manufacturing

2008
Working Paper

From Social Control to Financial Economics: The Linked Ecologies of Economics and Business in Twentieth Century America

By: Marion Fourcade and Rakesh Khurana

As the main producers of managerial elites, business schools represent strategic research sites for understanding the formation of economic practices and representations. This article draws on historical material to analyze the changing place of economics in American... View Details

Keywords: Economics; Business Education; Finance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business History; Chicago

2003
Casebook

Professional Services: Text and Cases

By: Thomas J. DeLong and Ashish Nanda

DeLong and Nanda's Professional Services: Text and Cases is the first casebook to be published on the management of professional service firms (law firms, architecture, financial services, consulting). It includes a comprehensive selection of case studies that... View Details

Keywords: Professional Service Firms; Management; Cases

Find at Harvard

Victoria Ivashina is the Lovett-Learned Professor of Finance and Head of the Finance Unit at Harvard Business School. She also serves as a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), a Research Fellow at the Center for Economic Policy... View Details

Keywords: investment banking industry; investment banking industry; investment banking industry; investment banking industry; investment banking industry; investment banking industry

2008
Other Unpublished Work

From Public Purpose to Financial Economics: The Linked Ecologies of Economics and Business in Twentieth Century America

By: Marion Fourcade and Rakesh Khurana

As the main producers of managerial elites, business schools represent strategic research sites for understanding the formation of economic practices and representations. This article draws on historical material to analyze the changing place of economics in American... View Details

Keywords: Economics; Business Education; Finance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business History; Chicago

10 Nov 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Spatial Determinants of Entrepreneurship in India

Keywords: by Ejaz Ghani, William R. Kerr & Stephen O'Connell

2021
Book

The Future of Executive Development

By: Mihnea C Moldoveanu and Das Narayandas

Executive development programs have entered a period of rapid transformation, driven by digital disruption and a widening gap between the skills that participants and their organizations demand and those provided by their executive programs. This work delves into the... View Details

Keywords: Executive Education; Leadership Development; Management Skills; Education Industry

November 2011 (Revised December 2013)
Case

The Long and Short of Apollo Group and the University of Phoenix (A)

By: Luis M. Viceira, Joel Heilprin, Andrew S. Holmes and Damian M. Zajac

A hedge fund is deciding whether to liquidate its position in Apollo Group, a for-profit education firm, in light of significant political and macro-economic uncertainty facing the industry. As part of the investment analysis a complete discounted cash flow analysis... View Details

Keywords: Higher Education; Internet and the Web; Education Industry; Education Industry