Publications

August 1998 (Revised October 2002)
Case

Harbus Foundation, The

By: James E. Austin and Linda Carrigan

Describes the challenges faced by a group of HBS students as they create a foundation. Given surplus funds generated by the student-run newspaper, The Harbus leadership decides to find a meaningful use for the excess cash. Profiles both the entrepreneurial process used... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Asset Management; Financial Institutions; Investment Portfolio; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Problems and Challenges; Social Enterprise; Valuation; Financial Services Industry

Find at Harvard

21 Feb 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: February 21

histories spanning generations, we combine induction and deduction to propose reputation as a meta-resource that allows firms to activate their conventional resources. We conceptualize reputation View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

15 Oct 2008
First Look

First Look: October 15, 2008

advertising agency's decision to unbundle its services as a tradeoff between the fixed cost to the advertiser of establishing and maintaining a... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

December 2000
Background Note

Networked Utility Providers

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Alastair Brown

Defines and describes ways to categorize networked utilities, software "applets" such as RealNetwork's RealPlayer, Macromedia's Shockwave, and AOL's ICQ that are downloaded via the Internet. Networked utilities extend basic Web browser capability to allow users to... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Software; Web Services Industry

Find at Harvard

Career Coach

Lauren Murphy

responsibility at the Proctor & Gamble company where she was a Brand Manager and a Regional Marketing Manager. She began her business career in the buying office as an Area... View Details

01 Jan 2013
News

Roger W. Sant, MBA 1960

their "least-cost energy" strategy, focusing on minimizing the cost and the environmental impact of energy services such as heat and light. "Cogeneration," a technique that... View Details

Keywords: Susan Young

Web

Case Studies - Social Impact Collaboratory

investors as well as trustees of leading nonprofits had expressed uncertainty about whether MRIs were compatible with a board’s fiduciary duties. Darren wondered if his board... View Details

January 1998 (Revised November 2003)
Case

Morgan Stanley and S.G. Warburg: Investment Bank of the Future (A)

By: James K. Sebenius and David T. Kotchen

Describes secretive negotiations that took place between the top executives of Morgan Stanley and S.G. Warburg in the fall of 1994, when the two firms were contemplating a merger that would create one of the world's most powerful investment banks. By December, in order... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Investment Banking; Mergers and Acquisitions; Consolidation; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry

Find at Harvard

Web

Online Business Strategy Course | HBS Online

Professionals General Managers Consultants and Investors Develop a powerful, value-based strategy to achieve greater success for your team and organization. Participating in the student discussions was empowering. It ignited View Details

March 2010 (Revised April 2013)
Case

Equitas Microfinance: The Fastest-Growing MFI on the Planet

By: V.G. Narayanan and V. Kasturi Rangan

Founded as a for-profit microfinance company, Equitas had acquired nearly a million clients in the short two years since it was founded. The founder, Vasu, and his management team wished to accelerate the already impressive spurt to three million clients in the next... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Microfinance; Growth and Development Strategy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Social Enterprise; Financial Services Industry; India

November 2015 (Revised August 2016)
Case

Unilever's New Global Strategy: Competing through Sustainability

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

In January 2009, when Paul Polman was appointed CEO of Unilever, he inherited a company in long-term decline at the beginning of a major global financial crisis. As the first outsider ever recruited to lead the company, Polman lost little time in challenging the... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Competitive Strategy; Environmental Sustainability; Consumer Products Industry

29 Nov 2006
Research & Ideas

Rich or Royal: What Do Founders Want?

What motivates entrepreneurs? Money? Control? In truth, some entrepreneurs are expecting to get rich. Others want to grow and control a new venture. But most would probably answer: "both." The problem, View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Financial Services

09 Mar 2023
Blog Post

Where Will You Be in 30 Years: Behind the Scenes of the 5 Big Life Decisions Documentary

moving into leadership roles in a racially charged environment, as well as their international classmates returning to Eastern Europe after the fall of communism. Furthermore,... View Details

25 Aug 2022
News

Understanding the Digital, Data, and Design Institute at Harvard

which senior executives identify as one of their top priorities, along with climate change and diversity, equity, and inclusion. REINVENTING THE FUTURE OF BUSINESS READ MORE STORIES REINVENTING THE FUTURE OF BUSINESS READ MORE STORIES... View Details

16 Dec 2014
First Look

First Look: December 16

individuals, as in a team) and gave them collective responsibility for a whole task. We conceptualized the mesolevel structures as team scaffolds... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2013 (Revised February 2014)
Case

Phu My Hung

By: John Macomber and Dawn H. Lau

Privately held city development promoters decide whether to partner on next phase or go it alone in a 20-year, 4000-acre project. Set outside of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, this decades-long project led by two Taiwanese families reshaped and built the economic... View Details

Keywords: Urban Development; Infrastructure; Real Estate Industry; Viet Nam