Publications

Find at Harvard

15 Nov 2001
Research & Ideas

Five Questions for Paul Gompers and Josh Lerner

promising new technologies, a set of knowledgeable managers willing to take risks, helpful regulatory and tax conditions, and robust markets in order to exit investments. Despite these challenges, the past few years have seen a surge of... View Details

Keywords: by Carol Elsen; Financial Services

26 Jan 2004
Research & Ideas

What Developing-World Companies Teach Us About Innovation

ten times that of developing nations. 3. Managers in these companies must often innovate on a shoestring budget, since the high cost and scarcity of capital preclude massive spending on R&D. As a result,... View Details

Keywords: by Donald N. Sull, Alejandro Ruelas-Gossi & Martin Escobari

May 2024
Supplement

Miami’s Climate Tech Potential (B): The 2024 Tech Hub Proposal

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jacob A. Small

Miami-Dade County led the work to get South Florida designated a national climate resilience tech hub, the only one of 31 focused on climate change, an urgent major issue for the region in light of global warming and sea level rise. Venture capitalists saw the... View Details

Keywords: Climate Change; Venture Capital; Investment; Entrepreneurship; Green Technology; Government Administration; City

03 Feb 2016
What Do You Think?

How Do You Hire an 'Impostor'?

sense that (he/she) could have been/done/made more than they did that sounds like a solid hire to me provided their manager is perceptive enough to avoid (him/her) burning out. If the ‘imposter’ however literally can’t ‘see’ how they got... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

September 2020
Case

&pizza: Leading an ‘Employee-First’ Company During a Period of Societal Challenges

By: Francesca Gino and Jeffrey Huizinga

&Pizza is a pizza chain that in the spring of 2020 finds its business completely up-ended by the COVID-19 crisis and shut-down. Many companies in the restaurant and hospitality sector responded to the crisis by shutting down their operations and laying off employees.... View Details

Keywords: Agility; Crisis; Culture; Values; COVID-19 Pandemic; Crisis Management; Leadership; Organizational Culture; Values and Beliefs; Employee Relationship Management

July 1995 (Revised May 1997)
Case

Nutra Foods

By: David F. Hawkins

An investor reviews his equity investment and asks for help in understanding how the stock splits and dividends impact his investment and the company's stockholders' equity portion of the balance sheet. View Details

Keywords: History; Financial Management; Private Equity; Capital Structure; Valuation; Investment Return; Business and Shareholder Relations; Financial Services Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

Find at Harvard

February 1995 (Revised September 1995)
Case

The Bourland Companies

By: William J. Poorvu and John H. Vogel Jr.

Michael Bourland, the president of the Bourland Companies, needs to refinance two properties, an office building in southern New Hampshire and a retail property in Massachusetts. He is considering three alternatives: a renewal of a bank mini-perm, a 15-year mortgage... View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Property; Mortgages; Family Business; Financial Management; Family Ownership; Real Estate Industry; Massachusetts; North and Central America

7 Nov 2010
Conference Presentation

Speaking Up Constructively: Managerial Practices That Elicit Solutions from Front-line Employees

By: Michael W. Toffel

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Employees; Conflict and Resolution

02 May 2000
Research & Ideas

Leading Professional Service Firms

It's a funny image that touches the underlying anxiety some firm leaders express about managing and maximizing human resources. When their people get on the elevator at night, there's no guarantee they'll be... View Details

Keywords: Re: Jay W. Lorsch; Service; Consulting; Accounting

18 Jul 2005
Research & Ideas

Identify Emerging Market Opportunities

framework—that lets executives map the institutional contexts of any country. Economics 101 tells us that companies buy inputs in the product, labor, and capital markets and sell their outputs in the products (raw materials and finished... View Details

Keywords: by Tarun Khanna, Krishna G. Palepu & Jayant Sinha

May 1985
Supplement

Milford Industries (A1)

By: Robert J. Dolan

Presents the salesforce performance data of the Milford (A) case in a format suitable for spreadsheet analysis using a personal computer. View Details

Keywords: Managerial Roles; Salesforce Management; Resignation and Termination; Performance Evaluation

02 Sep 2008
First Look

First Look: September 3, 2008

intention of the course is to leave the participants actually being leaders and being able to exercise leadership effectively and for the course to contribute to creating a new science of leadership. The course is founded on an ontological model of View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 1996 (Revised November 2018)
Case

Ecolab, Inc.

By: Ashish Nanda

By 1993, Ecolab has established a dominant market position in the institutional cleaning industry. As the company’s principal competitor, Diversify, drives sales aggressively, Ecolab president Al Schuman faces a choice about how best to market Ecolab’s offerings.... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Employees; Retention; Marketing Strategy; Risk Management; Service Industry

29 May 2020
Op-Ed

How Leaders Are Fighting Food Insecurity on Three Continents

according to the Nwunelis. Sahel Capital Agribusiness Managers, where Mezuo Nwuneli is the managing partner, provides capital and technical assistance to food and... View Details

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

March 2014
Case

LGBT Issues at Exxon Mobil Corporation

By: Joseph L. Badaracco and Matthew Preble

In late September 2013, Exxon Mobil Corporation announced that it would begin offering benefits to the spouses of its employees in same-sex marriages. This short supplement touches upon what led Exxon Mobil to this decision, some insights into its previous relationship... View Details

Keywords: Human Capital; Welfare; Human Resources; Utilities Industry; United States

February 2002 (Revised May 2003)
Case

Endeca Technologies (A)

By: G. Felda Hardymon, Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon

Steve Papa, CEO of Endeca Technologies, must decide among two term sheets raising the same amount of badly needed money for his young software company. One deal is led by insiders and, is offered at a lower price. It continues a board that has worked very well and... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Cost vs Benefits; Financial Condition; Financing and Loans; Management Skills; Financial Strategy; Corporate Finance; Decision Choices and Conditions; Information Technology Industry

04 Oct 2024
In Practice

Research-Based Advice for the Seasonally Overwhelmed and Schedule Challenged

ambition. “Hubris and the ubiquity of devices configured to interrupt us make focused work a near impossibility for many.” Time management principles at work are well understood, just terribly hard to implement. View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

January 2010 (Revised November 2012)
Case

Savage Beast (A1)

By: Noam Wasserman and LP Maurice

For several months, things had been spiraling downwards at Savage Beast, the music-recommendation company started three years before by Tim Westergren. The company's founder-CEO recently left due to pressures both at home and within the venture. Dozens of investors... View Details

Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Financing and Loans; Lawsuits and Litigation; Management Teams; Partners and Partnerships