Publications

19 Jul 2023
Blog Post

A Pathway to Pursue Aspirations

While Mizuho Kanai (MBA 2018) was fulfilling her summer internship at NPR, her manager recommended that she read an HBS case study about how the Sesame Workshop CEO, Jeff Dunn (MBA 1981), was changing the institution. “I was blown away,” she says, “by how Jeff and his... View Details

27 Nov 2023
Research & Ideas

Voting Democrat or Republican? The Critical Childhood Influence That's Tough to Shake

American political candidates are forecast to spend as much as $12 billion by next November to put ads on airwaves, texts on phones, and signs on lawns. Yet new research from Harvard Business School finds that no amount of money can undo... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

Career Coach

Maggie Yang

Experience: KPMG, ofo (Series E+ mobility-tech start-up, joined U.S. founding team), VIPKid (Series E+ ed-tech start-up, led U.S. Global Business Development and founded/GMed new business unit), Amazon... View Details

2010
Book

Different: Escaping the Competitive Herd

By: Youngme Moon

Every few years a book-through a combination of the author's unique voice, storytelling ability, spirit, and insight-simply breaks the mold. Youngme Moon's DIFFERENT is that kind of book, a book for "people who don't read business books...," a book that feels like an... View Details

Keywords: Communication Intention and Meaning; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Marketing; Creativity; Competition

Find at Harvard

24 Jun 2019
Blog Post

Chloe Ho, MBA 2019: Data-Driven and In Demand

After graduating at the University of Pennsylvania in 2012, Chloe Ho (MBA 2019) began her post-undergrad career in New York working for Morgan Stanley. While there, she served in a strategy and analytics role, working on projects for... View Details

Keywords: Technology

20 Jan 2015
First Look

First Look: January 20

They recommend a more coherent strategy that divides CSR efforts into three categories including those related to philanthropy, operational effectiveness, and shaping the firm's business model to better... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Web

Teaching by the Case Method - Christensen Center for Teaching & Learning

Assessment and Feedback Sample Class Each subsection provides perspectives and guidance through a written overview, supplemented by video commentary from experienced case method instructors. Where relevant, links are included to downloadable documents produced by the... View Details

May 1996 (Revised August 2001)
Case

Timberland and Community Involvement

By: James E. Austin and Jaan Elias

The Timberland Co., a manufacturer and retailer of footwear, outdoor apparel, and accessories, committed itself to instituting and communicating a core set of values to its employees, stockholders, and consumers. The system of beliefs emphasized community service.... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Values and Beliefs; Business and Community Relations; Social Enterprise; Corporate Strategy; Apparel and Accessories Industry

June 16, 2014
Article

Working With Your In-Laws Isn't Always a Terrible Idea

By: Josh Baron and Rob Lachenauer

This article delves into the complex dynamics involving in-laws within family-owned enterprises. In-laws often face a challenging dual role as they must conform to the same professional standards as non-family employees while concurrently grappling with perceptions of... View Details

Keywords: Family and Family Relationships; Family Ownership; Employees

Register to Read

November 2021 (Revised December 2022)
Case

Babban Gona: Great Farm

By: Kristin Fabbe, Tarun Khanna, Caroline M. Elkins, Zeke Gillman, Eleni Kyrkopoulou and Thomaz Teodorovicz

In 2020, Babban Gona was one of the world’s largest farming operations with over 140,000 acres of maize farms, an area over ten times as large as Manhattan, and over 80,000 member-farmers in Nigeria. According to the company, the average Nigerian farmer’s net income... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Value Creation; Agribusiness; Capital Budgeting; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Nigeria; Africa

June 2008 (Revised April 2013)
Case

Bernd Beetz: Creating the New Coty

By: Geoffrey Jones and David Kiron

Considers the creation of the world's largest fragrance company by Bernd Beetz, appointed chief executive of Coty Inc. in 2001. In 1990 the German consumer goods company Benkiser began acquiring fragrance and cosmetics brands with the intent of developing a beauty... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Entrepreneurship; Globalized Firms and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Germany; United States

December 2008 (Revised March 2009)
Case

The World Food Programme during the Global Food Crisis (A)

By: Anette Mikes, Peter Tufano, Eric D. Werker and Jan-Emmanuel De Neve

Rising food prices threatened an unprecedented number of people around the world with malnutrition or starvation in 2008. The new Executive Director of the United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP)—the world's largest food relief agency—must not only address this... View Details

Keywords: Food; Globalized Firms and Management; Nutrition; Crisis Management; Business and Government Relations; Nonprofit Organizations; Welfare

January 2021 (Revised March 2021)
Supplement

Toyota and Its Labor Union in Argentina (B)

By: Jorge Tamayo, Erik Snowberg and Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago

Toyota Argentina (TASA) and the union representing automotive industry workers in the country had been working together since 2011 to address the challenges faced by Toyota’s manufacturing plant in Zárate (Argentina). The strategy for moving forward was built on an... View Details

Keywords: Manufacturing Performance; Production; Performance Improvement; Strategy; Labor Unions; Labor and Management Relations; Agreements and Arrangements; Strategic Planning; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Auto Industry; Argentina

November 1986 (Revised December 1992)
Case

Kentucky Fried Chicken (Japan) Ltd.

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Describes the internationalization of the Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) fast food chain, focusing on KFC's entry into Japan. An entrepreneurial country general manager, Lou Weston, battles numerous problems to establish the business and is eventually highly successful.... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Entrepreneurship; Globalized Economies and Regions; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Market Entry and Exit; Strategic Planning; Agency Theory; Perspective; Corporate Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; Japan

26 Sep 2023
Cold Call Podcast

The PGA Tour and LIV Golf Merger: Competition vs. Cooperation

Keywords: Sports

June 2018
Article

Cost of Experimentation and the Evolution of Venture Capital

By: Michael Ewens, Ramana Nanda and Matthew Rhodes-Kropf

We study how technological shocks to the cost of starting new businesses have led the venture capital model to adapt in fundamental ways over the prior decade. We both document and provide a framework to understand the changes in the investment strategy of VCs in... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Investing; Abandonment Option; Technological Innovation; Venture Capital; Investment

2017
Working Paper

Cost of Experimentation and the Evolution of Venture Capital

By: Michael Ewens, Ramana Nanda and Matthew Rhodes-Kropf

We study how technological shocks to the cost of starting new businesses have led the venture capital model to adapt in fundamental ways over the prior decade. We both document and provide a framework to understand the changes in the investment strategy of VCs in... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Investing; Abandonment Option; Technological Innovation; Venture Capital; Entrepreneurship; Investment