Publications

July 2022
Supplement

Key Learnings about Turnarounds

By: Ranjay Gulati

July 2022 (Revised February 2023)
Case

Duolingo: Teaching Languages to the Masses

By: Youngme Moon

In early 2022, the CEO of Duolingo—the world's most popular language learning app—is faced with a number of questions involving the company's monetization and growth strategy. View Details

Keywords: Monetization Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy

July 2022
Teaching Note

eGrocery and the Role of Data and E-Commerce Analytics for CPG Firms

By: Ayelet Israeli

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 521-077. View Details

2022
Working Paper

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Satisfaction of Workers in Low-Wage Jobs

By: Elizabeth R. Johnson and Ashley V. Whillans

How did job satisfaction change during the pandemic for workers in low-wage jobs, and how did workers’ experiences compare to those in professional jobs? Using nationally representative survey data, we show that the pandemic increased the dissatisfaction of workers in... View Details

Keywords: Low-Wage Jobs; COVID-19 Pandemic; Pay; Job Satisfaction; Income Inequality; Stereotypes; Satisfaction; Compensation and Benefits; Working Conditions

Read Now

July 2022 (Revised September 2024)
Case

York Capital and Enovix

By: William Vrattos, Jo Tango and Alys Ferragamo

In June 2020, Jeremy Blank prepared for a meeting with his fellow partners at York Capital to discuss an investment he had championed in Enovix, a company developing a state-of-the-art, silicon-based battery. Early-stage technology companies, like Enovix, were not... View Details

Keywords: Investment Evaluation; Partners and Partnerships; Investment Portfolio; Judgments; Opportunities

July 2022
Case

FIJI Water: Carbon Negative? (Abridged)

By: Michael W. Toffel, George Serafeim, Francesca Gino, Stephanie Van Sice and Tom Quinn

In the midst of increasing press scrutiny of the bottled water industry’s environmentally harmful practices, FIJI Water made a series of sustainability promises. The boldest of these was a pledge to go “carbon negative.” The company said that not only would they offset... View Details

Keywords: Carbon Footprint; Carbon Offsetting; Environmental Accounting; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Pollution; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Misleading and Fraudulent Advertising; Non-Governmental Organizations; Brands and Branding; Food and Beverage Industry; Fiji; United States

July 2022
Case

General Mills: Responding to the Killing of George Floyd (A)

By: Debora L. Spar and Alicia Dadlani

Jeff Harmening, CEO of General Mills, one of the world's largest manufacturers of breakfast cereals and packaged foods, was deeply disturbed and instantly aware that he and General Mills would need to respond. George Floyd, an African-American man who had been accused... View Details

Keywords: Race; Decisions; Social Issues; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Minneapolis; Minnesota; United States

July 2022
Supplement

General Mills: Responding to the Killing of George Floyd (B)

By: Debora L. Spar and Alicia Dadlani

Jeff Harmening, CEO of General Mills, one of the world's largest manufacturers of breakfast cereals and packaged foods, was deeply disturbed and instantly aware that he and General Mills would need to respond. George Floyd, an African-American man who had been accused... View Details

Keywords: Race; Decisions; Social Issues; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Consumer Products Industry; Minneapolis; Minnesota; United States

July 8, 2022
Article

How to Conduct a Great Performance Review

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Dissatisfaction with performance appraisals is pervasive, but they remain an essential managerial responsibility. The purpose of performance reviews is two-fold: an accurate and actionable evaluation of performance, and then development of that person’s skills in line... View Details

Keywords: Performance Review; Feedback; Employees; Management Skills

Register to Read

July 1, 2022
Editorial

New Transparency Rule Helps Rein in Health Care Costs

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Cynthia A. Fisher

Over the last year, consumer prices have grown 60% faster than wages. Employers can help their employees contend with this high inflation by addressing a long-running source: health care costs. View Details

Keywords: Healthcare Costs; Consumer Prices; Inflation and Deflation; Wages; Health Industry

July 2022 (Revised March 2023)
Case

The LEGO Group: Builders of a More Diverse and Inclusive Tomorrow

By: Elie Ofek and Sarah Mehta

This case explores how the LEGO Group’s diversity and inclusion efforts from 2008 to 2022. View Details

Keywords: Race; Inclusion; Equity; Demographics; Age; Diversity; Ethnicity; Gender; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Europe; Denmark; United States

July 2022
Case

Yinglan Tan: Scaling a Venture Capital Firm in Southeast Asia

By: Josh Lerner and Richard Zhu

Yinglan Tan considered the future of his young Singapore-based venture capital firm. On the one hand, the intuition that was behind the initial creation of Insignia in 2017 had been proven correct. The venture capital market in Southeast Asia had grown rapidly, driven... View Details

Keywords: E-commerce; Scalability; Globalized Markets and Industries; Venture Capital; International Finance; Growth and Development; Expansion

July 7, 2022
Article

How to Build a Life: The Magic of a Little Danger

By: Arthur C. Brooks

Register to Read

July 2022 (Revised February 2024)
Teaching Note

The DivaCup: Navigating Distribution and Growth

By: Ayelet Israeli

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 519-055. When the mother-daughter founders of DivaCup set out with a mission to disrupt the menstrual care industry with an innovative product form, they initially struggled to gain legitimacy and convince retailers to carry their unique... View Details

July 2022
Teaching Note

Arçelik (A), (B): From a Dealer Network to an Omnichannel Experience

By: Ayelet Israeli, Fares Khrais and Menna Hassan

Arçelik Turkey, the country’s market leader in household appliances, was at an omnichannel crossroads in January 2020. Arçelik was a B2B player utilizing a dealership network with an umbrella of brands and had one of the largest brick-and-mortar store networks in... View Details

2025
Working Paper

The Political Polarization of Corporate America

By: Vyacheslav Fos, Elisabeth Kempf and Margarita Tsoutsoura

U.S. executives are increasingly segregating by political party. We establish this new fact using political affiliations from voter registration records for top executives of S&P 1500 firms between 2008 and 2022. We identify key drivers of this trend, including... View Details

Keywords: Political Polarization; Partisanship; Executives; Government and Politics; Business and Shareholder Relations; United States

SSRN

Read Now

July 2022 (Revised October 2024)
Case

3G Capital

By: Jo Tango and Alys Ferragamo

In June 2022, 3G Capital Co-Managing Partners Alex Behring and Daniel Schwartz were in a partners’ meeting. On the agenda were three potential investments. Code named “Alpha,” “Bravo,” and “Charlie” (real target companies that have been disguised), they were the... View Details

Keywords: Investment Decisions; Investment Funds; Investment Portfolio; Decision Choices and Conditions; Private Equity; Leveraged Buyouts

2022
Book

Empires of Ideas: Creating the Modern University from Germany to America to China

By: William C. Kirby

The modern university was born in Germany. In the twentieth century, the United States leapfrogged Germany to become the global leader in higher education. Will China challenge its position in the twenty-first?
Today American institutions dominate nearly every... View Details

Keywords: University; Higher Education; History; United States; Germany; China

Find at Harvard