Publications

23 Jun 2003
Research & Ideas

Building a Better Buyer-Seller Relationship

and Rangan in a recent working paper. In his talk, Narayandas explained how he has answered three questions that bedevil researchers: 1) From the supplier's viewpoint, does it pay off to be in long-term customer relationships? 2) If yes,... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

28 May 2012
Research & Ideas

A Pragmatic Alternative for Creating a Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy

Associates. A social responsibility strategy should fulfill two goals: create a positive social impact, and enhance the company's brand, reputation, employee morale, and/or its bottom line, Rangan says. "But... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

01 Jul 2013
Research & Ideas

Crowdfunding a Poor Investment?

for the Securities and Exchange Commission to pass rules that would allow for crowdfunding investment on a large scale. Already, companies have dipped their toes into crowdfunding through websites such as... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

06 Mar 2020
Book

A Great Teacher's Lessons for Leading

educating MBAs at HBS. Martha Lagace: Teachers are leaders, as you argue in your new book, and yet most managers don’t receive any training in teaching. How can managers approach their role in a new way?... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Education

03 Mar 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Testing a Purportedly More Learnable Auction Mechanism

Keywords: by Katherine L. Milkman, James Burns, David C. Parkes, Gregory M. Barron & Kagan Tumer; Web Services

02 Aug 2024
HBS Case

How a Mission to Cut Food Waste Launched a Multimillion-Dollar Venture

example of the growing number of social entrepreneurs whose credo is “putting purpose before profit,” as Harvard Business School Senior Lecturer and serial entrepreneur Reza Satchu chronicles in a 2024 case... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Technology; Information Technology

September 2016 (Revised March 2020)
Teaching Note

Fasten: Challenging Uber and Lyft with a New Business Model

By: Feng Zhu

Fasten, a new ridesharing start-up in Boston, entered the scene in September 2015 hoping its unique vision of transparency for both driver and passenger and strategy to keep riders' fares low and charge drivers a flat $0.99 fee per ride, as opposed to the 20%–30%... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Transportation; Business Startups; Business Model; Transportation Industry; Boston

August 2021
Case

Livongo: Scaling a Purpose-Driven Organization in Healthcare

By: Ranjay Gulati, Aseem Shukla and Reva Nohria

When seasoned entrepreneur Glen Tullman founded the chronic health care startup Livongo in 2014, it was personal. His son lived with diabetes, and Tullman knew firsthand how taxing it could be to manage such an unrelenting disease. Livongo set out to empower people... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare Industry; Scaling; Telehealth; Health Care and Treatment; Small Business; Internet and the Web; Customer Focus and Relationships; Growth and Development Strategy; Opportunities; Mergers and Acquisitions; Health Industry

August 2018 (Revised October 2020)
Case

Tailor Brands: Artificial Intelligence-Driven Branding

By: Jill Avery

Using proprietary artificial intelligence technology, startup Tailor Brands set out to democratize branding by allowing small businesses to create their brand identities by automatically generating logos in just minutes at minimal cost with no branding or design skills... View Details

November 2016 (Revised October 2018)
Case

IguanaFix

By: Frank V. Cespedes, Thomas R. Eisenmann, Maria Fernanda Miguel and Laura Urdapilleta

IguanaFix is a rapidly scaling Latin American startup that provides an online platform connecting consumers with home improvement contractors. The founders have acquired customers through both B2C and B2B methods. But in seeking to grow and scale the business, they now... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Marketing; Home Improvement Services; Marketing Management; Scaling; Entrepreneurship; Marketing; Sales; Online Advertising; Latin America

04 Feb 2014
What Do You Think?

Has Listening Become a Lost Art?

Summing Up When Is Listening Not a Good Strategy? Like a good case debate, the discussion of the question of whether listening is a lost art was not one-sided. What was clear... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

July 2024 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors: Bringing Systematic Investment to Philanthropy

By: Lauren Cohen, Hao Gao, Alexander Bischoff and Sophia Pan

Melissa Berman, CEO of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA), evaluated her client’s philanthropy project and its mediocre performance. RPA was a segment of the Rockefeller Family Office’s Philanthropy Department, becoming an independent charity in 2002. Consistently... View Details

2017
Chapter

Paul R. Lawrence: A Career of Rigor, Relevance, and Passion

By: Michael Tushman

Paul R. Lawrence was one of the earliest and most influential figures in the emergence of organizational behavior as a field of study. He was a pioneer in creating a body of work on organization design, leadership, and change in both the private and public sectors.... View Details

Keywords: Organization Design; Contingency Theory; Public And Private Organizations; Rigor And Relevance; Biography; Organizational Design; Leadership; Learning; Leading Change

September 2006 (Revised December 2006)
Case

Arizona Department of Public Health: The Challenges of Preparing for a Public Health Emergency

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Ajay Vinze, T. S. Raghu and Minu Ipe

In the post-9/11 era information technology enablement for emergency preparedness and response have taken on increased significance. Public health organizations like ADHS play a critical role in any statewide preparation for large scale emergencies. With issues like... View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Information Technology; Health Care and Treatment; Business Processes; Service Delivery; National Security; Health Industry; Public Administration Industry; Arizona

Find at Harvard

July 1998 (Revised August 1998)
Case

Optimark: Launching a Virtual Securities Market

Bill Lupien's OptiMark Technologies, Inc., plans to launch a super-computer system in September, 1998 that he believes will release previously withheld liquidity to the securities market. While today's market matches those trades based on price and size, Lupien's... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Financial Markets; Product Launch; Financial Services Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

March 2020
Case

Thingtesting: Launching a Brand Discovery and Testing Digital Community

By: Ayelet Israeli and Jill Avery

Thingtesting, a brand discovery and testing digital community devoted to uncovering and exploring direct-to-consumer brands, had just received seed funding and was contemplating a second year of growth. The new year brought many challenges, as founder Jenny Gyllander... View Details

05 Jun 2023
What Do You Think?

Is the Anxious Achiever a Post-Pandemic Relic?

system ministering to a student body with similarly high hopes for achievement. According to Aarons-Mele, anxious achievers have many qualities valued in the business world. As she puts it, they “are great... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

February 2003 (Revised March 2011)
Background Note

Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Valuation and Distribution in Private Equity

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

Introduces the issues attendant to valuing privately held portfolios and distributing thinly traded stock. Although they have existed since the beginning of the formal venture capital industry, they have received increasing amounts of attention as the money invested in... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Private Equity; Stocks; Investment Portfolio; Valuation; Financial Services Industry