Publications

Find at Harvard

17 Feb 2020
Sharpening Your Skills

How Entrepreneurs Can Find the Right Problem to Solve

product. Having target customers use a competitive product for a week or two can also be insightful. Expert testing. You may be working in an area where you are no expert, but you have a hunch it’s a white space ripe for disruption. If... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Austin

21 Jun 2007
Working Paper Summaries

Multi-Sided Platforms: From Microfoundations to Design and Expansion Strategies

Keywords: by Andrei Hagiu; Technology

14 Feb 2022
Research & Ideas

Curiosity, Not Coding: 6 Skills Leaders Need in the Digital Age

need to create space for “slow thinking” in a fast-moving world, making time to meditate and reflect on uncomfortable questions or choices. Leaders can’t afford to be lured by quick fixes or the latest “shiny object.” With clear minds,... View Details

Keywords: by Linda A. Hill, Ann Le Cam, Sunand Menon, and Emily Tedards; Technology

06 Mar 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Big BRICs, Weak Foundations: The Beginning of Public Elementary Education in Brazil, Russia, India, and China

Keywords: by Latika Chaudhary, Aldo Musacchio, Steven Nafziger & Se Yan; Education

Article

Accuracy First: Selecting a Differential Privacy Level for Accuracy-Constrained ERM

By: Katrina Ligett, Seth Neel, Aaron Leon Roth, Bo Waggoner and Steven Wu

Traditional approaches to differential privacy assume a fixed privacy requirement ϵ for a computation, and attempt to maximize the accuracy of the computation subject to the privacy constraint. As differential privacy is increasingly deployed in practical settings, it... View Details

Keywords: Differential Privacy; Empirical Risk Minimization; Accuracy First

Read Now

July 2020 (Revised September 2020)
Case

The Honor Foundation: Accessing Special Operations Talent

By: Boris Groysberg and John Masko

In 2020, The Honor Foundation (THF), a nonprofit dedicated to helping U.S. military special operators to transition into civilian careers, was facing a series of strategic challenges. THF had been founded in 2013 by former Navy SEAL trainee Joe Musselman, who observed... View Details

23 Nov 2021
Book

What It Takes to Build an Organizational Culture That Wins

cultural change and provides a playbook to help leaders hire productive employees, organize around teams and values, and lead by inclusion. In a nod to the times, he devotes space to tips for creating and maintaining culture in remote... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

21 Jun 2012 - 24 Jun 2012
Conference Presentation

Visual Attention to Power Posers: People Avert their Gaze from Nonverbal Displays of Power

By: Elizabeth Baily Wolf

Existing literature suggests that people visually attend more to powerful/high-status people. However, previous studies manipulated target power/status via the target’s role (e.g., CEO or judge vs. mechanic or fry cook) or clothing (e.g., business suit vs. sweat suit).... View Details

Keywords: Nonverbal Communication; Behavior; Rank and Position; Emotions; Power and Influence

February 2010
Case

Shurgard Self-Storage: Expansion to Europe (Abridged)

By: Richard G. Hamermesh

Shurgard, a U.S.-based firm that rents storage facilities to consumers and small businesses, is considering financing options for rapid expansion of its European operations. Five years after entering Europe, Shurgard Europe has opened 17 facilities in Belgium, France,... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Growth and Maturation; Multinational Firms and Management; Logistics; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Trade; Equity; Corporate Finance; United States; Europe

22 May 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, May 22, 2018

noncognitive, interpersonal skills during adolescence. Long-run administrative data shows that negotiation training significantly improved educational outcomes over the next three years. The training had greater effects than two alternative treatments (offering girls a... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

November 2019 (Revised February 2020)
Case

Hormel Foods

By: David E. Bell and Natalie Kindred

In 2019, CEO Jim Snee is weighing how to shape the image of Hormel Foods, one of the largest U.S. meat and food companies, at a time when the industry faces unprecedented scrutiny. Based in the small town of Austin, Minnesota, the nearly 130-year-old firm is best known... View Details

Keywords: Brand Portfolio Strategy; Brands and Branding; Product; Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Risk Management; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States; China

March 2004 (Revised May 2005)
Case

Shurgard Self-Storage: Expansion to Europe

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Indra Reinbergs

Shurgard, a U.S.-based firm that rents storage facilities to consumers and small businesses, is considering financing options for rapid expansion of its European operations. Five years after entering Europe, Shurgard Europe has opened 17 facilities in Belgium, France,... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Valuation; Business Model; Governing and Advisory Boards; Entrepreneurship; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Service Industry; Belgium; France; Sweden; United States; Europe

08 Mar 2021
In Practice

COVID Killed the Traditional Workplace. What Should Companies Do Now?

A year ago, COVID-19 forced many companies to send employees home—often with a laptop and a prayer. Now, with COVID cases subsiding and vaccinations rising, the prospect of returning to old office routines appears more possible. But will employees want to flock back to... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

October 2019
Case

Agility Africa

By: Juan Alcacer, Caroline M. Elkins and Esel Çekin

This case illustrates the challenge and opportunities that firms face when developing and executing new business models in high-risk, low-infrastructure, low-trust countries. It features a global logistics group, Agility, that aimed to become the leader in supplying... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Business Model; Innovation and Invention; Expansion; Emerging Markets; Decision Choices and Conditions; Real Estate Industry; Distribution Industry; Africa

26 Sep 2023
Research & Ideas

Unpacking That Icky Feeling of 'Shopping' for Diverse Job Candidates

offers new insight into the fluid dynamics in the growing and important space of diversity, equity, and inclusion, known as DEI. “It can make you feel like it's objectifying the people who are involved or exploiting them. It can lead to... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

March 2018 (Revised March 2018)
Teaching Note

OpenInvest

By: Boris Vallee and Caitlin Reimers Brumme

Founded by a team of hedge fund and NGO alumni, OpenInvest launched its platform in 2015 to enable retail investors to tailor their portfolio to their personal values in an automated way, for instance by screening out weapon manufacturers stocks or overweighting LGBTQ... View Details

Keywords: Socially Responsible Investing; Investing For Impact; Robo-advisors; Investment; Values and Beliefs; Customization and Personalization; Technology; Financial Services Industry