Publications

Nimi Katragadda is a Partner at BoxGroup, a seed stage venture fund where she focuses on investments in enterprise software, fintech, healthcare, and more. BoxGroup's portfolio includes companies such as Ramp, Plaid, Airtable, Ro, and... View Details

20 Dec 2022
News

Singing to the Corn

English and history at Dartmouth; his acceptance to HBS came with the caveat that he add another year of work experience to the two already listed on his résumé and complete some of the quantitative courses his transcript lacked. He spent the year in Omaha, working as... View Details

April 1991 (Revised June 1993)
Case

McCaw Cellular Communications, Inc. in 1990 (A)

Describes McCaw Cellular Communications, Inc.'s competitive position in 1990. McCaw is the largest cellular phone service company in the United States. It faces challenges of technological change and formulating strategy in an industry with a highly uncertain future.... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Communication Technology; Competition; Change Management; Investment; Telecommunications Industry; United States

December 1995 (Revised February 1997)
Case

Student Educational Loan Fund, Inc.

By: Peter Tufano

Rick Melnick oversees the Student Educational Loan Fund (SELF), which provides loans to Harvard Business School students. SELF is changing the terms of student loans from variable-rate with semiannual payments to fixed-rate loans with equal monthly payments. Melnick... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Financing and Loans; Interest Rates; Financial Services Industry

July 1997 (Revised June 2001)
Case

H.E. Butt Grocery Company: A Leader in ECR Implementation (B) (Abridged)

By: Robert D. Austin and F. Warren McFarlan

H.E. Butt Grocery Co. led the grocery industry in adopting many innovations, including category management, electronic data interchange, and continuous replenishment. They have also moved aggressively and profitably into newer applications such as Scanner-based payment... View Details

Keywords: Information Management; Independent Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Invention; Business Organization; Risk and Uncertainty; Science-Based Business; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Risk Management; Electronics Industry; Computer Industry

10 Oct 2000
Research & Ideas

Cross-Sector Collaboration: Lessons from the International Trachoma Initiative

emotional level with this initiative. As one Pfizer manager put it, "One of the reasons people enjoy working at Pfizer is that we conduct medical research that helps with the illnesses that mankind suffers." Indeed, this type of... View Details

Keywords: by Diana Barrett, James Austin & Sheila McCarthy

Fast Answer

Sustainable investing and ESG resources

by ERM, this report synthesizes survey responses from investors and companies to assess the value and quality of ESG ratings from leading ratings firms. ESG data (public company focus) MSCI ESG Research This platform includes access to MSCI’s ESG Ratings... View Details

April 1998
Case

Cephalon, Inc.

By: Peter Tufano

In early 1997, Cephalon, awaited an FDA panel's decision on whether its drug, Myotrophin, would be approved. If the drug was approved, the firm might need substantial additional funds to commercialize as well as to buy back rights to it (which had been sold earlier to... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Financing and Loans; Health Care and Treatment; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States

01 Oct 2000
News

Lydia M. Marshall: Gumption and Grace

notes, "and it was very exciting to be a part of it." In 1999, Marshall decided to do something completely different. The result, VentureThink, is a start-up that aims to create, build, and manage e-commerce businesses. With the budding... View Details

Keywords: Susan Young

02 Feb 2007
What Do You Think?

Is There Too Little “Know Why” In Business?

that could not transition from a passion-driven enterprise to an execution-oriented enterprise." Paul Kohn pondered whether a sense of purpose wanes as an organization reaches a certain size. He commented: "It would be an... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

08 May 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, May 8, 2018

quality metrics are unreliable and thus, recent legislation may result in unintended consequences. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=54443 in press Business History Internment as a Business Challenge: Political View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 1998 (Revised November 1998)
Case

STRIVE

STRIVE provides employment training and placement to chronically unemployed inner-city minority youth and young adults. This case describes STRIVE's creation as a community-based, single-site nonprofit in Harlem in 1984; the development of its service model (short,... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Growth Management; Employment; Training; Employment Industry

17 Jun 2016
Op-Ed

Companies Need to Start Marketing Security to Customers

boards of directors are keenly interested in the latest sustainability or corporate responsibility report. They do not routinely ask for or receive a product safety review. Risk management committees... View Details

Keywords: by John A. Quelch; Entertainment & Recreation

June 2018
Supplement

Feeding America (B)

By: Scott Duke Kominers and Alan Lam

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Social Enterprise; Nonprofit Organizations; Food; Resource Allocation; Fairness; Performance Efficiency; United States

06 Feb 2007
First Look

First Look: February 6, 2007

here as enterprise information technologies. Because complete contracts over IT assets are not possible, relationship specificity is an important consideration; scholarship on the theory of the firm yields a consistent prescription that... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

July 1983 (Revised July 1991)
Case

Hintz-Kessels-Kohl A.G.

By: Thomas R. Piper

A truck manufacturer must decide whether to bid on the sale of 120 trucks to a private firm in Costa Rica. If a bid is submitted, a decision must be made on whether to protect against the credit, exchange rate, and sovereign risks. View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Currency Exchange Rate; Truck Transportation; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry; Germany; Costa Rica