Publications

January 2012 (Revised March 2012)
Case

Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA)'s Entry into the Retirement Market

By: Lauren Cohen and Christopher Malloy

This case examines Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA)'s decision to enter the retirement market with their new "Dimensional Managed DC" product, a complete retirement solution that aimed to provide investors with what they really wanted: the same standard of living in... View Details

Keywords: Retirement; Asset Management

May–June 2021
Article

Eliminate Strategic Overload

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee

As companies respond to intensifying competitive pressures and challenges, they ask more and more of their employees. But organizations often have very little to show for the efforts of their talented and engaged workers. By selecting fewer initiatives with greater... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Initiatives; Value-based Strategy; Organizational Effectiveness; Strategy; Value Creation

Rowan Clarke is a PhD candidate at Harvard Business School in the Strategy Unit. He researches entrepreneurship and technology/AI for economic development and social impact. His work assists small business entrepreneurs, and high-growth technology... View Details

Keywords: financial services; financial services; financial services; financial services; financial services; financial services; financial services

2020
Book

Experimentation Works: The Surprising Power of Business Experiments

By: Stefan Thomke

Don’t fly blind. See how the power of experiments works for you. When it comes to improving customer experiences, trying out new business models, or developing new products, even the most experienced managers often get it wrong. They discover that intuition,... View Details

Keywords: Experimentation; Experiments; Market Research; Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Management; Customers; Research

02 Aug 2022
Research & Ideas

6 Strategies for Building Socially Responsible—and Profitable—Companies

A dozen years ago, Harvard Business School Professor George Serafeim wondered why some companies operated with an eye toward the greater good, while most did not. Back then, he always got the same response: Corporate leaders thought social and environmental practices... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

24 Aug 2010
First Look

First Look: August 24

"hot" financial markets to get through the initial period of diffusion. Our work underscores that financial markets may play a much larger and under-studied role in creating and magnifying bubbles... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

11 Jun 2013
First Look

First Look: June 11

alternative explanations for some important empirical observations in IB, such as bunching and second-mover advantage in market entries. 2006 Journal of Financial Economics How Do Staggered Boards Affect Shareholder Value? Evidence from a... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

October 2021 (Revised December 2021)
Case

Customer-Centric Design with Artificial Intelligence: Commonwealth Bank

By: Karim R. Lakhani, Yael Grushka-Cockayne, Jin Hyun Paik and Steven Randazzo

As Commonwealth Bank (CommBank) CEO Matt Comyn delivered the full financial year results in August 2021 over videoconference, it took less than two minutes for him to make his first mention of the organization's Customer Engagement Engine (CEE), the AI-driven customer... View Details

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Customer-centricity; Banks and Banking; Customer Focus and Relationships; Technological Innovation; Transformation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance; AI and Machine Learning; Financial Services Industry; Australia

2024
Book

Fintech, Small Business & the American Dream: How Technology Is Transforming Lending and Shaping a New Era of Small Business Opportunity

By: Karen G. Mills

The second edition of Fintech, Small Business & the American Dream, builds on the groundbreaking 2019 book with new insights on how technology and artificial intelligence are transforming small business lending. This ambitious view covers the significance of... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; AI; AI and Machine Learning; Small Business; Economy; Technology Adoption; Credit; Financing and Loans; Analytics and Data Science

25 Feb 2013
Research & Ideas

Lean Strategy Not Just for Start-Ups

Lean start-up strategies aren't just for start-ups anymore. That was the key message that Intuit cofounder Scott Cook (HBS MBA '76) shared in a small seminar with Harvard Business School faculty recently. Since its launch in 1983, the View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Financial Services

Mar 2012
Article

How to Make Finance Work

Once a sleepy old boys' club, the U.S. financial sector is now a dynamic and growing business that attracts the best and the brightest. It is tempting to declare the industry a roaring success. But its purpose is to serve the needs of... View Details

December 2006 (Revised March 2008)
Case

Prosper Marketplace, Inc.

By: William A. Sahlman and Elizabeth Kind

Describes a set of financial and strategic decisions confronting the founding management team of a new online financial services company. Prosper Marketplace is an internet-based market for individuals to borrow money from other individuals who wish to invest in such... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Financial Strategy; Innovation and Invention; Management Teams; Financial Services Industry

November 2006 (Revised June 2007)
Case

Centre Partners - American Seafoods 2003

Centre Partners, a leading private equity firm, is contemplating ways to realize liquidity from its successful investment in American Seafoods Corp., Inc. An apparently innovative solution is developed, which calls for issuing Income Deposit Securities. Does this... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Financial Liquidity; Capital Structure; Financial Services Industry

July 2016
Article

Kicking Off Social Entrepreneurship: How A Sustainability Orientation Influences Crowdfunding Success

By: Goran Calic and Elaine Mosakowski

Research generally suggests that, relative to commercial entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs stand at a disadvantage at acquiring resources through traditional financial institutions. Yet interest in social entrepreneurship appears to be at an all-time high. The... View Details

Keywords: Crowdfunding; Entrepreneurial Finance; Social Entrepreneurship; Capital; Environmental Sustainability

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March 2024
Case

Lyft 2023: Roads to Growth and Differentiation

By: Ranjay Gulati and Jeffrey Huizinga

Set in San Francisco in winter 2023, this case explores the strategic challenges and initiatives at Lyft under the leadership of its new CEO, David Risher. Confronted with declining market share and financial pressures, Risher spent his first six months at the helm... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Turnarounds; Ridesharing; Transition; Strategy; Culture; Change Management; Transportation Industry; Technology Industry

February 1992 (Revised March 1993)
Case

Intel Corp.--1992

By: Kenneth A. Froot

Intel Corp., the world's dominant designer and manufacturer of microprocessors (the "brains" of the personal computer), has accumulated a large amount of cash (net of debt). Furthermore, it expects to continue to accumulate cash at an unprecedented rate. Has the... View Details

Keywords: Dividends; Financial Management; Competition; Multinational Firms and Management; Cash; Technological Innovation; Capital Structure; Investment Return; Equity; Financial Strategy; Corporate Finance; Semiconductor Industry; United States