Publications

August 2022 (Revised January 2025)
Case

NOW PT (A): Should We Invest?

By: George A Riedel, Amy Klopfenstein and Mel Martin

In fall 2021, a team of students from the HBS Impact Investing Fund considered Neurologic Optimal Wellness Physical Therapy (NOW PT) for a potential investment. Dr. Banks, the founder of NOW PT, drove to visit patients. She sought an investment from the fund to open a... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Social Entrepreneurship; Finance; Investment; Health; Health Care and Treatment; Medical Specialties; Buildings and Facilities; Health Industry; Financial Services Industry; North and Central America; United States; Massachusetts

January 2008 (Revised March 2008)
Case

Mayhem on Madison (A)

By: A. Eugene Kohn and David Lane

In his first project, an aspiring property developer negotiates the development rights above a one-story bank branch in Manhattan's tony Carnegie Hill. Community resistance erupted immediately, spearheaded by celebrity and socialite residents. Facing rejection of his... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Development Economics; Business and Community Relations; Conflict and Resolution; Urban Development; Real Estate Industry; New York (city, NY)

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October 14, 2019
Article

The Truth About Open Offices: There Are Reasons Why They Don't Produce the Desired Interactions

By: Ethan Bernstein and Ben Waber

It’s never been easier for workers to collaborate—or so it seems. Open, flexible, activity-based spaces are displacing cubicles, making people more visible. Messaging is displacing phone calls, making people more accessible. Enterprise social media such as Slack and... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Interpersonal Communication; Communication Technology; Design; Human Resources; Performance Productivity; Organizational Design

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June 2019
Case

The National Museum of African American History and Culture and Lonnie Bunch

By: Steven Rogers and Derrick Jackson

Lonnie Bunch creates the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) with only half the federal support given to the first 17 Smithsonian historical or zoological institutions. Bunch, to borrow from the African American experience of creating “a... View Details

Keywords: Museums; Fundraising; Arts; Buildings and Facilities; Ethnicity; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Strategy; Marketing; Success; Leadership; Entrepreneurship

August 2018 (Revised May 2019)
Case

Rev. Georgiette Morgan-Thomas & The American Hat Factory

By: Steven Rogers and Ariel Rogers

On a sunny Monday morning, Rev. Morgan-Thomas walked into her newly acquired hat factory thinking, “What have I gotten myself into? Things are worse than I imagined. Can I ever turn this company around given all of the known and unknown problems? Can I make it... View Details

16 Jun 2003
Research & Ideas

Surveying the VC Landscape

Lerner: This is an excellent question. It is clear that corporations over the past two decades, and particularly in recent years, have been seeking to transform their central research facilities from "ivory towers" into places... View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen; Financial Services

September 2011
Supplement

Narayana Hrudayalaya Heart Hospital

By: Tarun Khanna and Tanya Bijlani

Narayana Hrudayalaya (NH) is one of the world's busiest heart hospitals, where surgeons perform 30-35 complex cardiac surgeries daily. With an average cost of $1,800 per surgery, the hospital treats patients at affordable prices, and does not turn away even the poorest... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Experience and Expertise; Cost Management; Insurance; Health Care and Treatment; Resource Allocation; Time Management; Emerging Markets; Infrastructure; Cooperative Ownership; Quality; Social Enterprise; Health Industry; Karnataka

22 Feb 2010
Research & Ideas

Manager Visibility No Guarantee of Fixing Problems

communicated to workers what actions had been taken. The 20 hospitals identified 1,732 safety-related problems in areas such as facility design and maintenance, equipment and supplies, communication, staffing, and medication issues. On... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Health

30 Oct 2012
First Look

First Look: October 30

protocols. In the new model, stroke care would be delivered across facilities in an integrated fashion, with a single hyper-acute facility designed for the care of the most acute and severe cases. Purchase... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2003 (Revised March 2004)
Case

Dewberry Capital

By: William J. Poorvu

In 2003, key executives of Dewberry Capital, a fast-growing, Atlanta-based real estate company, are evaluating their growth strategy and the resultant organizational issues. John Dewberry, the entrepreneurial founder of the firm, has developed a portfolio of... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Selection and Staffing; Business Growth and Maturation; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Real Estate Industry; Atlanta

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September 2023
Background Note

Amager Bakke: Municipal Waste to Energy

By: Willy Shih, Michael W. Toffel and Kelsey Carter

This background note describes the Amager Bakke waste-to-energy (WtE) plant in Copenhagen, which merges traditional waste incineration with a combined heat and power (CHP) plant and air pollution control (scrubbing) technology, and had plans to add carbon dioxide (CO2)... View Details

24 Jun 2013
Research & Ideas

Is Your iPhone Turning You Into a Wimp?

more likely to bid higher on an eBay auction when competing to buy a product? To test their hypothesis, Bos and Cuddy conducted an experiment at the Harvard Decision Science Laboratory, a university-wide research facility for behavioral... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Technology; Consumer Products

30 Jan 2006
Research & Ideas

Looking Behind Bad Decisions

receive, they are very focused on comparisons. Q: In the discussion of dysfunctional competition you talk about the harm of using tax dollars to build new sports facilities to retain professional sports teams. Doesn't this type of... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls

03 Dec 2015
Op-Ed

How "New Nuclear" Power Could Save the Planet—If Regulators Would Allow It

test and development facilities in multiple countries. We can re-engineer regulatory processes to radically lower costs and shorten approval times by testing full-scale prototypes before licensing. We can create new public safety... View Details

Keywords: by Joseph Lassiter; Energy

17 Aug 2011
Research & Ideas

Protecting against the Pirates of Bollywood

worked with local police to raid illegal DVD-making facilities in the days following the film's release. (The Mumbai police alone seized over 3,000 pirated DVDs of My Name is Khan on February 18, 2010.) Click to watch. To battle illegal... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard; Motion Pictures & Video

26 Apr 2004
Research & Ideas

A Clear Eye for Innovation

cultures. The extended-wear team remained in Atlanta, though in a facility separate from the conventional-lens business, while the daily-disposables team was located in Germany. Each team hired its own staff, decided on its own reward... View Details

Keywords: by Charles A. O'Reilly III & Michael L. Tushman

October 2024 (Revised January 2025)
Case

MDH Partners: Evolving a Family Legacy

By: Christina R. Wing and Sarah Mehta

This case is about succession planning for MDH Partners, an Atlanta-based industrial real estate investment firm founded in 2005. When Jeffrey Small, Jr. cofounded MDH Partners, he named the company in honor of his grandfather, Mark Durward (MD) Hodges, an early... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Business Ventures; Ownership; Business Exit or Shutdown; Family Business; Management Succession; Personal Development and Career; Financial Services Industry; Real Estate Industry; United States; Georgia (state, US); Atlanta

September 2009 (Revised April 2011)
Case

Integrated Project Delivery at Autodesk, Inc. (A)

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Faaiza Rashid

Describes Autodesk's engagement in Integrated Project Delivery—a new model of risk management, inter-firm teamwork, and multi-objective (aesthetic, cost, and sustainability) optimization in building projects. In 2008, Autodesk, Inc., the world's largest design software... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Business Headquarters; Design; Risk Management; Business Processes; Projects; Groups and Teams; Partners and Partnerships; Cooperation; Construction Industry; Service Industry