Publications

October 2004 (Revised May 2006)
Case

Transforming Singapore's Public Libraries (Abridged)

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Roger H. Hallowell

The Singapore Public Library system was transformed from being mediocre at best to world class using information technology, progressive human-resources management, and marketing approaches unusual for government agencies. View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Service Delivery; Marketing Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Human Resources; Information Technology; Nonprofit Organizations; Public Administration Industry; Singapore

November 2023 (Revised June 2025)
Case

Aviva plc: Examining Net Zero

By: Peter Tufano, Brian Trelstad and Matteo Gasparini

The board of Aviva Plc, one of the world’s largest insurers, must review its climate risk exposures and evaluate next steps. Risk experts at the firm have conducted a robust set of analyses prepared for its regulator, the Bank of England, simulating how various climate... View Details

Keywords: Analysis; Climate Change; Insurance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Risk Management; Adaptation; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; Europe; United Kingdom

March 2009 (Revised September 2013)
Case

Yelp

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, David Chen and Aaron Smith

Yelp was a popular online destination for reviews of local establishments, written by volunteer Internet users and read by 60 million people per month. However, the company was far from profitable. The CEO needs to decide between two options to increase the revenue.... View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; Business Model; Profit; Revenue; Marketing Strategy; Sales; Internet and the Web; Advertising Industry

September 2000 (Revised March 2006)
Case

ZOOTS--The Cleaner Cleaner

By: Myra M. Hart and Sharon Peyus

A successful entrepreneur (retailing) starts a new venture in dry cleaning. The case focuses on transferable models, skills, and knowledge from one venture to the next. Areas of emphasis are: managing growth, challenges of operations, financing, and competitive moves. View Details

Keywords: Growth Management; Competitive Strategy; Operations; Knowledge Dissemination; Business Startups; Corporate Finance; Service Industry; Service Industry

Career Coach

Vincent Dessain

Strategy consulting at Booz-Allen & Hamilton in New York and Paris; research; course development; recruitment and Executive Education at INSEAD View Details

28 Jan 2002
Research & Ideas

Read All About It! Newspapers Lose Web War

technology on the newspaper business with HBS Working Knowledge editor Sean Silverthorne in this e-mail interview. An article based on Gilbert's doctoral research in this area received the Robert Litschert Best Doctoral Student Paper Award in the Academy of... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Entertainment & Recreation; Information; Publishing

23 Nov 1999
Research & Ideas

The Future of the Venture Capital Cycle

long-run supply and demand conditions. In the short run, intense competition between private-equity groups may lead to a willingness to pay a premium for certain types of firms (e.g., firms specializing in tools View Details

Keywords: by Paul A. Gompers & Josh Lerner; Financial Services

September 1994 (Revised October 2002)
Case

Citibank: Launching the Credit Card in Asia Pacific (A)

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

Consumer Bank pondered the possibilities of launching a credit card in the Asia Pacific region. The bank's New York headquarters, and several of its country managers in the region, were not enthusiastic. But others were supportive because of the opportunity to expand... View Details

Keywords: Product Launch; Service Operations; Value Creation; Customer Focus and Relationships; Trade; Business Strategy; Expansion; Laws and Statutes; Banking Industry; Asia; New York (city, NY)

22 Dec 2009
First Look

First Look: Dec. 22

in a Systems Business J. Bruce HarreldHarvard Business School Case 810-071 This short case describes the tensions that often arise between finance executives attempting to curtail unproductive activities and View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

April 1999 (Revised March 2001)
Case

Be Our Guest, Inc.

By: Dwight B. Crane and Penny Joseph

Be Our Guest is a rapidly growing equipment rental company with substantial seasonality in its revenues and profits. In the spring of 1998, the senior management team is reviewing its financial plans in preparation for a meeting with the company's bank. The case... View Details

Keywords: Financial Strategy; Borrowing and Debt; Banks and Banking; Revenue; Management Teams; Business Plan; Forecasting and Prediction; Service Industry; Service Industry

28 May 2019
News

Case Study: Building the Base

Illustration by Edmon de Haro Illustration by Edmon de Haro The idea for the Portland, Oregon–based digital media startup News Bling was born out of the late-night hours of November 8, 2016, when Nupur Patel (MBA 2017) rubbed the fog of... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services

Career Coach

Cheryl Rousseau

transitions of all kinds: On-Boarding; Inter-Company Movements; Succession/Planned Exits; Out-Boarding; Job Search; Boards Seats. Cheryl has an MBA in Finance and Strategy (Kellogg ’87) View Details

Keywords: Financial Services (All); Financial Services (All); Financial Services (All); Financial Services (All); Financial Services (All); Financial Services (All); Financial Services (All); Financial Services (All); Financial Services (All)

21 Aug 2000
Research & Ideas

Faculty Research Looks to Latin America

individual countries that are driving these flows, but rather that the willingness has to be on the part of international investors to take risks. And emerging markets can't depend any longer on just international portfolios to allow for... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

27 Jul 2020
Blog Post

HBS Summer Fellows Respond to COVID-19

which has pivoted to deliver PPEs globally to places that need the most. Prerna Arya (MBA 2021), Swasth: Swasth is a nonprofit initiative that aims to democratize access to quality, affordable, primary care for any citizen in India, leveraging View Details

September 2024
Case

Open Door Legal: Universal Legal Access

By: Brian Trelstad, Taylor Greenthal and Sarah Mehta

This case is about Open Door Legal (ODL), a San Francisco-based civil legal aid nonprofit. CEO Adrian Tirtanadi founded the organization in 2012 with a mission to achieve universal access to legal representation for all city residents. By 2024, ODL had opened four... View Details

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Law; Growth Management; Nonprofit Organizations; Civil Society or Community; Business Model; Expansion; Legal Services Industry; United States; California; Los Angeles; San Francisco

18 May 2015
Research & Ideas

Advertisers Get Serious About Playing With Their Brands

the researchers recently wrote in a GfK Marketing Intelligence Review article called "Beyond Bedlam: How Consumers and Brands Alike Are Playing the Web." In the last decade, marketers have used digital media... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Advertising

Article

Why Do Intermediaries Divert Search?

By: Andrei Hagiu and Bruno Jullien

We analyze the incentives to divert search for an information intermediary who enables buyers (consumers) to search affiliated sellers (stores). We identify two original motives for diverting search (i.e., inducing consumers to search more than they would like): 1)... View Details

Keywords: Market Intermediation; Search; Two-Sided Markets; Platform Design; Demand and Consumers; Motivation and Incentives; Internet and the Web; Digital Platforms; Distribution Channels; Business Strategy; Retail Industry

Find at Harvard

March 2021 (Revised August 2024)
Case

Hotwire.com: Navigating Through Turbulence

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Manny de Zarraga and Eric Levine

On September 10, 2001, after speaking at an industry conference at New York’s World Trade Center, Hotwire co-founder Spencer Rascoff boarded a flight from Newark to San Francisco. After returning home, Rascoff awoke the next morning to a phone call informing him that... View Details

Keywords: September 11; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business Growth and Maturation; Disruption; Decisions; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Growth Management; Digital Platforms; Problems and Challenges; Risk and Uncertainty; Expansion; Internet and the Web; Leading Change; Leadership Style; Air Transportation Industry; Tourism Industry; San Francisco