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Case Studies - Social Impact Collaboratory

next? Key Themes: As a public pension plan, CalSTRS operates in the context of a complex array of stakeholders, who from time to time push for divestment or other values-driven investment decisions. And yet, as a fiduciary, CalSTRS must... View Details

05 Sep 2019
News

Making the Right Technical Hire

09 Apr 2019
News

Ray Dalio: Why and How Capitalism Needs to Be Reformed

“pose an existential risk for the US.” Addressing why capitalism isn’t working, Dalio notes that the system now operates “in a way in which people and companies find it profitable to have policies and make technologies that lessen their... View Details

Keywords: capitalism

01 Apr 2000
News

New Home for External Relations

south of the Soldiers Field location near the intersection of North Harvard Street and Western Avenue. External Relations (ER), which includes many functions familiar to most HBS graduates, is one of several administrative operating units... View Details

01 Jun 2024
News

Competing in the Age of AI

Above: Karim Lakhani discussed GenAI with alumni during his presentation at When Professor Karim Lakhani leads discussions about generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), he often begins by asking audience members to stand if they’ve used an AI tool like ChatGPT or... View Details

Keywords: April White

2018
Working Paper

Quantile Forecasts of Product Life Cycles Using Exponential Smoothing.

By: Xiaojia Guo, Kenneth C. Lichtendahl Jr. and Yael Grushka-Cockayne

We introduce an exponential smoothing model that a manager can use to forecast the demand of a new product or service. The model has five features that make it suitable for accurately forecasting product life cycles at scale. First, the trend in our model follows the... View Details

Keywords: New Product Development; Demand Forecasting; Product Adoption; Innovation Diffusion; Product Development; Demand and Consumers; Forecasting and Prediction; Adoption

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June 2008
Case

Threadless: The Business of Community

By: Karim R. Lakhani and Zahra Kanji

Threadless.com, the online, Chicago-based t-shirt company, was not your typical fashion apparel company. The company, run by Jake Nickell, Jacob DeHart, and Jeffrey Kalmikoff, turned the fashion business on its head by enabling anyone to submit designs for t-shirts and... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Startups; Innovation and Invention; Product Design; Partners and Partnerships; Social and Collaborative Networks; Apparel and Accessories Industry

2016
Working Paper

The Mirroring Hypothesis: Theory, Evidence and Exceptions

By: Lyra J. Colfer and Carliss Y. Baldwin

The mirroring hypothesis predicts that organizational ties within a project, firm, or group of firms (e.g., communication, collocation, employment) will correspond to the technical patterns of dependency in the work being performed. A thorough understanding of the... View Details

Keywords: Modularity; Innovation; Product And Process Development; Organization Design; Design Structure; Organizational Ties; Mirroring Hypothesis; Industry Architecture; Product Architecture; Complex Technical Systems; Information Technology; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Relationships; Innovation and Invention; Product Development

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05 Sep 2018
Research & Ideas

The Hidden Benefit of Giving Back to Open Source Software

operating system. By cross-referencing a large technology-usage dataset with the domain extensions in the contributors’ email addresses, he was able to compare similarly situated companies–all of them medium-sized or large public... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Computer

11 Mar 2001
Research & Ideas

Merchants to Multinationals: British Trading Companies in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

with Britain which made the operation of a British and colonial share register easier. Conversely, some merchant firms from the colonies relocated to London in order to access the markets for capital and information. David Sassoon moved... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones

August 1992 (Revised June 1993)
Case

Euro Disney: The First 100 Days

By: Gary W. Loveman and Leonard A. Schlesinger

The Walt Disney Co. theme parks historically have thrived on the basis of a formula stressing excellent customer service and a magnificent physical environment. The formula has proven successful in Japan, as well as the United States. With the controversial opening of... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Service Operations; Service Delivery; Corporate Strategy; Customer Focus and Relationships; Service Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Japan; France; United States

October 2009 (Revised June 2010)
Case

Hulu: An Evil Plot to Destroy the World?

By: Anita Elberse and Sunil Gupta

In July 2009, Jason Kilar, the chief executive officer of Hulu, is debating whether the online video aggregator should move away from a purely advertising-supported model, and whether it should participate in an industry-wide initiative to develop and test... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Business Model; Television Entertainment; Distribution Channels; Service Operations; Internet and the Web; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

22 Apr 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Audit Quality and Auditor Reputation: Evidence from Japan

Keywords: by Douglas J. Skinner & Suraj Srinivasan

May 8, 2020
Article

Lead Your Team Into a Post-Pandemic World

By: Hubert Joly

The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has tested leaders, especially as it relates to how they lead their workers. As the crisis goes on, many that the author has spoken with have begun to frame it around three distinct phases: The Shelter-in-Place Phase, the Re-opening... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Re-opening; Health Pandemics; Leadership; Employees; Communication; Human Needs

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March 2015 (Revised August 2020)
Case

Putting the Guiding Principles into Action: Human Rights at Barrick Gold (A)

By: Rebecca Henderson and Nien-he Hsieh

In 2010, Human Rights Watch, a well-regarded international NGO, approached Barrick Gold asserting that members of the company’s security force at the Porgera Gold Mine in Papua New Guinea had on multiple occasions raped women who were trespassing onto the mine’s waste... View Details

Keywords: Human Rights; Business And Society; Rights; Policy; Leading Change; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Government Relations

2009
Working Paper

Securing Jobs or the New Protectionism?: Taxing the Overseas Activities of Multinational Firms

By: Mihir A. Desai

Tax policy toward American multinational firms would appear to be approaching a crossroads. The presumed linkages between domestic employment conditions and the growth of foreign operations by American firms have led to calls for increased taxation on foreign... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Policy; Taxation; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; United States