Publications
Publications
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(5,804)
- Faculty Publications (1,493)
- January 2025
- Case
Netflix: Takedown Troubles
By: Clayton S. Rose, Tom Quinn and Maxim Pike Harrell
In October 2021, Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos sent an all-staff email addressing backlash to comedian Dave Chappelle’s new stand-up special, The Closer. Released on October 5, the comedian’s depiction of the transgender community and other LGBTQ+ groups prompted... View Details
Keywords: Disruption; Talent and Talent Management; Customer Satisfaction; Cost vs Benefits; Demographics; Ethics; Corporate Accountability; Employees; Recruitment; Retention; Leadership; Crisis Management; Risk Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Civil Society or Community; Social Issues; Strategic Planning; Adaptation; Decisions; Motion Pictures and Video Industry
- January 2025
- Teaching Note
Vytal: Packaging-as-a-Service
By: George Serafeim, Michael W. Toffel and Stacy Straaberg
Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 124-007. The Germany-based startup Vytal operated the largest digital-native reusable packaging-as-a-service network globally, having raised nearly €15 million, established a large network of restaurant partners, and prevented the use of... View Details
Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Innovation and Invention; Business Growth and Maturation; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Startups; Resource Allocation; Risk Management; Adoption; Strategy; Performance Productivity; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Supply Chain; Distribution; Entrepreneurship; Climate Change; Business Model; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Profit; Financing and Loans; Expansion; Green Technology Industry; Service Industry; Retail Industry; Germany; Europe
- January 2025
- Case
Reimagining the Employee Experience at the LEGO Group
By: Amy Edmondson, Mark Mortensen and Elisabeth Powell
In 2024, the LEGO Group faced a decision about the future of LEGO’s Benefits Experience Strategy and the “Best of Both” remote/hybrid work policy. With over 28,500 employees spanning global hubs, retail stores, and manufacturing plants, LEGO leaders had to consider... View Details
- January 2025
- Case
A Tiger in the Tank: Exxon Sues Investors
By: Clayton S. Rose, Sarah Sasso and James Weber
In June 2024, investors were trying to make sense of ExxonMobil’s (Exxon) lawsuit against two impact investors, Arjuna Capital (Arjuna) and Follow This, that had just been dismissed by the U.S. District Court of Northern Texas. Exxon’s suit challenged the rights of two... View Details
Keywords: Disruption; Talent and Talent Management; Customer Satisfaction; Decision Making; Demographics; Ethics; Corporate Accountability; Employees; Recruitment; Retention; Leadership; Crisis Management; Risk Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Civil Society or Community; Social Issues; Adaptation; Investment Activism; Lawsuits and Litigation; Business and Shareholder Relations; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Health Industry; Energy Industry; United States; Netherlands; Norway
- January 2025
- Case
Shifting Winds: DEI in Corporate America
By: Clayton S. Rose, Maisie Wiltshire-Gordon and David Lane
In the 2020s, intense and conflicting social and political pressures challenged organizational leaders around the world. Prominent among these were powerful competing views on workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion programs (DEI) in the United States. Public... View Details
Keywords: Disruption; Leadership; Crisis Management; Risk Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Civil Society or Community; Social Issues; Talent and Talent Management; Customer Satisfaction; Diversity; Ethics; Corporate Accountability; Employees; Retention; Recruitment; Adaptation; Programs; Consulting Industry; Auto Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Motorcycle Industry; Technology Industry; Education Industry; United States; Massachusetts; Maryland; Tennessee; District of Columbia
- January 2025
- Case
Apax Partners: Deciding Whether to Bid for Trader Corp.
By: Benjamin C. Esty and Edward A. Meyer
Apax Partners’ investment committee was schedule to meet on March 21, 2011, to decide whether to invest in Trader Corporation, a Canadian classified advertising business for used automobiles with both print (magazines) and digital (website) distribution. What made this... View Details
Keywords: Value Creation; Network Effects; Private Equity; Growth Management; Digital Marketing; Business Strategy; Competitive Advantage; E-commerce; Valuation; Competition; Digital Platforms; Digital Strategy; Digital Transformation; Transition; Investment; Risk and Uncertainty; Advertising Industry; Auto Industry; Information Industry; Canada; United Kingdom; New York (state, US); New York (city, NY)
- January 2025
- Case
Cyber Oversight: SolarWinds Board of Directors
By: Lynn S. Paine
In 2020, just two years after its IPO, information technology company SolarWinds discovered that it was the victim of an attack on its information systems by Russian hackers. The incident, known as the Sunburst attack, was costly for the company, and certain... View Details
- January 2025
- Case
Transforming Talent at Teach For Taiwan
By: Juan Alcácer and Chi Kuan
The Teach For Taiwan (TFT) case follows founder Anting Liu as she considers how to scale the nonprofit’s talent strategy after a decade of impact in rural education. TFT recruits high-potential young professionals into a 2-year teaching fellowship, aiming to address... View Details
- December 2024
- Supplement
Northvolt: Building Batteries to Fight Climate Change (B)
The (B) case explores Northvolt’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing on November 21, 2024, highlighting the company’s
struggles to scale operations amid a global EV market slowdown and internal production challenges. While the (A) case detailed
Northvolt’s ambitious... View Details
Keywords: Batteries; Electric Vehicles; Climate Change; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Energy; Green Technology; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Investment; Technological Innovation; Risk Management; Failure; Business and Government Relations; Business and Shareholder Relations; Transportation; Green Technology Industry; Europe; Sweden
- December 2024
- Supplement
Core Innovation Capital: Investing in Fintech for Good (B)
In 2017, Core Innovation Capital invested $725,000 in Hugo Insurance, a pay-as-you-drive auto insurance startup targeting the non-standard market. Core followed with $300,000 in 2019 during a Seed II round. By 2022, Hugo founder, David Bergendahl, sought $10 million in... View Details
- November 2024
- Background Note
Social Enterprise in the MENA Region
By: Brian Trelstad and Ahmed Dahawy
This research note provides an overview of the socio-economic landscape of social enterprise in the Middle East and North Africa. It highlights the diversity of players in the region including social enterprise organizations (in their many forms) and supporting... View Details
Keywords: MENA; Non-Governmental Organizations; Nonprofit Organizations; Civil Society or Community; Social Issues; Diasporas; Social Entrepreneurship; Cultural Entrepreneurship; Environmental Sustainability; Geographic Scope; Health Care and Treatment; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Social and Collaborative Networks; Demographics; Health Industry; Service Industry; Tourism Industry; Egypt; Morocco; North Africa; Tunisia; Jordan; Lebanon; Saudi Arabia; United Arab Emirates; Dubai; Middle East
- 2024
- Working Paper
Climate Solutions, Transition Risk, and Stock Returns
By: Shirley Lu, Edward J. Riedl, Simon Xu and George Serafeim
Using large language models to measure firms' climate solution products and services, we find that high-climate solution firms exhibit lower stock returns and higher market valuation multiples. Their stock prices respond positively to events signaling increased demand... View Details
- 2024
- Working Paper
Hidden Risk
By: Daniel Barth, Phillip Monin, Emil Siriwardane and Adi Sunderam
Since 2013, large U.S. hedge fund advisers have been required to report risk exposures in their regulatory filings. Using these data, we first establish that managers’ perceptions of risk contain useful information that is not embedded in fund returns. Investor flows... View Details
- November 2024 (Revised December 2024)
- Case
Moonfare and the Democratization of Private Equity
By: Victoria Ivashina and Srimayi Mylavarapu
Founded in 2016, Moonfare headquartered in Europe, was a pioneer in the “democratization” of private equity investments. Historically, private equity was accessible only to institutional investors like pension funds, endowments, sovereign wealth funds, and large family... View Details
- 2024
- Working Paper
How Do Global Portfolio Investors Hedge Currency Risk?
By: Robin Greenwood and Alex Cheema-Fox
We use monthly portfolio data from one of the world’s largest custodian banks, with over $40 trillion assets under custody, to study how global portfolio investors hedge foreign exchange risk in their equity and fixed income portfolios over the past 25 years. The data... View Details
- October 2024
- Teaching Plan
Teamworks: Tackling a Forecasting Fumble
By: Lou Shipley and Stacy Straaberg
In late March 2018, Teamworks CEO Zach Maurides learned Q1 2018 sales were at risk for a large forecasting miss. Founded in 2004, Teamworks’s software application assisted support staff in messaging, scheduling, and sharing documents with collegiate and professional... View Details
Keywords: Acquisition; Business Growth and Maturation; Communication Strategy; Decisions; Forecasting and Prediction; Business Cycles; Technological Innovation; Sports; Growth and Development Strategy; Resource Allocation; Marketing; Sales; Business Strategy; Expansion; Sports Industry; Technology Industry; United States; North Carolina
- October 2024
- Case
Estímulo: Blended Finance in Brazil
By: Vikram S. Gandhi, James Barnett, Maxim Pike Harrell and Marina Osborn
In December 2022, Estímulo—a Brazilian impact investment fund supporting small businesses—found itself at a crossroads. The fund was established in 2020 to provide emergency relief through accessible credit and financial education. When low default rates from borrowers... View Details
- October 2024 (Revised November 2024)
- Case
SWEN Blue Ocean: Impact Investing Goes to Sea
By: Vikram S Gandhi and David Allen
In August 2023, SWEN Blue Ocean, a €170 million impact fund that invested in startups contributing to ocean sustainability, faced a critical investment decision. Part of SWEN Capital Partners, an €8 billion, Paris-based private equity fund, Blue Ocean was co-founded in... View Details
- 2025
- Working Paper
Bank Capital and the Growth of Private Credit
By: Sergey Chernenko, Robert Ialenti and David Scharfstein
We show that business development companies (BDCs)—closed-end funds that provide a
significant share of nonbank loans to middle market firms—are very well capitalized according
to bank capital frameworks. They have median risk-based capital ratios of about 36%... View Details
- September–October 2024
- Article
Why Multibusiness Strategies Fail and How to Make Them Succeed
By: Bharat Anand and David J. Collis
Enterprises that own multiple businesses often have a flawed approach to strategy: They focus too much on the makeup of their portfolios and too little on enhancing the businesses in them.
Strategies for adding value to a corporation’s businesses fall on a... View Details
Strategies for adding value to a corporation’s businesses fall on a... View Details