Publications

February 2019 (Revised November 2024)
Case

Theranos: Who Has Blood on Their Hands? (A)

By: Nien-hê Hsieh, Christina R. Wing, Emilie Fournier and Anna Resman

This case covers the rise and fall of Theranos, the company founded by Elizabeth Holmes in 2004 to revolutionize the blood testing industry by creating a device that could provide from a small finger prick the same results and accuracy as intravenous blood draws. As... View Details

Keywords: Health Testing and Trials; Corporate Accountability; Organizational Culture; Misleading and Fraudulent Advertising; Crime and Corruption; Ethics; Entrepreneurship; Lawsuits and Litigation

Web

Topics - HBS Working Knowledge

Education (1) Mining (1) Misleading and Fraudulent Advertising (1) Mission and Purpose (20) Mobile Technology (8)... View Details

29 Nov 2022
Research & Ideas

Is There a Method to Musk’s Madness on Twitter?

an influential but unprofitable business that lost money eight of the last 10 years. Now, digital ad revenues are falling pretty rapidly across the internet, and advertisers are pausing or bailing on... View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette; Technology

27 Jan 2023
Op-Ed

Have We Lost Sight of Integrity?

deceitfulness and fraudulence led to his public lambasting. Santos is just the latest in a long line of leaders for whom integrity has little to no meaning, including Frank’s Charlie Javice, FTX’s Sam... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George

February 2020
Supplement

Theranos: Who Has Blood on Their Hands? (B)

By: Nien-he Hsieh, Christina R. Wing and John Masko

This supplemental case tracks the results of the Colman and Taubman-Dye class action suit against Theranos as well as Theranos’ other legal challenges and chronicles the final demise of the company in 2019. View Details

Keywords: Health Testing and Trials; Corporate Accountability; Organizational Culture; Misleading and Fraudulent Advertising; Crime and Corruption; Entrepreneurship; Lawsuits and Litigation; Business Exit or Shutdown; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; California; United States

22 Feb 2022
News

Breaking News

and declining print advertising revenue. That was the firm foundation upon which local newspapers were built, so that pressure on the traditional sources of revenue has obviously put pressure on the rest of... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; illustration by Dana Smith; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services

July 2022
Case

FIJI Water: Carbon Negative? (Abridged)

By: Michael W. Toffel, George Serafeim, Francesca Gino, Stephanie Van Sice and Tom Quinn

In the midst of increasing press scrutiny of the bottled water industry’s environmentally harmful practices, FIJI Water made a series of sustainability promises. The boldest of these was a pledge to go “carbon negative.” The company said that not only would they offset... View Details

Keywords: Carbon Footprint; Carbon Offsetting; Environmental Accounting; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Pollution; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Misleading and Fraudulent Advertising; Non-Governmental Organizations; Brands and Branding; Food and Beverage Industry; Fiji; United States

27 Jul 2019
Op-Ed

Does Facebook's Business Model Threaten Our Elections?

platform. Advertisers used that data to create psychographic profiles of potential customers that went beyond mere demographics to give insights into what they like and value. Studies have found that with... View Details

Keywords: by George Riedel

December 2010 (Revised September 2011)
Case

Kanebo Ltd. (A)

By: David F. Hawkins, Suraj Srinivasan, Akiko Kanno and Lizzie Gomez

Speculation as to how Japanese companies might implement IFRS with particular emphasis on consolidation accounting. View Details

Keywords: History; Business Conglomerates; Misleading and Fraudulent Advertising; Consolidation; Financial Statements; International Finance; International Accounting; Standards; Goodwill Accounting; Manufacturing Industry; Japan

February 5, 2009
Comment

In Praise of Marketing

By: John A. Quelch

Many dismiss marketing as manipulative, deceptive, and intrusive. Marketing, they argue, focuses too much of our attention on material consumption. More recently, Benjamin Barber, in his 2007 book Consumed, claims that marketing is "sucking up the air from every other... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Consumer Loyalty; Local Vs. Global Branding; Multi-national Brands; Misleading and Fraudulent Advertising; Customer Value and Value Chain; Customer Satisfaction; Globalized Economies and Regions; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Multinational Firms and Management; Globalized Markets and Industries; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Product Positioning