Publications
Publications
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(10,605)
- Faculty Publications (2,865)
- May 2025 (Revised May 2025)
- Case
Humana Commits to Value-Based Care
By: V.G. Narayanan, Henry Eyring and David Lane
In late 2023, CEO Bruce Broussard reviewed health insurer Humana’s transformation into a value-based care ecosystem. Under its CenterWell brand, the several millions of members in Humana Medicare Advantage plans now had access to Humana-provided primary care, home... View Details
- May 2025
- Case
The Micro-Family Office: Aamir Rehman
By: Lauren Cohen and Sophia Pan
With a successful career and strong academic credentials, Aamir Rehman sought to design a life grounded in autonomy. For him, this meant serving on boards, continuing his professorship, and ensuring a secure and comfortable life for his family. While he didn’t possess... View Details
Keywords: Family Office; Family And Friends; Trends And Opportunities; Wealth Management; Family Business; Financial Strategy; Personal Finance; Investment Portfolio; Private Equity; Organizational Design; Family and Family Relationships; Happiness; Satisfaction; Balance and Stability; Human Capital; Compensation and Benefits; Economy; Trends; Business Model; Asset Management; Financial Management; New Jersey; United States
- May 2025
- Case
Windsurf and the AI Code Assistant Market
By: Suraj Srinivasan, Sudhanshu Nath Mishra and Radhika Kak
In April 2025, the founding team of Windsurf, an AI start-up specializing in code generation gathered in Mountain View, California, to assess its remarkable year of growth. The company had scaled from a niche GitHub Copilot alternative to a breakout player with over... View Details
- April 2025
- Teaching Note
Allbirds: Decarbonizing Fashion (A) and (B)
By: Michael W. Toffel, Ken Pucker and Stacy Straaberg
Teaching Note for HBS Case Nos. 622-024, 625-004, 625-005, and 625-702. The Allbirds: Decarbonizing Fashion (A) case introduces Allbirds as a footwear startup not only focused on simple design, comfort, and sustainable natural materials but on decarbonizing the wider... View Details
Keywords: Decarbonization; Climate Impact; Environmental Strategy; Innovation; Product Design; Supply Chain Management; Innovation Strategy; Innovation and Management; Product Development; Climate Change; Environmental Management; Environmental Sustainability; Business Startups; Initial Public Offering; Knowledge Sharing; Competitive Advantage; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Fashion Industry; United States; California
- April 2025 (Revised May 2025)
- Background Note
Customer Acquisition and the Cash Flow Trap
By: E. Ofek, Barak Libai and Eitan Muller
Startups as well as existing firms recognize the need to invest in order to acquire customers for their new ventures. And as each customer is expected at some point to have generated sufficient gross margins to cover their CAC, management expects that, soon enough, the... View Details
- April 2025
- Case
Japan Industrial Partners Powers the Leveraged Buyout of Toshiba
By: Brian K. Baik, Joseph Pacelli and James Barnett
The case explores Japan Industrial Partners (JIP) $14 billion takeover of Toshiba Corporation (Toshiba). JIP was a private equity firm that took over the troubled electronics corporation in late 2023. The deal, which had been labeled one of the largest leveraged... View Details
Keywords: International Accounting; Borrowing and Debt; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Ownership; Risk and Uncertainty; Strategy; Valuation; Leveraged Buyouts; Restructuring; Capital Structure; Cost of Capital; Private Equity; Bids and Bidding; Accounting Industry; Electronics Industry; Energy Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Semiconductor Industry; Asia; Japan
- April 2025
- Case
Giving Up on a Passion: Elizabeth Rowe at the Boston Symphony Orchestra
By: Jon M. Jachimowicz, Maisie Wiltshire-Gordon and Alexis Lefort
For 20 years, Elizabeth Rowe was a world-renowned principal flutist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. But in 2024, Rowe decided to leave her position to pursue a new full-time career as a leadership coach. At 50, Rowe was well under the typical retirement age, and,... View Details
Keywords: Arts; Small Business; Social Media; Cost vs Benefits; Decision Choices and Conditions; Decisions; Learning; Music Entertainment; Values and Beliefs; Creativity; Happiness; Identity; Interests; Satisfaction; Motivation and Incentives; Prejudice and Bias; Reputation; Culture; Resignation and Termination; Personal Development and Career; Consulting Industry; Fine Arts Industry; Music Industry; United States
- April 2025
- Case
Sharon Goldberg and BastionZero
By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, James Barnett and Maxim Pike Harrell
In December 2023, BastionZero co-founder and CEO Sharon Goldberg considered her startup’s future. Established in 2017 as a blockchain company focused on improving the security of cryptocurrency trading, in March 2020 the VC-backed startup shifted focus to a new... View Details
- 2025
- Working Paper
Navigating Choppy Waters: How U.S. Trade Policy Uncertainty Affects Small Businesses
By: David Atkin, Zoë Cullen and Ebehi Iyoha
This paper explores the impact of recent changes in the US trade policy environment
on small businesses. Drawing on a survey of more than 4,000 small businesses conducted
between March 22 and 31, 2025, we examine firms’ knowledge, expectations, and
decisions during... View Details
- April 2025
- Case
Salesforce Agentforce: The Limitless Workforce
By: Suraj Srinivasan, Allison Ciechanover and George Gonzalez
In early 2025, Salesforce was a global leader in cloud-based enterprise software, best known for pioneering customer relationship management (CRM) delivered as a service. Over the past two decades, the company had expanded into marketing, customer service, analytics,... View Details
- April 2025
- Article
The Fed and the Secular Decline in Interest Rates
In this paper I document a striking fact: a narrow window around Fed meetings fully captures the secular decline in U.S. Treasury yields since 1980. By contrast, yield movements outside this window are transitory and wash out over time. This is surprising because the... View Details
- 2025
- Working Paper
With a Little Help from My Family: Informal Startup Financing
By: Brian K. Baik, Johan Ludvig S. Karlsen and Katja Kisseleva
Using Norwegian administrative data, we identify family equity investments in startups
and examine their effects on investor returns and firm behavior. Informal investors
earn lower returns than external individuals, and the firms they back are less
likely to secure... View Details
- March 2025
- Case
Boom, Bust, or Bullseye? Navigating the Short-Term Rental Market
By: John Macomber, Juan Pablo Heusser Killing, Siddhant Pardeshi and Sally Su
Short-term rentals listed via apps like AirBnB and VRBO are increasingly interesting investments for small-scale real estate investors. However, they have substantial operating costs, vacancy risk, and regulatory exposure compared to traditional long-term leases... View Details
- March 2025
- Case
Mobvoi's Path Through Market Challenges and Business Reinvention
By: Paul A. Gompers and Shu Lin
Founded in 2012, Mobvoi evolved through multiple transformations—from AI-driven voice technology to smart wearables and later AI-generated content. Backed by major investors, the company navigated shifts in strategy while facing two failed IPO attempts. As market... View Details
- March 27, 2025
- Article
How One Company Used AI to Broaden Its Customer Base
By: Sunil Gupta and Frank V. Cespedes
The software company SAP successfully leveraged AI tools to begin selling to the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) market, which had previously been uneconomical for its in-person sales approach. By mapping the customer journey and deploying over 40 AI tools, SAP... View Details
- March 2025 (Revised April 2025)
- Case
Perplexity: Redefining Search
By: Suraj Srinivasan, Michelle Hu, Sriraghav Srinivasan and Radhika Kak
By early 2025, Perplexity had rapidly evolved from a modest startup into a popular "answer engine" valued at $9 billion. The company had boldly positioned itself as the disruptor to Google aiming to redefine search for the AI age. Through novel AI... View Details
- March 2025
- Case
Taylor Guitars: Making Employee Ownership Work the Taylor Way
By: Dennis Campbell, Petros Kusmu and Stacy Straaberg
In 2013, guitar manufacturer Taylor Guitars’ co-founders Bob Taylor and Kurt Listug were considering several exit options including selling to a competitor or to a private equity firm. The co-founders decided, instead, to embark on a seven-year process to transfer 100%... View Details
Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Communication Strategy; Announcements; Decisions; Music Entertainment; Values and Beliefs; Borrowing and Debt; Geographic Location; Global Range; Governance; Employee Stock Ownership Plan; Management Style; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Private Ownership; Business Strategy; Management Succession; Transition; Employee Ownership; Performance; Manufacturing Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States; California; San Diego; Mexico; Netherlands
- March 2025 (Revised April 2025)
- Case
Dominion Voting Systems v. Fox News
By: Vincent Pons, Jesse M. Shapiro, Bharat Anand and Susan Pinckney
The case examines the Dominion Voting Systems and Fox News defamation settlement based upon statements made on air in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election. View Details
Keywords: (General) Management; Business Earnings; Financial Statements; Change Management; Disruption; Volatility; Transition; Crime and Corruption; Cost vs Benefits; Decision Making; Decision Choices and Conditions; Decisions; Demographics; Ethics; Values and Beliefs; Corporate Finance; Cost; Governance; Governance Compliance; Governance Controls; Policy; Political Elections; Business History; Information; Law; Legal Liability; Laws and Statutes; Management; Marketing; Advertising; Media; Performance; Problems and Challenges; Society; Public Opinion; Social Issues; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States
- March 2025 (Revised May 2025)
- Case
Xfund and Sam Altman: Finding Harvard's Best Generative AI Founders
By: Suraj Srinivasan
On May 1, 2024, Xfund Managing Partners Patrick Chung and Brandon Farwell, hosted a high-stakes venture pitch session designed to select one startup for a minimum $100,000 investment. This “Xperiment Stake” competition, dedicated to startups in the Generative AI... View Details
- March 2025 (Revised March 2025)
- Case
Good for the Seller, Good for the Buyer and Good for Society: Sampo-yoshi, Sustainability and Trust at ITOCHU
By: Sandra J. Sucher and Bethelehem Y Araya
In 2024, ITOCHU CEO Masahiro Okafuji was at a crossroads. As the thirteenth CEO since ITOCHU’s founding in 1858, he had fueled the company’s growth since 2011 by bringing ITOCHU’s founding philosophy of Sampo-yoshi (good for the seller, good for the buyer and... View Details