Publications

Read Now

14 Mar 2014
News

Start-up Takes the Legwork out of Shopping

Keywords: fashion; start-up; Personal Services; Clothing and Clothing Accessories Stores; Retail Trade

March 2012 (Revised October 2012)
Case

Gary Hirshberg and Stonyfield Farm

By: Nancy F. Koehn, Nora N. Khan and Elizabeth W. Legris

Gary Hirshberg and Stonyfield Farm is the story of one entrepreneur's vision and journey to create a market-leading, environmentally responsible business founded on the principles of product quality, organizational alignment, and sustainability. A former environmental... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurs; Values; Development Stage Enterprises; Innovation; Management By Objective; Experimentation; Emerging Technologies; Mission and Purpose; Management Style; Values and Beliefs; Social Issues; Organizational Culture; Environmental Sustainability; Business Growth and Maturation; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Innovation and Invention; Food and Beverage Industry; New Hampshire

Keywords: Green Building; LEED Rating System; Economic And Environmental Performance; Program Evaluation And Assessment; Tradeoffs Between Process- And Performance Standards; Buildings and Facilities; Business Headquarters; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Standards; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Performance Improvement; Environmental Sustainability; Pollutants; Green Technology Industry

September 2009 (Revised September 2010)
Case

Genzyme Center (A)

By: Michael W. Toffel and Aldo Sesia

Genzyme Corporation is in the midst of planning its new corporate headquarters, which incorporates many innovative green building features. After learning that the building as planned would likely earn a LEED Silver rating, an intermediate score in the LEED green... View Details

2021
Working Paper

The Origins of CE Marking: Standards, Business, and the European Market in the 1980s–1990s

By: Grace Ballor

Many products—from consumer electronics to machinery to children’s toys—bear the CE Mark, the symbol of conformity to the ‘essential requirements’ of European standards governed by the process of CE Marking. This working paper traces the development of the system of... View Details

Keywords: Business And Government; Market Liberalization; Standards; Markets; Trade; Integration; Business History; Globalization; Business and Government Relations; Europe; European Union

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2024
Working Paper

Health, Human Capital Development and the Longevity of Japanese Elites Since 710

By: Tom Nicholas and Hiroshi Shimizu

We examine the lifespan of over 40,000 elites in Japan born between 710 and 1912, including samurai warriors, feudal lords, business, political, cultural, and religious leaders at the apex of the social hierarchy. Japanese elites experienced increases in lifespan about... View Details

Keywords: Life Expectancy; Status and Position; Health; History; Human Capital; Japan

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31 Mar 2023
Research & Ideas

Can a ‘Basic Bundle’ of Health Insurance Cure Coverage Gaps and Spur Innovation?

By the early 1980s, several high-income countries—including Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand—had universal health insurance covering 100 percent of the population. Meanwhile, 40 years later, the United... View Details

Keywords: by Kasandra Brabaw; Insurance; Health

Why They Do It: Inside the Mind of the White-Collar Criminal

"A spectacular achievement" - Library Journal

From the financial fraudsters of Enron, to the embezzlers at Tyco, to the Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff, the failings of corporate titans are regular fixtures in the news. But what drives wealthy and... View Details

March 1997 (Revised May 2000)
Background Note

Bretton Woods System of Exchange Rates, The

By: Louis T. Wells Jr.

Describes the exchange rate system adopted at Bretton Woods in 1994. View Details

Keywords: Trade; Currency Exchange Rate; Government and Politics; Adoption; System

24 Aug 2018
Blog Post

Meet the MS/MBA: Engineering Sciences Class of 2020

& BS, Bioengineering, University of Illinois "As an aspiring technology leader in healthcare, I'm extremely excited for this program to be an incubator for students to build skills around entrepreneurship and View Details

May 2017 (Revised June 2017)
Case

ATH Technologies (A): Making the Numbers

By: Robert Simons and Jennifer Packard

An exercise that takes students through five stages of growth in an entrepreneurial start-up in the medical devices industry: 1) founding, 2) growth, 3) push to profitability, 4) refocusing process, and 5) takeover by new management. At each stage, students must... View Details

Keywords: Strategy And Execution; Management Control Systems; Balancing Innovation And Control; Performance Management; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Startups; Profit; Geographic Location; Governance Controls; Innovation and Invention; Management Succession; Performance Evaluation; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

Book Review

Review of Transforming the Development Landscape: The Role of the Private Sector, edited by Lael Brainard

By: Eric D. Werker

Keywords: Information; Transformation; Growth and Development; Private Sector

Find at Harvard

20 Apr 2021
Working Paper Summaries

The Emergence of Mafia-like Business Systems in China

Keywords: by Meg Rithmire and Hao Chen

May 2017
Case

Vicki Fuller: Chief Investment Officer of New York State's $150+ Billion Employee Pension Fund

By: Steven Rogers and Valerie Mosley

Vicki Fuller traveled from a four-room tenement bordering Chicago’s infamous Cabrini-Green housing projects to speaking at conferences around the world and typically holding court wherever she went. As a teenager, she helped raise her siblings. As a Wall Street... View Details