Publications

Portrait Project

Amy McGowan

My history is built on the American Dream. My maternal great-great-grandparents emigrated from Germany determined to build a thriving farm in the Midwest. Hard work enabled them to live the American Dream. My Dad emerged from a life of View Details

01 Jun 2011
News

Faculty Books

anticrime policies have been lacking till now. Di Tella, the Joseph C. Wilson Professor of Business Administration, and his coauthors address these topics and others, including the impact of mandatory arrest laws, education in prisons, and the relationship between... View Details

Keywords: Credit Intermediation and Related Activities; Finance; Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles; Finance

24 Apr 2014
News

Ron Shaich (MBA 1978)

Ron Shaich’s (MBA 1978) first venture, a cookie shop in downtown Boston, evolved into Au Bon Pain. His latest—Panera Cares—allows customers to pay only what they can afford at the popular restaurants he owns, Panera Bread. There’s a box for money—and a suggested... View Details

October 2011 (Revised March 2015)
Case

SKS and the AP Microfinance Crisis

By: Shawn Cole and Yannick Saleman

SKS, India's leading microfinance firm, is challenged when politicians declaim microfinance as exploitation of the poor and severely restrict business practices. View Details

Keywords: Microfinance; Government Administration; Policy; Capital Markets; Crisis Management; Poverty; Financial Services Industry; India

March 1991 (Revised May 1991)
Case

TBIRD: The Thai Business Initiative in Rural Development

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

During the period of 1987 to 1990, while Thailand had one of the fastest growing economies in the world (average growth rate of 12%), the income disparity between its rural and urban population (especially Bangkok City) was growing increasingly worse. Mechai... View Details

Keywords: Economic Growth; Management Skills; Programs; Wealth and Poverty; Thailand

Find at Harvard

01 Mar 2008
News

Class of 2007 Fellowship Awarded

KIM: Working to alleviate poverty in India has strengthened his interest in social enterprise. Continuing a four-year tradition among graduating classes, members of the MBA Class of 2007 established a fellowship to support their... View Details

Keywords: Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

Portrait Project

Franklin Muanankese

poverty of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We survived the violence of public housing in Washington, D.C. Through it all, we always had each other. My brother was my protector and role model. He inspired me to pursue my dreams,... View Details

25 Apr 2014
News

An investment in meaningful results

Ending poverty in New York City is a monumental goal, but as president and chief operating officer of a modern-day nonprofit that bears the legendary moniker Robin Hood, Deborah Winshel (MBA 1985) uses her business acumen to effect social... View Details

01 Sep 2007
News

Ideas against AIDS

Clawson, Jim Kralik, and John Galantic (all MBA ’90), he invited them to Thailand to help get its business community involved in rural economic development to battle poverty and prostitution. Clawson, who remains close to Viravaidya and... View Details

Keywords: AIDS & HIV; activism; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

30 Oct 2019
News

Creating Agents of Change

health, education, and empowerment through life skills and employment. “Success for us is that, by the time the young adults leave our program at age 24, they're living above the level of poverty in their country. In most cases, this is... View Details

Profile

Benjamin Peterson

what classes I should take; and in Haiti, there were millions of people worried if they’d be safe at night.” Determined to understand poverty and what he could do about it, Ben studied international relations at Stanford. His thesis... View Details

April 2022
Case

Connecting Students in Chattanooga (A)

By: Jan W. Rivkin and Manjari Raman

As COVID-19 hit and school buildings closed across America in the spring of 2020, tens of thousands of K-12 students in Chattanooga’s Hamilton County lacked the high-quality Internet service required to connect them to remote education. Bryan Johnson, superintendent... View Details

Keywords: K-12 Education; Pandemic; COVID-19; Accessibility; Education; Urban Development; Wealth and Poverty; Online Technology; Education Industry; Tennessee

24 Mar 2002
Research & Ideas

Are Assets Only for America’s Wealthy?

While net worth is on the rise for most Americans, the picture is only getting dimmer for the country's poorest families: For the 11.3 percent of Americans living below the poverty line in 2000, wealth (in terms of financial investment,... View Details

Keywords: by Carla Tishler

Profile

Paul Wang

work with the MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL). “They’re a group of economists who use randomized evaluation methodologies, similar to those used in pharmaceutical trials, to assess the impact of development projects,”... View Details

01 Oct 2000
News

Lydia M. Marshall: Gumption and Grace

skills, she notes, she is thankful for every day. As a senior executive, Marshall works to balance -- and satisfy -- the needs of her shareholders, customers, and employees. Her work with CARE often gives her a firsthand view of poverty... View Details

Keywords: Susan Young

June 2017
Case

MIA: Profit at the Base of the Pyramid

By: Lynda M. Applegate, José Antonio Dávila Castilla, Sarah Mehta and Aldo Sesia

In January 2016, Guillermo Jaime had just returned home to Mexico City after attending a Harvard Business School executive education program. Jaime was the founder and CEO of Mejoramiento Integral Asistido (MIA), a company providing affordable housing to low-income... View Details

Keywords: Base Of The Pyramid; Social Capitalism; Housing; Emerging Markets; Social Enterprise; Society; Wealth and Poverty; Social Entrepreneurship; Construction Industry; Mexico

July 2007
Teaching Note

Rwanda: National Economic Transformation (TN)

By: Michael E. Porter and Michael Patrick McCreless

Teaching Note to 706491. View Details

Keywords: Economy; Problems and Challenges; Development Economics; Policy; Poverty; Transformation; Performance Evaluation; Political Elections; Rwanda

February 2009 (Revised December 2009)
Case

Merck: Global Health and Access to Medicines

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Katharine Lee

The case describes the effort of Merck, a global leader in pharmaceuticals, in making available its medicines to the poor. The challenge for the company (or for that matter, any pharmaceutical company) is how to integrate its business strategy with its corporate social... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Health Care and Treatment; Emerging Markets; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Poverty; Business Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry