Publications

July 2024 (Revised July 2024)
Case

Gates Ventures: Making Alzheimer's a Forgotten Past

By: Satish Tadikonda, William Marks, Shardule Shah and Calvin Marambo

After a personal journey and interest in Alzheimer's Disease (AD) by Bill Gates, Gates Ventures set out to find the best way to accelerate innovation in the field of AD. In partnership with the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation, Gates Ventures created the... View Details

Keywords: Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Entrepreneurial Finance; Health Disorders; Mission and Purpose

Joshua Margolis is James Dinan and Elizabeth Miller Professor of Business Administration and the Unit Head for the Organizational Behavior unit. He is also Faculty Chair of the Program for Leadership Development. His research and teaching revolve around leadership... View Details

Keywords: furniture; health care; insurance industry; nonprofit industry; pharmaceuticals

2022
Article

Diffusing Management Practices within the Firm: The Role of Information Provision

By: Michael J. Lenox and Michael W. Toffel

Why are some firms more successful in adopting profitable environmental management practices than others? A key role of corporate managers is to encourage subsidiaries to adopt innovative practices. We examine the conditions under which corporate managers use... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Strategy; Information Provision; Environmental Management; Knowledge Dissemination

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October 2018
Supplement

JetBlue: Relevant Sustainability Leadership (B)

By: George Serafeim and David Freiberg

The case outlines JetBlue's decision to disclose according to the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) standards and the ESG metrics they began reporting. Data on resulting changes in institutional ownership are also provided. View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Metrics; Leadership And Change Management; Airlines; Innovation; Purpose; ESG; ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; Sustainability Reporting; Change Management; Leadership; Mission and Purpose; Financial Reporting

A self-described “human Venn diagram” Christina Wallace has crafted a career at the intersection of business, technology, and the arts. She is a Senior Lecturer in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: arts; venture capital industry; consumer products; service industry; internet

February 2019 (Revised May 2019)
Case

Hot Chicken Takeover

By: William R. Kerr, Manjari Raman and Olivia Hull

By December 2018, entrepreneur Joe DeLoss’s fried chicken company, Hot Chicken Takeover, has opened three restaurants in Columbus, Ohio, using an unconventional employment model that helps people with criminal records get back on their feet. DeLoss is proud of the... View Details

David Scharfstein is the Edmund Cogswell Converse Professor of Finance and Banking at Harvard Business School, where he has taught since 2003. He currently teaches a course on financial intermediation in the MBA program. Scharfstein has written on a wide range of... View Details

Keywords: banking

08 Oct 2024
Video

The power of diversity

October 2020 (Revised November 2020)
Case

Digging for Gold: Paulson & Co.'s Activism in the Gold Sector

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Jonah S. Goldberg

The case describes the efforts of hedge fund Paulson & Co to influence corporate governance and improve performance in the gold industry. In an innovative move, the hedge fund led the creation of the Shareholder Gold Council, a consortium of large investors in gold... View Details

Keywords: Board Of Directors; Hedge Funds; Shareholder Activism; Gold; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Investment Funds; Investment Activism; Performance Improvement; Corporate Accountability; Mining Industry; Canada; United States

2019
Working Paper

The Creative Consulting Company

By: Robert S. Kaplan, Richard Nolan and David P. Norton

During the past 50 years, several consulting companies introduced important new ideas that extended management theory and improved management practice. This paper draws upon public sources and the authors’ personal experiences to describe how three management... View Details

Keywords: Management; Theory; Practice; Performance Improvement; Innovation and Management; Consulting Industry

SSRN

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18 Jun 2024
Research & Ideas

Industrial Decarbonization: Confronting the Hard Challenges of Cement

Cities like Cairo; Chongqing, China; Delhi; and Kinshasa, Congo are experiencing population explosions accompanied by unprecedented demand for homes, offices, factories, and infrastructure. In the United States, the Biden Administration’s policy-driven infrastructure... View Details

Keywords: by by Janelle Conaway; Green Technology; Energy; Industrial Products; Manufacturing

April 2022
Teaching Note

CVS Health: Prescription for Transformation

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Catarina Martinez

In 2021, new CEO Karen Lynch (named the most powerful woman in business) considered the next transformation phase for CVS Health (a Fortune 5 corporate giant). The 2018 acquisition of Aetna insurance brought her to the company as part of its long evolution from a... View Details

Keywords: Health; COVID-19 Pandemic; Primary Care; Leadership; Change Management; Women Executives; Retail; Pharmacy; Pharmacy Benefit Manager; Clinical Trials; Vaccination; Acquisition; Innovation and Invention; Transformation; Retail Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Health Industry; United States

Juan Alcacer is the James J. Hill Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He joined HBS in 2007 and has taught the required MBA strategy course, an elective on Global Strategy and PhD courses in Strategy and International Business. Within... View Details

Keywords: consulting; management consulting; telecommunications

22 May 2012
First Look

First Look: May 22

for society. Students and researchers in organizational behavior, management, positive psychology, leadership, and corporate responsibility will find this book of interest. Publisher's Link:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 2011
Supplement

Jack Hughes, Founder and Chairman of TopCoder, In-class comments 4/8/11

By: David A. Garvin

TopCoder's crowdsourcing-based business model, in which software is developed through online tournaments, is presented. The case highlights how TopCoder has created a unique two-sided innovation platform consisting of a global community of over 225,000 developers who... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Growth and Development; Technological Innovation; Problems and Challenges; Motivation and Incentives; Competition; Online Technology; Information Technology Industry

March 2008
Article

When Growth Stalls

By: Matthew S. Olson, Derek C. M. van Bever and Seth Verry

This article includes a one-page preview that quickly summarizes the key ideas and provides an overview of how the concepts work in practice along with suggestions for further reading. An abrupt and lasting drop in revenue growth is a crisis that can strike even the... View Details

Keywords: Growth Strategy; Revenues; Crisis Management; Revenue; Growth and Development Strategy

February 1993 (Revised April 1995)
Case

Sharp Corporation: Technology Strategy

By: David J. Collis and Tomo Noda

Teaches the evolution of the corporate strategy of Sharp Corp., Japan. Sharp Corp., a second-tier assembler of TV sets and home appliances, gradually and consistently improved performance by developing expertise in electronic device technologies such as specialized ICs... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Leadership; Performance Improvement; Corporate Strategy; Diversification; Technology Adoption; Electronics Industry; Japan