Publications

2023
Working Paper

Beefing IT Up for Your Investor? Open Sourcing and Startup Funding: Evidence from GitHub

By: Annamaria Conti, Christian Peukert and Maria Roche

We study the participation of nascent firms in open source communities and its implications for attracting funding. To do so, we link data on 160,065 U.S. startups from Crunchbase to their activities on the open source development platform GitHub. In a matched sample... View Details

Keywords: Startups; Technology Strategy; GitHub; Machine Learning; Business Startups; Venture Capital; Information Technology; Strategy

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July 2021 (Revised February 2022)
Case

Mary Kay Inc.: Enriching Women's Lives while Embracing Change

By: Elie Ofek, K. Shelette Stewart and Julia Kelley

In December 2020, Mary Kay Inc. Chief Marketing Officer Sheryl Adkins-Green considered several strategic dilemmas. Founded in 1963 by Mary Kay Ash, Mary Kay was a direct sales company whose Independent Beauty Consultants purchased its beauty and cosmetics products at... View Details

12 Jul 2021
Interview

LeadershipLIVE™—Dr. Amy Edmondson

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Tom Matthews

Dr. Amy Edmondson has made a career studying leadership in influential businesses, becoming a world-class leader in the process. A protege of the late Larry Wilson, she’s built a rock-solid foundation on his wisdom. Dr. Edmondson is now the Novartis Professor of... View Details

Keywords: Psychological Safety; Management Style; Leadership Style

July 2021 (Revised September 2021)
Case

Sarah Robb O'Hagan: The Rocky Road of Passion

By: Jon M. Jachimowicz and Francesca Gino

In November 2018, Sarah Robb O’Hagan is reeling from an unceremonious exit as CEO of Flywheel, a chain of indoor cycling studios. In the past, Robb O’Hagan had led transformational change across companies throughout the sports and fitness industry, including as... View Details

Keywords: Personal Development and Career; Satisfaction; Decision Making; Problems and Challenges; Opportunities; Interests

July 2021 (Revised January 2022)
Teaching Note

Amazon Shopper Panel: Paying Customers for Their Data

By: Eva Ascarza and Ayelet Israeli

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 521-058. View Details

July 2021
Case

A Close Shave at Squire

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Zoë B. Cullen, William R. Kerr, Benjamin N. Roth and Michael Norris

In 2020, just after closing a $34 million Series B financing round, Dave Salvant and Songe LaRon consider how to adjust their business, Squire Technologies, to the new realities posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Their barbershop technology, including tools to run a shop... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Applications and Software; Growth and Development Strategy; Health Pandemics; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Technology Industry; New York (city, NY); San Francisco

July 2021 (Revised January 2024)
Case

Fynd

By: Ranjay Gulati, Kairavi Dey and Rachna Tahilyani

Fynd is a fast-growing venture that in 7 years since its founding has become India's largest omnichannel retail company with real-time access to over 9,000 stores' offline inventory. It started as a B2B business supporting retailers who didn’t have an online business,... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Business Model; Acquisition; Decision Making; Cost vs Benefits; Growth and Development Strategy; Web Services Industry; Technology Industry; Communications Industry; India; Mumbai

9 Jul 2021
Interview

Matthew Barzun and Amy Edmondson

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Matthew Barzun

Writer Matthew Barzun speaks with Harvard Professor and author Amy Edmondson about Barzun's book, "The Power of Giving Away Power: How the Best Leaders Learn to Let Go". Matthew Barzun has served as U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom and Sweden. He served as... View Details

July 2021 (Revised August 2021)
Supplement

Airbnb Emerges from the Pandemic: Lessons for Stakeholder Governance (B)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Allison M. Ciechanover

As the COVID pandemic spread in early 2020, global travel ground to a halt. For Airbnb, the San Francisco-based platform for renting accommodations, the impact was both swift and severe as revenues plummeted more than 70% over the prior year. Responding to the sudden... View Details

Keywords: Business and Stakeholder Relations; Corporate Governance; Crisis Management; Leadership; Two-Sided Platforms; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Value Creation; Decision Making; Goals and Objectives; Travel Industry; Tourism Industry; Service Industry; United States

July 8, 2021
Article

How to Build a Life: The Link Between Self-Reliance and Well-Being

By: Arthur C. Brooks

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July 2021
Case

Performance Review: Joseph Park and Elena Ramírez

By: David G. Fubini and Patrick Sanguineti

Niya Jones, a Partner at a major management consulting firm, must review the work of two of her mentees––Joseph Park and Elena Ramírez––for their first end-of-year performance review as new Project Leaders. Both have produced strong results in their new roles, but... View Details

Keywords: Personal Development and Career; Management Style; Goals and Objectives; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Leadership Style

July 2021 (Revised October 2021)
Teaching Note

Glovo: Expanding Quick Commerce

By: Antonio Moreno and Anibha Singh

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 621-094. View Details

July 2021
Teaching Plan

Scale and Scope at Drake Real Estate Partners

By: Christina R. Wing and David Lane

Teaching Plan for HBS Case No. 621-065. View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Family Business; Investment; Ownership; Value Creation; Financial Services Industry; Real Estate Industry; United States; Latin America; Chile

6 Jul 2021
Interview

Best Buy's Hubert Joly on Walking the Talk of Stakeholder Capitalism

By: Hubert Joly and Alison Beard

Hubert Joly, former chairman and CEO of Best Buy, says that now is the time for companies to get serious about operating to benefit not just shareholders but also employees, customers and broader society. In the face of environmental crisis, racial turmoil, and rising... View Details

Keywords: Stakeholder Capitalism; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Mission and Purpose; Leadership; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact

2021
Book

The Power of Trust: How Companies Build It, Lose It, Regain It

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Shalene Gupta

Trust is the most powerful force underlying the success of every business. Yet it can be shattered in an instant, with a devastating impact on a company’s market cap and reputation. How to build and sustain trust requires fresh insight into why customers, employees,... View Details

July 2021 (Revised October 2021)
Case

Allianz Customer Centricity: Is Simplicity the Way Forward?

By: Eva Ascarza and Emilie Billaud

This case explores the tradeoffs between product personalization and simplicity as companies grow. The case presents an opportunity to understand whether and how each of these approaches enables and/or limits companies’ abilities to provide customer satisfaction while... View Details

Keywords: Simplicity; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customization and Personalization; Customer Satisfaction; Performance Efficiency; Strategy; Insurance Industry; Europe; Germany

June 28, 2021
Article

4 Imperatives for Managing in a Hybrid World

By: Kalle Heikkinen, William R. Kerr, Mika Malin and Panu Routila

As more and more companies turn to a hybrid model of work more than a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, what challenges are leaders likely to face when managing people both in the office and remotely? Interviews with 38 executives in Nordic countries point to four main... View Details

Keywords: Hybrid Organizations; Organizational Structure; Management; Leadership