Publications

September 2018 (Revised November 2018)
Case

From Beirut With Love (A)

By: Christina R. Wing, Esel Y. Cekin and Samer Al-Rachedy

This case describes how Robert Fadel, CEO and chairman of ABC, one of Lebanon’s leading retail and real estate groups, professionalized the family business. Robert was the second son of the company’s founder, Maurice Fadel, who had run it single-handedly. Concerned... View Details

08 May 2012
First Look

First Look: May 8

Business Speaks English: Why You Need a Language Strategy Now Author:Tsedal Neeley Publication:Harvard Business Review 90, no. 5 (May 2012) Abstract An abstract is unavailable at this time. Book:... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

21 Apr 2009
First Look

First Look: April 21, 2009

inefficiencies and capitalize on its innovation: strengthening antitrust and intellectual property rights enforcement; improving the legal infrastructure (e.g., producing more business law attorneys); lowering barriers to entry for... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

15 Dec 2015
First Look

December 15, 2015

Acquisition (B) Supplements the (A) case. Purchase this case: https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/product/615034-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 816-020 GovDelivery Is government the biggest, worst customer in the world? And is that a... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

February 2022 (Revised July 2022)
Supplement

InstaDeep: AI Innovation Born in Africa (B)

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Esel Çekin

Karim Beguir and Zohra Slim were the co-founders of InstaDeep, a deep tech startup focusing on artificial intelligence (AI) solutions. Instadeep was one of the few companies globally that were partnering with DeepMind, an AI subsidiary of Google [Alphabet Inc.].... View Details

Keywords: AI; Artificial Intelligence; Entrepreneurship; Operations; Business Subsidiaries; Brands and Branding; Innovation and Invention; Growth and Development Strategy; AI and Machine Learning; Technology Industry; Africa

22 Nov 2011
First Look

First Look: November 22

case:http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/511137-PDF-ENG The K-Dow Petrochemicals Joint Venture Guhan Subramanian, James K. Sebenius, Phillip Andrews, and Rhea GhoshHarvard Business School Case 912-002 In... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2025
Case

Stagwell: AI and the Future of Marketing

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Radhika Kak

In early 2025, Mark Penn, Founder, CEO and Chairman of Stagwell, a global marketing company with a network of over 70+ agencies that served over 4000 blue-chip customers across 40 countries, was looking at ways that marketers should navigate the disruption emanating... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Innovation Strategy; Change Management; AI and Machine Learning; Digital Transformation; Technology Adoption; Marketing Strategy; Service Delivery; Creativity; Business Model; Advertising Industry; Technology Industry

19 Aug 2008
First Look

First Look: August 19, 2008

paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/07-036.pdf PublicationsIl leader interno che guarda all’esterno. (The Leader which Looks Outside) Author:Joseph L. Bower Periodical:Harvard Business Review-Italia, no. 12 (December 2007) Abstract... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

02 Jun 2009
First Look

First Look: June 2, 2009

direct knowledge, in turn, affect trust through identification, adaptation, and reduced misunderstandings. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/09-131.pdf PublicationsHow Concepts Affect Consumption Authors:Dan Ariely and Michael I. Norton... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

March 2009 (Revised May 2011)
Case

The Credit Suisse/Gerson Lehrman Group Alliance

By: Robert G. Eccles and Laura Winig

The equity research department of Credit Suisse and the expert network firm of Gerson Lehrman Group, historically competitors, have established a strategic alliance which both believe will give them a competitive advantage. Under the leadership of its head of equity... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Financial Crisis; Investment Banking; Innovation and Invention; Alliances; Social and Collaborative Networks; Competitive Advantage; Banking Industry

2021
Working Paper

Studying the U.S.-Based Portfolio Companies of U.S. Impact Investors

By: M. Diane Burton, Gurveen Chadha, Shawn A. Cole, Abhishek Dev, Christina Jarymowycz, Leslie Jeng, Laura Kelley, Josh Lerner, Jaime R. Diaz Palacios, Yue (Cynthia) Xu and T. Robert Zochowski

Recent years have seen a dramatic increase in the reliance on market-based solutions to social and environmental problems around the world (Barman 2016; Horvath and Powell 2020). The growth of impact investing is a vivid example of this trend and, although there have... View Details

Keywords: Impact Investing; Impact Portfolio Companies; Investment; Social Issues; Environmental Sustainability; Investment Portfolio; Business Ventures; Analytics and Data Science; Performance; United States

Read Now

10 Jan 2012
First Look

First Look: January 10

for interaction, but how these two mechanisms interact in formal organizations is not well understood. We argue that organizational structures and geography delimit opportunities for interaction, but that within the opportunity sets created by View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

12 Apr 2016
First Look

April 12, 2016

Andrei Hagiu of Harvard Business School and venture capitalist Simon Rothman of Greylock Partners. Most entrepreneurs and investors attribute this to the challenge of quickly attracting a critical mass of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

03 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

HBS Faculty on Revolution in the Middle East and North Africa

board as part of a business venture before the revolution, it's doubly important now. Libya looks like a classic revolution, with barricades and battles. Gaddafi has lost control of the east. A prolonged... View Details

Keywords: Re: Deepak Malhotra; Energy; Utilities

November 2023 (Revised March 2024)
Case

Infarm: Betting the (Indoor) Farm on Food Security

By: Elie Ofek

In the summer of 2023, the co-founders of Infarm, a controlled environment agriculture (CEA) company, were contemplating a major pivot going forward. While Infarm had successfully shown it could grow over 75 products—mainly herbs, leafy greens and mushrooms—in modular... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Business Model; Market Entry and Exit; Science-Based Business; Business Strategy; Transition; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Europe; North America; Toronto; Northeastern United States

Profile

Joseph Blair

Why was earning your MBA at HBS important to you? Earning my MBA was important to me because I wanted to gain business skills that complemented my engineering background. As an engineer, I was accustomed to analyzing technical problems... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital / Private Equity; Venture Capital / Private Equity; Venture Capital / Private Equity; Venture Capital / Private Equity

14 Jun 2016
First Look

June 14, 2016

forthcoming Harvard Business Review Press Managing in the Gray: Five Timeless Questions for Resolving Your Toughest Problems at Work By: Badaracco, Joseph L. Abstract—Part of a manager's job is making tough calls, and the hardest... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

11 Feb 2014
First Look

First Look: February 11

Walmart's attempts to replicate its successful U.S. business model in Mexico, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Central America, China, South Korea, Japan, Germany, the UK, and Africa. Students reflect on the mixed results of these View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 2021
Technical Note

SPAC Space

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

In 2020, over half of all initial public offerings (IPOs) in the United States were special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), blank-check companies that typically had two years to find a business to take public, usually through a reverse merger. Together, 248... View Details

Keywords: Special Purpose Acquisition Companies; SPACs; Mergers and Acquisitions; Going Public; Initial Public Offering; Investment; Strategy