Publications

August 2008
Case

The Chubb Corporation in China

By: Li Jin, Michael Shih-ta Chen and Aldo Sesia

The Chubb Corporation, headquartered in the U.S., was the holding company for a number of property and casualty insurance companies which operated in 29 countries. In 1979, the Chinese government, as part of its "reform and open" policy invited a delegation of Chubb... View Details

Keywords: Insurance; Globalized Firms and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Emerging Markets; Market Entry and Exit; Business and Government Relations; Insurance Industry; China; United States

Find at Harvard

December 2024 (Revised March 2025)
Case

The Shouldice Hospital Today

By: James Heskett and Roger Hallowell

The leadership and staff of Shouldice Hospital in Toronto, Canada have, for 75 years, sought to do one thing better than any other hospital in the world, repair inguinal hernias. For some years, a possible second hospital in another market has been under consideration.... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Health Care and Treatment; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Culture; Expansion; Health Industry; Toronto; Canada; United States

July 2022 (Revised October 2022)
Case

Sixty Years of Sylvia’s

By: Christina R. Wing, Carlton Burrell Jr., Chika-Dike Nwokike and Abby Patrick

Sylvia’s Restaurant, approaching its sixtieth anniversary this August, is a testament to the values instilled by the matriarch herself, Sylvia Woods. Despite living through an era of racial oppression and poverty, Sylvia accessed financing and established her financial... View Details

Keywords: Community; Legacy; Small Business; Values and Beliefs; Success; Expansion; Growth and Development Strategy

February 2017
Case

BlaBlaCar: The Road Ahead...

By: Karim R. Lakhani, Arun Sundararajan, Emilie Billaud and Caroline Caltagirone

In 2017, the co-founders of BlaBlaCar—the world’s largest long-distance carpooling company—reflected on the evolution of their venture and the way forward. BlaBlaCar had reached critical mass and size; yet staying still was not going to be enough to be relevant and... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Business Startups; Transformation; Decision Making; Values and Beliefs; Growth and Development Strategy; Digital Platforms; Network Effects; Strategic Planning; Competitive Strategy; Expansion; Internet and the Web; Transportation Networks; Transportation Industry; Web Services Industry; France; Europe

17 Mar 2015
Research & Ideas

Where Did My Shopping Mall Go?

formats now fit only a narrow segment of the population. Finally, much of retail growth over the last three decades has relied on aggregating volume to support a large store infrastructure. However, this volume may not materialize in any... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

17 Sep 2007
Research & Ideas

Broadband: Remaking the Advertising Industry

strictly online. Who reads newspapers? Old guys. So this is an industry that is being dramatically transformed. “The reality for the advertising industry is that the old model is broken.” As broadband enables new forms of entertainment and new ways to consume and View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Advertising; Media & Broadcasting; Publishing

31 Oct 2004
Research & Ideas

Bypass Marketing: Are Docs Influenced?

David Blumenthal, professor at Harvard Medical School and a member of the Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital; Michael Newman, a senior research manager at Harris Interactive; Kinga Zapert, vice president for... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls

March 2020
Case

Voi Technology

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and Olivia Hull

Voi Technology, a fast-growing start-up out of Sweden, is competing in the highly contested European e-scooter sharing market. With a presence in nearly 40 cities in Europe by February 2020, the firm is working hard to improve its unit economics to reach profitability.... View Details

01 Mar 2025
News

Work of Art

Jason Price (MBA 2003) in the main gallery space at NXTHVN, the art community he cofounded in New Haven’s Dixwell neighborhood Trying to capture the scope of what’s going on at NXTHVN, the nonprofit arts and community organization Jason Price (MBA 2003) cofounded with... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; photos by Chris Sorensen; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Arts, Entertainment

February 2022 (Revised September 2022)
Case

Lilium: Preparing for Takeoff

By: Navid Mojir, Vincent Dessain, Mette Fuglsang Hjortshoej and Emer Moloney

Lilium is a German company focused on developing electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles (eVTOLs) that can be used to offer air taxi services. The company went public in September 2021 through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) deal, raising more than... View Details

Profile

Mi Zhou

of Chinese businesses,” she says, “is rapid growth that overtakes corporate governance. In many cases, there’s very loose control over the business. I worked with one client that had business units making up their accounting numbers. In... View Details

01 Jun 2017
News

Supercharged

rapid-charging stations capable of recharging a vehicle’s battery in minutes rather than hours—has been a “primary inhibitor” of mass-market adoption. Juan Camargo (MBA 2012), senior manager for value strategy at Cox Automotive—which owns... View Details

Keywords: Alexander Gelfand; illustrations by Tavis Coburn

06 Dec 2016
First Look

December 6, 2016

other clinical personnel talk more with patients and each other can be the least expensive and most effective approach for producing better outcomes at lower total costs. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=51939 forthcoming View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Mar 2013
News

Sizing Up Social Impact

nonprofit leaders today," says Associate Professor Alnoor Ebrahim, a member of the School's General Management Unit and Social Enterprise Initiative who focuses on the challenges of performance management, accountability, and governance... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Crop Production; Agriculture; Administration of Economic Programs; Government; Administration of Housing Programs, Urban Planning, and Community Development; Government; Water, Sewage and Supply Systems; Utilities

January 2003 (Revised December 2003)
Case

Joint Juice

Focuses on Joint Juice, a start-up in the new-age beverage category. The company has a patented formula for producing a glucosamine beverage, the only one on the market. (Glucosamine is a nutritional supplement believed to help rejuvenate joints and treat arthritis.)... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Business or Company Management; Competitive Strategy; Expansion; Corporate Strategy; Industry Structures; Entrepreneurship; Food and Beverage Industry

June 2024
Case

SnapTravel: Betting on 'Super.com'

By: Reza Satchu and Tom Quinn

This case explores SnapTravel, a travel startup offering discounted hotel rooms, and its founders’ desire to pivot to a “super app” that saved customers money across many different purchase types. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Hussein Fazal and Henry Shi saw SnapTravel... View Details

26 Nov 2013
First Look

First Look: November 26

identifying the types of GPs that drive the identified correlation between GPs and reduced shareholder value. Publisher's link: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1718488 August 2013 American Journal of Managed Care... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

24 Oct 2012
Research & Ideas

Want People to Save More? Send a Text

that if she lost her job, she couldn't pay her children's school fees or pay for a doctor," says Pomeranz, an assistant professor in entrepreneurial management at Harvard Business School. “How can we understand what projects work to... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard

April 2012
Case

Man Group (A)

By: Robert C. Pozen and Thomas M. Clay

The Man Group was a huge and successful UK-based hedge fund and fund of funds manager. Through acquisitions, the company had consciously diversified its portfolio of investment products. In 2007 Man had to decide whether or not to spin off its brokerage business. Man... View Details

Keywords: Asset Management; Investment Funds; Financial Crisis; Decisions; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Diversification; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Strategy; Financial Services Industry; United Kingdom; Europe