Publications

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14 Jun 2012
Working Paper Summaries

“Power from Sunshine”: A Business History of Solar Energy

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones & Loubna Bouamane; Energy; Utilities

15 Apr 2014
Research & Ideas

Calderón: Economic Arguments Needed to Fight Climate Change

What do Chinese coal plants and the American legislative branch have in common? They are both major adversaries in the fight against climate change, according to former President of Mexico Felipe Calderón. "The most serious problem... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Manufacturing

04 Nov 2019
News

Getting Around: Shaping the Future of Transportation

27 Mar 2017
Blog Post

How to Partner With a Club: Host a Club Trek

members, discuss career trajectory, job opportunities and how different teams work together. Allowing students to envision their daily work environment is an advantage to any organization looking to educate... View Details

Keywords: Technology

June 2011
Background Note

It's a Social World

By: Stephen P. Bradley and Nancy Bartlett

Social media had fashioned the lives of individuals and communities by 2010, providing an opportunity and a challenge for companies of all sizes. This note provides background on various social media (e.g. social networks, forums, games and communication services) and... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Media; Service Operations; Sales; Opportunities; Corporate Strategy; Web

11 Aug 2014
HBS Case

The Business of Behavioral Economics

You've done everything—endured diets, purged your freezer of Ben & Jerry's, and educated yourself on fat, sugar, and calories. Yet, you can't manage to lose weight. What's wrong with you? According to... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Food & Beverage; Food & Beverage

April 2021 (Revised January 2022)
Supplement

SA Taxi: A Vehicle for Empowerment? (B)

By: Nien-he Hsieh, Dilyana Karadzhova Botha and F. Christopher Eaglin

SA Taxi was a vertically integrated business that operated in South Africa’s distinctive taxi industry. Despite being plagued by violence, informal structures, unsafe road practices and lack of government support, the taxi industry had grown to become South Africa’s... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Accountability; Ownership; Ownership Stake; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Equality and Inequality; Race; Situation or Environment; Transportation Industry; South Africa; Africa

February 2012 (Revised November 2012)
Case

Bain Capital: Outback Steakhouse

By: Paul Gompers, Kristin Mugford and J. Daniel Kim

Bain Capital had purchased Outback Steakhouse in 2007 and despite the myriad initiatives to improve operations, the financial collapse in 2008 threatened the company's ability to meet its loan covenants. Outback's performance steadily declined throughout the year. How... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Acquisition; Mergers and Acquisitions; Performance Expectations; Borrowing and Debt; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

April 1992
Supplement

Prelude Corp.: Afterthoughts

By: Norman A. Berg

Commentary by an executive familiar with the industry on what went wrong at Prelude and what the difficulties are in creating economies of scale in the lobster fishing industry. View Details

Keywords: Management; Problems and Challenges; Cost Management; Food and Beverage Industry

January 2022
Article

Who Creates New Firms When Local Opportunities Arise?

By: Shai Benjamin Bernstein, Emanuele Colonnelli, Davide Malacrino and Timothy McQuade

We examine the characteristics of the individuals who become entrepreneurs when local opportunities arise. We identify local demand shocks by linking fluctuations in global commodity prices to municipality level agricultural endowments in Brazil. We find that the firm... View Details

Keywords: Firms; Entrepreneurs; Demand Shocks; Entrepreneurship; Personal Characteristics; Demographics; Opportunities; Brazil

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26 Aug 2024
Research & Ideas

Can AI Match Human Ingenuity in Creative Problem-Solving?

When ChatGPT and other large language models began entering the mainstream two years ago, it quickly became apparent the technology could excel at certain business functions, yet it was less clear how well artificial intelligence could handle more creative tasks. Sure,... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Information Technology; Information; Technology

03 Feb 2016
Research & Ideas

The State of Customer Service Leadership

Good and bad service experiences die hard. Who can forget the hotel receptionist who went above and beyond the call of duty to accommodate a last-minute change in travel plans in contrast to the sulky server... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner; Retail

May 1993 (Revised March 1995)
Case

PEPSI: The Indian Challenge

On November 9, 1987, the Government of India's Project Approval Board approved PepsiCo's second proposal to enter the country. The package that had been approved differed substantially, however, from the one that Pepsi and its local partners had proposed more than a... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Business and Government Relations; Food and Beverage Industry; United States; India

January 2002
Background Note

Note on Business Model Analysis for the Entrepreneur

By: Richard G. Hamermesh, Paul W. Marshall and Taslim Pirmohamed

Describes the primary elements and defining characteristics of a company's business model from the perspective of an entrepreneur. Introduces several analytic techniques and provides illustrative examples of business models to support the analytic framework presented. View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Entrepreneurship; Framework; Mathematical Methods; Opportunities; Perspective

November 1994 (Revised December 1995)
Case

The Domik Project

By: William J. Poorvu and John H. Vogel Jr.

Cameron Sawyer, CEO of Sawyer and Co., seeks financing for an office building he is developing in Moscow. The case describes the opportunities and challenges of development in Russia. Also highlights entrepreneurial opportunities in a changing world. View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Opportunities; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Problems and Challenges; Growth and Development Strategy; Moscow

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September 2006 (Revised April 2007)
Case

Tim Keller at Katzenbach Partners LLC (A)

By: Boris Groysberg, Christopher Marquis and Ayesha Kanji

Tracks of the first 6 months of a recent MBA grad, Tim Keller, at Katzenbach Partners, a boutique consulting firm focused on organizational change and strategy. Covers how Keller initially struggles with his assignment and ends with a question of whether or not he... View Details

Keywords: Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Personal Development and Career; Work-Life Balance; Projects; Situation or Environment; Strategy