Publications

SSRN

8:30 AM – 6:45 PM EDT, 11 Aug 2020
Virtual Programming

Capitalism at Risk: How Business Can Lead in an Era of Disruption

HBS Professors Joseph Bower and Lynn Paine, coauthors of Capitalism at Risk, outline the disruptive forces that are threatening business and societyfrom rising income inequality, climate change, and mass migration to terrorism and failed states. Join them for a... View Details

09 May 2017
First Look

New Research and Ideas, May 9

promote social equality. He pondered whether public policy could make a difference or whether the market and societal currents, responsible for these trends, were too strong View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2024 (Revised February 2025)
Case

Doing Business in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

By: Karen G. Mills, Allison H. Mnookin, Leonard A. Schlesinger, Shu Lin, Julianne Bliss and Morgane Herculano

Le Thi Thu Thuy, Vice Chairwoman of Vingroup, the largest private conglomerate in Vietnam, and Global CEO of VinFast, Vingroup’s automotive subsidiary established in 2017, was contemplating VinFast’s future strategy. Domestically, the EV market in Vietnam was in its... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Business Conglomerates; Global Strategy; Emerging Markets; Business Strategy; Infrastructure; Competition; Auto Industry; Viet Nam

24 Oct 2023
HBS Case

From P.T. Barnum to Mary Kay: Lessons From 5 Leaders Who Changed the World

1960s Bay Area counterculture, and the other, a daughter of former enslaved people born after the Civil War, both built iconic companies by passionately championing their ideas and pushing for growth.... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

07 Jan 2008
Research & Ideas

Pursuing a Deadly Opportunity

There is a market for everything—even dead bodies. Medical students use cadavers to gain experience, and their future patients are better off for it. Traditionally, cadavers... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Health

Program

Driving Digital Strategy

leaders must strike a delicate balance between strengthening the core of their business and boldly building for the future. Through a series of real-life case studies and thought-provoking discussions, we will explore the ever-evolving... View Details

Matthew Rabin

Matthew Rabin is the Pershing Square Professor of Behavioral Economics in the Harvard Economics Department and Harvard Business School.

Before that, he spent 25 years at the wonderful University of California, Berkeley Economics Department. His research... View Details

Ananth Raman

Ananth Raman is a professor in the Technology and Operations Management area where he has taught courses on various aspects of Operational Excellence—supply chain management, technology and operations management, and service operations—to MBA students... View Details

Keywords: apparel; retailing; software

18 Apr 2023
Research & Ideas

The Best Person to Lead Your Company Doesn't Work There—Yet

within their own ranks. “What you really do need is knowledge of that specific industry, whether it's pharmaceutical or manufacturing or hospitality or rocket science.” The findings suggest an active market View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Financial Services

Christopher T. Stanton

Christopher Stanton is Marvin Bower Associate Professor of Business Administration in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit. Professor Stanton's research streams focus on personnel economics, organizational economics, labor markets, and entrepreneurship. His MBA... View Details

December 2012
Case

Blink Booking

By: William R. Kerr, Magnus Thor Torfason and Alexis Brownell

Rebeca Minguela hopes to create an arbitrage platform, similar to Rocket Internet, that can bring start-up ideas and opportunities to Spain. However, Blink Booking, her first venture and proof of concept, is rocked by a co-founder's breach of confidence and departure.... View Details

Keywords: Clones; Cloning; Rocket Internet; Start-up; Equity Split; Arbitrage; Incubator; Mobile App; Expansion; Spain; Europe; Entrepreneurship; Ethics; Internet and the Web; Information Technology Industry; Accommodations Industry; Travel Industry; Spain; Europe

08 Dec 2022
HBS Case

The War in Ukraine and Nestlé’s Moral Dilemma: Stay or Leave Russia?

6 Tips for Better Ethics at Work How to Avoid the 'Ethical Slide' That Leads Companies Astray Feedback or ideas to share? Email the Working Knowledge team at hbswk@hbs.edu. Image: Unsplash/Karollyne Hubert View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Consumer Products

January 2003 (Revised September 2007)
Background Note

A Note on Racing to Acquire Customers

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann

Examines factors that motivate a firm's race to acquire customers in newly emerging markets and explores conditions under which racing strategies are likely to yield attractive returns. Provides a definition of racing behavior, introduces the notion of an optimal level... View Details

Keywords: Customers; Price Bubble; Network Effects; Emerging Markets; Market Entry and Exit; Behavior; Competition

05 Feb 2024
Research & Ideas

The Middle Manager of the Future: More Coaching, Less Commanding

to connect groups with disparate skills—like engineering, sales, and market analysis—at key points in a project. Extensive analysis of job postings Zhang bases his conclusions on a unique linguistic analysis of more than 34 million online... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

01 Dec 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Modeling a Paradigm Shift: From Producer Innovation to User and Open Collaborative Innovation

Keywords: by Carliss Y. Baldwin & Eric von Hippel

19 Oct 2022
Op-Ed

Cofounder Courtship: How to Find the Right Mate—for Your Startup

Share the JD. Attend conferences, talks etc. and be clear you are in the market for a cofounder. YC also released a cofounder matching tool that may be helpful. Test the relationship beyond coffee chats and... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Austin

January 1983 (Revised February 1988)
Case

Hospital Corp. of America (B)

By: W. Carl Kester

Focuses on HCAs financing options for reaching its target capital structure. The options include new equity conversion of convertible debentures, a debt-for-equity swap, the sale of assets, and fixed-rate debt. Students must address the problem of market timing and... View Details

Keywords: Assets; Capital Structure; Cash Flow; Equity; Debt Securities; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Health Industry; United States

October 1978 (Revised August 1985)
Background Note

Product Life Cycle

Introduces the student to the concept of the product life cycle. The meaning and fundamental underpinnings of the product life cycle are presented. Further, the nature of market and competitive forces at different stages in the life cycle, and the implications for... View Details

Keywords: Product

February 1999 (Revised June 1999)
Case

Bloomberg L.P.

By: Clayton M. Christensen, Richard G. Hamermesh and Jeremy Dann

Michael Bloomberg founded his company to provide customers quick access to financial market data and analytical tools for understanding that data. As Bloomberg L.P. grew quickly,entered the ranks of "large, established companies," it grappled with a whole new range of... View Details

Keywords: Human Resources; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Problems and Challenges