Publications

March 2007 (Revised April 2007)
Case

Micro Insurance Agency: Helping the Poor Manage Risk

By: Michael Chu and Jean Hazell

The notable success of insurance products for low-income clients of its microfinance network leads Opportunity International to launch the first global specialized microinsurance company, the Micro Insurance Agency (MIA). Building on the experience in 10 countries... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Cost Management; Microfinance; Globalization; Growth and Development Strategy; Risk Management; Infrastructure; Nonprofit Organizations; Competition; Financial Services Industry; Africa; Asia; Latin America

06 May 2021
HBS Case

How Four Women Made Miami More Equitable for Startups

company and social impact accelerator adept at organizing campaigns through social media. “I chose these founders for their differences from one another,” Kanter says. “But then I saw how many similarities there were in their struggles... View Details

Keywords: by Carolyn DiPaolo

24 Jul 2007
First Look

First Look: July 24, 2007

Marco Iansiti and Gregory L. Richards Periodical: Antitrust Bulletin 51, no. 1 (spring 2006) Abstract A number of modern industries are organized as complex networks of firms whose integrated efforts are... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

July 1996 (Revised July 2025)
Case

Innovative Opportunities to Manage Health Care Delivery: THG/Healthy Shop

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and D. Scott Lurding

The purpose of this case is: To familiarize the students with the changing landscape of health care delivery, through chains of retail medical centers and those offering value-based care (VBC).

To discuss fundamental managerial decisions about their... View Details

Keywords: Managed Care; Capitation; Strategy

April 2011 (Revised May 2011)
Case

EMC2: Delivering Customer Centricity

By: Thomas Steenburgh and Jill Avery

This case introduces the concept of customer centricity and traces its development at EMC, the world's leading data storage hardware and information management software company. EMC's customers had historically relied on EMC salespeople to guide them through the... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Interpersonal Communication; Customer Relationship Management; Knowledge Acquisition; Marketing Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Salesforce Management; Social and Collaborative Networks; Internet; Information Technology Industry

December 2022
Article

Entry Points: Gaining Momentum in Early-Stage Cross-Boundary Collaborations

By: Eva Flavia Martínez Orbegozo, Jorrit de Jong, Hannah Riley Bowles, Amy Edmondson, Anahide Nahhal and Lisa Cox

To address complex social challenges, it is widely recognized that leaders from public, for-profit, and civic organizations should join forces. Yet, well-intended collaborators often struggle to achieve alignment and fail to gain traction in their joint efforts. This... View Details

Keywords: Groups and Teams; Social and Collaborative Networks; Goals and Objectives

Read Now

April 2002 (Revised June 2003)
Case

News Corporation

By: Bharat N. Anand and Kate Attea

In 2001, News Corp. is the smallest of the major media and entertainment conglomerates, but it has the broadest global presence. In an effort to establish a major distribution presence in the United States, News Corp. had looked to acquire DirecTV, the largest U.S.... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Business Conglomerates; Globalization; Distribution; Organizational Culture; Family Ownership; Competition; Consolidation; Corporate Strategy; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Journalism and News Industry; United States; Australia

29 Jan 2018
Book

How 'Teaming' Saved 33 Lives in the Chilean Mining Disaster

of August 6, 2010. Piæera then sent Golborne to the mine with a mandate to do whatever possible to bring the miners home, sparing no expense. Golborne and Piæera quickly reached out to their networks of colleagues around the world. As the... View Details

Keywords: by Amy C. Edmondson; Mining

14 Jul 2003
Research & Ideas

Understaffed and Overworked: What Now?

conversations with their bosses, notes Thomas DeLong, who teaches organizational behavior at Harvard Business School. "I'm amazed that although organizations are willing to set metrics for success in difficult times, so few... View Details

Keywords: by Paul Michelman

10 Apr 2014
Research & Ideas

John Kotter’s Plan to Accelerate Your Business

structure driven by the accelerators." Two Is Better A dual operating system is a nod to what Kotter believes is some of the most interesting management thinking of the past few decades, from Michael Porter's "wakeup call telling us that View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard

October 2021 (Revised May 2023)
Case

Project Maji: Pricing Water in Sub-Saharan Africa

By: Elie Ofek, Marco Bertini, Dilyana Karadzhova Botha and Esel Çekin

In July 2021, Sunil Lalvani, founder and CEO of Project Maji, a non-profit social enterprise headquartered in Dubai that had already provided sustainable, clean water solutions to 80,000 people living in rural communities across Ghana and Kenya, was facing an important... View Details

Keywords: Water; Pricing; Nonprofit Organizations; Projects; Price; Decision Making; Social Enterprise; Growth and Development Strategy; Equity; Green Technology; Social and Collaborative Networks; Africa; Dubai

17 Aug 2010
First Look

First Look: August 17

explanations of workplace silence. We discuss implications of these results for theory and practice and suggest directions for future research. Paper not available Working PapersPlatform Envelopment Authors:Thomas Eisenmann, Geoffrey Parker, and Marshall Van Alstyne... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

28 Sep 2010
First Look

First Look: September 28, 2010

http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/11-027.pdf Platform Envelopment Authors:Thomas R. Eisenmann, Geoffrey Parker, and Marshall Van Alstyne Publication:Strategic Management Journal (forthcoming) Abstract Due to network effects and switching... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

15 Oct 2008
First Look

First Look: October 15, 2008

organizational strategy focused on attaining high performance, bring those elements into a coherent relationship with the strategy and each other, and help guide the actions of people throughout an organization in the pursuit of high... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

April 1999
Article

Diversification Strategies of British Trading Companies: Harrisons & Crosfield c1900-c1980

By: G. Jones and Judith Wale

This article examines the diversification strategies and organisational competencies of Harrisons & Crosfield, a British-based multinational, between 1900 and 1980. There is an accumulating body of case study evidence on the historical evolution of British... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Diversification; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Competency and Skills; Great Britain