Publications

25 Aug 2015
First Look

First Look Tuesday

short- and long-term direct monetary effects of operating a winning athletics program for an academic institution of higher education. We construct a unique panel dataset from multiple sources and utilize the latest dynamic panel data... View Details

September 2023 (Revised September 2024)
Case

IBJ, Inc. (A): Seeking Matrimony in Japan

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Akiko Saito

In March 2020, Shigeru Ishizaka, founder and CEO of IBJ, Inc., Japan's largest marriage matching service provider, faced a critical decision regarding the company’s planned ¥3.5 billion (US$32.8 million) acquisition of competitor ZWEI Co., Ltd. IBJ, founded in 2006,... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Risk and Uncertainty; Business Model; Corporate Strategy; Value

June 2011
Case

Shelley Capital and the Hedge Fund Secondary Market

By: Luis Viceira, Elena Corsi and Ruth Dittrich

An advisory company has to decide how to sell their client's hedge fund holdings in the secondary market, and thinks about their future. Shelley Capital was a a European advisory company operating in the hedge fund secondary market, a market that boosted in 2008 with... View Details

Keywords: Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Investment Funds; Marketing Strategy; Financial Crisis; Sales; Leadership Development; Financial Markets; Crisis Management; Business Processes; Risk and Uncertainty; Globalized Economies and Regions; Financial Services Industry; Service Industry; Europe

March 2024
Case

Nomad: A License to Bank

By: Paul A. Gompers and Pedro Levindo

In late 2023, Lucas Vargas, CEO and co-founder of Nomad, a fintech that offered financial services in the United States for Brazilian residents, had to decide what to do to ensure the company’s continued expansion. Nomad launched its first product, a U.S. digital bank... View Details

10 Apr 2014
Research & Ideas

John Kotter’s Plan to Accelerate Your Business

and agility in their processes. Accelerate takes those steps and "turbocharges them," he says. Under a dual operating system, all processes and activities that involve what a company already knows how to do stay on the regular,... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard

March 2025
Teaching Plan

Wasabi Technologies (A) and (B)

By: N. Louis Shipley and Stacy Straaberg

Teaching Plan for HBS Case Nos. 823-021 and 825-035. Set in 2019, the “Wasabi Technologies (A)” case centers on Wasabi Technologies (Wasabi), a successful hot cloud storage company based in Boston, Massachusetts. Founder and CEO David Friend is ready to scale the... View Details

Keywords: Sales; Product Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Divisions; Business Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Distribution Channels; Information Technology Industry; United States; Massachusetts; Boston

04 Nov 2014
First Look

First Look: November 4

now own over 80% of banking assets in Mexico, and we show how, using a political economy model and a series of econometric tests, this has helped to stabilize the system and reduced non-performance loans, but it has also increased the View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

28 Jul 2015
First Look

First Look: July 28, 2015

some ways in which firms' business models may impact their negotiation outcomes. Several of the proposed pathways work intuitively through the intrinsic characteristics (motivation, personality, etc.) of agents negotiating on behalf of the firm; others View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

28 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

Racism and Digital Design: How Online Platforms Can Thwart Discrimination

inclusivity. "If you're running an online marketplace," he says, "you should think about whether discrimination is likely to be a problem, and what design choices might mitigate the risk of discrimination. If you're... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Travel; Entertainment & Recreation; Service

October 1992 (Revised September 1993)
Case

L.L. Bean, Inc.: Item Forecasting and Inventory Management

By: Arthur Schleifer Jr.

L.L. Bean must make stocking decisions on thousands of items sold through its catalogs. In many cases, orders must be placed with vendors twelve or more weeks before a catalog lands on a customer's doorstep, and commitments cannot be changed thereafter. As a result,... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Risk Management; Cost Management; Risk and Uncertainty; Demand and Consumers; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Retail Industry; United States

02 Jun 2020
Research & Ideas

Coronavirus Careers: Cloud Kitchens Are Now Serving

There are other cost savings, too, including no need for front-of-house staff such as servers, cashiers, hosts, and bartenders. Restaurant operators simply provide their own culinary staff while the cloud kitchen provider typically offers... View Details

Keywords: by Lena Ye and Geoffrey Jones; Food & Beverage

09 Mar 2022
Research & Ideas

War in Ukraine: Soaring Gas Prices and the Return of Stagflation?

multinational firms from IKEA to Netflix have curtailed or suspended operations in the country, and many airlines and shipping companies have severed links connecting people and goods, as western nations impose tough sanctions and... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman; Energy

May 2011
Article

Incentives and Problem Uncertainty in Innovation Contests: An Empirical Analysis

By: Kevin J. Boudreau, Nicola Lacetera and Karim R. Lakhani

Contests are a historically important and increasingly popular mechanism for encouraging innovation. A central concern in designing innovation contests is how many competitors to admit. Using a unique data set of 9,661 software contests, we provide evidence of two... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Problems and Challenges; Risk and Uncertainty; Innovation and Invention; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Value; Applications and Software; Competition; Performance; Theory; Practice

Find at Harvard

December 2011 (Revised September 2017)
Case

Domino's Pizza

By: David E. Bell, Phillip Andrews and Mary Shelman

Domino's Pizza is the world's second-largest pizza company with 9,436 stores globally, 95% of which are franchised. Domino's franchisees in the U.S. market were able to purchase fresh dough, cheese, pizza toppings, and other menu ingredients and store supplies directly... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Market Entry and Exit; Supply Chain Management; Global Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry