Publications

August 2022 (Revised March 2023)
Technical Note

Real Estate iBuying

By: Michael Luca, Jesse M. Shapiro and Julia Kelley

This note provides an overview of real estate iBuying, or instant buying, a business model that involves buying homes and then reselling them at a profit. Introduced in the mid-2010s, iBuying streamlined the process of selling a home by offering instant, all-cash... View Details

Keywords: iBuying; Profit; Business Model; Technological Innovation; Real Estate Industry

04 Feb 2013
News

The 5 Questions Every Company Should Ask Itself

09 May 2017
What Do You Think?

Should Management Be Primarily Responsible to Shareholders?

But the ascendancy of agency theory—the idea that shareholders are owners of the corporation and managers their agents in a quest to maximize shareholder value—need not be one of them. Agency theory will not be a problem if we bend it to... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

18 Jul 2013
News

The Tesla Electric Car's Creators Chase Their 'IPhone Moment'

March 2025
Case

Calyx Global: Rating Carbon Credits

By: Michael W. Toffel and Adam Chen

This case describes how rating agencies and other organizations are seeking to improve the quality of carbon credits sold in the voluntary carbon market to organizations seeking to use them to supplement their internal decarbonization efforts to meet their net zero... View Details

Keywords: Service Design; Certification; Auditing; Auditor Reputation; Carbon Credits; Carbon; Rating Agency Disagreement; Ratings; Climate Change; Business Model; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Conflict of Interests; Reputation; Business Strategy

10 Jan 2005
Research & Ideas

Professors Introduce Valuation Software

In an age when mergers, acquisitions, and spin-offs are increasingly common in business, you need a new skill in your kit bag: the ability to analyze and value potential partners, deals, investments—even... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

June 2010
Background Note

A Note on Corporate Entrepreneurship: Challenge or Opportunity?

This note provides an overview of the rationale and the challenges associated with building new businesses within established companies. It provides a framework for understanding why corporations pursue entrepreneurial ventures and the various levers that they employ.... View Details

Keywords: Business Plan; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Problems and Challenges; Opportunities

25 Nov 2013
Research & Ideas

Hiding From Managers Can Increase Your Productivity

together to facilitate visibility. The idea was that watching the workers would help managers improve operations and replicate innovations on one line across others, thus increasing productivity View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Manufacturing

Web

General Management - Faculty & Research

shut out and marginalize smaller, newer and more innovative subject areas in favor of incumbent vested interests. Keywords: Harvard Business... View Details

18 Feb 2019
Book

What’s Really Disrupting Business? It’s Not Technology

dry cleaning be picked up and delivered, saving you the trouble of going to the dry cleaner’s yourself. With this digital equivalent layered on top of the standard business model, the third View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Beauty & Cosmetics; Insurance; Service; Retail

29 Sep 2008
Research & Ideas

Financial Crisis Caution Urged by Faculty Panel

Harvard Business School faculty members, looking at the U.S. financial crisis from a variety of disciplines, urged caution and prudent analysis in a recent panel discussion. The discussion titled... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Financial Services

10 Nov 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Crony Capitalism, American Style: What Are We Talking About Here?

Keywords: by Malcolm S. Salter

03 Jan 2023
Book

Confront Workplace Inequity in 2023: Dig Deep, Build Bridges, Take Collective Action

back up and running, many women are asking: What’s it going to take to effect real change? According to Tina Opie, visiting scholar at Harvard Business School and author of... View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

29 Dec 2019
Research & Ideas

Read Our Most Popular Research Stories of 2019

Our most popular stories are those that help readers become better managers and outstanding leaders. Here are our most-read stories and faculty research papers in 2019. Tell us in the comment section below... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

09 Feb 2012
Sharpening Your Skills

Sharpening Your Skills: Online Marketing

benefit merchants through advertising, simply by informing consumers of a merchant's existence via e-mail. For some merchants, the benefits of offering discount vouchers are sharply reduced if individual customers buy multiple vouchers. As a marketing tool, discount... View Details

Keywords: Re: Multiple Faculty; Technology

Article

Fixing What Really Ails Japan

By: Michael E. Porter and Hirotaka Takeuchi

Conventional wisdom claims that Japan’s “economic miracle” stemmed from its unique model of government guidance and its revolutionary corporate management techniques. An in-depth study proves this seriously wrong. Rampant government intervention has caused more... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Competition; Innovation and Invention; Business and Government Relations; Japan