Publications

Research Summary

Lean Startup Management Practices

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann

Many information technology startups have embraced "lean startup" management practices. Lean startups confront high levels of uncertainty about both customer problems and product solutions: the strength of demand for new... View Details

13 Feb 2007
First Look

First Look: February 13, 2007

Working PapersAdding Bricks to Clicks: The Effects of Store Openings on Sales through Direct Channels Authors:Jill Avery, Mary Caravella, John Deighton, and Thomas Steenburgh Abstract We assess the effect of View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

January 2015 (Revised May 2018)
Case

$19B 4 txt app WhatsApp...omg!

By: David Collis, Ashley Hartman and Aakash Mehta

In February 2014, Facebook announced the acquisition of WhatsApp for $19 billion. WhatsApp, founded in 2009, was a relatively young company that employed only 50 people and earned merely $10 million in revenue in 2013. It was one of many mobile messaging services that... View Details

06 Jun 2016
Blog Post

Meet the HBS Africa Business Club

The Africa Business Club (ABC) provides services and resources for African students, students who have worked in Africa, and any student with a professional or cultural interest in Africa. We also promote the engagement of the African business View Details

05 Aug 2010
What Do You Think?

What Is Customer Opinion Good For?

their obverse. They contribute to the herding behavior as opposed to protect against it [italics mine]. It's as if the entire community has been betrayed by the tools of their trade." I have no particular brief for traditional marketing... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett; Technology

2023
Working Paper

Feature Importance Disparities for Data Bias Investigations

By: Peter W. Chang, Leor Fishman and Seth Neel

It is widely held that one cause of downstream bias in classifiers is bias present in the training data. Rectifying such biases may involve context-dependent interventions such as training separate models on subgroups, removing features with bias in the collection... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Analytics and Data Science; Prejudice and Bias

Read Now

19 Jul 2004
Research & Ideas

Why Innovations Sit on the Shelf

it's also the reason why many technically excellent innovations get stuck inside an organization and never make it to market. According to our studies, the most effective way for a leader to realign his company is to facilitate open and... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Beer, Russell Eisenstat & Derek Schrader

13 Jan 2021
Blog Post

Staying Curious with the Harvard Innovation Labs Ahead of the 2021 Virtual President’s Innovation Challenge

& Life Sciences; and the Open Track for ventures that transcend categories. For this upcoming 2021 President’s Innovation Challenge, we’re focused on “staying curious” about the future and designing for more human ventures,... View Details

10 Aug 2021
Blog Post

Meet the Health & Wellness Club

Our Mission Our mission is to establish a community at Harvard Business School for individuals who are interested in exploring health and wellness trends and connecting with like-minded students, entrepreneurs, and leaders in this space.... View Details

Keywords: Health-Related Services; Health Care; Consumer Products / Retail

02 Jul 2010
What Do You Think?

Is Profit as a “Direct Goal” Overrated?

"make the numbers" every quarter? Is it dangerous or misleading to give too much emphasis to the idea that profits are a by-product of many other policies and practices? Is it wise to communicate this concept to all levels of an... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

2022
Chapter

Connecter les rêves

By: Hubert Joly and Mariana Arnaut

Trouver du sens dans son travail est plus que jamais vécu comme essentiel. L’entreprise, l’une des organisations humaines les plus capables d’innovation, a un rôle central à jouer face aux enjeux sociaux et environnementaux. Reste à déterminer quels principes peuvent... View Details

January – February 2011
Article

Creating Shared Value

By: Michael E. Porter and Mark R. Kramer

The capitalist system is under siege. In recent years business has been criticized as a major cause of social, environmental, and economic problems. Companies are widely thought to be prospering at the expense of their communities. Trust in business has fallen to new... View Details

Keywords: Customer Value and Value Chain; Economic Growth; Economic Systems; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Trust; Human Needs; Welfare; Competitive Advantage; Value Creation

Find at Harvard

03 Apr 2009
What Do You Think?

How Much Obsolescence Can Business and Society Absorb?

their leaders to recognize the importance and take advantage of advances in communications technology to remain relevant and competitive. J. W. Carpenter reported that "Our study shows that without the capacity to absorb... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett; Publishing; Journalism & News

13 Feb 2014
Blog Post

We pulled it off: The Inaugural LGBTQ Conference at Harvard

issues facing the LGBTQ community. Saturday, the opening day of the conference, was held at the Harvard Law School and featured a full day of speakers on topics ranging from transgender employment rights to Russia’s treatment of its LGBTQ... View Details

September 2022 (Revised August 2023)
Case

Audrey Tang: Using Technology to Strengthen Democracy in Taiwan

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Shweta Bagai

Since the early days of the internet, Taiwan had a vibrant community of civic hackers and open-source programmers who engaged with social issues. Audrey Tang was one of them. She spearheaded the 2014 Sunflower Student Movement in Taiwan, where protestors peacefully... View Details

Keywords: Democracy; Internet; Web Technology; Digital Transformation; Digital Platform; COVID; Information Technology; Applications and Software; Governance; Entrepreneurship; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Innovation and Invention; Taiwan; China; Asia

August 2023 (Revised October 2023)
Case

Beyond the Barricades: Chile 2023

By: Debora Spar, Willis Emmons, Leonard A. Schlesinger and Ruth Costas

Chile, often considered among Latin America's greatest economic success stories, suffered a shocking wave of protests in October 2019, as its citizens demanded reforms across healthcare and education systems, and protested inequality and rising costs of living. As... View Details

Keywords: Government Administration; Developing Countries and Economies; Economic Growth; Social Issues; Wealth and Poverty; Public Opinion; Equality and Inequality; Public Administration Industry; Chile; Latin America; South America