Publications

September 2022 (Revised November 2023)
Case

Wordle

By: Karen G. Mills, Christina Wallace, Ebehi Iyoha, Gabriella Elanbeck and Morgane Herculano

After sourdough bread, countertop chive gardens, and vaccine selfies came a pandemic-era trend that everyone seemed to be in on: one daily chance to guess a five-letter word and crow about your success on social media via little green and yellow squares. From a... View Details

Keywords: Games; Innovation; General Management; Mergers and Acquisitions; Trends; Entrepreneurship; Bids and Bidding; Consumer Behavior; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Technology Industry

2023
Working Paper

Can Evidence-Based Information Shift Preferences Towards Trade Policy?

By: Laura Alfaro, Maggie X. Chen and Davin Chor

Amid public skepticism about trade, we investigate whether evidence-based information--a concise statement of a research ﬁnding--can shape preferences towards trade policy. Across survey experiments conducted over 2018-2022 on U.S. general population samples, we... View Details

Keywords: Evidence; Preference; Trade Policy; Information; Trade; Policy; Attitudes

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2021
Chapter

Digital Transformation and the Salesforce: Observations, Warnings, and Recommendations

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Sales is a crucial test for organizational change, including productive use (or not) of new technologies. Changes in selling always have wider organizational implications, because so many other decisions and resource commitments in firms depend upon demand forecasts... View Details

Keywords: Sales; Salesforce Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Digital Transformation

October 2019
Supplement

Hidrovias do Brasil: Navigating Unchartered Waters: Video Supplement

By: Boris Groysberg and Sarah L. Abbott

Since its founding eight years earlier, Hidrovias do Brasil (“Hidrovias”), an integrated logistics provider serving corporate customers exporting products from South America via the Atlantic Ocean, had grown to 900 employees and $253 million in annual revenues.... View Details

Keywords: Human Resources; Entrepreneurship; Growth Management; Finance; Leadership; Operations; Problems and Challenges; Human Capital; Growth and Development; Private Equity; Shipping Industry; Brazil

January 2019
Teaching Note

Pricing PatientPing

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Teaching Note for HBS No. 818-017. PatientPing sells a software platform that allows health care providers to receive real-time notifications (“pings”) when one of their patients is admitted to or discharged from a health-care facility. The platform facilitates... View Details

Keywords: Pricing; Health Tech; Health Technology; Sales Process; Sales Strategy; Price; Sales; Marketing Strategy; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry; Technology Industry; United States; Massachusetts

June 2016
Case

Duff & Phelps: Scaling an Entrepreneurial Venture (A)

By: Lynda M. Applegate and David Lane

Having teamed up to launch their own financial services business, Noah Gottdiener and Jacob Silverman soon discover a venerable brand and viable business in an established bank subsidiary. They then work for many months to acquire the business as a platform for... View Details

Keywords: Duff ＆ Phelps; Entrepreneurial Management; Mergers ＆ Acquisitions; Entrepreneurial Financing; Entrepreneurship; Mergers and Acquisitions; Integration; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Financial Services Industry

11 Apr 2013
Panel Discussion

From Per Capita to Pro Capita: Launch of the Social Progress Imperative

By: Michael E. Porter, Michael Green, Heather Hancock, Judith Rodin, Madhav Chavan and Ngaire Woods

What is a successful country? The global debate about development has, for decades, been focused on a single, economic measure of success: Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Per Capita. But this tells us little about the real wellbeing of a nation or its sustainability. What... View Details

Keywords: Social Progress Index; Country; Measurement and Metrics; Social Issues

February 2014 (Revised March 2022)
Case

School Specialty, Inc.

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Kristin Mugford

Set in 2013, School Specialty was a financially troubled supplier of educational products to primary and secondary schools in the United States. The company planned to file Chapter 11 in order to address its excessive debt load, but needed to arrange... View Details

Keywords: School Specialty; Bankruptcy; Section 363; Financing; Chapter 11; Capital Structure; Financing and Loans; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Distribution Industry; Education Industry; United States

December 2008 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Olam International

By: David E. Bell and Mary Shelman

In 20 years, Sunny Verghese had built Singapore-based Olam International from a small Nigerian export company into a $5 billion global leader in agricultural commodities with a core competence in Africa. Olam's growth had come by pursuing product and geographic... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Trade; Growth and Development Strategy; Supply Chain; Expansion; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Africa; Singapore

2008
Working Paper

The Contingent Nature of Public Policy and Growth Strategies in the Early Twentieth-Century U.S. Banking Industry

By: Christopher Marquis and Zhi Huang

While effects of public policy are one of the foundations of organizational theory, less explored is how these effects may depend on other external environmental factors. We focus on how policy is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition to understand the growth... View Details

Keywords: Banks and Banking; Business History; Growth and Development Strategy; Business and Government Relations; Banking Industry; United States

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28 May 2015
News

Harvard Business School MBA Class of 2015 Celebrates Class Day

23 May 2014
News

Can You Crowdsource a Big Idea?

30 Jul 2020
News

Employees and employers both face trade-offs as offices reopen

09 Mar 2003
Research & Ideas

Six Keys to Building New Markets by Unleashing Disruptive Innovation

can't seem to get innovation right. When companies keep improving their existing products and services to meet their best customers' needs, they eventually run into the "innovator's dilemma." By doing everything right, they... View Details

Keywords: by Clayton M. Christensen, Michael E. Raynor & Scott D. Anthony

10 Jan 2023
Op-Ed

Time to Move On? Career Advice for Entrepreneurs Preparing for the Next Stage

lowlights What are 1-2 highlights from your experience? This could be a memory of your first big product launch, closing a hard funding round or even just that night that all hell broke loose and you fixed a hairy bug at 2 a.m. What made... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Austin

June 2011 (Revised September 2011)
Case

Exchange-Traded Funds at Vanguard (A)

By: Robert C. Pozen and Steven Vickers

Vanguard Group management, led by CEO John Brennan, was considering whether to launch exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in early 2000. ETFs, first created in the early 1990s, combined aspects of traditional mutual funds and closed-end funds. The US ETF industry had reached... View Details

Keywords: Investment Funds; Managerial Roles; Growth and Development Strategy; Experience and Expertise; Market Entry and Exit; Network Effects; Profit; Business and Shareholder Relations; Product Launch; Asset Management; Distribution Channels; Ownership; Financial Services Industry; United States

Web

Faculty & Research - Business History

Manufacturing, Inc. (NUMMI) was a joint venture between Toyota and General Motors. It was an opportunity for GM to learn about the Toyota Production System, which was quite different from the mass production... View Details

April 2013
Article

Business Model Innovation and Competitive Imitation: The Case of Sponsor-Based Business Models

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Feng Zhu

This paper provides the first formal model of business model innovation. Our analysis focuses on sponsor-based business model innovations where a firm monetizes its product through sponsors rather than setting prices to its customer base. We analyze strategic... View Details

Keywords: Business Model Innovation; Imitation; Sponsor-based Business Model; Strategic Revelation; Strategic Concealment; Business Model; Innovation and Invention; Price; Competitive Strategy; Adoption; Value; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Product; Customers; Market Entry and Exit; Monopoly

Find at Harvard

January 2017 (Revised February 2018)
Case

Godiva Japan: Think Local, Scale Global

By: Rohit Deshpandé, Esel Cekin and Akiko Kanno

This case tracks Jerome Chouchan’s strategies and execution for a successful turnaround of Godiva Japan’s operations, which were experiencing a decline in sales when he became the managing director of the company in 2010. Through various initiatives and innovations,... View Details