Publications

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September 2011 (Revised October 2012)
Case

Sykué Bioenergya

By: Shon R. Hiatt

Sykué Bioenergya (Sykué) was formed in April 2006 with the goal of building four 30 megawatt (MW) bioelectricity power plants in Brazil's Bahia province, 1,500 kilometers north of Sao Paulo. Bahia's savannah-like conditions were perfect for growing elephant grass, a... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Entrepreneurship; Energy Industry; Brazil

June 2010 (Revised November 2013)
Case

Momentive Performance Materials, Inc.

By: Victoria Ivashina and David Scharfstein

After nearly violating its loan covenants in 2009, Momentive Performance Materials, backed by its financial sponsor Apollo Global Management, took a variety of actions to restructure its debt. The restructuring steps included an open market repurchase of publicly held... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Financial Crisis; Borrowing and Debt; Private Equity; Financing and Loans

Teaching Interest

Cities, Structures, and Climate Shocks

By: John D. Macomber

This course is about building sustainable and resilient cities, future proofing real estate and infrastructure assets, and examining how businesses and investors find opportunities in climate adaptation.

The world faces substantial challenges in the face of... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Economic Development; Climate Finance; Migration; Climate Change; Adaptation; Urban Development; Real Estate Industry; Construction Industry; Energy Industry; Utilities Industry; Insurance Industry; Banking Industry

Estimating Causal Peer Influence in Homophilous Social Networks by Inferring Latent Locations

Social influence cannot be identified from purely observational data on social networks, because such influence is generically confounded with latent homophily, that is, with a node’s network partners being informative about the node’s attributes and therefore... View Details

January 2019 (Revised October 2019)
Case

Liulishuo: AI English Teacher

By: John J-H Kim and Shu Lin

Educators and entrepreneurs alike are excited about the potential for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to change the way learning will look like in the future. There is a confluence of factors such as the availability of large sources of rich,... View Details

Keywords: AI; Artificial Intelligence; Education Technology; Information Technology; Education; Entrepreneurship; AI and Machine Learning; Education Industry; China

May–June 2025
Article

Sustainability as a Business-Model Transformation

By: Ivanka Visnjic, Felipe Monteiro and Michael L. Tushman

Many global companies have made public commitments to sustainability targets. Fulfilling these commitments will require firms to transform their business models and organizational architectures. A few pioneers are leading the way, demonstrating that companies can make... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Business Model

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February 2025
Tutorial

Preparing Business Leaders for an Era of Climate Instability: Understanding and Managing Physical Climate Risk

By: Michael W. Toffel and Spencer Glendon

In this compelling video, Spencer Glendon, founder of Probable Futures and Executive Fellow at Harvard Business School, describes the profound implications of climate change for businesses, the economy, and societies around the world. Drawing from his background in... View Details

Keywords: Modeling; Climate Change; Adaptation; Risk and Uncertainty; Risk Management; Forecasting and Prediction

01 Feb 2023
What Do You Think?

Will Hybrid Work Strategies Pull Down Long-Term Performance?

work strategies appear to be useful short-term solutions to both a massive global pandemic and, at least in the US, a talent shortage. Even so, how do you explain the contrast in attitude toward them among at least some practitioners and... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

Web

Driving Impact in Emerging Markets with HBS Alum Nneka Chime (MBA 2015) - Recruiting

companies navigate African investment opportunities,” Nneka explained. “We're at the forefront of thinking about how we are going to drive global prosperity because without prosperity, there can’t be peace in the long run.” As a... View Details

09 Dec 2013
Research & Ideas

Cultural Disharmony Undermines Workplace Creativity

In today's global work environment, it's a given that companies need culturally diverse teams to succeed. Both scientific studies and common sense tell us that having people with different viewpoints onboard increases the creativity that... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

05 Jan 2010
First Look

First Look: January 5

Working PapersThe Global Networks of Multinational Firms Authors:Laura Alfaro and Maggie Chen Abstract In this paper we characterize the topology of global multinational networks and examine the macro and... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Profile

Shira Asa-El

absolute opponents. Being part of the HBS community is like Being a global citizen. I have never before sat in a room with people from so many different countries, nor have I even had the opportunity to do so. Professionally, I feel that... View Details

December 2002 (Revised January 2003)
Case

Four Seasons Goes to Paris: '53 Properties, 24 Countries, 1 Philosophy'

By: Roger H. Hallowell, David Bowen and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Illustrates how Four Seasons manages hotels in countries with strong and distinct national cultures. Focuses on how the chain meets its exacting service standards in a variety of settings worldwide, with special attention on France. View Details

Keywords: Service Delivery; Organizational Culture; Global Range; Global Strategy; Standards; Accommodations Industry; Paris