Publications

November 1999 (Revised July 2001)
Case

New Profit Inc.: Governing the Nonprofit Enterprise

By: Robert S. Kaplan

New Profit, Inc. (NPI) is an innovative venture philanthropy fund. Founded by social entrepreneur Venessa Kirsch, NPI intends to raise large donations from individuals who wish to invest in nonprofit enterprises that could have a significant social impact and the... View Details

Keywords: Balanced Scorecard; Nonprofit Organizations; Venture Capital; Social Entrepreneurship; Corporate Governance; Performance Evaluation; Financial Statements; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Service Industry

Spring 2016
Article

The Billion Prices Project: Using Online Prices for Inflation Measurement and Research

By: Alberto Cavallo and Roberto Rigobon

New data-gathering techniques, often referred to as “Big Data” have the potential to improve statistics and empirical research in economics. In this paper we describe our work with online data at the Billion Prices Project at MIT and discuss key lessons for both... View Details

Keywords: Billion Prices Project; Online Scraped Data; Online Price Index; Economics; Research; Price; Analytics and Data Science

Find at Harvard

Read Now

August 2019 (Revised April 2021)
Case

Zillow Offers: Winning Online Real Estate 2.0

By: Luis Viceira, Marco Di Maggio and Allison Ciechanover

Founded in 2005, Zillow had become the leading online real estate and home-related marketplace. The brand was recognized as a trusted resource for players in the real estate market, providing information and transparency on home prices. Revenue, which was historically... View Details

Keywords: Real Estate; Corporate Culture; Intermediation; Brokerage; Startup; Evaluating Business Investments; Property; Information Technology; Business Model; Expansion; Business Startups; Real Estate Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States

September 2016 (Revised July 2018)
Case

United Airlines: More Out-and-Back Flying?

By: Ryan W. Buell, Willy Shih and Mike Toffel

This case looks at United Airlines when it is facing a decision on whether to shift its aircraft routing to more "out-and-back" routing in order to try to improve its on-time performance. As one of the world's largest airlines, United had a very large fleet and... View Details

November 2011 (Revised August 2012)
Background Note

Customer Discovery and Validation for Entrepreneurs

By: Frank V. Cespedes, Thomas Eisenmann and Steven G. Blank

Provides practical guidelines for conducting market research to explore and validate demand for entrepreneurial offering. Explains how the research objectives of entrepreneurs might differ from those relevant to managers evaluating product or service offerings to... View Details

Keywords: Customer Value and Value Chain; Entrepreneurship

2023
Working Paper

The Evolving Academic Field of Climate Finance

By: Matteo Gasparini and Peter Tufano

The urgency and the magnitude of climate change will affect every aspect of our economies, societies, and planet. The academic finance research has begun to study the financial implications of global warming, although this body of literature is small. The field has... View Details

Keywords: Climate Finance; Finance Academia; Greenhouse Gas; Sustainable Finance; Financial Decisions; Educational Finance; Finance; Climate Change; Transition

SSRN

Read Now

August 2008
Supplement

Microsoft's Unlimited Potential (B)

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Marie Madelene Bell

This short (B) case provides an update of how Microsoft organized its unlimited potential initiative. View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Business or Company Management; Information Technology Industry

January 1994 (Revised April 1994)
Supplement

Suzanne de Passe at Motown Productions (B)

By: Linda A. Hill

Provides an update of the (A) case. Describes de Passe's career from 1986 to 1993. View Details

Keywords: Personal Development and Career; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Music Industry

Find at Harvard

February 2014
Background Note

“When I look back…” Reflections of Bernard Madoff

By: Eugene F. Soltes and Sara Hess

This background note for instructors provides details of Bernard Madoff's career and the classroom recording. View Details

Keywords: Ponzi Scheme; Crime and Corruption; Personal Development and Career; Finance; United States

September 2006 (Revised October 2007)
Module Note

Platform-Mediated Networks: Definitions and Core Concepts

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann

Defines platform-mediated networks and introduces concepts central to their study. First, it defines networks and network effects; explains how network effects influence users' willingness-to-pay for network access; describes factors that determine the strength of... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Behavior; Network Effects; Digital Platforms; Information Technology; Information Infrastructure; Digital Platforms

23 Jun 2008
Research & Ideas

Innovative Ways to Encourage Personal Savings

levers are simple changes in what I call the plumbing, making the process of savings easier. Others involve providing various incentives, be they financial or sociological. The most interesting ideas—indeed the oldest—try to make savings... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Financial Services

September 1998 (Revised May 2011)
Background Note

Note on Private Equity Information Sources

By: Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon

Provides an overview of key information sources about venture capital and private equity. View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Private Equity; Investment; Knowledge Acquisition

September 1988 (Revised September 1994)
Background Note

Note on Process Analysis (Abridged)

By: Roy D. Shapiro

Provides an introductory note to production processes and the use of flow diagrams. View Details

Keywords: Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Management Practices and Processes; Production

August 2017 (Revised February 2023)
Case

Managing Diversity and Inclusion at Yelp

By: Michael Luca, Joshua Schwartzstein and Gauri Subramani

This case explores the industry-wide lack of employee diversity in the technology sector and Yelp’s decision to take a leadership position in identifying strategies to increase diversity. The goal of the case is to provide an opportunity for students to develop a... View Details

Keywords: Diversity; Employees; Leading Change; Strategy; Organizational Culture; Technology Industry

September 1989
Supplement

Vinod Khosla and Sun Microsystems (B)

Provides a continuation of the (A) case. View Details

May 2017
Case

Fresh to Table

By: Gautam Mukunda and Brooks C. Holtom

After the contentious firing of an office manager, the leadership at Fresh to Table, a software-as-a-service provider for luxury hotels and restaurants, make an unpleasant discovery. While reviewing the office manager's internal electronic communications, company... View Details

Keywords: Behavior; Resignation and Termination; Organizational Culture; Values and Beliefs; Leadership

January 2009 (Revised November 2011)
Case

The Tip of the Iceberg: JP Morgan Chase and Bear Stearns (A)

By: Clayton S. Rose, Daniel Baird Bergstresser and David Lane

"Bear Stearns & Co. burned through nearly all of its $18 billion in cash reserves during the week of March 10, 2008, and an unprecedented provision of liquidity support from the Federal Reserve on Friday, March 13 was insufficient to reverse the decline in Bear's... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Financial Crisis; Capital; Financial Liquidity; Financial Strategy; Corporate Governance; Crisis Management; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Competition; Valuation; Financial Services Industry

February 1988 (Revised August 2000)
Background Note

Note on the U.S. Freight Transportation Industry

By: Janice H. Hammond and John E. P. Morrison

Describes the major modes of domestic freight transportation (motor carrier, rail, air, water, and pipelines). Examines the characteristics of the transportation service that each mode provides and discusses changes in the industry that have resulted from recent... View Details

Keywords: Change; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Industry Structures; Logistics; Service Operations; Transportation; United States