Publications

SSRN

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The epic story of the rise and fall of the empire of cotton, its centrality to the world economy, and its making and remaking of global capitalism.

Cotton is so ubiquitous as to be almost invisible, yet understanding its history is key to understanding the... View Details

Web

Rigorous research, rooted in practice | About

Rigorous research, rooted in practice The most pressing challenges and interesting opportunities facing the world today cannot be addressed without business playing a significant role. Harvard Business School faculty conduct research on topics that today’s leaders need... View Details

17 Jan 2020
In Practice

6 Traits That Set Top Business Leaders Apart

With CEO turnover climbing, many business leaders are trying to hone skills that will keep them at the helm longer. We asked professors from Harvard Business School’s General Management Unit what qualities distinguish extraordinary... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

December 2016
Article

Deal Process Design in Management Buyouts

By: Guhan Subramanian

Management buyouts (MBOs) are an economically and legally significant class of transaction: not only do they account for more than $10 billion in deal volume per year, on average, but they also play an important role in defining the relationship between inside and... View Details

Keywords: Management Buyout; Deal Structuring; Acquisition; Design; Fairness

Read Now

December 2010 (Revised March 2013)
Case

Asian Agri and the Future of Palm Oil

By: David E. Bell and Natalie Kindred

For Asian Agri and other Indonesian palm oil producers, the future promised rising demand from fast-growing Asian populations, but also intensifying criticism from environmental groups. With the highest yield and lowest production cost of any edible oil, palm oil... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Social Marketing; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business Strategy; Supply Chain Management; Natural Environment; Marketing Strategy; Environmental Sustainability; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Indonesia; Malaysia

16 Aug 2012
Working Paper Summaries

The Cost of Friendship

Keywords: by Paul Gompers, Vladimir Mukharlyamov & Yuhai Xuan

March 2025 (Revised March 2025)
Case

Good for the Seller, Good for the Buyer and Good for Society: Sampo-yoshi, Sustainability and Trust at ITOCHU

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Bethelehem Y Araya

In 2024, ITOCHU CEO Masahiro Okafuji was at a crossroads. As the thirteenth CEO since ITOCHU’s founding in 1858, he had fueled the company’s growth since 2011 by bringing ITOCHU’s founding philosophy of Sampo-yoshi (good for the seller, good for the buyer and... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Trust; Profit; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Mission and Purpose; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Japan

Web

Health Care - Faculty & Research

other patients were largest for diagnoses commonly requiring prescriptions, which physicians often self-prescribed. Our results suggest that improving access to prescriptions for acute symptoms, more than... View Details

06 Feb 2023
Blog Post

African American Student Union Spotlight on HBCUs

experiences, such as meeting President Barack Obama, joining a lifelong sisterhood in Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and representing my school in the nation’s capital as a White House HBCU All-Star. I am proud View Details

Web

Research Design - Impact Investments

impact investing, our team has drawn upon several established resources, including: the Community Development Venture Capital Association (CDVCA), ImpactAssets, ImpactBase, and Preqin’s alternative assets database. We have further used... View Details

24 Nov 2003
Research & Ideas

Boards and Corporate Governance: A Balanced Scorecard Approach

framework can serve as the cornerstone of both effective management and sound governance. Key Learnings · A sophisticated governance system is necessary in a complex capitalistic economy to ensure that View Details

Keywords: Re: Robert S. Kaplan & Krishna G. Palepu

08 Nov 2021
Blog Post

4 Ways the MS/MBA is Preparing Me for a Career in Health Care and the Life Sciences

reflexes and the ability to ask the right questions in entrepreneurship. Having access to HBS resources and very experienced HBS faculty, as well as being in Boston, a major... View Details

Fast Answer

PE & VC investors by investment criteria (industry, stage and geography)

How can I screen for private equity or venture capital firms investing in a particular industry, stage of investment, and/or geography? LSEG Workspace Click on the Search Tools tab and select Private Equity/VC. Choose a Deal Type... View Details

Article

Real Effects of Relational Contracts

By: Steven Blader, Claudine Gartenberg, Rebecca Henderson and Andrea Pratt

How important are factors such as "firm culture" and "employee engagement" in driving firm performance? Increasing evidence from a wide range of fields suggests that productivity differs widely across firms, even after the inclusion of careful controls for factors such... View Details

Find at Harvard

16 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

Breaking the Code of Change

cases. Scott Paper under Dunlap delivered dramatic increases in shareholder value. The firm's market capitalization at the time of sale was three times what it was at the time Dunlap took over the firm only a few months earlier. But there... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Beer & Nitin Nohria

November 2017 (Revised April 2019)
Case

Summa Equity: Building Purpose-Driven Organizations

By: George Serafeim

In 2015, Reynir Indahl left top Nordic private equity firm Altor Equity Partners to found Summa Equity (Summa). After long contemplation following the financial crisis, Indahl was convinced the financial system was producing negative externalities and that the current... View Details

01 Jun 2024
News

Quantum Leap

“This is the first new kind of computer in 75 years,” says John Levy (MBA 1979), CEO of the quantum computing startup SEEQC. “And we’re building it on a chip!” Strolling through his company’s design and testing facility in Elmsford, New York, Levy looks less like a... View Details

Keywords: Alexander Gelfand; photographed by Chris Sorensen; quantum computing; innovation; leadership; Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing; Manufacturing

June 2023 (Revised July 2023)
Case

Social Media Background Screening at Fama Technologies

By: Joseph Pacelli, Jillian Grennan and Alexis Lefort

Fama Technologies is an online screening company that uses AI to analyze job applicants' publicly available online content for signs of risk and culture fit. The case opens with Ben Mones, founder and CEO, looking to secure funding from venture firms. He is running... View Details

Keywords: Human Resources; Recruitment; Retention; Selection and Staffing; Organizational Culture; Talent and Talent Management; AI and Machine Learning; Social Media; Venture Capital; Entrepreneurship; United States

2015
Working Paper

Corporate Sponsorship in Culture—A Case of Partnership in Relationship Building and Collaborative Marketing by a Global Financial Institution and a Major Art Museum

By: Ragnar Lund and Stephen A. Greyser

Purpose: This paper examines cultural sponsorship from a partnership and relationship marketing perspective. It studies a case of how a partnership between two international institutions, a bank and a museum, adds value to both in terms of interaction with... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Partners and Partnerships; Marketing Strategy; Culture; Banks and Banking