Publications

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August 2019 (Revised March 2023)
Case

Rand Fishkin at Moz (A)

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann

In 2016, senior management at Moz, a venture capital–backed startup providing software tools for digital marketing professionals, must decide how to address a looming cash flow crisis precipitated by failed efforts to broaden its product line. Seattle-based Moz had... View Details

Keywords: Startups; Scaling; Entrepreneurship; Failure; Business Startups; Diversification; Growth Management; Technology Industry

2008
Working Paper

Finding Missing Markets (and a disturbing epilogue): Evidence from an Export Crop Adoption and Marketing Intervention in Kenya

By: Nava Ashraf, Xavier Gine and Dean Karlan

In much of the developing world, many farmers grow crops for local or personal consumption despite export options which appear to be more profitable. Thus many conjecture that one or several markets are missing. We report here on a randomized controlled trial conducted... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Developing Countries and Economies; Trade; Profit; Product Marketing; Standards; Failure; Risk and Uncertainty; Non-Governmental Organizations; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Kenya; Europe

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March 2020 (Revised August 2022)
Case

Racial Discrimination on Airbnb (A)

By: Michael Luca, Scott Stern, Devin Cook and Hyunjin Kim

Facing mounting criticism and evidence of widespread racial discrimination on the platform, apartment rental platform Airbnb needed to decide a path forward. For years, Airbnb had given hosts extensive discretion about whether to reject a guest after seeing little more... View Details

Keywords: Platform Design; Digital Platforms; Design; Prejudice and Bias; Trust; Problems and Challenges

Web

HBS - The year in Review

core activities of teaching, research, and disseminating ideas. Faculty and students alike embraced the custom technology that enabled teaching and learning both in the classroom and remotely. They were supported by hundreds of frontline... View Details

08 Mar 2022
Blog Post

Recalling My First Cold Call: A Conversation with Second-Year Students

broad and diverse the world is and how although all these industries are different, great leadership skills are needed for all. LUCIA CUNEO (MBA 2022) Cuneo is a part of the Women’s Student Association, Latin American Club,... View Details

30 Mar 2020
Research & Ideas

The New Rules for Remote Work: Pandemic Edition

with staff and more meeting-based communication may be necessary now, particularly in the early days of adjusting to the remote work world. Research shows that informal conversation benefits remote employees, so she advises managers to... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

Fast Answer

VCPE Database Comparison

style="text-decoration:none">Emerging Industries reports, Morningstar reports View Details

December 2007 (Revised July 2008)
Case

Montague Corporation: Unfolding the Future in Cycling

Montague has developed a major innovation that creates a new sub-category in the bicycle industry: a full-sized, high-quality bicycle that folds. In contrast to existing small-wheeled folding bicycles that are portable, but with inferior performance characteristics,... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Product Positioning; Demand and Consumers; Adoption; Bicycle Industry

04 Dec 2019
Book

Creating the Experimentation Organization

simulation and rapid prototyping to optimize product development and R&D. “After that, I thought I was done,” he says. Since then, however, there has been a rise in new technology platforms that allows experimentation to innovate on... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

September 2021 (Revised December 2023)
Case

On the Bubble: Startup Bootstrapping

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Tom Quinn and Annelena Lobb

Bubble was a software company in the low-code/no-code market, making tools that allowed users without traditional programming backgrounds or technical skills to build software. The case covers cofounder Joshua Haas’s engineering background, as he experienced a high... View Details

2010
Working Paper

Integrity: A Positive Model That Incorporates the Normative Phenomena of Morality, Ethics, and Legality Abridged

By: Werner H. Erhard, Michael C. Jensen and Steve Zaffron

We present a positive model of integrity that, as we distinguish and define integrity, provides powerful access to increased performance for individuals, groups, organizations, and societies. Our model reveals the causal link between integrity and increased... View Details

Keywords: Trust; Performance Productivity; Information Technology; Knowledge; Moral Sensibility; Opportunities; Competitive Advantage; Legal Liability; Cost vs Benefits

SSRN

Web

History - Entrepreneurship

nascent high technology industry lead to the creation of a Hall of Fame list of disruptive, innovative, landmark companies such as: Fairchild Semiconductor Intel Apple Computer Teledyne Diosonics New Venture... View Details

May 2023
Teaching Note

Ava Labs: Navigating the Next Blockchain

By: Marco Di Maggio and Wenyao Sha

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 223-027. View Details

Keywords: Blockchain; Decentralized Finance; Alternative Assets; Financial Instruments; Assets; Decisions; Financing and Loans; Technology Industry; Technology Industry

08 Nov 2021
Blog Post

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

benefits of pursuing the MS/MBA over an MS or MBA individually: a strong like-minded community, unparalleled exposure to leaders in industry and academia, and increased fluency not only in science but also in the business of science. I am... View Details

2016
Chapter

User-Generated Content and Social Media

By: Michael Luca

This paper documents what economists have learned about user-generated content (UGC) and social media. A growing body of evidence suggests that UGC on platforms ranging from Yelp to Facebook has a large causal impact on economic and social outcomes ranging from... View Details

Keywords: User-generated Content; Crowdsourcing; Design Economics; Internet and the Web; Marketing; Economics; Media; Social Media