Publications

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25 Apr 2023
Op-Ed

How SHEIN and Temu Conquered Fast Fashion—and Forged a New Business Model

information technology to directly match consumer demand to dispersed production by a collection of factories in China. This method of reaching customers should inspire any business that provides products or services that come from many... View Details

Keywords: by John Deighton; Fashion; Retail; Consumer Products

September 2024
Case

Comun: Partners in Peril

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Alexis Lefort

In spring 2023, Abiel Gutierrez and Andres Santos, co-founders of Comun, faced a critical decision at their fintech startup serving Latino immigrants. Having launched their product the previous year, they experienced rapid growth but encountered rising fraud and... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; Business Development; Venture Capital; Business Startups; Partners and Partnerships; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Financial Services Industry; Banking Industry; Latin America; United States

Web

Partners & Fellows | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

Coney Island Prep Connecticut Office of the Governor Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Detroit Economic Growth Corporation Dillard University Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation Endeavor Global Environmental Defense Fund Equal Justice... View Details

February 2014 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Red Star Furniture Group Co. Ltd.

By: Krishna G. Palepu and Pedro Nueno

Founded in 1986, Red Star had become the leading department store in China for furniture and home equipment products (bathroom, lamps, textiles complements, etc.). The business model of Red Star was to provide adequate space for vendors (that rented the space) in good... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship In Emerging Markets; Growth Strategy And Execution; Growth and Development Strategy; Retail Industry; China

February 2024 (Revised February 2025)
Case

Doing Business in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

By: Karen G. Mills, Allison H. Mnookin, Leonard A. Schlesinger, Shu Lin, Julianne Bliss and Morgane Herculano

Le Thi Thu Thuy, Vice Chairwoman of Vingroup, the largest private conglomerate in Vietnam, and Global CEO of VinFast, Vingroup’s automotive subsidiary established in 2017, was contemplating VinFast’s future strategy. Domestically, the EV market in Vietnam was in its... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Business Conglomerates; Global Strategy; Emerging Markets; Business Strategy; Infrastructure; Competition; Auto Industry; Viet Nam

October 2010 (Revised November 2012)
Case

Shenzhen Capital Group

By: Paul A. Gompers, Shaohui Chen, Jessie Lin and Shelley Ling

Haitao Jin, chairman of Shenzhen Capital Group Co., Ltd. (SCGC), and Wanshou Li, president of SCGC, must decide how to continue to grow their venture capital/private equity firm in China. SCGC is a premier VC/PE fund in China and a pioneer of the Government Sponsored... View Details

Keywords: Government And Business; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Investment Funds; Growth and Development Strategy; Business and Government Relations; Financial Services Industry; China

Web

Bankruptcy | Baker Library | Bloomberg Center | Harvard Business School

mortgage assets on our balance sheet was a big problem, regardless of any quality or hedging arguments that might be made.” [16] Glen Le Lievre, "Too big to fail." The Wall Street Journal Cartoon Collection, Baker Library, Harvard View Details

05 Nov 2024
Book

Building the Road to 'Small Business Utopia' with AI and Fintech

great sense of their cash flow, the sales they might make, when customers will pay, or what cash needs they could have based on the season or a new contract. Small businesses have low cash buffers, and a miscalculation, late payment, or... View Details

Keywords: by Karen G. Mills; Financial Services

10 Sep 2024
Research & Ideas

What Happens When Business Owners Turn to ChatBots for Advice

“flawed recommendations” from the AI mentor that can lead to negative results. However, that the AI helped even some of the entrepreneurs in the study highlights the potential of AI mentors to enable entrepreneurship business View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

August 2019 (Revised February 2020)
Case

New Hope Liuhe: Building an Integrated Agri-Food Business

By: Forest L. Reinhardt, Shu Lin, Natalie Kindred and Nancy Hua Dai

In October 2018, LIU Chang (Angela), chairman of Beijing-based New Hope Liuhe (NHL), was considering the strategy of the firm. With $9 billion in sales and a presence in nearly 20 countries, NHL was China’s largest animal feed producer and a major pork and poultry... View Details

07 Mar 2013
Research & Ideas

Video: Harvard Business School at the Kumbh Mela

Kumbh in January to discover what such an undertaking can teach us about real estate, urbanization, sustainability, and infrastructure. In addition to the video and Q&A below, Macomber has written a first-person account about his journey for Harvard View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner; Construction; Real Estate

June 2007 (Revised August 2007)
Case

Royal DSM N.V.: Information Technology Enabling Business Transformation

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Edward Watson and Mara Vatz

Describes how Royal DSM NV, an $8 billion dollar global corporation, leveraged information technology to enable a major corporate portfolio transformation between 2000 and 2006. View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transformation; Entrepreneurship; Globalized Firms and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Information Technology

Article

The Future of Economic, Business, and Social History

By: G. Jones, Marco H.D. van Leeuwen and Stephen Broadberry

Three leading scholars in the fields of business, economic, and social history review the current state of these disciplines and reflect on their future trajectory. Geoffrey Jones reviews the development of business history since its birth at the Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: Economic History; Business History; History; Asia; Africa; Europe; Latin America; North and Central America

Find at Harvard

2001
Other Teaching and Training Material

Building E-Businesses Instructor's Guide TN: Harvard Business School

By: Lynda M. Applegate

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Strategy; Business Ventures; Business Growth and Maturation

June 2019
Case

Airbnb, Etsy, Uber: Expanding from One to Many Millions of Customers

By: Thales S. Teixeira

By 2019, two-sided online platforms (or marketplaces) were among the highest-growing internet startups around. These marketplaces sought to match suppliers of assets for rent, physical products, or services with customers demanding them. Among the most notable... View Details

Keywords: Airbnb; Etsy; Uber; Growth Hacking; Two-Sided Markets; Digital Marketing; Customer Acquisition; Two-Sided Platforms; Growth Management; Marketing Strategy; Customers; Acquisition; Organizational Change and Adaptation

16 Aug 2024
In Practice

Election 2024: What's at Stake for Business and the Workplace?

Ahead of the Democratic National Convention, HBS Working Knowledge gathered insights from Harvard Business School faculty about what’s at stake for companies, and how the election might impact workplaces. They offer an assessment as the... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

January 2002
Case

Global Business Council on HIV/AIDS on World AIDS Day 2001, The

Explores the motivation for businesses to be concerned with the global AIDS epidemic. The formation of the council serves as an example of how business leaders are building a network of companies to develop an effective business response to AIDS-both through workforce... View Details

Keywords: Health; Social Issues; Global Strategy; Business and Community Relations; Growth and Development Strategy; Business and Government Relations; Health Industry

February 2019
Case

Canibal—Play It Green!

By: Frank V. Cespedes, Joseph B. Fuller, Tonia Labruyere and Elena Corsi

In 2011, Canibal launched a machine that could sort and compress aluminum cans, plastic bottles, and cups. Users could play a jackpot-style game on the machine’s digital display, while disposing of their beverage containers and earning coupons or other rewards. The... View Details

Keywords: Sales Growth; Recycling; Start-up; Scaling; Market Selection; Sales; Marketing; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Segmentation; Product Positioning; Technology Industry; France