Publications

September 1992
Case

Star Cablevision Group (F): Lessons Learned

By: William A. Sahlman

Last case in a series of six cases. This case describes the company as it reflects back to lessons learned. View Details

Keywords: Learning

Web

Live from Klarman Hall - Alumni

applications that can understand, think, and act on information the way that humans do. This paradigm shift in AI technology is driving an explosion of use cases transforming industries, governments, and... View Details

May 2016
Case

Seaside Organics

By: Howard H. Stevenson and Alisa Zalosh

This case follows Sara Norton, a soccer player-turned-serial entrepreneur, as she transforms Seaside Organics from a fledgling startup into an $89 million company. Informed by the successes and failures of her first organics venture, WellBar, Norton tries to balance... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Organizational Structure; Personal Development and Career; Entrepreneurship; Personal Characteristics; Business Startups; Business Strategy; Conflict and Resolution; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

Program

Real Estate Management Program

immersive experience where every aspect of the learning model has been carefully designed to facilitate your growth. Your learning will take place on your own, in your living group, and in the larger... View Details

Keywords: Real Estate; Real Estate

March 2020
Supplement

Poppy (B)

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Scott Duke Kominers, Jeff Huizinga and Allison Ciechanover

Avni Patel Thompson, founder and CEO of Poppy, an online marketplace for on-demand childcare, revisits the venture's final months, and discusses the steps she took in the wake of the shutdown. This case explores experiments the company conducted to refine its original... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Marketplace Matching; Business Model; Business Exit or Shutdown; Personal Development and Career; United States

31 May 2022
Cold Call Podcast

Corruption: New Insights for Fighting an Age-Old Business Problem

Keywords: Re: Tarun Khanna & Geoffrey G. Jones

October 2021 (Revised May 2023)
Case

Engine No.1: An Impact Investing Firm Engages with ExxonMobil

By: Mark Kramer, Shawn Cole, Vikram S. Gandhi and T. Robert Zochowski

ExxonMobil, the world's fifth largest source of carbon emissions, remained committed to aggressively expanding its oil & gas business despite global warming. During the COVID pandemic this strategy resulted in massive losses as the price and demand for oil declined. ... View Details

Keywords: Carbon Emissions; Global Warming; Impact Investment Funds; Hedge Fund Activism; Leadership Development; Business Model; Renewable Energy; Resource Allocation; Decision Choices and Conditions; Governing and Advisory Boards

09 May 2012
Research & Ideas

Clayton Christensen’s “How Will You Measure Your Life?”

You End Up Paying The Full Price Anyway Case studies such as this one helped me resolve a paradox that has appeared repeatedly in my attempts to help established companies that are confronted by disruptive... View Details

Emily Tedards

Emily Tedards is a Doctoral Student in the Organizational Behavior program at Harvard Business School and a Doctoral Fellow for the Reimagining the Economy Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School. Emily is interested in interorganizational networks, alliances, and the... View Details

February 2018 (Revised August 2018)
Case

OpenInvest

By: Shawn Cole, Boris Vallée and Nicole Tempest Keller

Founded by a team of hedge fund and NGO alumni, OpenInvest launched its platform in 2015 to enable retail investors to tailor their portfolios to their personal values in an automated way, for instance by screening out weapons manufacturers stocks or overweighting... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; Impact Investing; Investment Portfolio; Customization and Personalization; Technological Innovation; Social Issues; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Model; Financial Services Industry

December 2024
Case

5G Networks

By: Andy Wu, Levi Stroud and Ruth Page

This case, featuring Ajit Pai, Former Chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, explores the potential of 5G wireless networks. It illustrates how 5G works by examining its infrastructure and technological advancements. The case considers the specific... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Technology Adoption; Technological Innovation; Infrastructure; Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; United States

June 2014 (Revised January 2017)
Case

YAAS's Service Center

By: Brian Hall and Sara del Nido

This case is about a compensation change at an automotive service company in the Middle East. The case allows investigation and analysis of many issues related to compensation design and human resource management, and even change management. The focus of the case is... View Details

Keywords: Compensation; Emotions; Values; Compensation and Benefits; Human Resources; Labor; Negotiation; Organizations; Social Psychology; Value Creation; Motivation and Incentives; Auto Industry; Service Industry; Kuwait; Middle East

October 2004 (Revised July 2006)
Background Note

Ownership Structure in Professional Service Firms: Partnership versus Public Corporation

By: Ashish Nanda

This case reviews the relative merits of partnership and public ownership structures in professional services firms. It also evaluates the various rationales for converting partnership professional services firms to publicly owned firms. Finally, the case highlights... View Details

Keywords: Private Ownership; Transition; Partners and Partnerships; Public Ownership; Service Industry

August 2022
Case

Atlanta Ransomware Attack (A)

By: Amit Goldenberg and Julian Zlatev

This case describes the March 2018 Ransomware attack on the information technology (IT) systems of the city of Atlanta and the response by Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and her administration. The case includes a brief background on Bottoms and her young administration at... View Details

November 2019
Teaching Note

Hacking Heroin

By: Mitchell Weiss and Sarah Mehta

This teaching note pairs with a case that is used in a course on Public Entrepreneurship, for a first module on "ideas." The case is designed to help students work through the question: where do new ideas to stubborn problems come from? And, in particular, the question... View Details

Keywords: Public Entrepreneurship; Hackathon; Heroin; Opioids; Crowdsourcing; Public Sector; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Health Pandemics; Public Administration Industry; Health Industry; Ohio; Cincinnati

January 2017
Supplement

Q&A: Ghislain de Charentenay, Sanford C. Bernstein Director of Research, Asia

By: Linda A. Hill and Allison J. Wigen

In this video supplement to the HBS case series "Sanford C. Bernstein Goes to Asia," case protagonist Ghislain de Charentenay recalls his leadership priorities and challenges upon being appointed director of research in Asia. View Details

Keywords: Talent Management; Sell-side Analysts; Organizational Behavior; Leadership And Managing People; Leadership, Personal Strategy ＆ Style; Leadership Style; Asia; Hong Kong; Collaboration; Leadership; Organizational Culture; Talent and Talent Management; Financial Services Industry; Asia; Hong Kong

May 2012
Case

Quietly Brilliant: Transformational Change at HTC

By: Michael L. Tushman and Kerry Herman

The case examines smartphone maker HTC's 2006 decision to become a branded company. The case focuses on the cultural and organizational shifts HTC underwent to successfully make the transition from an ODM, founded in 1997, to a leading branded manufacturer (7% market... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Organizational Structure; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Telecommunications Industry; Taiwan