Publications

September 2018 (Revised October 2018)
Supplement

Lexoo: Building a Long-Lasting Platform

By: Chiara Farronato and Elena Corsi

Lexoo, a UK-based online marketplace for legal services, was facing the strategic choice of how to grow from early start-up to mature platform. Daniel van Binsbergen, Lexoo's CEO, and web developer Chris O'Sullivan, CTO, had set up Lexoo to help Small and Medium-Sized... View Details

Keywords: Marketplaces; Legal Services; Growth Strategy; Technology Ventures; Pivot; Service Operations; Digital Platforms; Growth and Development Strategy; Small Business; Decision Making; Legal Services Industry

August 2017 (Revised March 2020)
Case

Flex Hungary: Launching Production (A)

By: Willy Shih

This case examines design choices in the construction of flow lines. Flow lines are a popular way of arranging production because they are simple and inherently efficient. Equipment or workstations are arranged according to the sequence of steps in which a product is... View Details

Keywords: Manufacturing; Line-balancing; Flow Line; Conveyor-paced Line; Consumer Goods; Consumer Products; Production Management; Production Planning; Production Scheduling; Operations; Production; Management; Supply Chain; Design; Analysis; Goods and Commodities; Consumer Products Industry; Manufacturing Industry; European Union

January 2011 (Revised November 2015)
Case

The National Geographic Society (A)

By: David A. Garvin and Carin-Isabel Knoop

In January 2010, John Fahey, president, CEO, and chairman of the board of trustees' executive committee of the Washington, D.C.-based National Geographic Society (NGS), must decide how best to organize the 121-year old mission-driven organization for a world of... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Information Publishing; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Managerial Roles; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Internet; Publishing Industry

2006
Article

The End of Nationality? Global Firms and 'Borderless Worlds'

By: G. Jones

This article provides a historical perspective to current debates whether large global firms are becoming "stateless" and whether this is a historically new phenomenon. It shows that a great deal of international business in the nineteenth century was not easily fitted... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Multinational Firms and Management; Trade; Ownership; International Finance; Economic Systems; International Accounting; Globalized Economies and Regions; Geographic Location; Nationality; Boundaries; Global Strategy

03 Mar 2015
News

Corporate Governance 2.0

Program

The Business of Entertainment, Media, and Sports

long-term competitive advantage. Key Benefits Emphasizing the obstacles facing entertainment industry decision-makers, this program will help you develop and execute more effective business strategies. You will debate and analyze the... View Details

Keywords: Media & Entertainment; Media & Entertainment

February 2019 (Revised January 2020)
Teaching Note

Renegotiating NAFTA

By: Laura Alfaro and Sarah Jeong

On January 16, 2020, the Senate passed a landmark trade deal that would replace the 26-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Until the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) was signed, considerable debate had surrounded it. The new agreement... View Details

Keywords: NAFTA; Trade; Agreements and Arrangements; Policy; Cost vs Benefits; North America

24 Jun 2016
News

Is It Safe for CEOs to Voice Strong Political Opinions?

Web

Live from Klarman Hall - Alumni

for learning. That’s fundamentally different from the traditional model of teaching — the learned expert transferring knowledge to eager students. At HBS, the teacher asks questions, and the students make statements that become the basis for View Details

September 2023 (Revised January 2024)
Case

Helmy Abouleish: Making a Desert Bloom

By: Geoffrey G. Jones and Maxim Pike Harrell

This case examines the history of prominent Egyptian-based social enterprise SEKEM from its foundation in 1977 until the COP27 conference held in Sharm El-Sheikh in 2022. Led by father and son team Ibrahim and Helmy Abouleish, SEKEM turned desert into farmland using... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Climate Change; Values and Beliefs; Social Enterprise; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Egypt

March 2021
Article

Deliberately Prejudiced Self-driving Vehicles Elicit the Most Outrage

By: Julian De Freitas and Mina Cikara

Should self-driving vehicles be prejudiced, e.g., deliberately harm the elderly over young children? When people make such forced-choices on the vehicle’s behalf, they exhibit systematic preferences (e.g., favor young children), yet when their options are unconstrained... View Details

Keywords: Moral Judgment; Autonomous Vehicles; Driverless Policy; Moral Outrage; Moral Sensibility; Judgments; Transportation; Policy

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2016
Report

Review of Competitiveness Frameworks: An Analysis Conducted for the Irish National Competitiveness Council

By: Christian H.M. Ketels

The report reviews recent research on competitiveness as well as the use of competitiveness frameworks applied in leading international competitiveness rankings and in national competitiveness assessments. The report includes four main parts: The initial chapter... View Details

Keywords: Competitiveness; Competition; Analysis

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Article

The Best of Both Worlds: Integrating Conscious and Unconscious Thought Best Solves Complex Decisions

Two studies address the debate over whether conscious or unconscious mental processes best handle complex decisions. According to Unconscious Thought Theory (Dijksterhuis & Nordgren, 2006), both modes of thinking have particular advantages: conscious thought can follow... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Values and Beliefs; Information; Knowledge Management; Management Skills; Management Style; Measurement and Metrics; Success; Research; Cognition and Thinking; Personal Characteristics; Perception

2010
Book

A History of Irish Economic Thought

For a country that can boast a distinguished tradition of political economy from Sir William Petty through Swift, Berkeley, Hutcheson, Burke, and Cantillon through to that of Longfield, Cairnes, Bastable, Edgeworth, Geary, and Gorman, it is surprising that no... View Details

Keywords: History; Government and Politics; Economics; Republic of Ireland

April 2005 (Revised April 2005)
Background Note

Corporate Strategies in Media and Entertainment Businesses

By: Bharat N. Anand

In recent years, many debates in corporate strategy have centered around information goods markets, and the media and entertainment sector in particular. Vertical integration is the norm in many parts of the media sector, despite conventional wisdom that it offers no... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy

November 2000 (Revised November 2005)
Case

Tellme Networks, Inc.

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Nicole Tempest

Tellme, an early-stage, venture-backed company based in Silicon Valley, leverages speech-recognition technologies to provide: 1) a "voice portal" with news and other information accessible through any telephone, and 2) turnkey application development and hosting... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Digital Platforms; Business Conglomerates; Business Startups; Internet and the Web; Venture Capital; Technology Adoption; Internet and the Web; Brands and Branding; Information Technology; Telecommunications Industry; Technology Industry

23 Dec 2017
News

Exploring a New Agenda for Corporate Sustainability

26 Sep 2006
First Look

First Look: September 26, 2006

Working PapersScale Without Mass: Business Process Replication and Industry Dynamics Authors:Erik Brynjolfsson, Andrew McAfee, Michael Sorell, and Feng Zhu Abstract Since the mid-1990s, productivity growth has accelerated in the U.S. economy. In this paper, we... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

August 2017
Article

Tort Reform and Innovation

By: Alberto Galasso and Hong Luo

Current academic and policy debates focus on the impact of tort reforms on physicians’ behavior and medical costs. This paper examines whether these reforms also affect incentives to develop new technologies. We develop a theoretical model that predicts that the impact... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Health Care and Treatment; Technological Innovation; Legal Liability; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry