Publications
Publications
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(11,919)
- Faculty Publications (2,558)
- January 8, 2025
- Article
Why Retailers Are Turning to Third-Party Marketplaces
By: Antonio Moreno
Some traditional retailers—including Walmart, Target, and Best Buy—are adopting third-party marketplaces, which connect customers with external sellers and thereby offer customers a much broader selection. Many other traditional retailers are considering whether to... View Details
- January 2025 (Revised April 2025)
- Case
VOCEL(A): Democratizing Brain Science for Early Childhood Education
By: Elisabeth Paulson, Christopher T. Ryan and Nanxi Zhang
- January 2025
- Case
Transforming Talent at Teach For Taiwan
By: Juan Alcácer and Chi Kuan
The Teach For Taiwan (TFT) case follows founder Anting Liu as she considers how to scale the nonprofit’s talent strategy after a decade of impact in rural education. TFT recruits high-potential young professionals into a 2-year teaching fellowship, aiming to address... View Details
- January 2025 (Revised April 2025)
- Case
Mercado Libre: The Best Is Yet to Come
By: Krishna G. Palepu, Fernando Fragueiro, Carla Larangeira and Mariana Cal
In 2024, Marcos Galperín, CEO and co-founder of Mercado Libre, reflected on its 25-year rise as Latin America’s largest marketplace, fintech leader, and most valuable public company. With operations spanning 18 countries and a robust ecosystem combining e-commerce,... View Details
Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Multinational Firms and Management; Recruitment; Compensation and Benefits; Innovation Leadership; Innovation Strategy; Leadership Style; Business or Company Management; Management Practices and Processes; Management Succession; E-commerce; Emerging Markets; Distribution; Logistics; Organizational Culture; Organizational Design; Business Strategy; Competition; Growth and Development Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Latin America; Mexico; Brazil; Argentina
- 2025
- Working Paper
CEO-Firm Matches and Productivity in 42 Countries
By: Amanda Dahlstrand, Dávid László, Helena Schweiger, Oriana Bandiera, Andrea Prat and Raffaella Sadun
Firms are key to economic development, and CEOs are key to firm productivity. Are firms in countries at varying stages of development led by the right CEOs, and if not, why? We develop a parsimonious measure of CEO time use that allows us to differentiate CEOs into... View Details
- January 2025
- Case
Constitutional Fiction: John Miller & the Legitimacy of Family Constitutions
By: Lauren Cohen, Octavian Graf Pilati and Sophia Pan
John Miller sat reviewing his family’s Constitution, grappling with how best to implement and enforce its provisions. Designed to prevent ambiguity in governance, the Family Constitution set out core values and guidelines to promote harmony and cohesion among family... View Details
Keywords: Conflict Resolution; Perspective Taking; Liabilities; Family Business; Family Ownership; Business Growth and Maturation; Alignment; Cooperation; Attitudes; Behavior; Cognition and Thinking; Conflict Management; Conflict of Interests; Power and Influence; Perception; Trust; Perspective; Motivation and Incentives; Happiness; Identity; Goals and Objectives; Legal Liability; Contracts; Fairness; Values and Beliefs; Governance Controls; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Family and Family Relationships; Manufacturing Industry; Germany
- January 2025 (Revised April 2025)
- Case
Less Is More: Will Aldi's Expansion Plans Pay Off in a Crowded U.S. Grocery Market?
By: David Collis and Haisley Wert
In 2024, the discount grocery retailer Aldi announced bold U.S. expansion plans. Within five years, the German company would increase its store count by 30% to reach 3,200+ stores across the United States and approach becoming the fifth largest grocery retailer in the... View Details
- December 2024
- Supplement
Vanguard Retail Operations
By: Antonio Moreno, Willy C. Shih and Margaret Underwood
- 2024
- Working Paper
Charting (and Updating) the Path: A Bayesian Perspective on Entrepreneurial Learning
This chapter explores two distinct modes of entrepreneurial learning: assessing
venture viability and choosing between alternative development paths. It introduces
a framework for decomposing venture viability into technological feasibility, commercial
potential and... View Details
- December 2024
- Article
Managerial Pluralism: Thirty Years of Teaching Business Ethics
The author reflects on 30 years of teaching business ethics at Harvard Business School. The paper presents tactical lessons for teaching courses in professional ethics and introduces “managerial pluralism.” This concept is akin to Isaiah Berlin’s value pluralism and... View Details
- November 2024
- Case
Demond Martin and WellWithAll
By: Hise Gibson, Archie L. Jones and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone
This case study chronicles the transformative entrepreneurial path of Demond Martin, co-founder and CEO of WellWithAll, a health and wellness startup. Motivated by a pivotal life experience and deep concern for racial health inequities, Martin transitions from a... View Details
Keywords: Customers; Diversity; Ethnicity; Race; Health; Recruitment; Leadership Style; Management Style; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Product Positioning; Organizational Culture; Mission and Purpose; Relationships; Trust; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Investment; Business Startups; Transition; Entrepreneurship; Equality and Inequality; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; United States; Chicago; Boston; Atlanta; North Carolina; District of Columbia
- November 2024 (Revised January 2025)
- Case
Precision Agriculture at AGCO
By: Rajiv Lal, Alicia Dadlani and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone
In 2024, AGCO, a leading agricultural equipment manufacturer, sought to improve its customers net farm income by 20% over five years by becoming a comprehensive one-stop precision agriculture solutions provider and strengthening its dual channel sales approach—retrofit... View Details
- November 2024 (Revised May 2025)
- Case
Indonesia Education Reform: Merdeka Belajar ('Emancipated Learning')
By: John Jong-Hyun Kim, Adina Wong, Nancy Hua Dai and Mary C. Sauer
This case is set in 2024 in Indonesia, as Nadiem Makarim, Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, reflects on his tenure as Minister shortly before stepping down. With the ambition to lift Indonesia out of the middle-income gap by raising K12 to... View Details
- November 2024
- Case
Dr. Bombay Ice Cream
By: William R. Kerr, Alexis Brownell and Michael Liu
This case examines the creation, launch, and rapid growth of Dr. Bombay Ice Cream, a joint venture between Happi Co., a consumer packaged goods incubator, and entertainment mogul Snoop Dogg, with his son, Cordell Broadus. The brand was inspired by a Bored Ape Yacht... View Details
- November 2024
- Case
Innovation at Master Kong Beverages
By: David E. Bell and Shu Lin
Hong-Chen Wei (HBS MBA 2014), Chairman of KSF Beverage Holding Co., Ltd. (KSFB), was steering the company toward the premium segment with the launch of “InheriTea,” a premium, sugar-free tea product. Traditionally, KSFB’s flagship brand, Master Kong, catered to the... View Details
Keywords: Consumer Behavior; Trends; Behavior; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Product Launch; Product Development; Segmentation; Organizational Culture; Product Positioning; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Asia; China
- November 2024 (Revised December 2024)
- Case
Moonfare and the Democratization of Private Equity
By: Victoria Ivashina and Srimayi Mylavarapu
Founded in 2016, Moonfare headquartered in Europe, was a pioneer in the “democratization” of private equity investments. Historically, private equity was accessible only to institutional investors like pension funds, endowments, sovereign wealth funds, and large family... View Details
- November 2024
- Article
Price Discounts and Cheapflation During the Post-Pandemic Inflation Surge
By: Alberto Cavallo and Oleksiy Kryvtsov
We study how within-store price variation changes with inflation, and whether households exploit it to attenuate the inflation burden. We use micro price data for food products sold by 91 large multi-channel retailers in ten countries between 2018 and 2024. Measuring... View Details
- October 2024
- Case
Sacoor Brothers: From Co-Family CEOs to No Family CEOs?
By: Lauren Cohen, David Ager and Alpana Thapar
Sacoor Brothers, a luxury clothing retail company, was founded in 1989 in Lisbon, Portugal, by four brothers—Malik, Salim, Rahimo, and Moez. After establishing a strong presence in Portugal, the brothers were drawn to the rapidly growing retail markets in the Middle... View Details
Keywords: Growth; Geographic Mobility; Family Office; Professionalization; Institutional Development; Second-generation; Third-generation; Family Business; Private Equity; Investment; Governance; Transition; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Succession; Market Entry and Exit; Family and Family Relationships; Expansion; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Middle East; United Arab Emirates; Saudi Arabia; Portugal; Jordan; Dubai
- October 2024
- Article
Canary Categories
By: Eric Anderson, Chaoqun Chen, Ayelet Israeli and Duncan Simester
Past customer spending in a category is generally a positive signal of future customer spending. We show that there exist “canary categories” for which the reverse is true. Purchases in these categories are a signal that customers are less likely to return to that... View Details
- September 2024
- Case
Topaz: Navigating Governance, Legacy, and Change
By: Christina R. Wing and Carla Larangeira
Since its founding in 2011, the Garza Sada brothers and their father positioned Topaz among leading family offices in Monterrey, Mexico, with several assets under management. Topaz aspired to have a transformative impact across multiple Mexican industries. An industry... View Details
Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Family Business; Governing and Advisory Boards; Managerial Roles; Management Succession; Family Ownership; Corporate Governance; Organizational Structure; Adoption; Education Industry; Education Industry; Education Industry; Education Industry; Latin America; Mexico