Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(7,485)
- Faculty Publications (1,926)
- 2025
- Working Paper
Why Companies Thrive Or Die: Ownership and the Path to Perpetuation
By: Josh Baron
Why do some companies continue to thrive for decades and others die after an initial run of success? Much like an airplane accident, company failure is generally the consequence of cascading effects that combine together to overwhelm a previously effective strategy.... View Details
- February 2025
- Case
Blue Owl Financing of Ping Identity
By: Victoria Ivashina and Srimayi Mylavarapu
In the fall of 2022, Blue Owl Capital's investment committee evaluated a potential investment in the technology sector. The proposed transaction centered on Ping Identity Corporation (“Ping”), a fast-growing identity access management (IAM) software company that was... View Details
- February 2025
- Case
Doing Business in Kigali, Rwanda
By: Andy Zelleke, Martin A. Sinozich, Julianne Bliss and Choetsow Tenzin
Rwanda’s transformation from a post-genocide recovery effort to one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies presents a compelling case for investors and business leaders. With an ambitious Vision 2050 strategy, Kigali has emerged as a regional hub for trade, innovation,... View Details
- January–March 2025
- Article
Transitioning from Responsible and Reactive to Deeply Responsible and Proactive International Business
By: Geoffrey G. Jones, Teresa da Silva Lopes, Pavida Pananond, Rob van Tulder, Noemi Sinkovics and Rudolf R. Sinkovics
This article aims to explore the role of multinational enterprises in addressing grand societal challenges, emphasizing the need for integrating environmental and social aspects into business models. It offers an analysis of how principles and values can guide engaged... View Details
- January 2025
- Case
Negotiating with Data: Analytics FC (A)
By: Jillian Jordan and Livia Alfonsi
Analytics FC was a UK-based sports consultancy that focused on international football (soccer), leveraging cutting-edge data-analytic techniques to support clubs, federations, and players. In 2022, Alex Greenwood, an elite female defender, approached the company for... View Details
- January 2025
- Supplement
Negotiating with Data: Analytics FC (B)
By: Jillian Jordan and Livia Alfonsi
Analytics FC was a UK-based sports consultancy that focused on international football (soccer), leveraging cutting-edge data-analytic techniques to support clubs, federations, and players. In 2022, Alex Greenwood, an elite female defender, approached the company for... View Details
- January 2025
- Module Note
Understanding and Addressing Gender Gaps
This module provides a framework for students to analyze how gender stereotypes, through their impact on beliefs about others and beliefs about ourselves, contribute to gender gaps in the workplace. The module proceeds in three parts. First, through a case and an... View Details
- January 2025 (Revised April 2025)
- Case
Duolingo: On a 'Streak'
By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Nicole Tempest Keller and Nicole Luo
In December 2024, Severin Hacker, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Duolingo, reflected on the remarkable evolution of the language-learning app he helped launch in 2011. As the #1 most downloaded education app in the world, Duolingo had over 100 million... View Details
- January 2025
- Case
Moderna: Democratizing Artificial Intelligence
By: Iavor I. Bojinov, Karim R. Lakhani, Annika Hildebrandt and James Weber
The case study examines Moderna's journey in democratizing artificial intelligence (AI), particularly generative AI, across its workforce. It details the company's "digital-first, AI-focused" approach, including the rollout of OpenAI's ChatGPT Enterprise to all... View Details
- January 2025
- Case
Untapped Global: Financing Africa's Missing Middle
By: Raymond Kluender and Emanuele Colonnelli
In November 2024, Jim Chu, founder and CEO of Untapped Global, faced mounting internal tensions over the company’s strategic direction. Untapped had developed a data-driven revenue-based financing (RBF) model to address the “missing middle” problem—the $5.2 trillion... View Details
Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Working Capital; Private Equity; Financial Strategy; Microfinance; International Finance; Currency Exchange Rate; Profit Sharing; Revenue; Developing Countries and Economies; Economic Growth; Emerging Markets; Mission and Purpose; Small Business; Entrepreneurial Finance; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; Information Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Africa; Nigeria; South Africa; Kenya; Uganda; California; San Francisco
- January 2025
- Case
Negotiating a Legacy at Sustainable Harvest (A)
By: Jillian Jordan, Julian Zlatev, Alicia Dadlani and Martha Hostetter
The specialty coffee importer Sustainable Harvest was the first certified B Corp in the coffee industry due to its investments in building coffee farmers’ capacity and livelihood. But in 2022, after coffee prices plummeted and the company’s bank declined to extend its... View Details
Keywords: Negotiation; Mergers and Acquisitions; Trust; Ethics; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Volatility; Futures and Commodity Futures; Social Enterprise; Valuation; Business Model; Credit; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Food and Beverage Industry; United States; Europe
- January 2025
- Supplement
Negotiating a Legacy at Sustainable Harvest (B)
By: Jillian Jordan, Julian Zlatev, Alicia Dadlani and Martha Hostetter
The specialty coffee importer Sustainable Harvest was the first certified B Corp in the coffee industry due to its investments in building coffee farmers’ capacity and livelihood. But in 2022, after coffee prices plummeted and the company’s bank declined to extend its... View Details
- January 2025
- Case
Index and Active Investing: Vanguard and the New Frontier of Active ETFs
By: Marco Sammon, Luis M. Viceira and Jonathan Kanagasabai
This case explores Vanguard’s strategic decision-making process as it considers entering the growing market for actively managed exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Set in 2024, the case places students in the position of Rodney Comegys, Vanguard’s global head of the Equity... View Details
- 2025
- Article
Humor as a Window into Generative AI Bias
By: Roger Samure, Julian De Freitas and Stefano Puntoni
A preregistered audit of 600 images by generative AI across 150 different prompts explores the link between humor and discrimination in consumer-facing AI solutions. When ChatGPT updates images to make them “funnier”, the prevalence of stereotyped groups changes. While... View Details
- January 2025 (Revised April 2025)
- Supplement
Food for Thought: Exiting Russia? (B)
By: Clayton S. Rose, Hugo Etchegoyhen and Lena Duchene
The (B) case examines the actions of Bonduelle and Danone as they responded to ongoing pressure to reevaluate their presence in Russia. While the (A) case explored the ethical and strategic dilemmas both companies faced after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the (B) case... View Details
- January 2025
- Case
North Forty: Managing Liquidity Through Change
By: Luis M. Viceira and Brad Towne
This case explores the interaction between spending and investment decisions at a family office, specifically the family office of Jeff and Tricia Raikes, with special emphasis on the management of spending, portfolio investments, and asset liquidity in the presence of... View Details
- January–February 2025
- Article
Why People Resist Embracing AI
The success of AI depends not only on its capabilities, which are becoming more advanced each day, but on people’s willingness to harness them. Unfortunately, many people view AI negatively, fearing it will cause job losses, increase the likelihood that their personal... View Details
- January–February 2025
- Article
Why People Resist Embracing AI: The Five Main Obstacles—and How To Overcome Them
The success of AI depends not only on its capabilities, which are becoming more advanced each day, but on people’s willingness to harness them. Unfortunately, many people view AI negatively, fearing it will cause job losses, increase the likelihood that their personal... View Details
- December 2024
- Supplement
Northvolt: Building Batteries to Fight Climate Change (B)
The (B) case explores Northvolt’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing on November 21, 2024, highlighting the company’s
struggles to scale operations amid a global EV market slowdown and internal production challenges. While the (A) case detailed
Northvolt’s ambitious... View Details
Keywords: Batteries; Electric Vehicles; Climate Change; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Energy; Green Technology; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Investment; Technological Innovation; Risk Management; Failure; Business and Government Relations; Business and Shareholder Relations; Transportation; Green Technology Industry; Europe; Sweden
- 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