Publications

18 Oct 2010
News

What Not to Spend Your Time On

24 Sep 2016
News

Revitalizing small businesses is key to drive America's economic growth

January 2005
Case

Building Career Foundations: Humphrey Chen (A)

Follows the career decision making of a second-year MBA student who is engaged and must negotiate both cross-cultural and dual-career issues. Humphrey Chen must decide between a consulting firm and running his own start-up company (pre-Internet boom). He confronts... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Personal Development and Career; Family and Family Relationships; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues

27 Nov 2023
Research & Ideas

Voting Democrat or Republican? The Critical Childhood Influence That's Tough to Shake

The political bent of the neighborhood where they grew up—and especially where they spent their teen years. Beyond just parental influence, environmental factors such as friends, teachers, and media environment play a statistically... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

October 2011 (Revised June 2014)
Case

inge watertechnologies, GmbH

By: Ramana Nanda, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Markus Mittermaier

Using the financing history and exit choices of a German clean-tech startup as a lens, this case explores the reasons why venture-backed entrepreneurship is much lower in Germany than the US, despite a robust SME sector and large-corporate innovation in Germany. It... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Finance; Finance; Venture Capital; Negotiation; Entrepreneurship; Technology Industry; Germany

August 2016 (Revised June 2017)
Case

InsideSales.com (A)

By: Frank V. Cespedes

This case focuses on growth requirements for a company moving from its base in SMB customers (Small and Mid-Sized businesses) to Enterprise customers (companies with more than 500 employees). It examines the differences in buying processes, product requirements,... View Details

Keywords: Business Organization; Customer Relationship Management; Marketing Strategy; Organizational Change And Adaptation; Organizational Design; Talent; Talent Management; Organizations; Growth Management; Sales; Salesforce Management; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Technology Industry; United States

December 1990 (Revised June 1993)
Background Note

Price Discrimination

This note, which is introductory in nature, provides a classification scheme for some of the more common examples of price discrimination. For each case that is discussed, the note characterizes the appropriate market segments, the alternative product "versions," and... View Details

Keywords: Price; Segmentation

17 Nov 2020
Blog Post

Partners and Families Are an Integral Part of the MBA Experience

This article was originally published in the November 2020 edition of the Harbus. Life at HBS looks different for every student as the campus is filled with people hailing from an array of countries, industries, and backgrounds. The lives... View Details

29 Mar 2013
News

Rehiring Retirees as Consultants Is Bad Business

12 Nov 2019
News

Non-English speakers are shut out of the top jobs

03 Apr 2025
HBS Seminar

Ziad Obermeyer, UC Berkeley School of Public Health

March 2017
Teaching Note

Sales Compensation Vignettes

By: Frank V. Cespedes

This Teaching Note supports the case study comprising two vignettes about startup companies considering whether and how to change their sales compensation plans. The case allows students to compare and contrast the objectives, structure, and process of sales incentives... View Details

Keywords: Compensation; Sales; Strategy; Compensation and Benefits

May 2011 (Revised March 2013)
Background Note

Location Choice for New Ventures: Cities

By: William R. Kerr and Ramana Nanda

Location choice is a critical decision for entrepreneurs. This note explores how entrepreneurs should think about different city options through a systematic framework that encompasses professional and personal issues. We use the intellectual frameworks of the cluster... View Details

Keywords: City; Business Startups

April 1978 (Revised January 1985)
Case

Searle Medical Instruments Group (Abridged)

By: Steven C. Wheelwright

SMIG, a division of G.D. Searle, was a fast growing high market-share company in the field of nuclear medical instruments. It manufactured two basically different product lines, one very successful and the other less so. Although marketing was separate for these... View Details

Keywords: Change; Brands and Branding; Market Participation; Production; Success; Performance Capacity; Expansion; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

24 Sep 2015
News

Women Don’t Always Want the Jobs at the Top, and That’s OK

01 Nov 2016
News

As Iger’s Exit Nears, Disney Takes Quiet Approach to Succession

12 Oct 2016
Research & Ideas

Break the Rules of How Business is Done

Taking a risk by breaking with standard operating procedure can make your company more innovative. Credit: maxsattana In addition to creating a new company that is disrupting... View Details

Keywords: by Julia B. Austin

04 Sep 2019
News

Does America Care About Care? Not Enough

2008
Other Unpublished Work

Punctuated Identities and the Careers of Professional Women

This paper proposes a punctuated equilibrium model of identity change to explain how professional women's career goals and attitudes can change rapidly and dramatically during mid-career years. Data collected from interviews of 43 women alumni of an elite business... View Details

Keywords: Work-Life Balance; Decision Choices and Conditions; Identity; Personal Development and Career; Gender