Publications

January 2023
Case

Year Up: Measuring and Scaling Impact

By: Natalia Rigol, Benjamin N. Roth, Brian Trelstad and Sarah Mehta

Year Up, a non-profit that provides training and practical work experience to low-income young people, has for years prioritized impact measurement. By 2022, it had built a robust body of evidence demonstrating that its program yields higher earnings for participants.... View Details

Keywords: Demographics; Education; Jobs and Positions; Measurement and Metrics; Performance; Research; Social Enterprise; Growth Management; Education Industry; United States; Massachusetts; Boston

July 2022
Case

General Mills: Responding to the Killing of George Floyd (A)

By: Debora L. Spar and Alicia Dadlani

Jeff Harmening, CEO of General Mills, one of the world's largest manufacturers of breakfast cereals and packaged foods, was deeply disturbed and instantly aware that he and General Mills would need to respond. George Floyd, an African-American man who had been accused... View Details

Keywords: Race; Decisions; Social Issues; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Minneapolis; Minnesota; United States

September 2021
Case

Brown Capital Management

By: Luis M. Viceira, Emily R. McComb and Sarah Mehta

Set in July 2021, this case looks at several growth strategies under consideration at Brown Capital, the second-oldest Black-owned asset management firm in the U.S. Since its 1983 founding, Baltimore-based Brown Capital has specialized in small company growth... View Details

January 2018 (Revised October 2020)
Case

The Rise and Rise (?) of Walmart (A): Battling Kmart

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Eric Van den Steen and Karen Elterman

This case, set in 1990, describes the history of Walmart and asks what competitive strategies Kmart might adopt in response to Walmart's success. It discusses the strategy and organization of both companies in terms of HR practices, store location, distribution,... View Details

Keywords: Walmart; Kmart; Organization; Company Culture; Pricing; Procurement; Supercenter; Strategy; Competition; Organizational Culture; Competitive Strategy; Retail Industry; United States; Bentonville; Arkansas

January 2025
Case

Cyber Oversight: SolarWinds Board of Directors

By: Lynn S. Paine

In 2020, just two years after its IPO, information technology company SolarWinds discovered that it was the victim of an attack on its information systems by Russian hackers. The incident, known as the Sunburst attack, was costly for the company, and certain... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Corporate Accountability; Governing and Advisory Boards; Cybersecurity; Lawsuits and Litigation; Legal Liability; Business and Shareholder Relations; Risk Management; Information Technology Industry; United States; Texas; Delaware

October 2022
Supplement

Beam Dental (A): Pitch Deck Supplement 1

By: Rembrand Koning and Alicia Dadlani

Early pitch deck (one of two). This case is a supplement to Beam Dental (A) 723-355. View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Business Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Insurance Industry; United States; Kentucky; Ohio

June 2015 (Revised January 2016)
Case

To Buy or What to Buy: Your First Home

By: Charles F. Wu, Steven Hirsch, Beatrice Liem, Kevin Ryan and Derrick Snyder

Peter and Kate Rose are a young couple looking to buy their first home in the Boston area. They have narrowed down a target list to three homes, but are also considering whether it makes sense to buy a home in the first place. They must make decisions regarding which... View Details

Keywords: Real Estate; Real Assets; Investing; Personal Investing; Brokerage; Housing; Property; Private Ownership; Investment; Real Estate Industry; United States; Boston; New England; Massachusetts; North America

04 Oct 2016
First Look

October 4, 2016

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=43743 How Quantitative Easing Works: Evidence on the Refinancing Channel By: Di Maggio, Marco, Amir Kermani, and Christopher Palmer Abstract—Despite massive large-scale asset purchases (LSAPs) by View Details

16 Dec 2011
Research & Ideas

Reintroducing Intellectual Ambition to the Study of Business History

research gives the field an advantage over other disciplines and will allow us to answer big questions, such as, "What explains the success and failure of entrepreneurs?" If business historians invest in reestablishing the entrepreneur, not only as a View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones & Walter Friedman

01 Jun 2016
News

Alumni and Faculty Books for June 2016

leaders answer such questions as: Why change? What to change? How to change? And when to change? Central Park Trees and Landscapes: A Guide to New York City's Masterpiece by Edward S. Barnard (PMD 32) and Neil Calvanese (Columbia Univ.... View Details

25 Sep 2007
First Look

First Look: September 25, 2007

ethicality. We argue that the temporal trichotomy of prediction, action and evaluation is central to these misperceptions: People predict that they will behave more ethically than they actually do, and when evaluating past (un)ethical... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

04 Nov 2002
Research & Ideas

From Lone Star to Team Player

horizontally across boundaries, without always having to rely on centralized command and a big corporate staff to make sure that the firm is integrated. Q: You point to British Petroleum as an example of a large organization that was able... View Details

Keywords: by Mallory Stark

17 Sep 2018
Blog Post

My Summer as a Venture Capitalist

importantly, it’s about supporting entrepreneurs by giving helpful advice, making useful introductions, or just being the person they call when they are running into a problem. Central to the ethos at Underscore is supporting... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital / Private Equity

10 Sep 2021
Blog Post

Perspectives on Anti-Racism in the HKS Curriculum

can use to more effectively articulate what I’ve learned to others. How is this course relevant to business leadership development at HBS? Morgan: The takeaways from this course—that race is central to dynamics of power and influence in... View Details

12 Sep 2024
Blog Post

Amager Bakke: I Like This Waste Incinerator in My Backyard!

footprints and are empowered to reduce and sort waste at the source. Centralized waste processing and district heating provide economies of scale in a carbon-efficient urban system. By managing waste for over 1 million inhabitants, Amager... View Details

01 Jun 2018
News

Case Study: Tip the Scale

but an automated picking process in the future as well. —Beat Fraefel (AMP 176, 2009) What about a “dim sum” process? The pickers stay stationary. The line runs in a circle with a random assortment passing by that someone else loads from a View Details

Research Summary

Managing sustainability in supply chains

By: Michael W. Toffel

I am examining codes of conduct, management process standards, and government voluntary programs that address environmental and labor issues, seeking to understand what enables some of these programs to actually deliver on their promise of distinguishing organizations... View Details

Keywords: Environment; Environmental Performance; Environmental Regulation; Environmental Strategy; Regulation; Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry; Service Industry; Construction Industry; United States; California

June 2024
Supplement

Legacy Partners (A)

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Instructors should consider the timing of making videos available to students, as they may reveal key case details.

Stephen Holbrook and Austin Pulsipher (both HBS '19) had been leading Nutrishare since acquiring the company six months earlier in mid-2021.... View Details