Publications

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Business at the Base of the Pyramid - Course Catalog

HBS Course Catalog Business at the Base of the Pyramid Course Number 1908 Associate Professor Benjamin N. Roth Associate Professor Natalia Rigol Spring; Q3Q4; 3.0 credits 27 Sessions Exam Overview Between a well-served top of the... View Details

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An Emerging Entrepreneur | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

validating the model before closing the initial investment round, after which he hopes to scale quickly, with the goal of serving 10,000 students in five years. Reflecting on his time at HBS, Bichara cites the case method’s impact in... View Details

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A Life’s Work | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

Chertavian, who also sits on the Social Enterprise Initiative’s Advisory Board. “Our country needs to embrace the fact that if we’re going to have a globally competitive economy, we must engage every one of our citizens.” In other words, Year Up’s View Details

July–August 2020
Article

Price Bargaining and Competition in Online Platforms: An Empirical Analysis of the Daily Deal Market

By: Lingling Zhang and Doug J. Chung

The prevalence of online platforms opens new doors to traditional businesses for customer reach and revenue growth. This research investigates platform choice in a setting where prices are determined by negotiations between platforms and businesses. We compile a unique... View Details

Keywords: Business-to-business Marketing; Platform Competition; Two-Sided Markets; Price Bargaining; Daily Deals; Structural Model; Digital Platforms; Competition; Price; Negotiation

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January 2015 (Revised October 2016)
Case

onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy

By: Jill Avery, Anat Keinan and Liz Kind

onefinestay was a two-sided marketplace that offered high-end home rentals to travelers who sought a more authentic and local experience than a typical upscale hotel might provide. After five years of rapid growth, it was time to do a comprehensive analysis of the... View Details

August 2016
Case

Collective Academy

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Christopher Payton

This case is about making the decision to become an entrepreneur and early challenges in setting up a business model and team. In 2015, Pato Bichara co-founded Collective Academy to create an affordable, three-year undergraduate experience to infuse innovation into... View Details

Keywords: Early Stage; Team Building; Business Startup; Trade-offs; Risk; Founders' Agreements; Education; Entrepreneurship; Business Model; Business Startups; Decision Making; Technology Industry; Mexico; Latin America; United States

June 2023
Case

Block: Creating an Ecosystem of Ecosystems

By: Lauren Cohen, Richard Ryffel, Grace Headinger and Ruoshi Qi

At Investor Day 2022, Block announced a new vision for its businesses: creating an ecosystem of ecosystems. Outside the norm for many public growth companies, Block had recently acquired a variety of new business streams in the creator economy and Bitcoin despite a... View Details

Web

Introduction - Railroads and the Transformation of Capitalism | Harvard Business School

and making possible an unparalleled level of commerce. The railroads, unprecedented in size and complexity, became the model on which modern business would be based. While few dispute the transformative... View Details

Web

Impact of the New Medium - Edwin H. Land & Polaroid | Harvard Business School

Polaroid Land Camera, Model 95," November 1948, 1 and 5, Polaroid Corporation Administrative Records, Box I.314, Folder 3, Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 73. "Report to Stockholders," Polaroid... View Details

01 Apr 2025
Blog Post

Alumni in Climate Networking Series: Miami

Are you interested in connecting with other alumni leveraging their careers to confront climate change? BEI invites HBS Alumni to join our Alumni in Climate Networking Series for a chance to connect with local alumni to discuss ideas, trends, opportunities, and... View Details

July 2017 (Revised July 2018)
Case

Upwork: Creating the Human Cloud

By: Dylan Minor and David Yoffie

Stephane Kasriel, the new CEO of Upwork, the leading platform for freelance labor, needs to decide on how to redesign its business model. While the firm has been growing rapidly since the merger of Odesk and eLance, the newly combined firm continues to face problems of... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Platform; Platform Businesses; Technology; Business Model; Digital Platforms; Growth and Development Strategy; Internet and the Web; Labor

27 Oct 2016
HBS Seminar

Andrea Pratt, Richard Paul Richman Professor of Business and Professor of Economics, Columbia University

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The Harvard Business School Faculty Summer Reader 2025 | Working Knowledge

Leadership The Harvard Business School Faculty Summer Reader 2025 By Rachel Layne on June 26, 2025 What's on the reading lists of Harvard Business School faculty ? Insights about AI, immigration, and... View Details

Research Summary

Overview

Prof. Altman's research interests include innovation, strategy, organizational change, platform-based businesses and their related ecosystems. Her work focuses on the impact to incumbent organizations as platform-based highly networked business models become more... View Details

Keywords: Innovation Management; Multi-sided Platforms; Business Ecosystems; Organizational Change; Paradox; Organizational Identity

25 Mar 2025
Blog Post

ClimateCAP 2025 & ClimateCAP Fellowship

ClimateCAP is an initiative manage by Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business whose mission is to prepare business leaders to understand and respond to the climate challenge. They provide learning resources for MBA students interested in the intersection of business... View Details

January 2014
Supplement

Patagonia (B)

By: Forest Reinhardt, Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Lauren Barley

Patagonia produces high-quality environmentally friendly garments that command significant price premiums. In Spring 2010, Patagonia rolled out a new, radical environmental initiative called "Product Lifecycle Initiative" (PLI), which was committed to lengthening the... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Environmental Management; Business Models; Beliefs; Product Differentiation; Product Lines; Yvon Chouinard; Rose Marcario; Retailing; Corporate Social Responsibility; Apparel Manufacturing; Strategy; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States

March 2021 (Revised March 2024)
Case

M-KOPA: Empowering Lives

By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Wale Lawal and Pippa Tubman Armerding

The Pay As You Go solar power company in East Africa had sales of $71 million in 2019. It wished to grow to $300 million by 2025. M-KOPA, founded by three entrepreneurs in 2011, had grown nicely in Kenya and Uganda to reach nearly 750,000 households with an innovative... View Details

Keywords: Mobile Payment; Go-to-market Strategy; Business At The Base Of The Pyramid; Business Growth; Social Entrepreneurship; Renewable Energy; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Expansion; Marketing Strategy; Developing Countries and Economies; Kenya; Uganda; Nigeria