Publications

December 2024 (Revised March 2025)
Case

The Shouldice Hospital Today

By: James Heskett and Roger Hallowell

The leadership and staff of Shouldice Hospital in Toronto, Canada have, for 75 years, sought to do one thing better than any other hospital in the world, repair inguinal hernias. For some years, a possible second hospital in another market has been under consideration.... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Health Care and Treatment; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Culture; Expansion; Health Industry; Toronto; Canada; United States

21 Nov 2022
Research & Ideas

Buy Now, Pay Later: How Retail's Hot Feature Hurts Low-Income Shoppers

inflation-charged holiday season approaches and threat of a recession looms, the research invites caution. While these new payment methods might seem like a tempting way to afford gifts, they can lead to a trap of overdraft and... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Retail; Financial Services; Technology

Web

Technology & Innovation - Faculty & Research

Channels ; Marketing Strategy ; Product Marketing ; Social Marketing ; Information Infrastructure ; Information Technology ; Internet and the Web ; Mobile and Wireless Technology ; Technology Adoption ; Education ; Teaching ; Price ; Customer Relationship Management ;... View Details

Web

Strategy Curriculum - Faculty & Research

Sustaining Competitive Advantage Eric J. Van den Steen Fall 2025 Q1 1.5 Driving Profitable Growth (also listed under Technology & Operations Management) Juan Alcacer , Raffaella Sadun Fall 2025 Q2 1.5 Global Climate Change (also listed... View Details

10 Dec 2021
Research & Ideas

Truth Be Told: Unpacking the Risks of Whistleblowing

things, they can resolve it internally more quickly and in a more efficient way than if it goes to regulators. Although we don’t study this, I think it could also empower employees to feel ownership of the company because they’re helping in the overall View Details

Keywords: by April White

Research Summary

The New Social Contract: Contractors, Firms, and Agencies

The emergence of a 'new social contract' linking employees and organizations - perhaps most notable for the absence of a promise of lifelong job security - has been widely remarked. A related trend, less noted but potentially important, has been the emergence of a... View Details

15 Nov 2006
Research & Ideas

Lessons Not Learned About Innovation

Every managerial generation rediscovers the need for innovation to drive growth but, decade after decade, "grand declarations about innovation are followed by mediocre execution that produces anemic results, and innovation groups are... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

September 2023
Article

Judging Foreign Startups

By: Nataliya Langburd Wright, Rembrand Koning and Tarun Khanna

Can accelerators pick the most promising startup ideas no matter their provenance? Using unique data from a global accelerator where judges are randomly assigned to evaluate startups headquartered across the globe, we show that judges are less likely to recommend... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship And Strategy; Global Strategy; Entrepreneurial Financing; Innovation; International; Entrepreneurship; Judgments; Business Startups; Geographic Location; Growth and Development Strategy

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14 Aug 2007
First Look

First Look: August 14, 2007

Telephone Company, formed by a consortium of private equity firms, has made a public tender offer for Denmark's leading telecommunications company, TDC. TDC's board of directors approved the take-private transaction, and 88% of... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

19 Apr 2016
First Look

April 19, 2016

forthcoming Journal of Marketing Research Does 'Liking' Lead to Loving? The Impact of Joining a Brand’s Social Network on Marketing Outcomes By: John, Leslie K., Oliver Emrich, Sunil Gupta, and Michael I. Norton Abstract—Does “liking” a... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2018
Case

Flying into the Future: HondaJet

By: Gary P. Pisano and Jesse Shulman

This cases examine Honda’s diversification into the light jet market. In 1985, Honda initiated a secret program to develop a small jet. Over the years, the program had many ups and downs (it was almost canceled several times). Then, a breakthrough in the configuration... View Details

Keywords: Diversification; Technological Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Innovation and Management; Air Transportation Industry

2009
Working Paper

Do Friends Influence Purchases in a Social Network?

By: Raghuram Iyengar, Sangman Han and Sunil Gupta

Social networks, such as Facebook and Myspace have witnessed a rapid growth in their membership. Some of these businesses have tried an advertising-based model with very limited success. However, these businesses have not fully explored the power of their members to... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Network Effects; Sales; Power and Influence; Social and Collaborative Networks; Web Sites; South Korea

Read Now

December 2016
Case

Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley

By: William C. Kirby and Joycelyn W. Eby

UC Berkley, long known as one of the leading public universities in both the U.S. and the world, has seen turbulent times recently. While student enrollment and costs have increased steadily in recent years, the school, which has been fiercely proud of its public... View Details

May 2018
Article

Nowcasting Gentrification: Using Yelp Data to Quantify Neighborhood Change

By: Edward L. Glaeser, Hyunjin Kim and Michael Luca

Data from digital platforms have the potential to improve our understanding of gentrification and enable new measures of how neighborhoods change in close to real time. Combining data on businesses from Yelp with data on gentrification from the Census, Federal Housing... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting Models; Simulation Methods; Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, And Changes; Geographic Location; Local Range; Transition; Analytics and Data Science; Measurement and Metrics; Economic Growth; Forecasting and Prediction

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July 2017 (Revised September 2017)
Case

Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Shweta Bagai

Founders Vineet and Anupama Nayar had rapidly scaled their foundation to reach 3 million primary school children (grades 1 to 3) in two states with math and English programs. Their goal was to reach 10 million children by 2025 and completely spend down the $100 million... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Management; K-12 Education; Frugal Innovation; Government Partnership; Impact; Developing Countries; Education; Decision Choices and Conditions; Growth and Development Strategy; Business and Government Relations; Outcome or Result; India

January 2018
Case

Scaling Swagbucks (A)

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and Matthew G. Preble

In early 2014, Chuck Davis (HBS '86) has joined Swagbucks as its first professional CEO to scale a successful and profitable brand promotion and consumer research business. Davis came into the job while serving as a venture partner at TCV, a growth stage VC firm,... View Details

Keywords: Loyalty Management; Scaling; Scale; Entrepreneurship; Human Resources; Employees; Employee Relationship Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Design; Leading Change; Growth Management; Religion; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Transition; Leadership; Web Services Industry; Technology Industry

September 2016
Supplement

Health Leads: Reaching for Impact (B)

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Sarah Appleby

The (B) case documents the development of a strategy to achieve system-level impact in a rapidly changing healthcare landscape for a nonprofit focused on addressing patients' basic social needs through healthcare institutions. Founded in 1996 with a volunteer-staffed... View Details

Keywords: Scaling Social Impact; Scaling Social Enterprise; Health Care Delivery; Health Care Outcomes; Nonprofit Scaling; Nonprofit; Social Enterprise; Social Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Nonprofit Organizations; Growth and Development Strategy; Health Industry; United States

June 2024
Supplement

Legacy Partners (B)

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

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

Abstract: Stephen Holbrook and Austin Pulsipher (both HBS '19) had been leading Nutrishare since acquiring the company six... View Details