Publications

July 2019
Case

Bjarke Ingels Group

By: Boris Groysberg and Aldo Sesia

Danish-born Bjarke Ingels is regarded as a giant in the field of architecture. He started his firm—the Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)—in 2005 in Copenhagen. Fourteen years later, the firm has additional offices in New York City, London, and Barcelona and employs over 500... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Design; Growth Management; Leadership; Organizational Culture; Talent and Talent Management; Urban Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Real Estate Industry; Real Estate Industry; Real Estate Industry; Denmark; Spain; United Kingdom; United States; New York (city, NY)

October 2013 (Revised October 2017)
Case

Bridges Ventures

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Sarah Appleby

Bridges Ventures, a UK-based impact investor with double-digit returns on its investments, is reflecting on its social impact and pondering its future course. View Details

Keywords: Impact Investing; United Kingdom; Financial And Social Return; Social Enterprise; Investment Portfolio; Real Estate Industry; Real Estate Industry; Real Estate Industry; United Kingdom

October 2009 (Revised January 2014)
Teaching Note

Genzyme Center (A), (B) & (C)

By: Michael W. Toffel

Teaching Note for [610008], [610009], and [610010]. View Details

Keywords: Environment; Environmental And Social Sustainability; Environmental Operations; Environmental Protection; Environmental Regulation; Standard Setting; Standards; Environmental Accounting; Engineering; Governance; Energy; Economics; Operations; Projects; Social Enterprise; Infrastructure; Real Estate Industry; Real Estate Industry; Real Estate Industry

10 Feb 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Land Institutions and Chinese Political Economy: Institutional Complementarities and Macroeconomic Management

Keywords: by Meg Rithmire; Real Estate; Real Estate; Real Estate

June 2005
Supplement

Hancock Land Company and Hancock Lumber Company (VHS Video)

By: John A. Davis, Dwight B. Crane and Jay W. Lorsch

Keywords: Real Estate Industry; Real Estate Industry

January 2005 (Revised June 2005)
Supplement

Hancock Land Company and Hancock Lumber Company (C)

By: John A. Davis, Dwight B. Crane and Kelly M. Mulderry

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Real Estate Industry; Real Estate Industry

January 2005 (Revised June 2005)
Supplement

Hancock Land Company and Hancock Lumber Company (B)

By: John A. Davis and Dwight B. Crane

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Real Estate Industry; Real Estate Industry

April 2023
Case

Burning the Sails to Save the Ship: The Pilati Family Dilemma

By: Lauren Cohen, Hao Gao, Jiawei Ye and Grace Headinger

Octavian Graf Pilati, rising generation member of an Austrian princely family, prepared to sell the palace his family had held for over three hundred years. In recent years, the Pilati family lands had been leveraged as loan collateral for an international venture that... View Details

Keywords: Family Office; Family; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Agribusiness; Family Business; Property; Identity; Culture; Ethics; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Governance; Crisis Management; Family and Family Relationships; Real Estate Industry; Real Estate Industry; Austria

2022
Report

The First Four Healthy Building Strategies Every Building Should Pursue to Reduce Risk from COVID-19

By: Joseph G. Allen, Emily Jones, Marissa V. Rainbolt, Linsey C. Marr, David Michaels, Leslie R. Cadet, Shelly L. Miller, Meira Levinson, Lidia Morawska, Richard L. Corsi, Nira R. Pollock, Yuguo Li, Alasdair P.S. Munro, Kelly Grier, Qingyan Chen, John D. Macomber and Xiaodong Cao

Understanding of the most probable transmission routes and identifying the risk environments for disease spread should always be among the first critical steps in the response to future disease threats. This is one of the most vital public health lessons of the... View Details

Keywords: Health Pandemics; Buildings and Facilities; Risk and Uncertainty; Real Estate Industry; Real Estate Industry; Real Estate Industry

Read Now

May 2015 (Revised September 2015)
Case

AIP Healthcare Japan: Investing in Japan's Retirement Home Market

By: John A. Quelch and Qing Xia

The CEO of a health care-based REIT is considering alternative nursing home investment strategies. Students must consider macro-industry trends, scale and scope issues and consumer segmentation data in making their recommendations. View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Health Care Services; REIT; Marketing; Investment; Health Care and Treatment; Segmentation; Real Estate Industry; Real Estate Industry; Real Estate Industry; Japan

22 Feb 2022
Research & Ideas

When Will the Hot Housing Market Finally Start to Cool?

only 910,000 homes on the market remained unsold nationwide, an all-time low. And Zillow, the online real estate sales platform, recently revised its 2022 forecast upward, predicting home prices will surge... View Details

Keywords: by Christine Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette

12 Apr 2011
First Look

First Look: April 12

Business School Case 211-026 One of the world's leading investors in distressed companies, Oaktree Capital Management, is contemplating a "loan to own" investment in the debt of Countrywide plc, a financially troubled residential View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

24 Mar 2002
Research & Ideas

Are Assets Only for America’s Wealthy?

stipulation that savings are intended for asset-building purposes only—for real estate investment, post-secondary education, and building a small business, for example. IDA participants would be required to... View Details

Keywords: by Carla Tishler

24 Sep 2014
Op-Ed

The ABCs of Addressing Climate Change (From a Business Perspective)

something? Based on my experience as a real estate and construction CEO and my academic research on urbanization, new cities, and the finance of sustainable infrastructure, I propose these simple ABCs... View Details

Keywords: by John Macomber; Energy; Utilities

March 2021 (Revised August 2021)
Case

Nayana Mawilmada: Transforming Urban Development in Sri Lanka

By: Joshua D. Margolis and Mahima Rao-Kachroo

In February 2018, Nayana Mawilmada (Nayana), investment head for the Sri Lankan government’s ambitious $40 billion Megapolis project, must weigh an attractive job offer to move from the public sector to the private sector. A massive government project aimed at... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transformation; Decision Making; Public Sector; Experience and Expertise; Strategic Planning; Work-Life Balance; Transportation; Risk and Uncertainty; Power and Influence; Personal Development and Career; Real Estate Industry; Real Estate Industry; Real Estate Industry; South Asia; Sri Lanka; Boston; Virginia; United States

December 2021 (Revised January 2023)
Supplement

Katerra (B)

By: Lindsay N. Hyde, Thomas R. Eisenmann and Tom Quinn

In May 2020, SoftBank executives, having invested nearly $2 billion in Katerra, decided the vision of an end-to-end, vertically-integrated construction process was worth saving—with some major changes to company structure. The SoftBank Vision Fund invested $200 million... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Failure; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Entrepreneurship; Construction; Real Estate Industry; Real Estate Industry; Real Estate Industry; United States

September 2003 (Revised September 2004)
Case

Hearthside Homes

By: Jason R. Barro, Brian J. Hall and Aaron Zimmerman

Investigates the "controllability problem" inherent in bonus systems. Ideally, an incentive system accurately measures performance in areas that the individual can control. But most measures are either too broad, including factors outside the influence of the employee,... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Housing; Performance Evaluation; Real Estate Industry; Real Estate Industry; Real Estate Industry