Publications

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05 Jul 2006
Working Paper Summaries

Geographically-Colocated Subgroups in Globally Dispersed Teams: A Test of the Faultline Hypothesis

Keywords: by Jeffrey T. Polzer, C. Brad Crisp, Sirkka L. Jarvenpaa & Jerry W. Kim

June 2003 (Revised December 2003)
Case

Nehemiah Strategy, The: Bringing it to Boston

By: Diana Barrett, Arthur I Segel and Sheila McCarthy

In 2003, Lee Stuart, who had successfully used the Nehemiah Strategy to create thousands of units of affordable housing in the South Bronx, was working with the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization to implement the strategy in Boston. She and her colleagues faced a... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Boston

March 2019 (Revised March 2023)
Case

Accion's Fintech Strategy

By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Michael Chu and Tricia Gregg

Accion, an NGO, had been a pioneer in microfinance since its entry into that sector in the early 1970s. Its investments in Banco Compartamos paid off, when the microfinance bank went IPO in 2007, leaving an influx of $138 million for Accion. Under a new CEO, Michael... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; Impact Investing; Financial Inclusion; Technological Innovation; Strategy; Strategic Planning; Performance Effectiveness; Non-Governmental Organizations; Microfinance; Financial Institutions; Business Growth and Maturation; Customer Focus and Relationships; Industry Growth

18 Apr 2016
Blog Post

Meet the HBS Family Business Club

The mission of the Family Business Club (FBC) is to bring together students with family business backgrounds to facilitate discussions and conversations about their experiences working with family... View Details

20 Apr 2021
Cold Call Podcast

What Went Wrong with the Boeing 737 Max?

Keywords: Air Transportation

"One Way to Help Employees Build Emergency Savings" Harvard Business Review (May 2024)

Intentional cooperation between two organizations — BlackRock, a major asset management firm, and national non-profit, Commonwealth — created the conditions for the nation’s largest payroll processor, multiple U.S. employers, retirement record keepers, and others... View Details

June 1999 (Revised March 2001)
Case

New Business Investment Company: October 1997

By: Josh Lerner, Lee Branstetter and Takeshi Nakabayashi

A quasi-government organization seeks to stimulate entrepreneurship in Japan by making venture capital investments. The organization of the fund, identification of transactions, and oversight of portfolio firms pose considerable challenges. View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Entrepreneurship; Government and Politics; Problems and Challenges; Financial Services Industry; Japan

November 2016
Case

Transformation at Eli Lilly & Co. (A)

By: William R. Kerr and Alexis Brownell

Faced with the imminent loss of 40% of its revenues due to patent expirations, pharma giant Eli Lilly sets out on a dramatic transformation process in 2009. The case considers how Lilly restructured the organization into business areas to aid better decision-making,... View Details

Keywords: Eli Lilly; Restructuring; R＆D; Transformation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Pharmaceutical Industry; Indianapolis

January 1990 (Revised June 1995)
Case

Colliers International Property Consultants

By: Nitin Nohria

Describes the origins, organizational structure, management practices, and use of information technology (IT) in Colliers, a real estate network. Colliers provides local firms with a way to maintain local autonomy while gaining national and international coverage.... View Details

Keywords: Property; Organizational Structure; Information Technology; Management Practices and Processes; Partners and Partnerships; Business Model; Mission and Purpose; Business Growth and Maturation; Conflict and Resolution; Quality; Real Estate Industry

October 2022
Case

EducationSuperHighway 2.0

By: William A. Sahlman, Allison M. Ciechanover and Emily Grandjean

In 2012, Evan Marwell launched EducationSuperHighway (ESH) to address a major problem: though most public K-12 schools in the US had access to the Internet, only roughly 30% had true broadband access that would enable every student to have high speed connectivity. ... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Social Entrepreneurship; Social Issues; Leading Change; Early Childhood Education; Infrastructure; Internet and the Web; Telecommunications Industry; Education Industry; Technology Industry; United States; San Francisco

October 2002
Case

New Leaders for New Schools

Describes the founding, early growth, and expansion plans of New Leaders for New Schools, a nonprofit public education venture that recruits, trains, places, and supports principals in U.S. urban school districts. This case presents the strategic, financial, and... View Details

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Education; Education Industry

March–April 2020
Article

Building A Culture of Experimentation

By: Stefan Thomke

Why don’t organizations test more? After examining this question for several years, I can tell you that the central reason is culture. As companies try to scale up their experimentation capacity, they often find that the obstacles are not tools and technology but... View Details

Keywords: Experimentation; Culture; Innovation; Online; Customer Experience; Organizational Culture; Innovation and Invention; Internet and the Web; Attitudes; Decision Making; Change; Leadership

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May 1989 (Revised September 1989)
Case

Jacobs Suchard: Reorganizing for 1992

By: Robert G. Eccles Jr.

Jacobs Suchard, the Swiss-based coffee and chocolate producer, is preparing for the common market and EEC 1992. At the time of the case, the company is still organized toward independent, local country markets, and believes it must move toward a more global... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Expansion; Organizational Structure; Markets; Global Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; Switzerland