Publications

April 2020 (Revised July 2020)
Case

Teton Capital Partners, LLC: Free Fallin'

By: Nori Gerardo Lietz

Keywords: Private Equity; Financial Crisis; Real Estate Industry; Real Estate Industry

October 2019
Case

Agility Africa

By: Juan Alcacer, Caroline M. Elkins and Esel Çekin

This case illustrates the challenge and opportunities that firms face when developing and executing new business models in high-risk, low-infrastructure, low-trust countries. It features a global logistics group, Agility, that aimed to become the leader in supplying... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Business Model; Innovation and Invention; Expansion; Emerging Markets; Decision Choices and Conditions; Real Estate Industry; Real Estate Industry; Africa

October 2014 (Revised June 2021)
Teaching Note

Making Room for the Baby Boom: Senior Living

By: Charles F. Wu and Ben Eppler

Tom Alperin's firm National Development is an experienced multifamily and commercial developer in the Northeast. It has a strong track record for working on challenging projects, delivering high quality products and generating strong returns for his investors. The firm... View Details

Keywords: Housing; Age; Investment Return; Real Estate Industry; Real Estate Industry; Massachusetts

July 1996 (Revised August 2017)
Case

Continuous Casting Investments at USX Corporation

By: Clayton Christensen

Focuses on the difficulty established companies face when confronted with disruptive technological innovations. The power that their prior asset investments, their cost structures, and their customers have in constraining their investment and innovation decisions are... View Details

Keywords: Disruption; Assets; Cost; Investment; Technological Innovation; Problems and Challenges; Real Estate Industry; Real Estate Industry

June 1991
Teaching Note

Savannah West, Teaching Note

By: William J. Poorvu and Katherine Sweetman

Teaching Note for (9-381-081). View Details

Keywords: Real Estate Industry; Real Estate Industry; Georgia (state, US)

October 2018 (Revised July 2019)
Case

Sidewalk Labs: Privacy in a City Built from the Internet Up

By: Leslie K. John, Mitchell Weiss and Julia Kelley

Email mking@hbs.edu for a courtesy copy.

By the time Dan Doctoroff, CEO of Sidewalk Labs, began hosting a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” session in January 2018, he had only nine months remaining to convince the people... View Details

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

24 Apr 2006
Research & Ideas

Managing Alignment as a Process

two new lines of business to complement the two current lines of men's shoes and men's outdoor clothing: A new LOB of men's casual clothing. A new LOB focused on sporting goods: clothing, athletic shoes, and equipment. Achieve distribution synergies by sharing View Details

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan & David P. Norton; Apparel & Accessories; Fashion; Consumer Products; Retail

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

11 Nov 2020
Research & Ideas

How Hackathons Help Decide Platform Winners and Losers

Tommy Pan Fang and University of British Columbia business professor David Clough. Wu’s research centers on strategies used by technology entrepreneurs to achieve scale for competitive advantage. Platforms are prime real View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Technology

18 Apr 2005
Lessons from the Classroom

NFL Players Touch Down at HBS

opportunity is very, very short.— Ted Johnson, New England Patriots Topics covered in the course included entrepreneurship; tax and other legal responsibilities; assessing financial health; managing yourself; analyzing a business model; personal View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Sports

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

27 Jan 2015
First Look

First Look: January 27

investment committee's agenda, Project Paris. Project Paris, a very different type of real estate transaction, is a hybrid mezzanine investment in the acquisition of a residential View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2018
Supplement

Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal (B)

By: Christopher J. Malloy, Lauren H. Cohen and Inakshi Sobti

Supplements the (A) case. Having successfully spearheaded relief work in the aftermath of the Nepal earthquake, the Chaudhary Foundation envisions creating a more comprehensive and sustainable development model. They are keen to build a model village that integrates... View Details