Publications

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November 2017 (Revised April 2019)
Case

Summa Equity: Building Purpose-Driven Organizations

By: George Serafeim

In 2015, Reynir Indahl left top Nordic private equity firm Altor Equity Partners to found Summa Equity (Summa). After long contemplation following the financial crisis, Indahl was convinced the financial system was producing negative externalities and that the current... View Details

Research Summary

Fixed NAVs and Costly Puts: US Money Market Mutual Funds (with Peter Tufano)

US money market mutual fund investors have been granted an implicit put option that allows them to sell or redeem their shares at a fixed price of $1.00, regardless of the market value of the portfolio. We describe the institutional features that give rise... View Details

August 2021
Technical Note

Brand You: Crafting Your Personal Brand

By: Jill Avery and Rachel Greenwald

Selling oneself is something that we have to do every day in both professional and personal settings. We face it when we apply for a job, advocate for a promotion or a raise, vie for a leadership position, attempt to land a new client, write a dating profile, or meet a... View Details

Keywords: Personal Brand; Brand Management; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Identity; Opportunities; Talent and Talent Management; Jobs and Positions; Strength and Weakness; Communication

June 10, 2021
Article

How to Be a Purpose-Driven Leader in a Capitalist World

By: Celia Bravard, John Pontillo and Andrew J. Hoffman

Today’s business school education isn’t suited to the big challenges facing the world — climate change, economic inequality and racial injustice — that the leaders of tomorrow will be expected to solve. So, how can students and young professionals succeed in a system... View Details

Keywords: Values and Beliefs; Mission and Purpose; Social Issues; Power and Influence; Social and Collaborative Networks; Opportunities

Article

Marketing in the Age of Web 2.0

By: Jill Avery

Web 2.0 technologies empower consumers to create their own personalized experiences on the web, and to share them with others. Hence, web content is democratized and consumers' experiences online are largely social rather than individualistic. View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; Internet; Brands and Branding; Marketing; Marketing Communications; Internet and the Web; Social Media; Consumer Products Industry; Technology Industry

July – August 2008
Article

Help Employees Give Away Some of That Bonus

By: Michael I. Norton and Elizabeth W. Dunn

Employees who spend some or all of their bonuses on others-thereby creating what the authors call a "prosocial" workplace-are happier as a result. Managers can enhance that effect by providing opportunities to share the wealth. View Details

Keywords: Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Compensation and Benefits; Employees; Behavior; Happiness

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12 PM – 1 PM EST, 12 Nov 2014
Webinars: Trending@HBS

Collective Genius: The Art and Practice of Leading Innovation

What does it take to build an organization that can innovate in today's global economy? Professor Linda Hill will share examples from her new book of leaders who have learned how to cultivate "collective genius" and provide a framework for creating organizations in... View Details

Research Summary

Valuation of Business Reorganizations

Business reorganization transactions, such as mergers, acquisitions and spin-offs, are often initiated based on the premise of value creation for shareholders. However, is this premise true, especially in the recent data? Due to the growing share of intangibles... View Details

2022
Chapter

Decarbonizing Academia's Flyout Culture

By: Nicholas Poggioli and Andrew J. Hoffman

Flight is technologically and culturally central to academic life. Academia's flyout culture is built on a set of shared beliefs and values about the importance of flying to being an academic. But flight also generates a large proportion of academia’s carbon emissions,... View Details

Keywords: Carbon Emissions; Air Transportation; Values and Beliefs; Environmental Sustainability; Higher Education; Education Industry

April 2006 (Revised October 2008)
Case

Marketing New York City

By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Anita Elberse and Marie Bell

New York City is a pioneer in the emerging field of municipal marketing. The city's first chief marketing officer must develop a marketing organization with a self-funded business model that creates value for the city by leveraging the city's assets, including physical... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Government and Politics; Goals and Objectives; Marketing Strategy; Partners and Partnerships; Value Creation; New York (city, NY)

April 2006 (Revised April 2012)
Background Note

The Role of Private Equity Firms in Merger and Acquisition Transactions

By: William E. Fruhan Jr.

Explores the importance of private equity firms in merger and acquisitions activity around the globe. In many countries, these firms now account for one quarter of the total merger and acquisition activity of all firms. The larger private equity firms generate fees for... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Mergers and Acquisitions; Private Equity; Investment Funds; Value Creation

Keywords: Financial Services

23 Dec 2002
Research & Ideas

Partnering and the Balanced Scorecard

improvements in performance.3 We created the Balanced Scorecard because financial measurements had become insufficient for contemporary organizations. Strategies for creating View Details

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan & David P. Norton

21 May 2025
Blog Post

Mentorship in Action: When an HBS Student Proposes a Project

companies don’t have the time to work on strategic projects that would be valuable to their business, so pitch them on specific analyses you can do that would help them move the needle—and make clear that you’re a self-starter who won’t require heavy oversight.”... View Details

April 1998 (Revised July 2005)
Case

Acquisition of Consolidated Rail Corporation (A), The

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Lori A. Flees and Mathew M Millett

On October 15, 1996, Virginia-based CSX and Pennsylvania-based Consolidated Rail (Conrail), the first and third largest railroads in the eastern United States, announced their intent to merge in a friendly deal worth $8.3 billion. This deal was part of an industry-wide... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Mergers and Acquisitions; Decisions; Contracts; Rail Industry; United States

2017
Book

Geography, Location, and Strategy

By: Juan Alcácer, Bruce Kogut, Catherine Thomas and Bernard Yin Yeung

Changes in both technology and global political economy have vastly accelerated the pace of globalization in the last 40 years, eroding barriers that limited firms' geographic scope and unleashing a seemingly unlimited set of new threats, challenges, and opportunities... View Details

Keywords: Geographic Location; Global Strategy; Value Creation

Research Summary

Managing in the Creative Economy

In the early 21st Century, especially in developed economies, work increasingly makes use of specialized knowledge, skill, and talent and creates value through transformation of symbols and other intangible materials to achieve outcomes different from what has been... View Details

May 2011
Article

The Wise Leader

By: Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi

In an era of increasing discontinuity, wise leadership has nearly vanished. Many leaders find it difficult to reinvent their corporations rapidly enough to cope with new technologies, demographic shifts, and consumption trends. They can't develop truly global... View Details

Keywords: Communication Intention and Meaning; Interpersonal Communication; Experience and Expertise; Values and Beliefs; Knowledge Sharing; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Leadership; Leadership Development; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Personal Characteristics; Power and Influence

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