Publications

08 Mar 2012
Research & Ideas

Unplugged: What Happened to the Smart Grid?

used in other places. The system could even be a cash cow. One report suggested that transforming from current energy transmission to a smart grid would generate $227 billion over four decades in the United States alone. The US View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Energy; Utilities

May 1995
Background Note

Note on Product Liability

By: Willis M. Emmons III, Monica Brand and Greg Keller

This note provides an overview to the evolution and current state of product liability law in the United States. View Details

Keywords: Goods and Commodities; Legal Liability; Safety; Product Marketing; Business Strategy; Policy; Government and Politics; United States

November 2010
Technical Note

Technical Note: An Abridged History of the American Corporation

By: Rakesh Khurana, Andrew David Klaber and Eric Baldwin

This note examines the development of the corporate form in the United States from the eighteenth century to the present, focusing primarily on legal issues. It identifies several major trends in the history of the American corporation: the transition of corporations... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Corporate Accountability; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; History; Code Law; Managerial Roles; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Private Ownership; United States

2022
Chapter

When Fifth Columns Fall: Religious Groups and Loyalty-Signaling in Erdoğan's Turkey

By: Kristin Fabbe and Efe Murat Balıkçıoğlu

This chapter investigates the role that fifth-column claims play in authoritarian politics. Specifically, it examines how fifth-column claims against the Gülen Movement have transformed the relationship between the Turkish state and both official (state-sanctioned)... View Details

Keywords: Fifth Columns; Gülen Movement; Political Islam; Government and Politics; Religion; Turkey

February 2017 (Revised September 2017)
Case

Akshaya Patra: Impact at Scale

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Sarah Appleby

Akshaya Patra, an Indian NGO, had set an ambitious goal of serving 5 million free meals daily to India's schoolchildren. Founded in 2000, Akshaya Patra had thus far opened 25 high-capacity kitchens in 10 different States to provide a midday meal to nearly 1.65 million... View Details

Keywords: Scaling; Public-private Partnership; Operational Excellence; Nonprofit Scaling; Social Impact; Social Enterprise; Growth and Development Strategy; Business and Government Relations; Performance Effectiveness; Nonprofit Organizations; India

Educators

2014
Working Paper

Who Runs the International System? Power and the Staffing of the United Nations Secretariat

By: Paul Novosad and Eric Werker

National governments frequently pull strings to get their citizens appointed to senior positions in international institutions. We examine, over a 60 year period, the nationalities of the most senior positions in the United Nations Secretariat, ostensibly the world's... View Details

Keywords: International Relations; Global Range; Power and Influence

SSRN

October 2024
Teaching Note

Taiwan After Globalization: Twilight of the Developmental State?

By: Debora L. Spar and Julia M. Comeau

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 324-032. In the last 70 years, the small island of Taiwan has achieved what many believe to be a “miracle”: its economy has grown at a record-setting pace, driven and guided by one of the world's most successful set of industrial... View Details

Keywords: Economic Growth; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Trade; Policy; Government and Politics; Globalized Economies and Regions; Semiconductor Industry; Technology Industry; Taiwan; China; Asia; United States

31 Oct 2017
News

Predictions for the Future of Small Business Lending and Fintech

2022
Article

Sea Level Rise and Pacific Small Island Developing States: Implications and Pathways

By: Srimayi Tenali

Sea level rise poses severe consequences for the economic stability, habitability, and existence of Pacific Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Recent legal developments have offered conflicting interpretations of the 1982 'UN Law of the Sea Convention', but under... View Details

Keywords: Natural Environment; Climate Change; Adaptation; Environmental Law; Oceania

William Poorvu is the Class of 1961 Adjunct Professor in Entrepreneurship, Emeritus at Harvard Business School. He taught and was responsible for the real estate courses there for 35 years. He was the school's first adjunct professor, its first adjunct professor... View Details

August 2024
Background Note

Brief Note on Congressional and Down-Ballot Races (2024)

By: Robert F. White

This brief note explains the other elections that occur in the United States at the same time as the presidential election. View Details

Keywords: Political Elections; Public Administration Industry; United States

Educators

2012
Working Paper

Mexico's Financial Crisis of 1994-1995

By: Aldo Musacchio

This paper explains the causes leading to the Mexican crisis of 1994-1995 (known as "The Tequila Crisis"), and its short- and long-term consequences. It argues that excessive enthusiasm on the part of foreign investors, not based on Mexico's fundamentals, and weak... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Foreign Direct Investment; Banks and Banking; Government and Politics; Currency Exchange Rate; Banking Industry; Mexico

May 2017
Article

Psychologically Informed Implementations of Sugary-Drink Portion Limits

By: Leslie John, Grant Donnelly and Christina Roberto

In 2012, the New York City Board of Health prohibited restaurants from selling sugary drinks in containers larger than 16 ounces. Although a state court ruled that the Board of Health did not have the authority to implement such a policy, it remains a legally viable... View Details

Keywords: Nutrition; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Public Administration Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; New York (city, NY)

06 Aug 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Fixing Market Failures or Fixing Elections? Agricultural Credit in India

Keywords: by Shawn A. Cole; Banking

Mar 2012
Article

The Looming Challenge to U.S. Competitiveness

The United States is a competitive location to the extent that firms operating in the U.S. are able to compete successfully in the global economy while supporting high and rising living standards for the average American. Changes in the... View Details

07 Sep 2020
Research & Ideas

How to Help Small Businesses Survive COVID's Next Phase

number of tough moments,” says Karen G. Mills, senior fellow at Harvard Business School. “I’m quite concerned that we haven’t even seen the tip of the iceberg of business closures.” Yelp, the online review website, estimates that almost 73,000 small businesses in the... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Food & Beverage; Service

Article

Business Groups, Entrepreneurship and the Growth of the Koç Group in Turkey

By: Geoffrey Jones and Asli M. Colpan

This article examines the emergence and development of what became the largest business group in Turkey, the Koç Group. This venture was an important factor in the emergence of modern business enterprise in the new state of the Republic of Turkey from the 1920s. After... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Governance; History; Strategy; Auto Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Service Industry; Turkey

15 Dec 2020
Research & Ideas

The Unspoken Messages of COVID-19 Restrictions

Risky Behavior During COVID-19, a National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper released in August. Lessons from the pandemic’s first wave News of a deadly virus hitting the United States was enough to keep diners home in early... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Food & Beverage

March 2012
Article

Subprime Foreclosures and the 2005 Bankruptcy Reform

By: Donald Morgan, Benjamin Iverson and Matthew Botsch

This article presents arguments and evidence suggesting that the bankruptcy abuse reform (BAR) of 2005 may have been one contributor to the destabilizing surge in subprime foreclosures. Before BAR took effect, overly indebted borrowers could file bankruptcy to free up... View Details

Keywords: Mortgages; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Borrowing and Debt; United States