Problems and Challenges - Publications - Faculty & Research

09 Apr 2014
Research & Ideas

A Playbook for Small-Business Job Creation

to capital, which was a primary focus of hers at the SBA. Spreading The Wealth Having spent over 25 years in private equity and venture capital firms before becoming SBA Administrator, Mills has perspective on View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Banking; Financial Services

23 Jun 2014
Research & Ideas

In Venture Capital, Birds of a Feather Lose Money Together

and who are Indian American. They probably look at things in a very similar way and are unlikely to challenge each other. But at the early stage of a company, you want the... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Financial Services

April 2009
Teaching Note

First National Bank's Golden Opportunity (TN)

By: Shawn A. Cole

Teaching Note for [208072]. View Details

Keywords: Saving; Product; Interest Rates; Personal Finance; Cost vs Benefits; Risk and Uncertainty; Investment; Problems and Challenges; Demand and Consumers; Product Launch; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry; South Africa

Citation

Purchase

02 Feb 2004
What Do You Think?

Leadership: A Matter of Sustaining or Eliminating Groupthink?

Summing Up One significant theme in responses to this month's column suggested that there is a role for varying degrees of "buy-in" and "groupthink" in effective leadership. The message seems to be that leaders should... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

14 Mar 2007
Op-Ed

Government’s Misguided Probe of Private Equity

Fifty-three years ago, Judge Harold Medina dismissed charges brought by the Justice Department against seventeen leading investment banks. A case built up over a decade of investigations and almost three years of trial collapsed when the... View Details

Keywords: by Josh Lerner; Financial Services

08 Sep 2011
What Do You Think?

What’s Apple’s Biggest Challenge: Replacing Steve or Wall Street?

Sonnenfeld's) is that cult heroes are unique, one of a kind, impossible to replace, and that succession is the biggest challenge facing any company led by one. But is this the real View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Computer

30 Aug 2006
Op-Ed

The Compensation Game

Confronting greater media scrutiny and an ever-increasing number of shareholder resolutions focusing on executive pay, Corporate America continues to support current pay practices as a product of "the market." Not too long ago,... View Details

Keywords: by Lucian Bebchuk & Rakesh Khurana

17 Sep 2001
Research & Ideas

Let Customers Call the Shots

offerings and consumer needs has been challenging the effectiveness of both mechanisms. Q: What kinds of consumer habits does consumer empowerment work against? A: Consumers typically tend to adopt ritual... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

18 Jun 2007
Op-Ed

Leveling the Executive Options Playing Field

United States than elsewhere. Nonetheless, it is enlightening to realize that there are many different ways to solve this problem and that the current situation is not a natural solution. 5. Bringing the tax... View Details

Keywords: by Mihir Desai

02 Oct 2007
First Look

First Look: October 2, 2007

catalog and specialty clothing retailer. Highlights the issues involved in financing such a transaction, and then focuses on the operational challenges of turning around the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

04 Mar 2013
Lessons from the Classroom

Lessons from Running GM’s OnStar

Among the most popular elective courses at Harvard Business School is Building and Sustaining a Successful Enterprise (BSSE). Developed by Professor Clayton M. Christensen, the course teaches future leaders how to use well-researched... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Auto

02 Jan 2019
What Do You Think?

SUMMING UP: Do We Need an Artificial Intelligence Czar?

judging from per capita declines in both natural and unnatural deaths worldwide. While the problem of nuclear weapons proliferation remains with us, the 21st century challenges... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Technology

09 May 2018
Research & Ideas

A Simple Way for Restaurant Inspectors to Improve Food Safety

food safety inspectors on their daily rounds. This allowed her to see firsthand how seriously inspectors took their jobs, how they made decisions, and the challenges they faced in the course of their... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Food & Beverage; Service

10 Jul 2017
Op-Ed

Op-Ed: It’s a Bad Idea to Ban Customers From Recording Videos

Consumers delight in using smartphones to record their experiences and surroundings, but for businesses, such devices present tricky challenges. Suppose a customer encounters a hair in her food, a spill in an aisle, or a rude clerk.... View Details

Keywords: by Benjamin G. Edelman; Food & Beverage; Air Transportation; Retail; Service

08 Jan 2001
Research & Ideas

Can Japan Compete? [Part Two]

new industries in Japan are things like highly skilled specialist personnel; a lack of risk capital because of heavily controlled financial markets; barriers to commercializing university research; and limited incentives for risk taking.... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace & Hilah Geer

09 Apr 2013
First Look

First Look: April 9

belonging to the Lowell General Physician Hospital Organization (LGPHO). The case describes the LGPHO physicians' experience during their first two years under the AQC, allowing students to assess the group's performance as well as potential View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

06 Nov 2007
First Look

First Look: November 6, 2007

was established in 2005 to invest primarily in middle market, particularly family-run, businesses in India. Blue River caters to this niche as an active investor, providing capital and working with portfolio companies to improve their... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

13 Sep 2012
Research & Ideas

Why Public Companies Underinvest in the Future

Financial data on US companies is easy to come by—if they are listed on the stock market. More than 99 percent of them are not, presenting a challenge for researchers intent on studying how privately held firms operate. “It seemed natural... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish

15 Feb 2000
Lessons from the Classroom

Delivering Information Services: A 30-Year Perspective

sense customers' needs (by electronically monitoring their purchasing decisions) and respond to them (by integrating that information with the supply chain). EE: Do participants in the DIS course tend to come to HBS with a specific... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

23 Oct 2006
Research & Ideas

Will the “Long Tail” Work for Hollywood?

movies and neither of us has seen the same film. But that may be less of a problem in music." Despite evidence that the long tail may prove difficult to take advantage of for content producers, Elberse... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Entertainment & Recreation

Publications