Publications

September 2024 (Revised December 2024)
Case

Discovery Bank

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee, Pippa Tubman Armerding and Namrata Arora

In May 2023, Hylton Kallner, CEO of Discovery Bank, prepared to present two pivotal proposals to the board of Discovery Limited, the bank’s parent company. His first proposal aimed to integrate Discovery’s suite of apps, positioning the banking app as the central... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Health Industry; Insurance Industry; Banking Industry; South Africa

May 2021
Supplement

Hello Alfred: Come Home Happy — Operating the Business Model Exercise, Instructor Version

By: Joseph B. Fuller and Christopher Payton

On a mission to "automate the on-demand economy," Harvard Business School classmates Marcela Sapone and Jessica Beck launched Hello Alfred in 2013 to provide subscribers with an "Alfred" to complete various chores for a monthly fee. In early 2016, the company has built... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Internet and the Web; Business Startups; Service Operations; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Service Industry; New York (city, NY); Boston

March 2014 (Revised January 2015)
Case

Prodigy Network: Democratizing Real Estate Design and Financing

By: Karim R. Lakhani, Katja Hutter and Greta Friar

This case follows Rodrigo Nino, founder and CEO of commercial real estate development company Prodigy Network, as he develops an equity-based crowdfunding model for small investors to access commercial real estate in Colombia, then tries out the model in the U.S. U.S.... View Details

March 2011 (Revised February 2012)
Case

Innovation and Growth at Actelion Ltd.

By: Gary P. Pisano, Daniela Beyersdorfer and Ruth Dittrich

In late 2010, Jean-Paul Clozel, CEO of the Swiss biotech pharmaceuticals firm Actelion, looks back on a successful decade. The small venture that he had started with a few of his scientist colleagues in the late 1990s to discover novel medicine in a research-driven... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Talent and Talent Management; Innovation and Management; Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Development; Organizational Culture; Research and Development; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Switzerland

Research Summary

Economic Catastrophe Bonds

(with Joshua Coval and Erik Stafford)

The central insight of asset pricing is that a security's value depends on both its distribution of payoffs across economic states and state prices. In fixed income markets, many investors focus exclusively on estimates of... View Details

2008
Working Paper

Opening Platforms: How, When and Why?

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Geoffrey Parker and Marshall Van Alstyne

Platform-mediated networks encompass several distinct types of participants, including end users, complementors, platform providers who facilitate users' access to complements, and sponsors who develop platform technologies. Each of these roles can be opened-that... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Governance Controls; Market Participation; Digital Platforms

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January 2007 (Revised August 2008)
Case

NatuRi Corporation

By: Robert F. Higgins and Virginia Fuller

NatuRi Corporation was a start up, founded in 2005, aiming to manufacture a cholesterol-lowering drug made from the byproducts of rice bran oil production. With operations split between Chennai, India and Boston, Massachusetts, NatuRi faced several challenges,... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Equity; Investment Funds; Growth and Development Strategy; Chennai; Boston

May 2006 (Revised June 2006)
Case

Codon Devices

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and David Kiron

In December 2005, 40-year-old John Danner was about to make his first presentation to the board of directors of Codon Devices, a one-year-old biotechnology start-up based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. After a month as the company's CEO, Danner was prepared to lay out... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Venture Capital; Intellectual Property; Governing and Advisory Boards; Genetics; Competitive Advantage; Science-Based Business; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Biotechnology Industry; Cambridge

17 Jan 2024
Research & Ideas

Are Companies Getting Away with 'Cheap Talk' on Climate Goals?

Companies regularly set ambitious climate goals, but these plans often end up like many people’s New Year’s resolutions: unmet aspirations that quietly fizzle out. While companies often gain positive media attention by trumpeting plans for reducing greenhouse gas... View Details

Keywords: by Tim Gray

09 Jan 2024
In Practice

Harnessing AI: What Businesses Need to Know in ChatGPT’s Second Year

includes addressing algorithmic biases, safeguarding privacy, ensuring security and copyright protection, as well as promoting transparency, fairness, and interpretability. Deploying mechanisms for responsible AI will be central to these... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Information Technology

March 2025
Supplement

No One Left Behind (D)

By: Lynn S. Paine, Herman B. "Dutch" Leonard, Max Hancock and David Lane

In September 2021, the board of directors for the nonprofit No One Left Behind (NOLB) faced a crucial decision. Since its 2013 founding, NOLB had helped resettle in the United States thousands of Afghans and Iraqis who had assisted U.S. forces as combat translators;... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Mission and Purpose; Nonprofit Organizations; Service Industry; Afghanistan; United States

February 2021
Article

Rethinking the Role of the EU in European Competitiveness

By: Christian H.M. Ketels and Michael E. Porter

The aim of this conceptual paper is to delineate the scope and give directives towards higher levels of competitiveness and prosperity for EU members. The EU integration history and challenges are retraced and the EU’s current competitiveness context is presented. In a... View Details

Keywords: Competitiveness; Public Policy; Competitive Advantage; Government Administration; European Union

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May 2020
Article

To Be or Not to Be Your Authentic Self? Catering to Others' Expectations and Interests Hinders Performance

By: Francesca Gino, Ovul Sezer and Laura Huang

When approaching interpersonal first meetings (e.g., job interviews), people often cater to the target’s interests and expectations to make a good impression and secure a positive outcome such as being offered the job (pilot study). This strategy is distinct from other... View Details

Keywords: Authenticity; Catering; Honesty; Selection; Impression Management; Interpersonal Communication; Behavior; Performance

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07 Jul 2022
HBS Case

How a Multimillion-Dollar Ice Cream Startup Melted Down (and Bounced Back)

financial security and pursuing a dream, according to podcast interviews cited in the first case. Cuscuna insisted on moving forward, saying in interviews that she “didn’t want her kids to have a miserable father.” She reflected later... View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

23 Sep 2008
First Look

First Look: September 23, 2008

Working PapersSecuring Online Advertising: Rustlers and Sheriffs in the New Wild West Author:Benjamin G. Edelman Abstract Read the news of recent computer security guffaws, and it's striking how many problems stem from online... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Research Summary

Winning Coalitions

By: James K. Sebenius

James K. Sebenius is examining the most effective ways to generate and sustain cooperation among a corporations many stakeholders. As the number of stakeholders grows, and management actions more often involve players outside the traditional chain of command and... View Details

September–October 2024
Article

Boards Need a New Approach to Technology

By: Tarun Khanna, Mary C. Beckerle and Nabil Y. Sakkab

The boards of too many publicly traded companies are downright timid when considering matters involving science and technology. More often than not, they focus on security and digitization—a defensive posture that fails to consider the bigger opportunities emerging... View Details

Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Opportunities; Technology Adoption

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2018
Article

Revenue Farming Reconsidered: Tenurial Rights and Tenurial Duties in Early Modern India, ca. 1556–1818

By: Sudev J Sheth

The meaning of land revenue farming in Indian history has eluded consensus. Some view it as an administrative aberration indicating weak state control, while others see it as a strategy for consolidating authority. This essay traces the historical development of iqṭāʻ... View Details

Keywords: Iqṭāʻ; Ijārah; Revenue Farming; Financial Agents; Mughal Empire; Business History; Business and Government Relations; Property; Finance; South Asia

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November 2017 (Revised August 2018)
Case

Fair Value Accounting at Noble Group (A)

By: Siko Sikochi, Suraj Srinivasan and Quinn Pitcher

Noble Group was a large commodities trader based in Hong Kong and listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange. In 2012, Noble shifted its business strategy towards an asset-light model. Under this model, Noble did not own mines or farms to produce commodities but built... View Details

Keywords: Fair Value Accounting; Policy; Goods and Commodities; Contracts; Valuation