Publications

March 2019
Teaching Note

KITEA (A)—(F)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Karen Elterman

This Teaching Note accompanies the KITEA series of cases, which details how the Moroccan furniture company KITEA prepared for the entry of IKEA into the Moroccan market and describes the outcome of that entry. View Details

Keywords: Private Sector; For-Profit Firms; Business Strategy; Strategic Planning; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Adaptation; Corporate Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Retail Industry; Africa; North Africa; Morocco

March 2019
Supplement

KITEA (B): Getting Ready to Face IKEA

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Gamze Yucaoglu

The case opens in September 2015, when IKEA is about to open its first store in Morocco. It then chronicles the efforts of KITEA CEO Amine Benkirane and his son Othman between 2013 and 2015 to prepare KITEA for IKEA’s entry. After incurring losses for the first time in... View Details

March 2019
Supplement

KITEA (C): A Surprise Delay

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Gamze Yucaoglu

This case describes the delay of IKEA’s store opening in Morocco in 2015. After Sweden ordered an internal review of its position on the independence of Western Sahara, a territory Morocco regarded as part of its own, the Moroccan government declared that IKEA did not... View Details

Keywords: Private Sector; For-Profit Firms; Business Strategy; Strategic Planning; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Adaptation; Corporate Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Retail Industry; Africa; North Africa; Morocco

March 2019
Supplement

KITEA (D): Further Changes

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Gamze Yucaoglu

The case opens in February 2016, when the official date of IKEA’s store opening (March 16, 2016) is announced after a five-month delay. It reviews the changes that Amine and Othman Benkirane had made to KITEA’s workforce in the extra five months afforded by the delay... View Details

Keywords: Private Sector; For-Profit Firms; Business Strategy; Strategic Planning; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Corporate Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Retail Industry; Africa; North Africa; Morocco

March 2019
Supplement

KITEA (E): IKEA's Opening Day

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Gamze Yucaoglu

The case opens in 2016 as Amine Benkirane, CEO of the furniture retailer KITEA, observes KITEA’s dormant sales on the day IKEA opens its first store in Morocco. It then provides information on IKEA’s Morocco store, as well as a detailed pricing comparison between IKEA... View Details

Keywords: Private Sector; For-Profit Firms; Business Strategy; Strategic Planning; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Adaptation; Corporate Strategy; Retail Industry; Africa; North Africa; Morocco

March 2019
Supplement

KITEA (F): Expanding in Africa

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Gamze Yucaoglu

he case opens in 2018 after KITEA has recorded two years of double-digit sales growth following IKEA’s entry into the Moroccan market. It then traces the factors that contributed to KITEA’s success and that led Tana Africa Capital Limited to acquire a minority stake in... View Details

March 2019 (Revised May 2019)
Case

Space Angels, Multiple Equilibria, and Financing the Space Economy

By: Matthew C. Weinzierl and Alissa Haddaji

Chad Anderson had reason to be proud of his young space-focused investment firm, Space Angels. Since becoming CEO, Anderson had overseen growth along multiple dimensions, and Space Angels was “the preeminent name in space finance” according to one prominent space... View Details

Keywords: Space Economy; Venture Capital; Entrepreneurship; Strategy; Business Model; Aerospace Industry

March 2019
Module Note

The Entrepreneurial Manager, Module 3: Operating the Business Model

By: Stig Leschly, Mark Roberge and Christopher T. Stanton

March 14, 2019
Article

How Boeing Should Have Responded to the 737 Max Safety Crisis

Article

You Might Be a Robot. This Is Not a Joke.

By: Scott Duke Kominers

Read Now

March 2019 (Revised March 2023)
Case

Accion's Fintech Strategy

By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Michael Chu and Tricia Gregg

Accion, an NGO, had been a pioneer in microfinance since its entry into that sector in the early 1970s. Its investments in Banco Compartamos paid off, when the microfinance bank went IPO in 2007, leaving an influx of $138 million for Accion. Under a new CEO, Michael... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; Impact Investing; Financial Inclusion; Technological Innovation; Strategy; Strategic Planning; Performance Effectiveness; Non-Governmental Organizations; Microfinance; Financial Institutions; Business Growth and Maturation; Customer Focus and Relationships; Industry Growth

March 2019 (Revised January 2020)
Teaching Note

Ant Financial (A), (B), and (C)

By: Feng Zhu, Krishna G. Palepu, Kerry Herman and Susie Ma

March 2019 (Revised July 2019)
Case

El Sistema

By: Tarun Khanna and Jenn Chang

El Sistema explores an NGO that changes the life of thousands of young people in Venezuela and around the world through musical education. View Details

Keywords: Non-Governmental Organizations; Education; Music Entertainment; Venezuela

March 2019 (Revised May 2019)
Case

Growth Investing at Totem Point

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Charles C.Y. Wang and Jonah Goldberg

The case describes the investment of hedge fund, Totem Point Management in Analog Semiconductors (ADI) as a way to discuss forecasting and valuation in growth companies. In June 2016, hedge fund Totem Point invested in ADI at around $55 a share. In general, Totem Point... View Details

Keywords: Growth Investing; Investment; Strategy; Forecasting and Prediction; Valuation

March 2019 (Revised April 2021)
Case

The DivaCup: Navigating Distribution and Growth

By: Ayelet Israeli

When the mother-daughter founders of DivaCup set out with a mission to disrupt the menstrual care industry with an innovative product form, they initially struggled to gain legitimacy and convince retailers to carry their unique product. Fifteen years later, the... View Details

2019
Working Paper

Biometric Monitoring, Service Delivery and Misreporting: Evidence from Healthcare in India

By: Thomas Bossuroy, Clara Delavallade and Vincent Pons

Developing countries increasingly use biometric identification technology in hopes of improving the reliability of administrative information and delivering social services more efficiently. This paper exploits the random placement of biometric tracking devices in... View Details

Keywords: Biometric Technology; Health Care and Treatment; Technological Innovation; Analytics and Data Science; Quality; Performance Improvement; India

Read Now

2019
Book

Love Your Enemies: How Decent People Can Save America from the Culture of Contempt

By: Arthur C. Brooks

To get ahead today, you have to be a jerk, right?

Divisive politicians. Screaming heads on television. Angry campus activists. Twitter trolls. Today in America, there is an “outrage industrial complex” that prospers by setting American against... View Details

Keywords: Political Participation; Political Culture; Moral Sensibility; Government and Politics; Society; United States

Find at Harvard

2023
Working Paper

When Does Gamified Training Improve Performance? The Roles of Office and Leader Engagement

By: Ryan W. Buell, Wei Cai and Tatiana Sandino

Gamified training is a novel management control system in which companies use gamification techniques to engage and motivate employees to learn. This study empirically examines the performance consequences of gamified training using data from a natural field... View Details

Keywords: Gamified Training; Management Control Systems; Employee Engagement; Employees; Learning; Training; Motivation and Incentives; Performance