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Student Activities - Health Care

Health Care Welcome Reception Takes place each fall and is hosted by the Initiative. This kick-off meet and greet introduces first-year students to the various health care resources at HBS. Health Care 101 Is a broad overview of the... View Details

September 2022
Background Note

On CUE: The Quest for Optimal Customer Unit Economics

By: Elie Ofek, Barak Libai and Eitan Muller

Startups are often evaluated by how well they perform on unit economics, defined as the ratio of a customer’s lifetime value (LTV) to acquisition costs (CAC). A common target for unit economics, advocated by many VCs and analysts, is 3:1 (i.e., LTV/CAC=3). While there... View Details

Keywords: Unit Economics; Business Startups; Performance Evaluation; Customer Value and Value Chain; Customer Relationship Management; Analysis

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Helping and harnessing business to address society’s greatest challenges. | Institute for Business in Global Society

practices and managerial disciplines to drive sustained, high-impact social change. Managing the Future of Work Multiple forces of change – demographics, technology, automation, globalization – are coming together at an unprecedented pace... View Details

Teaching Interest

Overview

By: Gerald C. Chertavian

I am currently teaching Social Entrepreneurship and Systems Change (SESC) as a 2nd year Elective Course. The premise of the course is that social entrepreneurs don’t just build organizations, they change systems. The course explores the frameworks, tools, mindsets,... View Details

Keywords: Social Impact; Systems Change; Social Entrepreneurship; Environmental Sustainability; Housing; Climate Change; Entrepreneurship; Food; Governance; Leadership; Measurement and Metrics; Social Enterprise; System; Africa; Asia; Europe; Latin America; North and Central America; South America

October 1986 (Revised February 2008)
Case

Congoleum Corp. (Abridged)

By: William E. Fruhan Jr.

Describes the development and terms of the largest leveraged buyout up to the date of the case. The main problem is to value the positions of the various participants: lenders, equity holders, investment bankers, and management. This is an abridged version of an... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Mergers and Acquisitions; Financial Management; Negotiation Participants; Valuation

September 8, 2009
Article

The New Governance Paradigm

By: Nathaniel Foote and Michael Beer

Boards members of failed banks in 2008 or of the many companies like Enron who were caught up in scandals are by and large honorable, well intentioned, and competent people. So what went wrong and what can be done about it. This article argues that the problem lies in... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Competency and Skills; Banks and Banking; Failure; Goals and Objectives; Leadership; Management Practices and Processes; Ethics; Performance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Crime and Corruption

Find at Harvard

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Dean’s House | About

Dean’s House The Dean’s House was part of the original campus design and made possible by the George F. Baker founding gift. The Dean’s House was designed by Coolidge Shepley Bulfinch and Abbott.... View Details

June 1991 (Revised December 1997)
Case

Takeover of the Norton Co., The

By: Thomas R. Piper

After a decade of mediocre performance, the Norton Co. enters 1990 with the prospect of increased sales in the next few years. Yet Norton is pursuing slow growth industries, and a lower than expected earnings announcement at the beginning of 1990 has depressed earnings... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Conglomerates; Goals and Objectives; Forecasting and Prediction; Performance Evaluation; Revenue; Bids and Bidding; Business Processes; Ownership Stake

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HBS - The year in Review

and an academic career in management by partnering them with a faculty member to work on articles, cases, and other research projects. As part of the School's efforts to increase diversity in doctoral... View Details

01 Jun 2023
News

An Engine of Innovation

community.” HARVARD INNOVATION LABS: WHERE PASSION AND PURPOSE MEET The Harvard Innovation Labs ecosystem has been called a place of “structured serendipity” where innovation is fueled by connection and collaboration. The labs enable... View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Gillespie

22 Feb 2024
News

GCC Crossroads Aims for a Bright Future; Seattle Alumni Talk Leadership in Tech; Italy Preps for European Alumni Summit

summit, much like they did for a case at HBS. “I’m encouraged by how proactive they are, and I’m hopeful this will be an impetus for us to remember our mandate as leaders—to give back and share our ideas to make this a better world.” For... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley

November 2024 (Revised July 2025)
Case

Polish Agro: Where Do We Grow From Here?

By: Willy C. Shih, Lena Duchene and Daniela Beyersdorfer

By July 2024, Polish Agro had grown into one of Poland’s fastest-growing agribusinesses, with €230 million in revenue, 82 employees, and operations across Northern Poland. The company supported farmers with essential agricultural inputs like fertilizers and seeds,... View Details

February 1997 (Revised December 1997)
Case

Arbor Health Care Company

By: Myra M. Hart and Stephanie Dodson

A venture-funded start-up runs into trouble when health care reimbursement policies change radically. With the help of its board, the company develops a new strategy, becomes profitable, and makes a public offering. The second wave of changes introduced by Clinton... View Details

Keywords: Industry Structures; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Succession; Business Startups; Transformation; Strategy; Venture Capital; Policy; Initial Public Offering; Health Industry

01 Jun 2008
News

You Only Thought You Were Republican

smart guys, whose opinions on the state of the world are noteworthy — but mainly because I am hoping to get each of them, and all those in front of us in Aldrich 112, to give me $28,500 for the Democratic National Committee, by whom I... View Details

Keywords: Andrew Tobias; national debt; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training

Portrait Project

Jada Haynes

“If you deliver them now, they will wear coke bottle glasses and likely not attend Harvard,” the doctor bleakly warned. After enduring several miscarriages, my mother’s long-awaited blessing was threatened by premature contractions.... View Details

15 Aug 2019
Blog Post

Stan Chang: “A Guided Experience into the World of Entrepreneurship”

An engineer by training, Stan Chang, MS/MBA 2020 candidate in the SEAS/HBS joint degree program, came to Harvard to “balance a business curriculum with an advanced engineering education. When I saw the curriculum here and the focus on... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Entrepreneurship

June 1998 (Revised January 2001)
Case

Browser Wars, 1994-1998, The

By: David B. Yoffie and Mary Kwak

Analyzes the competition between Netscape and Microsoft in the market for Web browsers and related products. Despite its first mover advantage, Netscape sees its market share fall once Microsoft becomes "hard-core" about the Internet. By the spring of 1998, the future... View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Internet and the Web; Innovation and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Competition; Supply and Industry; Information Technology Industry

23 Jun 2015
First Look

First Look: June 23, 2015

and patenting data for 1,315 employees at the Indian R&D center of a Fortune 500 technology firm, I exploit a natural experiment where the assignment of managers for newly hired college graduates is mandated View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 1, 2020
Article

COVID-19’s Hard Lessons Might Prepare Business for Climate Change

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and Danielle Kost

The coronavirus pandemic caught the business world by surprise, but the catastrophe might force companies to face a crisis that has been unfolding in plain sight: climate change.
We asked faculty members affiliated with the Business and Environment Initiative at... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Health Pandemics; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability