Publications

30 Jan 2014
News

The Polar Vortex Has Made You More Productive

4 PM – 5 PM EDT, 07 Apr 2021
Virtual Programming

Sports As A Classroom: Lessons in Leadership, Diversity, Inclusion & Impact from Women in Sports

Join us for a virtual panel discussion with some of Harvards sports leaders as they share lessons about the importance of diversity, the impact of inclusion, and their journey to successful leaders. Panelists: Tari Cash, Founder & CEO at City Swing Golf, Harvard... View Details

February 2016 (Revised February 2018)
Case

The Battle over the Initiative and Referendum in Massachusetts (1918)

By: David Moss and Dean Grodzins

On Election Day in 1918, Massachusetts voters would have to decide not only on their preferred candidates for governor and U.S. Senator, but also whether or not to approve 19 proposed amendments to the state constitution. By far the most controversial of these would... View Details

Keywords: Political Elections; Government Legislation; Power and Influence; History; Massachusetts

January 2025
Article

Everyone Steps Back?: The Widespread Retraction of Crowd-Funding Support for Minority Creators When Migration Fear Is High

By: John (Jianqui) Bai, William R. Kerr, Chi Wan and Alptug Yorulmaz

We study funding gaps on Kickstarter across multiple ethnic groups from 2009 to 2021. Scaling the concept of racially salient events, we quantify the close co-movement of minority funding gaps in crowd-funding to inflamed political rhetoric surrounding migration. The... View Details

Keywords: Crowdfunding; Prejudice and Bias; Race; Immigration; Public Opinion

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2018
Working Paper

The Welfare Effects of Peer Entry in the Accommodation Market: The Case of Airbnb

By: Chiara Farronato and Andrey Fradkin

We study the effects of enabling peer supply through Airbnb in the accommodation industry. We present a model of competition between flexible and dedicated sellers - peer hosts and hotels - who provide differentiated products. We estimate this model using data from... View Details

Keywords: Peer To Peer; Digital Platforms; Market Entry and Exit; Competition; Accommodations Industry

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June 2002
Case

"One Country, Two Systems"? Italy and the Mezzogiorno (B)

By: Bruce R. Scott and Jamie Matthews

In 1992, a corruption investigation and two assassinations created a crisis that prompted the Italian government to dispatch 7,000 troops to Sicily to "retake the island" from the Mafia. This case examines the crisis and the efforts of both the Italian state and the... View Details

Keywords: History; National Security; Crime and Corruption; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Italy

Herman B. ("Dutch") Leonard is Eliot I. Snider and Family Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School and the George F. Baker, Jr. Professor of Public Sector Management at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. In... View Details

Keywords: education industry; federal government; health care; nonprofit industry; state government

William C. Vrattos

Bill Vrattos is a Senior Lecturer at the Harvard Business School, where he teaches Investment Strategies, a course on public market investing in the elective curriculum. He also co-teaches Private Equity Projects and Ecosystems, where he mentors student groups on... View Details

April 2025
Case

Campbell's Recipe for Advancing School Nutrition

By: Hise O. Gibson, F. Christopher Eaglin and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

In 2021, The Campbell’s Company launched Full Futures, a collective impact initiative aimed at advancing school nutrition environments in underserved communities. The program started in Camden, NJ—home to Campbell’s headquarters—and later expanded to Charlotte, NC, and... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Leadership; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Education; Health; Nutrition; Social Enterprise; Relationships; Business and Community Relations; Decision Making; Operations; Food and Beverage Industry; New Jersey; North Carolina; Pennsylvania

September 2016
Case

Health Leads: Reaching for Impact (Abridged)

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Sarah Appleby

A nonprofit in the healthcare arena explores strategies to achieve system-level impact. Founded in 1996 with a volunteer-staffed help desk at Boston Medical Center connecting low-income patients with basic resources like heating assistance, job training, and childcare... View Details

Keywords: Scaling Social Enterprise; Scaling Social Impact; Health Care Delivery; Health Care Outcomes; Health Care Reform; Nonprofit; Nonprofit Scaling; Social Enterprise; Health Care and Treatment; Nonprofit Organizations; Growth and Development Strategy; Health Industry; United States

2008
Working Paper

Welfare Payments and Crime

By: C. Fritz Foley

This paper tests the hypothesis that the timing of welfare payments affects criminal activity. Analysis of daily reported incidents of major crimes in twelve U.S. cities reveals an increase in crime over the course of monthly welfare payment cycles. This increase... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Motivation and Incentives; Welfare; United States

SSRN

November 1983 (Revised December 1984)
Case

Frito-Lay, Inc.: Grandma's ""Ready-To-Eat"" Cookies

Mr. Kenneth Treece, marketing director of Frito-Lay's Grandma's (R) Cookie division has received the final test market figures for the new supermarket line of Grandma's Ready-To-Eat cookies. One set of data, the Kansas City test results, was extremely encouraging;... View Details

Keywords: Product Launch; Manufacturing Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

Abstract: We study the impact of the minimum wage on firm exit in the restaurant industry, exploiting recent changes in the minimum wage at the city level. The evidence suggests that higher minimum wages increase overall exit rates for restaurants. However, lower... View Details

December 2024
Case

Yum China: People First

By: David E. Bell, Shu Lin and Nancy Dai

Joey Wat, CEO of Yum China Holdings, Inc., which operated KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell in mainland China, oversaw KFC’s milestone as the first Western quick-service chain in China to surpass 10,000 stores, with Pizza Hut exceeding 3,000 locations. This expansion was... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Franchise Ownership; Performance Efficiency; Expansion; Employees; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; China

August 2010 (Revised February 2011)
Case

Highland Capital Partners: Investing in Cleantech

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and David Kiron

One day during the summer of 2008, Paul Maeder, co-founder and general partner of Highland Capital Partners (HCP), was walking with his wife around Reykjavik, Iceland, marveling at how clean the city felt and at the widespread use of naturally occurring geothermal... View Details

Keywords: Renewable Energy; Entrepreneurship; Investment; Global Strategy; Environmental Sustainability; Financial Services Industry; Green Technology Industry

13 Aug 2007
Working Paper Summaries

Diasporas and Domestic Entrepreneurs: Evidence from the Indian Software Industry

Keywords: by Ramana Nanda & Tarun Khanna; Video Game; Web Services

November 2018 (Revised June 2019)
Case

ofo

By: Mitchell Weiss

Dai Wei and his co-founders grew Beijing-based ofo from a school-based startup to a bike-share behemoth in a matter of months, topped an all-out market-share battle fueled with almost $1 billion in venture capital, provided 2 billion bicycle rides, soaked up the... View Details