Publications

Research Summary

Overview

Yanhua Bird's research encompasses two streams: (1) entrepreneurship and social innovation — how the design and structure of alternative forms of enterprises influence their activities and success, with a focus on peer-to-peer markets and social enterprises, and (2)... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Behavior; Strategy; Social Evaluation; Entrepreneurship; Social Innovation; Social Movements; Non-market Strategy; Corporate Sustainability

October 1997 (Revised September 2003)
Case

Eli Lilly and Company: Drug Development Strategy (A)

By: Stefan H. Thomke, Ashok Nimgade and Paul Pospisil

Describes how Eli Lilly and Co. tries to accelerate its new drug development process with the aid of "combinatorial chemistry"--a rapidly emerging and revolutionary approach to preclinical drug discovery. The product manager of a potential blockbuster migraine drug... View Details

Keywords: Chemicals; Finance; Innovation and Invention; Time Management; Markets; Product Development; Organizations; Business Processes; Problems and Challenges; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Competition; Pharmaceutical Industry

Laura Alfaro is the Warren Alpert Professor of Business Administration. At Harvard since 1999, she served as Minister of National Planning and Economic Policy in Costa Rica from 2010-2012, taking a leave from HBS. She is Co-Editor of the Journal of International... View Details

March 2006 (Revised November 2010)
Background Note

Protecting Foreign Investors

By: Louis T. Wells Jr.

Describes the emergence of several kinds of efforts to assure the safety of foreign investment in emerging markets: international arbitration, expanded official political risk insurance, credit from government agencies, and intervention by investors' home governments.... View Details

Keywords: Foreign Direct Investment; Risk Management; Emerging Markets; Agreements and Arrangements; Business and Government Relations; Safety

2017
Working Paper

Business History, the Great Divergence and the Great Convergence

By: Geoffrey Jones

This working paper provides a business history perspective on debates about the Great Divergence, the rise of the income gap between the West and the Rest, and the more recent Great Convergence, which has seen a narrowing of that gap. The literature on the timing and... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Economics; History; Wealth and Poverty; Developing Countries and Economies; Economic Growth

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2018
Chapter

The Orphan Drug Act at 35: Observations and an Outlook for the Twenty-First Century

By: Nicholas Bagley, Benjamin Berger, Amitabh Chandra, Craig Garthwaite and Ariel Dora Stern

On the 35th anniversary of the adoption of the Orphan Drug Act (ODA), we describe the enormous changes in the markets for therapies for rare diseases that have emerged over recent decades. The most prominent example is the fact that the profit-maximizing price of new... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Laws and Statutes; Research and Development; Investment; Markets; Monopoly

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11 Mar 2001
Research & Ideas

Group Therapy

emerging markets has been part of a larger effort to understand how local business environments influence company strategy. Thus far, strategy scholars have emphasized the importance of industry and... View Details

Keywords: by Peter Jacobs

16 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

Making the Most of Government Upheaval

privatization have created unprecedented opportunities for firms of all sizes and varieties to compete in larger markets than ever before. In the process, a handful of global organizations have risen to replace formerly state-owned... View Details

Keywords: by Nancy O. Perry

Article

Selling After the Crisis

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Like perishable goods in grocery stores, sales models have a sell-by date. As product standards evolve and new entrants emerge, buyers have more choices and demand more in terms of quality and performance across vendors. Firms that fail to adjust to changing customer... View Details

Keywords: Sales Model; Sales; Management; Customer Relationship Management; Health Pandemics

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March 2010 (Revised October 2017)
Case

Russia: Revolution and Reform

By: Rawi E. Abdelal and Sogomon Tarontsi

The collapse of central authority in the Soviet Union in 1991 ushered in a period of revolutionary transformations for the states that emerged in its wake. The leaders of Russia, the USSR's successor, since then have struggled to reestablish central authority while... View Details

Keywords: Development Economics; Economic Systems; Government Administration; Business and Government Relations; Public Administration Industry; Russia

January 2009
Background Note

Financial Networks and Informal Banking in China: From Pawnshops to Private Equity

By: Elisabeth Koll

Provides an analysis of why informal financial networks and institutions still play an extremely important role in China's economy in the 21st century. Although China has emerged as one of the fastest growing economies in the world, it still suffers from a weak... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Private Equity; Banks and Banking; Financing and Loans; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; State Ownership; Business and Government Relations; Networks; China

19 Feb 2010
Working Paper Summaries

The Evolution of Science-Based Business: Innovating How We Innovate

Keywords: by Gary P. Pisano

Blog

Is AI Coming for Your Job?

irrelevant construct when considering how to harness generative AI capabilities. Processes ranging from negotiating contracts with vendors to developing marketing messages will be redesigned from the ground up in order to exploit the full... View Details

Research Summary

Overview

In industries characterized by extreme dynamism, complexity, and uncertainty, formal structure often “falls behind” actual work processes. The nature of work in these environments evolves continuously while formal structure can only do so at specific times in discrete... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Structure; Organizational Design; Organizational Identity; Identity Work; Strategy; Strategic Change; Collaboration; Cross-functional Integration; Cognition; Organizational Evolution; Organizational Alignment; Social Media

March 2016
Case

M-Pesa: Financial Inclusion in Kenya

By: Rajiv Lal, Lisa Cox and Sarah McAra

M-Pesa, a mobile money transfer service launched in 2007 in Kenya by telecommunications company Safaricom, allowed people to send money via mobile messaging to contacts, such as friends and family, or even to pay for goods and services, such as groceries or a taxi... View Details

Keywords: Mobile Money Transfer; Market Transactions; Emerging Markets; Developing Countries and Economies; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Telecommunications Industry; Kenya

Rakesh Khurana is the Marvin Bower Professor of Leadership Development at the Harvard Business School. He is also Professor of Sociology at Harvard University, co-Master of Cabot House at Harvard College, and the Danoff Dean of Harvard College.

Professor... View Details

Keywords: executive search

August 2008 (Revised September 2009)
Case

Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n Roll: The MTV Approach to Tackling HIV/AIDS

By: Tarun Khanna, Sonali R. Bloom and David E. Bloom

This case explores the role that MTV, with its heavy diet of music and general youth-oriented media content, plays in spreading public-service messaging to contain the scourge of HIV/AIDS worldwide. There is a focus especially on its efforts in several emerging... View Details

Keywords: For-Profit Firms; Developing Countries and Economies; Multinational Firms and Management; Health Care and Treatment; Emerging Markets; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Corporate Strategy; Health Industry; Africa

24 Jul 2007
First Look

First Look: July 24, 2007

video-on-demand. How should Netflix respond? Purchase this case: http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=607138 Portfolio Investment in Emerging Markets Harvard Business School Note... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

October 2019
Case

Agility Africa

By: Juan Alcacer, Caroline M. Elkins and Esel Çekin

This case illustrates the challenge and opportunities that firms face when developing and executing new business models in high-risk, low-infrastructure, low-trust countries. It features a global logistics group, Agility, that aimed to become the leader in supplying... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Business Model; Innovation and Invention; Expansion; Emerging Markets; Decision Choices and Conditions; Real Estate Industry; Distribution Industry; Africa