Publications

February 2023 (Revised November 2024)
Case

Ronald Reagan: Changing the World

By: Robert Simons and Shirley Sun

This case traces the rise of Ronald Reagan from small town Illinois to two-term president of the United States. An unlikely candidate for the world’s most powerful job, the case describes the different roles that Reagan filled over his life: radio announcer, Hollywood... View Details

Keywords: Politics; Entertainment; Personal Characteristics; Business And Government; Values And Beliefs; Mission And Purpose; Decision Making; Government Administration; Management Style; Power and Influence; United States

January 28, 2021
Other Article

Lessons from the U.S.'s Rocky Vaccine Rollout

By: Robert S. Huckman and Bradley R. Staats

The rocky rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines is emblematic of many of the problems with the U.S. health care system. The United States is blessed with highly trained, excellent, and compassionate care providers and terrific research and development that has led to novel... View Details

Keywords: Health Care; COVID-19; Vaccines; Operations Improvement; Health Pandemics; Health Care and Treatment; Service Delivery; Operations; Performance Improvement; Health; Health Industry; United States

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During a break after starting and selling several successful technology based startups, Hadi Partovi decided to make a short film to inspire students to learn computer science. “Code.org started as a hobby project,” Hadi said. “I had helped pay my way through... View Details

2012
Article

Wider dem sauren Mund. Beiersdorfs U.S.-Geschaeft mit der Zahnpastamarke Pebeco

By: G. Jones and Christina Lubinski

This article examines the growth and ultimate demise of the toothpaste brand Pebeco, which was created by the German personal care company Beiersdorf in 1903. The brand was an enormous international success, becoming for a time the largest toothpaste brand in the... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development; Market Entry and Exit; Problems and Challenges; Marketing Strategy; Markets; Change; Customers; Social Psychology; Science; Brands and Branding; Competitive Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; United States; Germany

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

16 Mar 2017
News

Three Harvard Experts Explain How Economics Can Shape Precision Medicines

28 Nov 2017
News

GOP tax plans ignore reality in creating good American jobs

William C. Kirby

William C. Kirby is T. M. Chang Professor of China Studies at Harvard University and Spangler Family Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. He is a Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor. He serves as Chairman of the Harvard... View Details

Keywords: education industry; wine

July – August 2009
Article

The Descent of Finance

What if the current recession turns out to be like the Great Depression of 1929-1933? Four years from now, the United States might find itself with a still-shrinking economy, half as many banks as in 2009, a third as many hedge funds, and retail banking resembling a... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; International Finance; Globalized Economies and Regions; Business and Government Relations; Financial Services Industry

07 Sep 2010
Research & Ideas

Mindful Leadership: When East Meets West

that a Buddhist Rinpoche and a leadership professor have joined forces to explore this subject and see how Eastern teaching can inform our Western thinking about leadership and vice versa," George says. You can read George's summary... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

March 2022
Article

Where to Locate COVID-19 Mass Vaccination Facilities?

By: Dimitris Bertsimas, Vassilis Digalakis Jr, Alexander Jacquillat, Michael Lingzhi Li and Alessandro Previero

The outbreak of COVID-19 led to a record-breaking race to develop a vaccine. However, the limited vaccine capacity creates another massive challenge: how to distribute vaccines to mitigate the near-end impact of the pandemic? In the United States in particular, the new... View Details

Keywords: Vaccines; COVID-19; Health Care and Treatment; Health Pandemics; Performance Effectiveness; Analytics and Data Science; Mathematical Methods

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2020
Working Paper

Social Networks, Ethnicity, and Entrepreneurship

By: William R. Kerr and Martin Mandorff

We study the relationship between ethnicity, occupational choice, and entrepreneurship. Immigrant groups in the United States cluster in specific business sectors. For example, Koreans are 34 times more concentrated in self-employment for dry cleaning than other... View Details

Keywords: Self-employed; Occupation; Entrepreneurship; Social Entrepreneurship; Industry Clusters; Ethnicity; Immigration; Networks; United States

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May 2002 (Revised October 2002)
Case

Dell--New Horizons

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Marie Bell

Founded in 1984, Dell Corp. has achieved phenomenal growth, and by 2000 had topped $25 billion in sales and over $2 billion in net income. In the 4th quarter of 2000, however, the PC industry's average 30-year growth rate crashed to a negative 10%. Dell must make... View Details

Keywords: History; Decisions; Product Positioning; Marketing Strategy; Framework; Globalization; Brands and Branding; Computer Industry; Technology Industry; United States

07 Sep 2021
Research & Ideas

Who Pays For Wildfire and Hurricane Damage? Everyone.

New Mexico homeowners might think their inland location buffers them from the financial toll of climate change, but they’re still paying for climate-related property damage occurring in coastal states. New research finds that homeowners in New Mexico and other states... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Insurance

Research Summary

Immigrant Policymakers and Entrepreneurs

Since completing his prize-winning biography of Joseph Schumpeter in 2007 and his book, American Business since 1920 in 2009, Professor McCraw has been working on two new books about immigrants who came to the United States and became important policymakers... View Details

Boris Groysberg

Boris Groysberg is a professor of business administration in the Organizational Behavior unit at the Harvard Business School. Currently, he teaches courses on talent management and leadership in the school's MBA and Executive Education programs. He has won numerous... View Details

Keywords: asset management; banking; brokerage; information technology industry; investment banking industry; professional services

2012
Other Unpublished Work

Measuring the Broadband Bonus in 20 OECD Countries

By: Shane Greenstein and Ryan McDevitt

This paper provides estimates of the economic value created by broadband Internet using measures of new gross domestic product and consumer surplus. The study finds that the economic value created in 30 OECD countries correlates roughly with the overall size of their... View Details

July 2002 (Revised March 2003)
Case

Avon.com (A)

Avon has always sold its products through a large independent direct-selling organization. However, it is now considering whether it should sell directly to the consumer. The company's independent representatives number 500,000 in the United States alone. Yet, there... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Marketing Strategy; Internet and the Web; Salesforce Management; Marketing Channels; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry