Publications

November 2007 (Revised September 2010)
Background Note

The Rong Family: A Chinese Business History

By: Elisabeth Koll

Provides the complex historical background to understanding the development of family businesses in China from the late 19th century to the present. Using the example of the Rong family, China's most prominent industrialist family in pre-1949 China, analyzes the... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Business History; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Alliances; Business and Government Relations; Social and Collaborative Networks; China

20 Nov 2018
News

Building a Nonprofit Marketplace to Feed America

02 Sep 2021
News

I Expect COVID Vaccine Boosters to Be Mandated by Companies: Gimbel

Clubs

Family Business Club

2008
Working Paper

The Small World of Investing: Board Connections and Mutual Fund Returns

By: Lauren Cohen, Andrea Frazzini and Christopher J. Malloy

This paper uses social networks to identify information transfer in security markets. We focus on connections between mutual fund managers and corporate board members via shared education networks. We find that portfolio managers place larger bets on firms they are... View Details

Keywords: Asset Pricing; Investment Portfolio; Governing and Advisory Boards; Knowledge Sharing; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Social and Collaborative Networks; Financial Services Industry

Read Now

Profile

Lara Hodgson

Lara O’Connor Hodgson thought she’d found the entrepreneurial dream while running Nourish, the successful startup she launched in 2009. But it was Nourish’s very success that triggered Hodgson’s next and even more successful venture, NOWaccount View Details

17 Aug 2021
Blog Post

New Associate Director: Courtney Fairbrother

BEI recently named Courtney Fairbrother as the new Associate Director. Courtney manages student and alumni engagement and creates networks and opportunities that encourage these groups to address climate change. She also oversees the... View Details

July 2024
Technical Note

What Is AI?

By: Michael Parzen and Jo Ellery

This note discusses definitions of artificial intelligence and covers the broad types of learning used in training AI, as well as explaining in detail how neural networks are built, trained, and used. View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning

March 2009 (Revised May 2011)
Case

The Credit Suisse/Gerson Lehrman Group Alliance

By: Robert G. Eccles and Laura Winig

The equity research department of Credit Suisse and the expert network firm of Gerson Lehrman Group, historically competitors, have established a strategic alliance which both believe will give them a competitive advantage. Under the leadership of its head of equity... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Financial Crisis; Investment Banking; Innovation and Invention; Alliances; Social and Collaborative Networks; Competitive Advantage; Banking Industry

18 Apr 2022
News

Musk Is ‘Going to Take a Machete’ to the Twitter We Know Today, Says Harvard’s Tsedal Neeley

31 Aug 2017
Video

Perfecting Your Pitch

October 2023 (Revised March 2024)
Case

KOKO Networks: Bridging Energy Transition and Affordability with Carbon Financing

By: George Serafeim, Siko Sikochi and Namrata Arora

The problem was massive: two million hectares of African forests were lost annually to charcoal production for cooking, an area equivalent to 13 times Greater London, resulting in one billion tons of carbon emissions yearly. At the same time, an estimated 700,000... View Details

May 2019 (Revised March 2022)
Module Note

Nascent Platform Strategy: Overcoming the Chicken-or-Egg Problem

By: Andy Wu, David R. Clough and Sasha Kaletsky

This note provides a framework for addressing the classic chicken-or-egg dilemma facing entrepreneurs launching nascent multi-sided platforms. There are several conditions that lead to a difficult chicken-or-egg problem: strong network effects, high multi-homing costs,... View Details

Keywords: Multi-Sided Platforms; Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Market Entry and Exit; Problems and Challenges; Competitive Advantage

November 2001
Case

Sigma Networks, Inc.

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Christina L. Darwall

Sigma Networks, a venture capital-based telecommunications start-up, provides metropolitan area networks (MANs) that use fiberoptic lines to connect local Internet service providers (e.g., ISPs, hosting firms) with a long-haul ("backbone") network. MANs represent a... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Customers; Capital Budgeting; Venture Capital; Strategic Planning; Technology Networks; Telecommunications Industry

Find at Harvard

Research Summary

Overview

By: Feng Zhu

Professor Zhu’s research focuses on the design of platform business models and its impact on platform performance. Platforms have become central to our economy. A platform is a product or service that enables two or more customer groups to interact. For example,... View Details

29 May 2001
Research & Ideas

Race Does Matter in Mentoring

In a three-year research project, I studied the career trajectories of minority and white professionals at three major U.S. corporations. The story of one of the participants—Stephen Williams—sheds light on many of the differences in career advancement between whites... View Details

Keywords: by David A. Thomas

03 Nov 2014
News

Anita Elberse, Harvard Business School

September 1996 (Revised November 1999)
Case

GLSTN 1996

By: James E. Austin, Willis M. Emmons III and David Maue

The Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Teachers Network (GLSTN), which aims to create respect for all within schools regardless of sexual orientation, faces significant challenges stemming from its rapid growth into a 30-chapter national organization. Issues include... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Problems and Challenges; Leadership; Networks; Policy; Change Management; Nonprofit Organizations; Leadership Development; Growth Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Education Industry