Publications

February 2010 (Revised October 2010)
Case

Re-THINK-ing THINK: The Electric Car Company

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and David Kiron

On January 5, 2010, 48-year-old Richard Canny was on his way to meet the governor of Indiana. He was reading his newly issued press release announcing that THINK planned to start automobile production in Elkhart County, Indiana to launch its THINK City battery-operated... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Investment; Global Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Product Development; Production; Pollutants; Environmental Sustainability; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Norway; Indiana

September 2024 (Revised March 2025)
Case

Burn the Gondolas? Venice, the Ghetto, and the Seasons of Capitalism

By: Sophus A. Reinert, Charlotte Robertson and Robert Fredona

This case uses the history of Venice—from the driving of the first pylons in the lagoon to the abdication of the city’s last doge, across the ages of Marco Polo and Vivaldi—to explore the invention and global diffusion of capitalism, as well as the cyclical rise and... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; History; Power and Influence; Prejudice and Bias; Economic Systems; Italy

20 Aug 2020
News

How has the pandemic changed working lives?

14 Dec 2009
Research & Ideas

Can Entrepreneurs Drive People Movers to Success?

problems from (in)convenience to price to congestion, he says. “Robust computer control is at the core of a successful PRT.” The concept is well known—you have likely encountered automated, driverless people movers in cities such as... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Transportation

July 2021
Case

Amazon HQ2

By: James K. Sebenius and Ben Cook

Amazon’s failed bid for a second headquarters location (“HQ2”) in Long Island City, New York offers many lessons for negotiators looking to avoid similar high-profile defeats in strategically important deals. The company’s project – which promised to bring billions of... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Negotiation; Public Opinion; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Problems and Challenges

Article

Measuring Audit Quality

By: Shivaram Rajgopal, Suraj Srinivasan and Xin Zheng

In this paper, we document 45 specific allegations related to audit deficiencies based on GAAS, as detailed in 141 AAERs and 153 securities class action lawsuits over the violation years 1978–2016. Next, we use these allegations to validate existing popular proxies of... View Details

Keywords: Audit Quality; Audit Deficiency; AAER; Securities Class Action Lawsuits; Enforcement; Accounting Audits; Quality; Measurement and Metrics

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July 23, 2019
Article

Is the U.S. on Its Way to Becoming a Cashless Society?

By: Shelle Santana

The rise of digital payments, including credit cards, debit cards, and mobile payments systems, have contributed to the steady shift in payment practices among consumers. According to the FDIC, cash represented just 30% of all payments in 2017, and the percentage of... View Details

Keywords: Payment Methods; Cash; Credit Cards; Consumer Behavior; Change; United States

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September 2017
Article

The Advocacy Trap: When Legitimacy Building Inhibits Organizational Learning

By: Tiona Zuzul and Amy C. Edmondson

This paper describes a relationship between legitimacy building and learning for a new firm in a nascent industry. Through a longitudinal study of a new firm in the nascent smart city industry, we found that the firm failed to make progress on important internal... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Learning; Advocacy; Organizations; Learning; Organizational Culture; Entrepreneurship

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December 2013
Article

Land Politics and Local State Capacities: The Political Economy of Urban Change in China

By: Meg Rithmire

Despite common national institutions and incentives to remake urban landscapes to anchor growth, generate land-lease revenues, and display a capacious administration, Chinese urban governments exhibit varying levels of control over land. This article uses a paired... View Details

Keywords: China; Land Politics; Urban Planning; Local Government; Northeast China; Property Rights; Urban Development; Property; Government and Politics; China

Land reforms have been critical to the development of Chinese capitalism over the last several decades, yet land in China remains publicly owned. This book explores the political logic of reforms to land ownership and control, accounting for how land development... View Details

April 2019
Case

American Ballet Theatre

By: Anita Elberse, Tsubasa Nakajima and Melissa Rodman

Kara Medoff Barnett, executive director of American Ballet Theatre (ABT), widely regarded as one of the world’s premier ballet companies, faces several challenges. It is June 2018. Despite its prestige, the company’s $45 million annual budget and $22 million endowment... View Details

Keywords: Performing Arts; Superstars; Talent; Talent Development; Non-profit; Contracts; Labor Economics; General Management; Arts; Entertainment; Media; Talent and Talent Management; Nonprofit Organizations; Marketing; Strategy

January 2020
Article

Gifts of the Immigrants, Woes of the Natives: Lessons from the Age of Mass Migration

By: Marco Tabellini

In this paper, I jointly investigate the political and the economic effects of immigration and study the causes of anti-immigrant sentiments. I exploit exogenous variation in European immigration to U.S. cities between 1910 and 1930 induced by World War I and the... View Details

Keywords: Political Backlash; Age Of Mass Migration; Cultural Diversity; Immigration; History; Economy; Attitudes; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Diversity

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15 Sep 2009
First Look

First Look: September 15

complements 609-043, "Intel NBI: Intel Corporation's New Business Initiatives," and 609-102, "Intel NBI: Intel Corporation's New Business Initiatives (B)." It is one of the failed ventures cited in those cases. Purchase this case:... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Web

Entrepreneurs-in-Residence - Entrepreneurship

Unusual Ventures; Nextdoor San Francisco, CA Shirish Nimgaonkar Founder and CEO eBlissAI Carlos Reines Gonzalez Co-Founder RubiconMD Brooklyn, NY Kenneth Salas COO nuDesk Anthony Soohoo Venture Advisor AI Fund Jon Staff Getaway New York View Details

March 2017
Case

CIC: Catalyzing Entrepreneurial Ecosystems (A)

By: William R. Kerr, Sari Kerr and Alexis Brownell

CIC creates "entrepreneurial ecosystems," renting out office and co-working space to start-ups and related companies and providing basic business needs like Wi-Fi and legal advice. Founder Tim Rowe refers to the CIC as "innovation infrastructure," bringing together... View Details

Keywords: Start-ups; Boston; Cambridge; St. Louis; CIC; Cambridge Innovation Center; Co-working Space; Entrepreneurial Ecosystems; Innovation Ecosystems; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Business Offices; Innovation and Invention

December 1996
Supplement

Cleveland Turnaround: Leadership in Action

By: James E. Austin, Jaan Elias and Andrea L Strimling

Consists of three separate parts. Part 1, The Cleveland Turnaround, describes Cleveland's decline until its bankruptcy in 1978. This is followed by the remedial actions taken by community leaders, starting with the election of a new mayor, the formation of new... View Details

Keywords: Leading Change; Business Cycles; Development Economics; Urban Development; Social Issues; Business and Community Relations; Cleveland