Publications

01 Mar 2024
News

The War Within

When the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, Nataliia Zhyliak’s world was upended in a matter of days. At the time, Zhyliak, a psychologist in the western Ukrainian city of Kamianets-Podilskyi, was working at an education and rehabilitation... View Details

Keywords: Janelle Nanos; illustration by Daniel Bejar

October 1991 (Revised December 1993)
Case

Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive

Ben & Jerry's is an anti-establishment, values-driven company that has become a successful venture. The dominant founder, Ben Cohen, is not an effective manager, but he brings creative marketing and product skills that have been important to the company's success. He... View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Organizational Culture; Entrepreneurship; Compensation and Benefits; Manufacturing Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

04 Jun 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Can a Continuously-Liquidating Tontine (or Mutual Inheritance Fund) Succeed where Immediate Annuities Have Floundered?

Keywords: by Julio J. Rotemberg; Financial Services

09 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

Marketing a Country: Promotion as a Tool for Attracting Foreign Investment.

organizations tended to be created for the purpose of marketing countries as investment sites and not with the primary objectives of screening investment or negotiating with investors. Governments can adopt two polar positions in their... View Details

Keywords: by Louis T. Wells & Alvin G. Wint

January 2022
Case

Bee-ing Better at Bombas

By: Elizabeth A. Keenan, Youngme Moon and John Masko

David Heath and Randy Goldberg founded Bombas in 2013 to serve two missions: to deliver the “best socks in the history of feet,” and to donate socks (the most requested item in homeless shelters) to Americans experiencing homelessness. Eight years later, Bombas had... View Details

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Values and Beliefs; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Digital Marketing; Distribution; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Quality; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Human Needs; Poverty; Growth and Development Strategy; Apparel and Accessories Industry; New York (city, NY)

01 Mar 2024
News

Alumni and Faculty Books and Podcasts

Edited by Margie Kelley Alumni Books You Got This! A Straightforward, No-Nonsense Playbook for Crushing 130+ Workplace Challenges By Heidi Abelli (MBA 1993) Palmetto Publishing Stepping into the corporate world can feel like navigating a labyrinth, especially when... View Details

Keywords: Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

14 Oct 2021
In Practice

Reunited and It Feels (Not) So Good: Tips for Managing a Rocky Return

this period of renaissance, and the fiercest labor market in recent memory, companies should take steps to redefine the purpose of the office as a tool rather than a destination. For example, the office can become a tool to enhance... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

Web

Commodities, Currencies, and Balancing of the Trade Deficit - A Chronicle of the China Trade

porcelain. The British found they could address the growing trade deficit through opium from Bengal, India, where they owned plantations. Opium became more plentiful, and uses of the drug changed from originally medical purposes to... View Details

Portrait Project

Jeff Barkas

good days were spent signing legal and financial documents. Their passing has given me a new sense of purpose — to ensure that other families avoid a similar experience. I’m starting a company that helps families prepare for aging so that... View Details

Portrait Project

Robert M. Tichio

To prove. That faith is more important than fact. That my church can be more empowering than a boardroom. This is what I wish to prove with my one precious life. To become a father, son, brother and husband, not simply be one. That each and every life has purpose. To... View Details

12 Oct 2022
Blog Post

11 Stories from HBS PRIDE for National Coming Out Day

freaked out, but I had purposely limited the time for uncomfortable Q&A. I kept my phone off for some weeks to remove the hassle. I would still consider publicly coming out to be the easier step, at least compared to fully embracing... View Details

17 Sep 2012
Research & Ideas

Blue Skies, Distractions Arise: How Weather Affects Productivity

tends to be sunny one day and overcast the next. The purpose of the lab study was to determine whether the distraction created by the temptation of outside activities was indeed what caused a decrease in worker productivity on sunny days.... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

August 2022
Case

In-Q-Tel: Innovation On A Mission

By: Joshua Lev Krieger and Josh Lerner

In 2022, the leaders of In-Q-Tel (IQT) considered what was next for the unique mission-driven organization. Since 1999, IQT had one mission: to be the most sophisticated source of strategic technical knowledge and capabilities to the U.S. government and its allies. IQT... View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; National Security; Technological Innovation; Research; Geopolitical Units; Risk Management; Recruitment; Growth and Development Strategy; Venture Capital; Knowledge Management; Information Industry; Banking Industry

Fast Answer

VCPE Database Comparison

border-top:1px solid black; border-right:1px solid black; border-left:1px solid black"> Current Harvard affiliates HBS graduating class (for career purposes thru mid-Aug)... View Details

Article

Mission-Driven Governance

By: Raymond Fisman, Rakesh Khurana and Edward Martenson

The purpose of this paper is to provide a useful, easily applied theory of governance performance. The existing model is fundamentally adversarial, rooted in the paradigm of principal-agent conflict. At its base is an image of governance as a never-ending struggle... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Knowledge Management; Standards; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance Effectiveness; Performance Evaluation