Publications

Small business lending has remained unchanged for decades, laden with frictions and barriers that prevent many small businesses from accessing the capital they need to succeed. Financial technology, or “fintech,” promises to change this trajectory. In 2010, new fintech... View Details

12 Feb 2018
Research & Ideas

Customers at the Back of the Line Are Anxious—Can You Keep Them from Leaving?

—Buell explains in a new working paper, “Last Place Aversion in Queues.” "If I can’t look behind me and see someone else is willing to wait longer than me, I start to question whether waiting in line is worthwhile” Buell’s research... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Retail; Service

June 2000
Case

Rebirth of the Swiss Watch Industry, 1980-1992 (A)

By: Michael L. Tushman and Daniel Radov

The Swiss watch industry has been devastated by new entrants from Asia in the low- and mid-priced watch segments. Japanese and Hong Kong firms have used quartz technology to lower costs dramatically. Nicolas Hayek, president of a Swiss consulting firm, is asked to help... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Product Development; Organizational Structure; Change Management; Alignment; Product Positioning; Brands and Branding; Management Teams; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Switzerland

Joseph Fuller is a Professor of Management Practice in General Management and Entrepreneurship. He founded and co-leads the school’s project, Managing the Future of Work, as well as the Harvard Project on the Workforce. He currently leads the FIELD Global Capstone... View Details

02 Jan 2011
News

There's Reason to Be Optimistic

September 1998 (Revised May 1999)
Case

Arnold Communications

By: Teresa M. Amabile and Jeremiah Weinstock

The new owner and CEO of Arnold Advertising, a relatively small regional agency, aims to build it into Arnold Communications--a much larger, stronger firm competing successfully for national accounts. As part of this growth strategy, the agency develops a process for... View Details

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Creativity; Entrepreneurship; Advertising; Business Processes; Brands and Branding; Growth and Development Strategy; Advertising Industry

09 Apr 2025
HBS Seminar

Marc Rysman, Boston University

Disruption and Credit Markets

When innovation and entry are high in an industry, is this good or bad news for incumbents? We show that recently the answer has been bad news. Industries with elevated venture capital activity and returns, and with a larger presence of newly listed firms, show a... View Details

19 Jul 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Towards a Prescriptive Theory of Dynamic Capabilities: Connecting Strategic Choice, Learning, and Competition

Keywords: by Gary P. Pisano

March 2016
Case

Residency Select or J3Personica?

By: William Kerr and Kathryn S. Roloff

Residency Select, LLC provides psychometric assessments for matching medical students to residency programs. After a series of successful pilots, founder Alan Friedman is considering whether to continue developing his offerings in this area, or whether to expand into... View Details

Keywords: Marketplace Matching; Expansion; Higher Education; Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Growth and Development Strategy; Service Industry

May 2011 (Revised March 2013)
Supplement

Marshall & Gordon: Designing an Effective Compensation System (B)

By: Heidi K. Gardner and Kerry Herman

CEO Kelly Browne wrestles with the design and roll-out of a new compensation system to promote the collaboration necessary for supporting her firm's new strategy. Marshall Gordon International, a global public relations (PR) firm, has recently expanded its service... View Details

Keywords: Globalization; Executive Compensation; Management; Organizational Culture; Performance; Groups and Teams; Behavior; Corporate Strategy; System

June 2008 (Revised October 2008)
Case

International Carbon Finance and EcoSecurities

By: Andre F. Perold, Forest L. Reinhardt and Mikell Hyman

In late 2007, EcoSecurities had to decide whether to undertake a new Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project in China. EcoSecurities was an aggregator of carbon credits and also invested directly in projects that produced carbon credits. Governments and firms... View Details

Keywords: Non-Renewable Energy; Cost Management; Investment Return; Business and Government Relations; Risk and Uncertainty; Investment; Cash Flow; Valuation; Pollutants; Environmental Sustainability; Financial Services Industry; China

23 Apr 2012
Research & Ideas

How to Brand a Next-Generation Product

considered a hypothetical scenario in which a well-known firm is preparing to launch a new version of its color printer. The participants, who were split into two groups, received a list of seven successive... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

2020
Working Paper

Digital Experimentation and Startup Performance: Evidence from A/B Testing

By: Rembrand Koning, Sharique Hasan and Aaron Chatterji

Recent work argues that experimentation is the appropriate framework for entrepreneurial strategy. We investigate this proposition by exploiting the time-varying adoption of A/B testing technology, which has drastically reduced the cost of experimentally testing... View Details

Keywords: Experimentation; A/B Testing; Data-driven Decision-making; Entrepreneurship; Strategy; Business Startups; Information Technology; Performance

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August 2018
Case

Enfoca: Private Equity in Peru

By: Victoria Ivashina and Jeffrey Boyar

This case follows Enfoca, Peru’s largest local private equity firm and its portfolio company Maestro, a leading player in Peru’s hardware retail market. Peru’s GDP growth between 2008 and 2014 was the highest of any Latin American country. Growth of the Peruvian middle... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Emerging Markets; Capital Markets; Transition; Strategy; Peru

20 Sep 2022
Cold Call Podcast

Larry Fink at BlackRock: Linking Purpose to Profit

Keywords: Re: George Serafeim; Financial Services

12 Mar 2015
Working Paper Summaries

What Courses Should Law Students Take? Harvard’s Largest Employers Weigh In

Keywords: by John C. Coates, Jesse M. Fried & Kathryn E. Spier; Legal Services; Education

14 Apr 2020
News

Three Keys To Engaged, Productive Telework Teams

2016
Article

The Mirroring Hypothesis: Theory, Evidence, and Exceptions

By: Lyra J. Colfer and Carliss Y. Baldwin

The mirroring hypothesis predicts that organizational ties within a project, firm, or group of firms (e.g., communication, collocation, employment) will correspond to the technical dependencies in the work being performed. This article presents a unified picture of... View Details

Keywords: Modularity; Mirroring Hypothesis; Organization Design; Conway's Law; Knowledge Boundaries; Relational Contracts; Open Source Software; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Boundaries; Knowledge Management; Applications and Software