Publications

17 May 2016
First Look

May 17, 2016

2016 New York: Oxford University Press Consumers, Corporations, and Public Health: A Case-Based Approach to Sustainable Business By: John A. Quelch. Abstract—The public health footprint associated with... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2008 (Revised May 2008)
Case

Cape Wind: Offshore Wind Energy in the USA

By: Richard Vietor

Cape Wind is an extreme example of NIMBY--not in my backyard syndrome. This is the first offshore wind project planned for the United States, in Nantucket Sound, just south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Initially proposed six years ago, in 2001, the wind farm would be... View Details

Keywords: Renewable Energy; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Projects; Government and Politics; Environmental Sustainability; Business and Community Relations; Public Opinion; Power and Influence; Energy Industry; Massachusetts

March 2016 (Revised May 2018)
Case

ASOS PLC

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

Launched in 2000, ASOS was one of the world’s largest online fashion specialists in 2018. Focusing on young consumers aged 16–25 years, the company offered over 85,000 items on its websites, many times more than the largest fashion stores, and added several thousand... View Details

Keywords: ASOS; AsSeenOnScreen; Online Fashion; Online Apparel; Nick Beighton; Nick Robertson; E-commerce; E-Commerce Strategy; Online Retail; Multichannel Retailing; Omnichannel; Social Media; Marketplaces; Shipping; Advertising; Digital Marketing; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Business Startups; For-Profit Firms; Customer Focus and Relationships; Age; Gender; Currency Exchange Rate; Profit; Revenue; Geography; Geographic Scope; Global Range; Global Strategy; Globalized Firms and Management; Globalized Markets and Industries; Business History; Selection and Staffing; Journals and Magazines; Human Capital; Business or Company Management; Crisis Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Management Succession; Brands and Branding; Marketing Channels; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Product Positioning; Social Marketing; Media; Distribution; Distribution Channels; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Infrastructure; Logistics; Public Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Vertical Integration; Segmentation; Internet and the Web; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Fashion Industry; Retail Industry; United Kingdom; England; London

Web

About Michael Porter - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

HBS ISC About Michael Porter About Michael Porter A Letter from Michael Porter Biography The Essential Porter Honors & Awards Affiliated Organizations & Institutions VBHCD Initiative About Michael Porter “He has influenced more executives... View Details

June 2018 (Revised April 2021)
Case

Valuing Snap After the IPO Quiet Period (A)

By: Marco Di Maggio, Benjamin C. Esty and Gregory Saldutte

Snap, the disappearing message app, went public at $17 per share on March 2, 2017, making its two 20-something founders the youngest self-made billionaires in the country. Over the next three weeks, 14 analysts made investment recommendations on Snap: two with buy... View Details

19 Jun 2023
Blog Post

The Road to Impact

When he turned 50, David Offensend (MBA 1977) decided to make a change. He’d had a successful career in finance, but ever since his undergraduate days of studying public and international affairs at Princeton, Offensend planned that, one... View Details

July 2019
Case

Instabeat—One More Lap?

By: Shikhar Ghosh, Nicole Tempest Keller and Alpana Thapar

This case follows Lebanese entrepreneur, Hind Hobeika, an engineer and competitive swimmer who spends seven years trying to launch a wearable heartrate monitor and motion sensor to help swimmers track their performance while swimming. While the Beirut-based... View Details

Keywords: Startup; Manufacturing; Prototyping; Female Protagonist; Business Startups; Decision Making; Entrepreneurship; Information Infrastructure; Information Technology; Design; Organizational Culture; United States; Lebanon

05 Apr 2021
Blog Post

The MBA Response: A Calling to Leadership & Service

Seizing this opportunity, they founded “MBAs Fight COVID”, an initiative that matched HBS students with business owners seeking help. Soon, as the community of service-minded MBAs expanded and grew to include other MBA programs around the... View Details

14 Nov 2023
Research & Ideas

The Network Effect: Why Companies Should Care About Employees’ LinkedIn Connections

individual employee relationships at 7,715 public US companies representing 19 industries. The researchers found that companies whose real-world employee connections put them at the center of their professional communities performed... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

26 Aug 2009
Op-Ed

Where Cash for Clunkers Ran Off the Road

Chrysler once, have to do so again to the tune of $3 billion through the $3,500-$4,500 C4C incentives? This taxpayer money simply enabled the dealers to avoid having to offer discounts off sticker prices and to extract higher profit... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Auto

March 2025
Article

Does Communicating Measurable Diversity Goals Attract or Repel Historically Marginalized Job Applicants? Evidence from the Lab and Field

By: Erika L. Kirgios, Ike Silver and Edward H. Chang

Many organizations struggle to attract a demographically diverse workforce. How does adding a measurable goal to a public diversity commitment—for example, “We care about diversity” versus “We care about diversity and plan to hire at least one woman or racial minority... View Details

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Recruitment; Diversity; Goals and Objectives; Communication Intention and Meaning; Behavior

Read Now

January 2025
Case

A Tiger in the Tank: Exxon Sues Investors

By: Clayton S. Rose, Sarah Sasso and James Weber

In June 2024, investors were trying to make sense of ExxonMobil’s (Exxon) lawsuit against two impact investors, Arjuna Capital (Arjuna) and Follow This, that had just been dismissed by the U.S. District Court of Northern Texas. Exxon’s suit challenged the rights of two... View Details

March 2008 (Revised April 2009)
Case

Eliot Spitzer: Pushing Wall Street to Reform

By: Rawi Abdelal, Rafael Di Tella and Jonathan Schlefer

New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer faced a decision about how to stop wrongdoing committed by major Wall Street firms during the Internet boom. The equities analysts of Merrill Lynch and other Wall Street firms were charged with objectively advising retail... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Decisions; Financial Institutions; Stocks; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Laws and Statutes; Lawsuits and Litigation; Conflict of Interests; Internet; Financial Services Industry; United States

25 Apr 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research, April 25

corporate initiative with the many business units within Siemens, which were used to being independent and had very specific offerings for their clients. For its new analytics platform, Siemens had opted for... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

03 Jun 2022
Blog Post

HiHome Sweet HiHome

The story of HiHome is really the story of all the resources available to students at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering (SEAS). Co-founders James Parker and Tony Shu met at a SEAS event in 2019. Parker was in his first year of the MS/MBA: Engineering... View Details

24 Oct 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, October 24, 2017

manufacturer) and Mattress Firm (MFRM, a bedding retailer and TPX's largest customer). For almost 20 years, the firms enjoyed a mutually beneficial and commercially prosperous relationship. Yet in August 2016, Steinhoff (a large, South African retailer) made an View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2019
Working Paper

Persuasive Propaganda During the 2015 Argentine Ballotage

By: Rafael Di Tella, Sebastian Galiani and Ernesto Schargrodsky

We study a propaganda campaign sponsored by the government against the main political challenger in the days preceding the 2015 Argentine runoff presidential election. Subjects in the treatment group watched an “ad” initially aired during soccer transmissions that was... View Details

Keywords: Propaganda; Persuasion; Voting; Political Elections; Government and Politics; Communication Strategy; Power and Influence; Public Opinion; Argentina