Publications

January 2017
Supplement

Hello Alfred: Come Home Happy — Operating the Business Model Exercise

By: Joseph B. Fuller and Christopher Payton

On a mission to "automate the on-demand economy," Harvard Business School classmates Marcela Sapone and Jessica Beck launched Hello Alfred in 2013 to provide subscribers with an "Alfred" to complete various chores for a monthly fee. In early 2016, the company has built... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Internet and the Web; Business Startups; Service Operations; Service Industry; New York (city, NY); Boston

August 2022
Supplement

NOW PT (B): Should We Invest?

By: George A. Riedel, Amy Klopfenstein and Mel Martin

This (B) case examines the results of the HBS Impact Investment Fund student team’s diligence on Neurologic Optimal Wellness Physical Therapy (NOW PT). After examining Springfield’s demographics, anticipated PT demand, local competition, and NOW PT’s financial... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Social Entrepreneurship; Finance; Investment; Health; Health Care and Treatment; Medical Specialties; Buildings and Facilities; Health Industry; Financial Services Industry; North and Central America; United States; Massachusetts

August 2015 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Bridj and the Business of Urban Mobility (A): Developing a New Model

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Daniel Fox

Bridj, a Boston startup that provides Big Data-powered, "pop-up" bus routes that respond to transportation demand, has been in operation for a little over a year and has recently launched service in Washington, D.C., its second market. Despite media acclaim and... View Details

Web

Seen and Unseen | Baker Library | Bloomberg Center | Harvard Business School

advertising, branding, and society today. Acknowledgment of Land and People Harvard University is located on the traditional and ancestral land of the Massachusett, the original inhabitants of what is now known as Boston and Cambridge. We pay respect to the people of... View Details

January 2017 (Revised December 2017)
Case

Carmichael Roberts: To Create a Private Equity Firm?

By: Steven Rogers and Kenneth J. Cooper

Carmichael Roberts, a rare African-American venture capitalist, considered leaving his general partnership in a private equity firm near Boston and setting up his own in 2015. He weighed whether the timing was right, with the economy still not fully recovered from the... View Details

Web

2019 Symposium - Race, Gender & Equity

University of Massachusetts Boston. She studies how the ideology of meritocracy is invoked to legitimate inequality in the United States and thereby impedes efforts to address poverty. She also examines how “tempered radicals,” working... View Details

November 2024
Case

Demond Martin and WellWithAll

By: Hise Gibson, Archie L. Jones and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

This case study chronicles the transformative entrepreneurial path of Demond Martin, co-founder and CEO of WellWithAll, a health and wellness startup. Motivated by a pivotal life experience and deep concern for racial health inequities, Martin transitions from a... View Details

13 Jan 2021
News

Silicon Valley’s “Detroit Moment”

Bedford, Massachusetts in the 1800s, where we saw the roots of the venture capital industry. Then, of course, we found ourselves in Silicon Valley, where so many of the brands that shape our daily life got their start in humble garages.... View Details

01 Jun 2008
News

The Prophet of Start-Ups

New England elites — Massachusetts Investors Trust chairman Merrill Griswold, MIT president Karl T. Compton, and Vermont Senator Ralph E. Flanders, the first Congressman to publicly upbraid Joseph McCarthy. Fresh from the U.S. victory in... View Details

Keywords: Spencer E. Ante; George Doriot; Charles F. Kettering; Lawrence Lowell; F. Warren Hellman; Finance; Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments; Finance

01 Jun 1999
News

Where Main Street Meets Wall Street

from the 1950s to 1960s (an era that Light identifies as the "first burst" of success for the mutual fund). During those years, Dwight P. Robinson, Jr. (MBA '25) led the Massachusetts Investors Trust, the Boston firm credited with... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons

01 Jun 2013
News

Can Business Smarts Save the Charter School Revolution?

want the academic leaders to focus on the academics." CHANGE FROM WITHIN: Scott Given (MBA 2010) and Unlocking Potential's in-district charter model have yielded some dramatic results, including Boston's UP Academy recording the largest jump in student math scores in... View Details

Keywords: David McKay Wilson; charter schools; Elementary and Secondary Schools; Educational Services

05 Oct 2021
Blog Post

First-Gen Voices: Eric Westphal on Tapping into the Global Alumni Network & Making a Difference Across Borders

said I needed to come live with them.” At 11 years old, Westphal moved to Massachusetts to be with his parents where he learned English and attended public schools in the Greater Boston area. As Westphal neared the end of high school ,... View Details

Web

Past Issues - Alumni

restaurant industry with Senior Lecturer Lena Goldberg and Visiting Lecturer Michael Kaufman Prognosis Professor Robert S. Huckman and Peter Slavin, president of Massachusetts General Hospital, on how the pandemic will transform the... View Details

July 2019 (Revised November 2022)
Case

Backstage at Boston Ballet

By: David G. Fubini, Ryan Raffaelli, Begum Agca Okutgen and Julia Kelley

This case asks students to consider how to prioritize goals when placed in a new leadership role. In August 2014, Meredith “Max” Hodges became the youngest Executive Director (ED) in the Boston Ballet’s 51-year history. In her first year, she was able to claim several... View Details

February 2024
Case

Can Cities Beat the Heat? (A): A Comparative Analysis of Climate Actions and Change Enablers in 14 U.S. Cities

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jacob A. Small

Throughout the early 2000's, emphasis was placed on initiatives to adapt to and mitigate climate action in cities. This series presents overviews (snapshots) of 14 U.S. metropolitan regions to help identify similarities, differences, and opportunities for developing... View Details

December 2020 (Revised March 2022)
Teaching Note

Forecasting ClimaCell

By: Joshua Lev Krieger, Christopher Stanton and James Barnett

A weather technology startup, ClimaCell considers the R&D trade-offs and financing implications of pursuing a proposed contract with a major automobile maker, rather than continuing its focus on building a scalable, all-purpose weather prediction engine. View Details

Keywords: Weather; Forecasting and Prediction; Business Startups; Research and Development; Finance; Cost vs Benefits; Decision Making; Strategy; United States; Israel; Massachusetts; Colorado

August 2018
Case

Tapping Growth at Lord Hobo Brewing Company

By: Ethan Rouen and Susanna Gallani

Lord Hobo Brewing Company accounts for its inventory process as it prepares to create its first set of professional financial statements for investors. View Details

Keywords: Inventory; Start-ups; Craft Brewing; Investing; GAAP; Brand Management; Accounting; Working Capital; Entrepreneurship; Private Equity; Business Startups; Business and Shareholder Relations; Food and Beverage Industry; Boston; New England; United States