Publications

December 2022 (Revised May 2023)
Case

Iberdrola: Leading the Energy Revolution

By: Juan Alcácer and Emer Moloney

At the end of 2019, Ignacio Galán, the Chairman and CEO of the world's third largest utility, Iberdrola, reflected on his almost 20 years at the company. He managed a portfolio of three very different businesses, each with their own specific opportunities and... View Details

28 May 2020
Research & Ideas

Coronavirus Could Create a 'Bankruptcy Pandemic'

investors, sometimes called “vultures,” have raised vast sums of money for the purpose of investing in distressed companies. As I write about in my book Creating Value Through Corporate Restructuring, they employ a variety of strategies... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Financial Services; Banking

September 2020 (Revised September 2021)
Case

Student Success at Georgia State University (A)

By: Michael W. Toffel, Robin Mendelson and Julia Kelley

Georgia State University had developed a reputation for driving student success by nearly doubling its graduation rate for students of all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds. It did so while growing its student body and the proportion of Black/African... View Details

2012
Discussion Paper

Labor Productivity and Quality Change in Singapore: Achievements in 1974-2011 and Prospects for the Next Two Decades

By: Koji Nomura and Tomomichi Amano

Labor productivity growth in Singapore that has grown at a rate of over 3.0 percent per year since 1970s considerably slowed down to 0.5 percent on average per annum in the latter half of the 2000s. The purpose of this paper is to ask, first, to what extent Singapore’s... View Details

Keywords: Labor; Performance Productivity; Quality; Economic Growth; Singapore

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February 2020 (Revised January 2022)
Case

Mission Related Investments at the Ford Foundation (A)

By: Shawn Cole, Michael Norris and T. Robert Zochowski

In 2017, Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation, one of the largest philanthropic foundations in the world, was preparing to meet with his board of directors to discuss beginning a mission related investments (MRI) program. Walker hoped to devote $1 billion of... View Details

Keywords: Mission-Related Investing; Philanthropy; Foundation; Endowments; Socially Responsible Investing; Investment; Institutional Investing; Investment Activism; Governance; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Social Enterprise; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; United States; New York (city, NY)

Web

Sexual Harassment - Race, Gender & Equity

victims of sexual harassment or misconduct during their careers, the numbers are very small. For the purposes of this report, we focused on women, since they represent the vast majority of HBS alumni who reported experiences of... View Details

September 2010 (Revised November 2011)
Case

Salud Digna: Successfully Competing with For-Profit Organizations

By: Allen S. Grossman and Regina Garcia-Cuellar

Hugo Moreno, CEO of Salud Digna, was considering his growth options for the next three years. Would becoming a for-profit with access to greater capital be the best strategy or would this cause the organization to lose its social mission? Salud Digna provided... View Details

Keywords: For-Profit Firms; Health Testing and Trials; Growth and Development Strategy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Nonprofit Organizations; Health Industry; Mexico

July 2020
Case

Amanda and Kristen: Mented Cosmetics

By: Steven Rogers, Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Alterrell Mills

The co-founders (Black HBS alumnae) of an e-commerce beauty startup explore the unmet needs within the beauty industry. This case study examines the entrepreneurial opportunities that come from identifying an underserved market, specifically within the Black community... View Details

21 Apr 2021
Research & Ideas

The Pandemic Conversations That Leaders Need to Have Now

effective. This type of conversation can provide the clarity needed to personalize our work’s purpose better than an organization’s vision or mission statement, which is often so grand that employees have difficulty connecting it to their... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg, Robin Abrahams, and Katherine Connolly Baden

October 2018 (Revised October 2019)
Case

Arlan Hamilton and Backstage Capital

By: Laura Huang and Sarah Mehta

Frustrated by an inability to convince existing venture capital firms to invest in companies led by women, people of color, and LGBT founders, Arlan Hamilton started her own firm, Backstage Capital, in 2015. Hamilton understood the untapped potential of companies run... View Details

Keywords: Black Leadership; LGBTQ; Women; People Of Color; Entrepreneurship; Mission and Purpose; Venture Capital; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Identity; Personal Characteristics; Prejudice and Bias; Social Issues; Diversity; Gender; Race

06 Aug 2019
Cold Call Podcast

Super Bowl Ads Sell Products, but Do They Sell Brands?

in class, in real time, and the list of ads are almost never the same. They don't match up, and that's a big “a-ha” moment for students to think about, what is the purpose of this ad? So going back to your question of are the stakes... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Sports; Entertainment & Recreation; Media & Broadcasting

06 Aug 2012
Research & Ideas

Strategic Intelligence: Adapt or Die

behavior. There is interesting research that humans are able to self-organize and become very effective without formal bureaucracy in units of up to 100 to 150 people. If you can create components and then effectively create bridges between them and instill a common... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

04 Apr 2012
Research & Ideas

When Founders Recruit Friends and Family as Investors

physical/psychic nourishment and comfort when the world is crashing in on you? Family serves this purpose often and best. 'Burning your boats' undermines this support structure and thus is setting oneself up for failure." For other... View Details

Keywords: by Noam Wasserman

September 2021 (Revised October 2021)
Case

Dream: Impact Through Real Estate

By: Michael Chu and John Masko

The Canadian city of Toronto had one of the largest housing affordability problems of any city in the developed world. One company trying to address this problem was Dream, one of the largest real estate groups in Canada. In 2021, Dream had just launched a new system... View Details