Publications

March 2014 (Revised October 2015)
Case

Teach For China and the Chinese Nonprofit Sector

By: William C. Kirby and Erica M. Zendell

Teach For China was founded in 2008 with the mission of expanding educational opportunity across China. By 2013, Andrea Pasinetti's lofty dream had taken flight: over 300 graduates from top American and Chinese universities were participating in its 2-year teaching... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit; China; Business And Government Relations; Business And Poverty; Business And Society; Emerging Market Entrepreneurship; Emerging Market; NGO; Education; Entrepreneurship; Social Enterprise; Emerging Markets; Non-Governmental Organizations; Nonprofit Organizations; Education Industry; China

April 2009
Case

Young Presidents' Organization

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, John D. Macomber and David Chen

The board of Young Presidents' Organization needs to decide on the future of its Networks Initiative, designed to connect its geographically dispersed membership base through 60 different interest-based networks. So far, one half of these networks have been considered... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Governing and Advisory Boards; Leadership Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizations; Social and Collaborative Networks

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Article

Strategic Networks and Entrepreneurial Ventures

Much research suggests that social networks shape the emergence and development of nascent ventures. Scholars have argued that founders' and firms' networks influence innovation and the identification of entrepreneurial opportunities, as well as facilitate the... View Details

Keywords: Social and Collaborative Networks; Innovation and Invention; Opportunities; Value; Body of Literature; Research; Outcome or Result; Business Ventures; Entrepreneurship; Relationships; Management Practices and Processes; Power and Influence

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17 Oct 2011
Research & Ideas

How ‘Hybrid’ Nonprofits Can Stay on Mission

increased public pressure to help address societal problems, for-profit firms have adopted social responsibility policies, which have pushed them to focus more on social initiatives." “Some of them have been... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

March 2019 (Revised August 2019)
Case

CareerWise Colorado

By: Rawi Abdelal, Joseph B. Fuller and Matthew Preble

CareerWise Colorado (CWC) is an organization that equips high school students with the skills to build successful careers through apprenticeships. Founded in 2016, the young organization has attracted interest from different groups and civic leaders from across the... View Details

Keywords: Apprenticeship; Nonprofit; Not For Profit; Labor Markets; Skills; Nonprofit Organizations; Education; Competency and Skills; Personal Development and Career; Growth and Development Strategy

28 Aug 2007
First Look

First Look: August 28, 2007

counterparts. In most countries, firms have become less diversified over time. However, there is no such trend in China. The level of diversification of Chinese enterprises does not vary over our study period (2001-2005), making Chinese... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

18 Jan 2012
Research & Ideas

Beyond Heroic Entrepreneurs

experts in the field gathered last year at HBS to discuss such funding issues at a seminar hosted by the School's Social Enterprise Initiative. "If there's such a rise in the hybrid models, as more and more... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

01 Sep 2023
Blog Post

Harvard Business School Announces 2023 Goldsmith Fellows

nonprofit and public sector organizations and demonstrate a strong commitment to continued career paths in these areas. New recipients are invited to participate in events with current and former recipients as well as local social View Details

March 2025 (Revised June 2025)
Case

Designing the Future of Work: Atlassian's Distributed Work Practices

By: Ashley Whillans and Gabriel Rondón Ichikawa

In early 2020, the software company Atlassian made a bold commitment: employees could work from anywhere—forever. While many tech peers reversed course on remote work, Atlassian worked to optimize their fully distributed model across 13 countries. This case follows... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Working Conditions; Management Practices and Processes; Product Development; Organizational Culture; Business Strategy; Employees; Technology Industry

Geoffrey Jones is the Isidor Straus Professor of Business History, and Faculty Chair of the School's Business History Initiative. He holds degrees of BA, MA and PhD from Cambridge University, UK. He has an honorary Doctorate in Economics and Business Administration... View Details

Keywords: banking; beauty products; construction; consumer products; energy; entertainment; fashion; financial services; food; food processing; green technology; petroleum; service industry

17 May 2004
Research & Ideas

Why We Don’t Study Corporate Responsibility

For too long, scholarship in the field of management has looked at economic performance rather than social welfare, argue HBS professor Joshua Margolis and colleagues James P. Walsh, of University of Michigan Business School, and Klaus... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls

2015
Chapter

Managerial Responsibility and the Purpose of Business: Doing One's Job Well

By: Nien-he Hsieh

Business managers routinely make decisions that significantly affect the lives of others in both positive and negative ways. In the light of these wide-ranging effects, much scholarship has been devoted to specifying the responsibilities of managers of for-profit... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives

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Why do advertising campaigns and new products often fail? Why do consumers feel that companies don't understand their needs? Because marketers themselves don't think deeply about consumers' innermost thoughts and feelings. Marketing Metaphoria is a groundbreaking book... View Details

March 2022 (Revised June 2022)
Case

The United States National Security Apparatus, Multipolarity, and the Rise of Commercial Space

By: Matthew C. Weinzierl and Brendan L. Rosseau

In 2019, the U.S. national security community crossed a Rubicon by declaring that space was “a war-fighting domain” and undergoing a major reorganization, including the creation of the U.S. Space Force, the first new military branch in over 70 years. Military and... View Details

Keywords: War; National Security; International Relations; Power and Influence

10 Jan 2005
Research & Ideas

Motivation and the Cross-Sector Alliance

With cross-sector collaborations on the rise, a new book exploring partnerships between business and social organizations in the Americas comes at just the right time. Social Partnering in Latin America:... View Details

Keywords: by James Austin, Ezequiel Reficco & SEKN research team

September 2016
Case

Ekal Vidyalaya: Education for Rural India

By: David Drake, Namrata Bhattacharya, Pooja Godbole and Amrita Saigal

By examining Ekal Vidyalaya (Ekal), a nonprofit network of schools in India, this case focuses on the classic challenge faced by organizations that grow through replication (e.g., McDonald's, Starbucks, Walmart, Whole Foods): How can they continue to drive growth when... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Early Childhood Education; India

October 2023 (Revised May 2024)
Case

Governance and Growth at GenUnity

By: Brian Trelstad, Paul Healy and Annelena Lobb

Jerren Chang, CEO and co-founder of GenUnity, had to choose a strategy to scale his civic engagement-focused nonprofit. Based in Boston, Chang could grow the organization there or begin to expand to other cities. He also had to select candidates for a board of... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Nonprofit Organizations; Expansion; Governing and Advisory Boards; Boston

March 2016
Teaching Note

Advanced Leadership Pathways: Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Tessa Natanay Hamilton and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

After a successful career as Chairman and CEO of Paris-based luxury food company, Fauchon, Laurent Adamowicz sought to provide a solution to a large scale complex problem. Ultimately, Adamowicz created a mobile application to provide consumers with more accessible and... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Change Management; Social Entrepreneurship; Nutrition; Business and Community Relations