Publications

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14 Jan 2022
Blog Post

Embracing Activism for Social Change

first post-HBS year managing the pilot. Resolving Crisis Situations Mendu and other members of the partnership developed a three-part initiative informed by the best practices they gathered from local stakeholders and officials across the... View Details

July 1998
Supplement

Bell Atlantic in Union City

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter

In this pioneering project to wire a school for the Internet and put computers in students' homes, Bell Atlantic combined its need for a beta site for a technology trial with the school reform efforts of the Union City, New Jersey public schools, under the leadership... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Social Enterprise; Internet and the Web; Education; Business and Community Relations; Education Industry; New Jersey

Research Summary

Of Measurement and Mission: Accounting for Performance in Non-Governmental Organizations

By: Debora L. Spar

As members of civil society NGOs would seem to have a built-in proclivity towards representation: towards working on behalf of some group of people, or toward some specific goal. Yet in practice such moments of accountability are rare. Unlike other social agents,... View Details

Research Summary

Privatization, Regulatory Reform and Management Strategy

Alexander Dyck's research illustrates why privatization and deregulation often improve performance and factors that separate success from failure. A simplistic model of privatization and regulatory reform assumed that the shift from government to private sector... View Details

February 2012
Article

A 'Core Periphery' Framework to Navigate Emerging Market Governments—Qualitative Evidence from a Biotechnology Multinational

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury, James Geraghty and Tarun Khanna

We build on the emerging literature of influence-based models to study how multinational firms can navigate host governments. Our "core-periphery" framework posits that the actions that an MNC takes with actors in what we call the "periphery"—comprised of state,... View Details

Keywords: Emerging Markets; Multinational Firms and Management; Business and Government Relations; Power and Influence; Framework; Biotechnology Industry; Massachusetts; Brazil; China; Costa Rica; France; India

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April 2017
Article

The Effectiveness of U.S. Energy Efficiency Building Labels

By: Omar Isaac Asensio and Magali A Delmas

Information programs are promising strategies to encourage investments in energy efficiency in commercial buildings. However, the realized effectiveness of these programs has not yet been estimated on a large scale. Here we take advantage of a large sample of monthly... View Details

Keywords: Energy Conservation; Green Building; Energy Policy

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May 2007 (Revised July 2011)
Background Note

Retail Shopping in 2007: The Net Versus the Mall

By: Stephen P. Bradley, Nancy Bartlett and James Weber

Provides an overview of the retail sector within the United States as online shopping captures an increased percentage of consumer spending. The role of enabling technologies and applications, including comparison shopping sites and recommendation systems, are covered.... View Details

Keywords: Spending; Marketing Channels; Demand and Consumers; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Retail Industry; United States

February 2013
Case

Recorded Future: Analyzing Internet Ideas About What Comes Next

Recorded Future is a "big data" startup company that uses Internet data to make predictions about events, people, and entities. The company primarily serves government intelligence agencies, but has some private sector clients and is considering taking on more. The... View Details

Keywords: Big Data; Analytics; Internet; Analytics and Data Science; Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Forecasting and Prediction; Business Startups; Information Technology Industry

December 2023 (Revised August 2024)
Case

Monsters in the Machine? Tackling the Challenge of Responsible AI

By: Paul M. Healy and Debora L. Spar

In November of 2022, the small tech company OpenAI released ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence chatbot which quickly captured the public’s imagination—becoming the world’s fastest-growing consumer application within months of its release. Though observers from across... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; AI and Machine Learning; Ethics; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Technology Adoption; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Technology Industry; United States; European Union; China

March 2012 (Revised September 2012)
Case

INRIX

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Ryan Johnson

Since its founding in 2004, INRIX, a leading global provider of traffic information and driver services, had received four rounds of financing from leading venture capital (VC) firms and by 2012 had been cash flow positive for the past six quarters. Its founder, Bryan... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Leadership; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Exit or Shutdown; Business Startups; Organizational Structure; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Competitive Strategy; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; Washington (state, US)

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August 2015 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Amazon.com, 2021

By: John R. Wells, Benjamin Weinstock, Gabriel Ellsworth and Galen Danskin

In February 2021, Amazon announced 2020 operating profits of $22,899 million, up from $2,233 million in 2015, on sales of $386 billion, up from $107 billion five years earlier (see Exhibit 1). The shareholders expressed their satisfaction (see Exhibit 2), but not all... View Details

16 Jul 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Principles that Matter: Sustaining Software Innovation from the Client to the Web

Keywords: by Marco Iansiti; Video Game; Web Services

February 22, 2023
Article

How to Seed Organic Marketing in a Video-First World

By: Ayelet Israeli, Leonard A. Schlesinger and Matt Higgins

Early direct-to-consumer (DTC) companies relied on plentiful capital and low-cost digital marketing to power growth. But as this sector has matured, capital is more constrained, social media is more cluttered, and customer acquisition costs are rising. DTC companies... View Details

Keywords: Online Business; Ecommerce; E-commerce; E-Commerce Strategy; Omnichannel Retail; Omnichannel Retailing; Influencer Marketing; Consumer; Organic Growth; Video Advertising; Promotion; Celebrities; Online Advertising; Online Channel; Online Communities; Online Community; Go To Market Strategy; Platform; Media; Media Content; Digital; Digital Culture; Digital Influencers; Direct To Consumer Marketing; Direct-to-consumer; Innovation ＆ Entrepreneurship; Innovation; Sales; Digital Platforms; Digital Marketing; Digital Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Internet and the Web; Advertising; Business Model; Growth Management; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Marketing Channels; Marketing Communications; Communication Strategy; Innovation Strategy; Retail Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Fashion Industry; Advertising Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States; North America