Publications

2012
Working Paper

Is India's Manufacturing Sector Moving Away from Cities?

By: Ejaz Ghani, Arti Grover Goswami and William R. Kerr

This paper investigates the urbanization of the Indian manufacturing sector by combining enterprise data from formal and informal sectors. We find that plants in the formal sector are moving away from urban and into rural locations, while the informal sector is moving... View Details

Keywords: Urban Development; Policy; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Geographic Location; Education; Infrastructure; Manufacturing Industry; India

Read Now

27 Jul 2023
Blog Post

Buy Big, Sell Small

If you live in a rural village or small city in India and run low on toothpaste, rice, or cooking oil, you’ll likely visit your local kirana, the equivalent of a US neighborhood variety store and a mainstay of the country’s $932 billion... View Details

22 Jul 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Financial Development, Bank Ownership, and Growth. Or, Does Quantity Imply Quality?

Keywords: by Shawn A. Cole; Banking

March 2017 (Revised March 2019)
Case

Ant Financial (A)

By: Feng Zhu, Ying Zhang, Krishna G. Palepu, Anthony K. Woo and Nancy Hua Dai

Headquartered in Hangzhou (China), Ant Financial has grown into a fintech “Unicorn.” The fintech empire that the company established spanned verticals such as mobile and online payment (Alipay), money market fund (Yu’e Bao), wealth management (Ant Fortune),... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Global Strategy; Finance; Opportunities; Financial Services Industry; Technology Industry

October 2021 (Revised May 2023)
Case

Project Maji: Pricing Water in Sub-Saharan Africa

By: Elie Ofek, Marco Bertini, Dilyana Karadzhova Botha and Esel Çekin

In July 2021, Sunil Lalvani, founder and CEO of Project Maji, a non-profit social enterprise headquartered in Dubai that had already provided sustainable, clean water solutions to 80,000 people living in rural communities across Ghana and Kenya, was facing an important... View Details

Keywords: Water; Pricing; Nonprofit Organizations; Projects; Price; Decision Making; Social Enterprise; Growth and Development Strategy; Equity; Green Technology; Social and Collaborative Networks; Africa; Dubai

11 May 2020
Working Paper Summaries

Targeting High Ability Entrepreneurs Using Community Information: Mechanism Design in the Field

Keywords: by Reshmaan Hussam, Natalia Rigol, and Benjamin N. Roth

December 2014 (Revised October 2017)
Case

Social Business at Novartis: Arogya Parivar

By: Michael E. Porter, Mark R. Kramer and David Lane

Late in 2013, Novartis CEO Joseph Jimenez was considering whether or how to deepen the company's investment in Arogya Parivar, its profitable program that sold Novartis medicines in rural India while expanding access to medicine and health information to millions of... View Details

Keywords: Shared Value; India; Kenya; Vietnam; Novartis; Arogya Parivar; Social Business; Multinational Firms and Management; Competitive Advantage; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Pharmaceutical Industry; Viet Nam; Kenya; India

July 2012 (Revised July 2012)
Case

The Madera Ranch and Water Bank

By: Andre F. Perold and Geoffrey Bernstein

The protagonist is trying to decide whether to purchase and develop an aquifer lying beneath rural land near Fresno, California. The project could fill a void for local farmers as well as surrounding municipalities and a variety of other customers throughout... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Assets; Decision Making; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; California

Video

Gabriela Cabrera

Gabriela Cabrera, President of Manos del Uruguay, describes how five women established the non-profit in 1968, challenging social expectations and employing rural communities throughout the country. View Details

20 Nov 2019
Video

Shamlu Dudeja

Shamlu Dudeja, founder of Malika’s Kantha Collection and Chair of SHE Foundation based in Kolkata, India describes how she reinvented the traditional sewing craft of kantha to make luxury and art products. She... View Details

February 2011 (Revised September 2013)
Case

Sarvajal: Water for All

By: John D. Macomber and Mona Sinha

Entrepreneur wrestles with business model using SMS and RFID technology, franchising, and leasing to rapidly grow off-the-grid water purification business without subsidies. The company seeks to provide potable water services to rural and urban India where the public... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Business Model; Communication Technology; Private Sector; Social Entrepreneurship; Cost Management; Rural Scope; Emerging Markets; Infrastructure; Problems and Challenges; Information Infrastructure; India

Article

Competition and Social Identity in the Workplace: Evidence from a Chinese Textile Firm

By: Takao Kato and Pian Shu

We study the impact of social identity on worker competition by exploiting the well-documented social divide between urban resident workers and rural migrant workers in urban Chinese firms. We analyze data on weekly output, individual characteristics, and coworker... View Details

Keywords: Social Identity; Coworker Effect; Productivity; Relative Performance Incentive; Intergroup Competition; Competition; Groups and Teams; Performance Productivity; Identity

Find at Harvard

09 Oct 2017
Working Paper Summaries

Habit Formation and Rational Addiction: A Field Experiment in Handwashing

Keywords: by Reshmaan Hussam, Atonu Rabbani, Giovanni Reggiani, and Natalia Rigol

30 Nov 2014
News

Harvard students help rebuild Afghanistan with one ingredient: Saffron

November 2015 (Revised October 2017)
Case

Nestle's Creating Shared Value Strategy

By: Michael E. Porter, Mark R. Kramer, Kerry Herman and Sarah McAra

This case considers Nestlé’s creating shared value (CSV) strategy, which focused on the three categories of nutrition, water, and rural development. In the packaged food and beverage industry, pressure had mounted since the 1990s to improve supply chain sustainability... View Details

Keywords: Shared Value; Health And Wellness; Nutrition; Health; Labor; Environmental Sustainability; Strategy; Operations; Food and Beverage Industry; Switzerland; Europe; Africa; Latin America; North America; Asia

Video

HBS Online Community Challenge 2020

02 May 2014
Video

Saathi: 2014 New Venture Competition Social Enterprise Track Winner

June 2005 (Revised August 2011)
Case

Narayana Hrudayalaya Heart Hospital: Cardiac Care for the Poor (A)

By: Tarun Khanna, V. Kasturi Rangan and Merlina Manocaran

Describes the mission, vision, and strategy of a team of entrepreneurs headed by a charismatic heart surgeon who founded a heart hospital in Bangalore, India. The purpose of the hospital was to offer health care for the masses. This tertiary care hospital performed... View Details

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Goals and Objectives; Social Marketing; Mission and Purpose; Strategic Planning; Social Enterprise; Welfare; Health Industry; Service Industry; Bangalore