Sustainable Cities - Publications - Faculty & Research

June 2011 (Revised October 2012)
Case

Patagonia Sur: For-Profit Land Conservation in Chile

By: Arthur I Segel, Nicolas Ibanez and Jay Verjee

Warren Adams founded Patagonia Sur in 2007 as one of the world's first for-profit land conservation businesses. His goal was to purchase over 100,000 acres of land in southern Chile and to run a variety of sustainable businesses to generate annual returns for... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Environmental Sustainability; Profit; Investment; For-Profit Firms; Entrepreneurship; Investment Return; Revenue; Risk and Uncertainty; Capital; SWOT Analysis; Real Estate Industry; Chile

Citation

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19 May 2015
First Look

First Look: May 19

urban development at the national level and in three cities in a single Chinese region. The study reveals that the initial liberalization of land was reversed after China's first contemporary real estate bubble in the early 1990s and that... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

03 Jul 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, July 3, 2018

forthcoming IMF Economic Review Debt Redemption and Reserve Accumulation By: Alfaro, Laura, and Fabio Kanczuk Abstract—In the past decade, foreign participation in local-currency bond markets in emerging countries increased dramatically. We revisit sovereign debt View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

April 2020 (Revised May 2025)
Case

Shorefast: A Strange and Familiar Way to Reimagine Capitalism

By: Brian Trelstad, Wendy Smith and Natalie Slawinski

In 2006, Zita Cobb and two of her brothers, Alan Cobb and Tony Cobb, native Newfoundlanders, launched Shorefast to help grow another leg of Fogo Island’s economy. Like so many rural communities, Fogo Island’s fate was tied directly to one primary resource—in this case... View Details

Keywords: Place Making; Non-profit; Hotel; Economic Development; Tourism; Social Entrepreneurship; Nonprofit Organizations; Development Economics; Economic Systems; Tourism Industry; Canada

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18 Dec 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, December 18, 2018

Capabilities: A Meso Model of Sustained Innovation and Superior Firm Performance By: Harvey, Jean-François, Henrik Bresman, and Amy C. Edmondson Abstract—This paper complements the manager-centered analysis of dynamic capabilities with a... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

11 Jun 2024
In Practice

The Harvard Business School Faculty Summer Reader 2024

As the vacation season looms, Harvard Business School faculty members share recommendations for a little light reading. Spoiler alert: Lessons in Chemistry tops two of their beach-read lists. For those whose brains can’t—or won’t—turn off, HBS faculty also suggest some... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

24 Dec 2013
First Look

First Look: December 24

In the brief time she had been with the company, she had had a few experiences that made her question the company's approach to management and the sustainability of its business. Accepting the assignment could give her a unique... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

May 2025
Case

'Net Zero in Action': Impact Investing at the McKnight Foundation

By: Lauren Cohen, Christina R. Wing and Sophia Pan

Elizabeth McGeveran, Vice President of Investments at the McKnight Foundation, reflected on how to effectively advance the organization’s net-zero strategy. The foundation had committed 10% of its endowment to building a portfolio of impact investments and was among... View Details

Citation

Educators

17 Jan 2023
In Practice

8 Trends to Watch in 2023

As 2023 begins, businesses and employees face an uncertain economy and labor market, as the twin dilemmas of inflation and interest rates weigh on forecasts. Harvard Business School faculty share the top trends that they believe will shape the workplace and markets... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

16 Oct 2023
HBS Case

Advancing Black Talent: From the Flight Ramp to 'Family-Sustaining' Careers at Delta

that are working to create a more diverse workforce. One lesson Bastian has learned through his efforts: To create a sustainable strategy, business leaders can’t view diversity hiring as a one-time push to bring people on board, but... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Air Transportation

03 May 2016
First Look

First Look, May 3, 2016

ambitious goal of creating a showcase high-tech city from scratch. The collaboration brought together software entrepreneurs, real estate developers, city government officials, architects, builders, and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

20 Sep 2017
Research & Ideas

The Three Types of Leaders Who Create Radical Change

French youth services organization Unis-Cité, which was modeled after the American nonprofit City Year. Credit: Unis-Cité “If you do not innovate and have a solution to the problem you’ve identified, the movement will die,” she says. “I... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

23 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

China’s 60-Year Road from Revolution to World Power

They saw a stagnant or even declining economy during China's Republican period, divided sharply between the internationally-oriented port cities and the unchanging, "feudal" interior, with its increasingly impoverished... View Details

Keywords: by William C. Kirby

30 Nov 2021
In Practice

What's the Role of Business in Confronting Climate Change?

The 26th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties, also known as COP26, ended with a hard-fought pact that called on businesses and governments to meet their climate change goals faster. The event followed an August report by the Intergovernmental... View Details

Keywords: by Lynn Schenk and Dina Gerdeman

01 Apr 2024
In Practice

Navigating the Mood of Customers Weary of Price Hikes

decreasing). Indeed, that’s the case, but the average masks a lot of differences: across products, across geographies, across consumption patterns. And it appears that those differences have been increasing in the past few years, with some View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Retail; Consumer Products

29 Sep 2015
First Look

September 29, 2015

whose value proposition is based on heritage—in this case “achievements for the benefit of mankind” (derived directly from Alfred Nobel’s will). It is also defined as a “networked brand,” one where four independent collaborating organisations around the (Nobel) hub... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

08 Dec 2015
First Look

December 8, 2015

profitable customers who are the most attracted by superior quality alternatives. Our results appear to have long-run implications whereby sustaining a high level of service quality is associated with the incumbent attracting and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

11 Mar 2019
Research & Ideas

Branding Sells Cereal, Handbags, and Vacations. Can It Sell a Country?

cheeses won’t resonate with tech entrepreneurs. Enduring. Building a brand around renewable energy might not stick if oil prices fall for a sustained period or a pro-coal leader takes power, but the unique essence of a View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Tourism

31 Oct 2017
First Look

New Research and Ideas, October 31, 2017

nineteenth century, showed it gained momentum from the 1960s, and resulted in a mainstreaming of sustainability rhetoric, and sometimes practice, in large corporations from the 1980s, primarily in Western developed countries. A more... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

June 2024
Case

Vinalhaven: The Downtown Project

By: Richard S. Ruback, Matthew Preble, Ruth Page and Dave Habeeb

Vinalhaven is an island community located approximately 12 miles off the coast of Maine. The island has a year-round population of about 1,300 people as of 2022, with an additional 3,000 people who reside on the island in the summer months. The two largest industries... View Details