Publications

March 2007 (Revised April 2007)
Case

Micro Insurance Agency: Helping the Poor Manage Risk

By: Michael Chu and Jean Hazell

The notable success of insurance products for low-income clients of its microfinance network leads Opportunity International to launch the first global specialized microinsurance company, the Micro Insurance Agency (MIA). Building on the experience in 10 countries... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Cost Management; Microfinance; Globalization; Growth and Development Strategy; Risk Management; Infrastructure; Nonprofit Organizations; Competition; Financial Services Industry; Africa; Asia; Latin America

December 2006 (Revised February 2007)
Case

Opportunity International: Measurement and Mission

By: Herman B. Leonard, Marc J. Epstein and Melissa Tritter

After a "first career" in business, HBS graduate Christopher Crane becomes CEO of a worldwide microfinance network. The organization's twin challenges are: 1) developing metrics to give it an accurate picture of its situation and impacts, and 2) generating rapid... View Details

Keywords: Microfinance; Measurement and Metrics; Problems and Challenges; Growth and Development Strategy; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Business Model; Nonprofit Organizations; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Financial Services Industry

16 Dec 2014
First Look

First Look: December 16

policies can be partially explained by respondents' low trust in government and a disconnect between concerns about social issues and the public policies meant to address them. Publisher's link: View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

28 Aug 2012
First Look

First Look: August 28

et al. Publication: British Journal of Social Psychology (forthcoming) Abstract Income inequality undermines societies: the more inequality, the more health problems, social tensions, and the lower View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

29 Oct 2013
First Look

First Look: October 29

financially constrained. Download working paper: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2338575 Social Norms Versus Social Responsibility: False Expectations of Leniency in the Punishment of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 2023
Technical Note

Free and Open Source Software and Hardware

By: Frank Nagle

This technical note surveys the concepts of free and open source software and hardware. It introduces the concepts in general, providing a brief history of their development and numerous examples of how companies employ them in practice. Further, it identifies various... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Technological Innovation; Nonprofit Organizations; Competitive Strategy; Patents; Information Technology; Business Model; Open Source Distribution; Applications and Software; Information Technology Industry; Technology Industry

31 Aug 2016
Research & Ideas

One Quarter of Entrepreneurs in the United States Are Immigrants

downs of their companies, and the ability of those enterprises to create jobs. “Before this, the most prominent source of information we had was self-employment statistics,” says Kerr. Self-employment, however, can mean many things and is... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

30 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

New Paths to Success in Asia

Businesses in the Asia-Pacific region today are caught up in a dizzying swirl of economic, cultural, political, technological, and social change. Enormous opportunities await managers who can harness these power currents to drive their... View Details

Keywords: by Alejandro Reyes & Deborah Blagg

20 Nov 2012
First Look

First Look: November 20

modified Walmart's human resource practices by offering better benefits and wages to associates in response to growing social pressure. Overall, our analysis suggests that the effectiveness of a particular business model depends not only... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2009 (Revised January 2011)
Case

International AIDS Vaccine Initiative

By: Allen S. Grossman and Cathy Ross

Dedicated to accelerating the development of a safe, effective, accessible, preventive HIV vaccine, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) pioneered ways of addressing the inadequate incentive structures that prevented progress toward vaccines for AIDS and... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Globalized Firms and Management; Health Care and Treatment; Health Disorders; Business and Government Relations; Partners and Partnerships; Research and Development; Social Enterprise; Health Industry

Find at Harvard

May 2018
Case

The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation's Answer Fund

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Matthew G. Preble

February 2010
Teaching Note

SEWA Trade Facilitation Center: Changing the Spool (TN)

By: Mukti Khaire

Teaching Note for [810044]. View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Welfare or Wellbeing; Sales; Financing and Loans; Transformation; Decision Making; For-Profit Firms; Poverty; Rural Scope; Urban Scope; Cooperative Ownership; Customers

29 Apr 2014
First Look

First Look: April 29

Transfers usefully move resources from lowest- to highest-valuation networks, but transfers tend to cause socially costly growth in the Internet's routing table. We propose a market rule that avoids excessive trading and comes close to... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2013 (Revised October 2015)
Case

Pittsburgh

By: Eric Werker, Meg Rithmire, Benjamin Kennedy and Andrew Knauer

The case narrates the development of Pittsburgh from the 1940s to 2012. It analyzes the collapse of the steel industry in the early 1980s, the city's subsequent decline, and the city's later re-emergence as a hub for higher education, the tech sector, and the... View Details

21 Oct 2014
First Look

First Look: October 21

management. Publisher's link: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2400618 October 2014 Leading Sustainable Change: An Organizational Perspective How Purpose-based Companies Master Change for Sustainability: A Systemic Approach to Global View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

12 Jun 2019
Research & Ideas

Investors Have More Than Money to Offer Entrepreneurs

website; putting their firm’s logo/board member on your website Invitations to marketing and sales events Tapping their social media presence for sharing news and events Beyond the basics: Investors look at markets all day, every day, and... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Austin

06 Mar 2007
First Look

First Look: March 6, 2007

repertoire of personal qualities, including qualities that run counter to conventionally masculine scripts. Our findings point to the mutability of masculine identity as a social status achievement and to how organizations can disrupt... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

September 2011
Supplement

Narayana Hrudayalaya Heart Hospital

By: Tarun Khanna and Tanya Bijlani

Narayana Hrudayalaya (NH) is one of the world's busiest heart hospitals, where surgeons perform 30-35 complex cardiac surgeries daily. With an average cost of $1,800 per surgery, the hospital treats patients at affordable prices, and does not turn away even the poorest... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Experience and Expertise; Cost Management; Insurance; Health Care and Treatment; Resource Allocation; Time Management; Emerging Markets; Infrastructure; Cooperative Ownership; Quality; Social Enterprise; Health Industry; Karnataka