Publications

February 2011 (Revised September 2013)
Case

Sound Group China: Urban Waste Entrepreneurs

By: John D. Macomber, Chad M. Carr and Fan Zhao

Private sector entrepreneur in China with advanced solid waste management capability competes with state owned enterprises and also government policies supporting a rival technology. Wen Yibo has used engineering expertise and political savvy to build a major privately... View Details

Keywords: Private Sector; Public Sector; Service Delivery; Business and Government Relations; Environmental Sustainability; Wastes and Waste Processing; Urban Development; Utilities Industry; China

21 Apr 2023
Research & Ideas

The $15 Billion Question: Have Loot Boxes Turned Video Gaming into Gambling?

players use to compete. "People are thinking about ways to design policies and products so you can actually engage with the product in more responsible ways without getting people too overinvolved in playing and spending." A new paper by... View Details

Keywords: by Scott Van Voorhis; Video Game; Media & Broadcasting

November 1987 (Revised January 1988)
Case

Groen: A Dover Industries Company

By: Francis Aguilar

Describes the challenges facing the president of an old-line foodservice and food processing equipment manufacturing company as it attempted to accelerate sales and profit growth through the introduction of innovative products. The introduction of a "revolutionary"... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Labor and Management Relations; Machinery and Machining; Management Style; Management Teams; Performance Efficiency; Technological Innovation; Product Development; Organizational Culture

Research Areas - Doctoral

environment in which businesses operate. Drawing from perspectives of economic theory, political science, and history, they examine the “rules” and policies established by government and other non-business... View Details

South Asia - Global

South Asia Mumbai For the past decade the HBS community has demonstrated a strong interest in research related to South Asia. The India Research Center (IRC) was established in 2006 and is based in Mumbai. Following significant economic View Details

07 May 2013
First Look

First Look: May 7

644 geographically isolated markets in which a nationwide retail bank conducted business over a five-year period. We find that customers defect at a higher rate from the incumbent following increased service quality (price) competition... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

31 Oct 2022
Research & Ideas

Why the Largest Minority Group Faces the Most Hate—and How to Push Back

the relative rank of a group in any given community. A minority group ranked as the largest experiences the most discrimination, followed by the second-largest group, and so on, explains Harvard Business School Assistant Professor Marco... View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

ULI Report Provides Wildfire, Energy, and Economic Resilience Strategies to Sonoma County

Sonoma County, Calif., can enhance its ability to withstand and recover from wildfires by re-envisioning its land use, energy, and housing policies through a cooperative... View Details

December 2007
Case

Ruling the Modern Corporation: The Debate over Limited Liability in Massachusetts

By: David A. Moss and Eugene Kintgen

In 1830, Governor Levi Lincoln, Jr. urged the Massachusetts state legislature to introduce a limited liability regime for manufacturing corporations similar to that adopted in neighboring states. At least since 1809, shareholders in the state's manufacturing... View Details

Keywords: Capital; Debt Securities; Legal Liability; Production; Business and Shareholder Relations; Manufacturing Industry; Massachusetts

24 Jul 2000
Research & Ideas

Value Maximization and Stakeholder Theory

choose among alternative policy options), what would it be? Or, even more simply, How do we want the firms in our economy to measure better versus worse?" It's tempting to consider value simply as a matter of maximizing the... View Details

Keywords: by Michael C. Jensen

Entrepreneurial Management - Faculty & Research

longtime workers will balk at learning these new skills and end up quitting, causing the company to lose hundreds of years of cumulative experience. The CEO is now unsure of how to proceed. August 2025 Article Revenue Collapses and the Consumption of Small View Details

People - Doctoral

Economics Anastassia Fedyk PHD 2019 Organizational Behavior Alexandra C. Feldberg DBA 2020 Accounting & Management Patrick Ferguson DBA 2021 Marketing Ximena Garcia-Rada PHD 2022 Business Economics Talia Gillis PHD 2021 Health View Details

29 Jul 2019
Research & Ideas

How Companies Benefit When Employees Work Remotely

Operations Management Unit at Harvard Business School, and fellow researchers compared the outcomes of flexible work arrangements at the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The team found that employees with liberal “work from... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

19 Sep 2023
HBS Case

How Will the Tech Titans Behind ChatGPT, Bard, and LLaMA Make Money?

The dizzying explosion of generative artificial intelligence platforms has been the big business story of the past year, but how they’ll make money and how smart companies can use them wisely are the questions that will dominate the next... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Technology; Information Technology

14 Feb 2023
HBS Case

Is Sweden Still 'Sweden'? A Liberal Utopia Grapples with an Identity Crisis

lately, Sweden doesn’t seem as traditionally Swedish. The far-right Sweden Democrat party finished second in September’s election, touting an anti-immigrant campaign. The party’s parliamentary votes will influence the nation’s policies in... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

January 2009
Background Note

Financial Networks and Informal Banking in China: From Pawnshops to Private Equity

By: Elisabeth Koll

Provides an analysis of why informal financial networks and institutions still play an extremely important role in China's economy in the 21st century. Although China has emerged as one of the fastest growing economies in the world, it still suffers from a weak... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Private Equity; Banks and Banking; Financing and Loans; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; State Ownership; Business and Government Relations; Networks; China

February 2016 (Revised March 2018)
Case

Labor, Capital, and Government: The Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902

By: David Moss and Marc Campasano

In late October 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt felt relieved after months of anxiety and uncertainty. Workers in Pennsylvania's anthracite coal industry had been on strike for five months, threatening to leave eastern cities in the cold without enough heating fuel... View Details

Keywords: Governance; Agreements and Arrangements; Business and Government Relations; Labor; Law; Policy; Mining; History; Mining Industry; Pennsylvania

July 2016
Article

Taxation, Corruption, and Growth

By: Philippe Aghion, Ufuk Akcigit, Julia Cagé and William R. Kerr

We build an endogenous growth model to analyze the relationships between taxation, corruption, and economic growth. Entrepreneurs lie at the center of the model and face disincentive effects from taxation but acquire positive benefits from public infrastructure.... View Details

Keywords: Endogenous Growth; Public Goods; Corruption; Crime and Corruption; Entrepreneurship; Taxation; Economic Growth

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2013
Working Paper

Learning from Double-Digit Growth Experiences

By: Eric D. Werker

This extended memorandum identifies episodes of sustained double-digit growth in real GDP, defined as a compound annual growth rate of 10 percent or more over a period of 8 years or longer. Using a measure of real GDP reported in the World Development Indicators, we... View Details

Keywords: Growth; Liberia