Publications

02 Aug 2022
Research & Ideas

6 Strategies for Building Socially Responsible—and Profitable—Companies

A dozen years ago, Harvard Business School Professor George Serafeim wondered why some companies operated with an eye toward the greater good, while most did not. Back then, he always got the same response: Corporate leaders thought social and environmental practices... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

September 2023 (Revised July 2024)
Case

Honest Jobs: A Path to Redemption

By: Paul A. Gompers and Jeffrey Barkas

Founded by a formerly incarcerated job seeker, Honest Jobs' mission is to be the hub where people with criminal records come to build careers and employers come to find great talent. Honest Jobs faced early challenges as a two-sided platform for justice-involved job... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Venture Capital; Recruitment; Entrepreneurial Finance; Selection and Staffing; Digital Platforms; Job Search; Mission and Purpose; Expansion; Employment Industry; United States; Colorado; Ohio; Texas

01 Sep 2023
News

Global Outposts Expand HBS’s Intellectual Footprint

Since taking over as CEO of Tata Steel in 2013, T. V. Narendran had sought to transform India’s oldest steel manufacturing firm to ready it for a rapidly evolving business world. He instilled financial discipline, acquired new businesses, and launched digital... View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Gillespie

October 2021
Case

(180) Days of Quibi

By: David J. Collis and Terrence Shu

Mobile streaming app Quibi was ready to take the entertainment world by storm at its April 2020 launch. Backed by $1.75 billion, influential investors from Hollywood to Wall Street eagerly anticipated early success for this brainchild of Meg Whitman, former CEO of... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Strategy; Business Model; Business Startups; Mobile Technology

05 Oct 2020
Book

Want to Be Happier? Make More Free Time

right, don’t be afraid to speak up, Whillans suggests. “We forget that just as we can negotiate for a higher salary and other benefits, we can also negotiate for more time at work,” she says. 3. Throw money at the problem. Venture capitalists often advise View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

03 Jun 2022
Research & Ideas

In a Work-from-Anywhere World, How Remote Will Workers Go?

incentivized entrepreneurs through Start-Up Chile, which provides qualified entrepreneurs with a year-long visa and $40,000 in equity-free grants. In return, entrepreneurs must participate in Chile’s economy. So far, the program has attracted over 2,000 View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin

December 2006 (Revised January 2007)
Case

Chief Timothy Adeola Odutola and Nigeria's Manufacturing Sector

By: Nitin Nohria, Anthony Mayo, Foluke Otudeko and Mark Benson

Chief Timothy Adeola Odutola was an important contributor to Nigeria's manufacturing sector, creating a multimillion-dollar conglomerate including three factories, a retail franchise, a cattle ranch, a 5,000-acre plantation, a sawmill, and an exporting business before... View Details

Keywords: History; Business Conglomerates; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Success; Leadership Style; Business History; Market Entry and Exit; Personal Development and Career; Business Startups; Manufacturing Industry; Nigeria

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Courses by Faculty Unit - Course Catalog

Technologies that Will Change the World Shikhar Ghosh Spring 2026 Q3Q4 3.0 Avoiding Startup Failure DJ DiDonna Spring 2026 Q3Q4 3.0 B2B Sales and Distribution (also listed under Marketing) Lou Shipley Spring 2026 Q3 1.5 Business at the... View Details

15 Dec 2023
News

Like-Minded

Yumiko Murakami (MBA 1994), Miwa Seki (MBA 1993), and Kathy Matsui share the same month and year of birth, so the friends started an annual birthday get-together to reflect on the year ahead. Work was always a hot topic of discussion. Each woman had built a strong... View Details

30 Mar 2023
Blog Post

Breaking Barriers and Building Community: Get to Know the HBS Women’s Student Association (WSA)

and Founding Partner at Imaginary Ventures), and Angela F. Williams (President and CEO of United Way Worldwide) as well as 7 panels and a startup pitch competition. Panel speakers included women execs from big tech, AI startups, medical... View Details

May–June 2021
Article

Why Start-ups Fail

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann

If you’re launching a business, the odds are against you: Two-thirds of start-ups never show a positive return. Unnerved by that statistic, a professor of entrepreneurship at Harvard Business School set out to discover why. Based on interviews and surveys with hundreds... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Problems and Challenges; Failure

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18 Feb 2019
Book

What’s Really Disrupting Business? It’s Not Technology

following the steps a customer takes to select, buy, and consume a product or service. You call these situations “decoupling.” Could you give an example? Teixeira: A great example of decoupling is an insurance startup called Trov. It’s an... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Beauty & Cosmetics; Insurance; Service; Retail

05 Feb 2019
News

The First Five Years: Karan Shah (MBA 2016)

a three-person startup based out of our home. The difference in size and scale is often challenging, but is training me to compartmentalize my head space, wear different hats, and stay grounded! “While the PCL group is expanding borders... View Details

08 Feb 2024
Blog Post

African American Student Union Spotlight on Joint Degrees

Microsoft, I spent a few years exploring entrepreneurship, both on the operator side – joining and founding startups in the crypto space – and on the investor side as a Venture Partner and mentor at firms including Bessemer and A16z.... View Details

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Entrepreneurial Support - Business & Environment

overcome them in order to drive impact at scale. For the full listing, click here . HBS EC Course - Public Entrepreneurship - Mitchell Weiss This course is designed for students who may found, join, or fund private startup companies that... View Details

January 2020 (Revised May 2020)
Case

Direct to Consumer Brands

By: Sunil Gupta

Recent years have seen the dramatic rise of direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands by several startups. Many of these brands, such as Dollar Shave Club, Harry’s, Glossier, and Allbirds, entered mature markets dominated by established companies, and yet they grew rapidly to... View Details

Keywords: Direct-to-consumer; Digital Marketing; Industry Evolution; Business Startups; Internet and the Web; Brands and Branding; Marketing; Change