Publications

2017
Working Paper

Knowledge Flows within Multinationals—Estimating Relative Influence of Headquarters and Host Context Using a Gravity Model

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury, Mike Horia Teodorescu and Tarun Khanna

From the perspective of a multinational subsidiary, we employ the classic gravity equation in economics to model and compare knowledge flows to the subsidiary from the MNC headquarters and from the host country context. We also generalize traditional economics gravity... View Details

Keywords: Multinationals; Knowledge Flows; Cosine Similarity; Gravity Model; Multinational Firms and Management; Knowledge Dissemination; Business Headquarters; Immigration

March 2016 (Revised April 2017)
Teaching Note

Bridj and the Business of Urban Mobility (A): Introducing a New Model

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jonathan Cohen

This note is for the purpose of aiding classroom instructors in the use of the Harvard Business School case "Bridj and the Business of Urban Mobility: Introducing a New Model." Instructors may use it to help students understand the challenges that come with disrupting... View Details

May 2025
Teaching Note

Bridj and the Business of Urban Mobility (B): A New Model in Kansas City

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jonathan Cohen

This Teaching Note helps instructors teach students the HBS Case, Bridj and the Business of Urban Mobility (B): A New Model in Kansas City. In late 2016, Bridj was expanding its digital platform to help address urban mobility problems faced by cities across the country... View Details

Keywords: Transportation; Urban Development; App Development; Innovation; Stakeholder Engagement; Collaboration; Startup; Ride-sharing; Entrenchment; Disruption; Digital

February 2025
Tutorial

Preparing Business Leaders for an Era of Climate Instability: Understanding and Managing Physical Climate Risk

By: Michael W. Toffel and Spencer Glendon

In this compelling video, Spencer Glendon, founder of Probable Futures and Executive Fellow at Harvard Business School, describes the profound implications of climate change for businesses, the economy, and societies around the world. Drawing from his background in... View Details

Keywords: Modeling; Climate Change; Adaptation; Risk and Uncertainty; Risk Management; Forecasting and Prediction

July 2008 (Revised January 2009)
Case

Londolozi: Towards a Sustainable Business Model and Ecological Integrity in Southern Africa

By: Rawi E. Abdelal and Thomas Koelble

The Londolozi game viewing reserve in South Africa became a defining icon of ecotourism during the 1990s and early 2000s-that is, a tourist business promoting ecological land management and, at the same time, local economic development. The reserve was in a region in... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Environmental Sustainability; Tourism Industry; South Africa

December 2008
Article

Behavioral Frontiers in Choice Modeling

We review the discussion at a workshop whose goal was to achieve a better integration among behavioral, economic, and statistical approaches to choice modeling. The workshop explored how current approaches to the specification, estimation, and application of choice... View Details

Keywords: Mathematical Methods; Integration; Goals and Objectives; Decision Choices and Conditions; Problems and Challenges; Business Processes; Customers; Behavior; Economics

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May 2024
Article

Design of Off-Grid Lighting Business Models to Serve the Poor: Field Experiments and Structural Analysis

By: Bhavani Shanker Uppari, Serguei Netessine, Ioanna Popescu and Rowan P. Clarke

A significant proportion of the world's population has no access to grid-based electricity and so relies on off-grid lighting solutions. Rechargeable lamp technology is gaining popularity as an alternative off-grid lighting model in developing countries. In this paper,... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Developing Countries and Economies; Consumer Behavior; Poverty; Logistics; Business Model; Utilities Industry

May 2021
Supplement

Hello Alfred: Come Home Happy — Operating the Business Model Exercise, Instructor Version

By: Joseph B. Fuller and Christopher Payton

On a mission to "automate the on-demand economy," Harvard Business School classmates Marcela Sapone and Jessica Beck launched Hello Alfred in 2013 to provide subscribers with an "Alfred" to complete various chores for a monthly fee. In early 2016, the company has built... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Internet and the Web; Business Startups; Service Operations; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Service Industry; New York (city, NY); Boston

August 2013 (Revised September 2015)
Case

Coursera

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Hyunjin Kim

By providing free and open-access online courses at a large scale, Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) platforms seek to innovate the business models of the traditional higher education industry. In a little over a year, Coursera had grown at a rapid rate to emerge as a... View Details

Keywords: Business Models; Strategy; Competition; Business Model; Internet and the Web; Higher Education; Competitive Advantage; Education Industry

January 2021 (Revised March 2021)
Case

Jumia's Path to Profitability

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Pippa Tubman Armerding and Gamze Yucaoglu

The case opens in September 2019 as Sacha Poignonnec and Jeremy Hodara, co-founders and co-CEOs of Jumia, the leading Pan-African e-commerce platform, are contemplating the company’s path to profitability in the aftermath of a fragile investor sentiment, as the company... View Details

08 Sep 2016
Working Paper Summaries

A Model of Credit Market Sentiment

Keywords: by Robin Greenwood, Samuel G. Hanson, and Lawrence J. Jin; Financial Services

August 2015 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Bridj and the Business of Urban Mobility (A): Developing a New Model

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Daniel Fox

Bridj, a Boston startup that provides Big Data-powered, "pop-up" bus routes that respond to transportation demand, has been in operation for a little over a year and has recently launched service in Washington, D.C., its second market. Despite media acclaim and... View Details

March 2007 (Revised December 2007)
Background Note

Alleviating Poverty and Malnutrition: Successful Models

By: Ray A. Goldberg, Laura Winig and Kerry Herman

Provides successful models of private-public sector cooperatives in alleviating poverty and malnutrition. View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Nutrition; Cooperative Ownership; Business and Government Relations; Non-Governmental Organizations; Poverty; Welfare

November 2000
Case

Model E: An Incubated Enterprise

By: Myra M. Hart

Provides a close-up view of an entrepreneurial search for opportunity, the role of incubators in the process, and the development of a viable business concept. Also depicts the changes made to the business concept as new people (with new expertise and experience) are... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Transformation; Entrepreneurship; Human Resources; Problems and Challenges; Internet and the Web

September 2010
Article

Strategies to Fight Ad-sponsored Rivals

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Feng Zhu

We analyze the optimal strategy of a high-quality incumbent that faces a low-quality ad-sponsored competitor. In addition to competing through adjustments of tactical variables such as price or the number of ads a product carries, we allow the incumbent to consider... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Business Models; Tactics; Pricing; Business Model; Advertising; Competition; Quality; Price; Product Marketing

08 Mar 2018
Cold Call Podcast

Could a New Business Model Make Clinical Drug Trials More Accessible to Patients?

Keywords: Health

Article

How to Shift from Selling Products to Selling Services

By: Doug J. Chung

Only a few years ago, most software companies sold seat licenses for their products, charging customers on the basis of head count. But today, software is typically provided using cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) models that charge customers fees for... View Details

Keywords: SaaS Business Models; Sales; Management; Business Model; Salesforce Management; Applications and Software; Customer Relationship Management

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May 2014
Article

Making 'Freemium' Work: Many Start-ups Fail to Recognize the Challenges of This Popular Business Model

By: Vineet Kumar

The article discusses the "freemium" business model, which is used by some Internet businesses and smartphone application developers to give users free basic features of a digital product and access to premium functionality for a subscription fee. The discussion topics... View Details

Keywords: Freemium; Startups; Product Design; Business Model; Marketing; Business Startups