Publications

October 2016
Case

Triangulate: Stay, Pivot or Exit?

By: Thomas Eisenmann, Shikhar Ghosh and Christopher Payton

Sunil Nagaraj, Triangulate's founder had spent a few years trying to launch a dating application that matched users based on their behavior on social media. Based on input from advisors, the company changed its focus from a B2B site to a B2C dating site with a unique... View Details

Keywords: Early Stage; Pivot; Two Sided Markets; Business Model; Business Exit or Shutdown; Product Launch; Venture Capital; Failure; Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Information Technology; Social and Collaborative Networks; United States; North America

02 Apr 2012
Research & Ideas

Do Online Dating Platforms Help Those Who Need Them Most?

Over the past decade, socially-focused websites have attracted hundreds of millions of users and changed the social fabric in fundamental ways. The likes of eHarmony and Match.com enable us meet new people. Platforms including Facebook,... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Technology

October 2023 (Revised November 2023)
Case

Rheaply: Circularity For Every Business

By: Rembrand Koning and Alicia Dadlani

In March 2023, Garry Cooper, cofounder and CEO of Chicago-based Rheaply, needed to demonstrate that Rheaply’s expanded vision could translate into building cash flows and metrics needed to raise a Series B and turn the business into a model for financial and... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Social Entrepreneurship; Technological Innovation; Environmental Sustainability; Entrepreneurial Finance; Technology Industry; Green Technology Industry; United States; Illinois; Chicago

14 Nov 2006
First Look

First Look: November 14, 2006

Working PapersThe Business of Free Software: Enterprise Incentives, Investment, and Motivation in the Open Source Community Authors:Marco Iansiti and Gregory L. Richards Abstract In this paper, we examine the motivations of large... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2010
Supplement

Esquel Group: Building a Sustainable Partnership with Cotton Farmers in Xinjiang (B)

By: James K. Sebenius and Jason Cheng Qian

Details and evaluates results in Esquel's 2002 initiative to negotiate long-term partnerships with often-exploited farmers in Xinjiang (western China) to procure a superior cotton variety. View Details

Keywords: Contracts; Agreements and Arrangements; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Outcome or Result; Leasing; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Partners and Partnerships; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Hong Kong; Xinjiang Uygur Zizhiqu

March 2016 (Revised September 2021)
Case

South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow?

By: Richard H.K. Vietor and Haviland Sheldahl-Thomason

Twenty years after the end of Apartheid, South Africa's democracy persists, albeit with problems. A tripartite coalition — the African National Congress, the labor unions, and the Communist Party — still controls the political system but with diminishing economic... View Details

Keywords: Politics; Development; Productivity; Labor; Labor Unions; Infrastructure; Government and Politics; Economic Growth; Performance Productivity; Economy; Social Issues; South Africa

September 2010 (Revised November 2011)
Case

Salud Digna: Successfully Competing with For-Profit Organizations

By: Allen S. Grossman and Regina Garcia-Cuellar

Hugo Moreno, CEO of Salud Digna, was considering his growth options for the next three years. Would becoming a for-profit with access to greater capital be the best strategy or would this cause the organization to lose its social mission? Salud Digna provided... View Details

Keywords: For-Profit Firms; Health Testing and Trials; Growth and Development Strategy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Nonprofit Organizations; Health Industry; Mexico

Career Coach

Layla A. Ramirez

Layla A Ramirez has more than 7 years of experience leading global, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging (DEIB) initiatives and coaching C-Level executives as they navigate their DEIB journeys. She is well known for coaching the... View Details

Keywords: Social Enterprise; Social Enterprise; Social Enterprise; Social Enterprise; Social Enterprise

March 2020
Case

Girls Who Code

By: Brian Trelstad, Amy Klopfenstein and Olivia Hull

In 2012, Reshma Saujani founded Girls Who Code (GWC) with the mission of closing the technology (tech) industry’s gender gap. While GWC offered coding education programs to middle- and high-school-aged girls, the organization also sought to alter cultural stereotypes... View Details

Keywords: Coding; Gender Stereotypes; Information Technology; Gender; Education; Programs; Performance Effectiveness; Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry

03 Apr 2017
What Do You Think?

How About Investing in Human Infrastructure?

revenue-producing capacity of the worker from $60,000 (a rough figure for the hospitality industry) to $110,000 (a similarly rough figure for “health care and social assistance”). A $30,000 investment in human infrastructure, based on... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Construction

Article

Should Business Have Human Rights Obligations?

By: Nien-he Hsieh

Businesses and their managers are increasingly called upon to take on human rights obligations. Focusing on the case of multinational enterprises (MNEs), the paper argues we have reason to reject assigning human rights obligations to business enterprises and their... View Details

Keywords: Human Rights; Ruggie Principles; Corporate Responsibility; Multinationals; Rights; Multinational Firms and Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact

Find at Harvard

01 Dec 2015
Research & Ideas

What to Do When Your Organization Has Dueling Missions

social enterprise (WISE), a type of organization that helps people transition back into the labor market after long-term unemployment. It also exemplifies what organization theorists call a hybrid: Rather... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

April 2009
Case

Young Presidents' Organization

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, John D. Macomber and David Chen

The board of Young Presidents' Organization needs to decide on the future of its Networks Initiative, designed to connect its geographically dispersed membership base through 60 different interest-based networks. So far, one half of these networks have been considered... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Governing and Advisory Boards; Leadership Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizations; Social and Collaborative Networks

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2010
Simulation

Change Management Simulation: Power and Influence

By: Linda A. Hill and William Q. Judge

In this single-player simulation, students play one of two roles at a sunglass manufacturing firm and face the challenges associated with implementing an organization-wide environmental sustainability initiative. The initiative seeks to change raw material inputs in... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Power and Influence; Problems and Challenges; Environmental Sustainability; Production; Wastes and Waste Processing; Adoption