Publications

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August 2003
Case

BRAC and Aarong Commercial Brands, The

By: John A. Quelch

BRAC is the world's largest NGO and has recently initiated a number of successful profit-making commercial enterprises, ranging from dairy processing to vegetable exports, as well as a university. Explores the tensions and benefits of a major nonprofit entering the... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Commercialization; For-Profit Firms; Non-Governmental Organizations

August 2007 (Revised June 2008)
Case

The Lapdesk Company: A South African FOPSE

Shane Immelman, founding CEO of Lapdesk (South Africa), is facing several acute problems: a conflict between his director of marketing and his director of field operations; a dramatic increase in prices by a key supplier; and a major strategic alliance that does not... View Details

Keywords: Social Enterprise; For-Profit Firms; Entrepreneurship; Problems and Challenges; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Education Industry; South Africa

01 Jun 2011
News

What’s after Fannie and Freddie?

Scharfstein: “Whenever you mix government guarantees with private, for-profit entities, those private entities put the government at risk.” Reforming the U.S. housing finance system remains perhaps the largest piece of unfinished business... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; Credit Intermediation and Related Activities; Finance

February 1985 (Revised January 2024)
Case

Health Stop (A): What Type of Innovation Is It? And Six Factors Alignment

By: Regina E. Herzlinger, Joyce Lallman, Nancy Kane, Jefferson C. Grahling and James Wallace

How can we evaluate if innovative health care ventures can do good—benefit society—and do well—become financially viable? This question is the topic of the first module in the Innovating In Health Care course book. This note and case series enables readers to conduct... View Details

Keywords: For-Profit Firms; Business Model; Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Strategy; Valuation; Health Industry; Retail Industry

01 Oct 2000
News

Q & A: Bain & Company's Thomas J. Tierney

will address the challenges facing organizations in attracting, developing, and retaining outstanding talent. He calls the approach required today "constellation leadership." What impact has the Internet's rapid growth had on the way consulting View Details

Keywords: Peter K. Jacobs; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

25 Apr 2014
News

Applying business practices to nonprofits to strengthen impact

The nonprofit need of for-profit acumen is acute, says Jeff Bradach (AM 1990, PhDOB 1992), cofounder and managing partner of The Bridgespan Group, a nonprofit advisor and resource for mission-driven organizations and philanthropists.... View Details

01 Mar 2016
News

Measuring Impact

Nearly 40 percent of Harvard alumni from across all schools have founded for-profit and nonprofit organizations—launching more than 146,000 active ventures with an estimated $3.9 trillion in annual revenues and creating 20.4 million jobs... View Details

Keywords: April White

15 Apr 2022
News

Funding His Purpose

investments to both nonprofit and for-profit social impact companies. It also offers philanthropic fund management, and it partnered with a for-profit consulting firm that... View Details

winter 1997
Article

Risk and Reward in Private Equity Investments: The Challenge of Performance Assessment

By: Paul A. Gompers and J. Lerner

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Motivation and Incentives; For-Profit Firms; Equity; Investment; Problems and Challenges; Performance

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March 2009
Teaching Note

Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n Roll: The MTV Approach to Tackling HIV/AIDS (TN)

By: Tarun Khanna, Sonali R. Bloom and David E. Bloom

Teaching Note for [709429]. View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Emerging Markets; Health Pandemics; Announcements; Social Issues; Customers; For-Profit Firms; Business Strategy; Infrastructure; Multinational Firms and Management; Music Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Africa

March 2010
Teaching Note

Xi'an International University: The Growth of Private Universities in China (TN)

By: F. Warren McFarlan

Teaching Note for 309074. View Details

Keywords: Private Ownership; Competition; Growth Management; Governance Controls; For-Profit Firms; Higher Education; Education Industry; China

01 Sep 2010
News

Faculty Books

Talent and the Portability of Performance by Boris Groysberg (Princeton University Press) Many firms try to buy star performers by luring them away from competitors. But after examining the careers of over 1,000 star analysts on Wall... View Details

Keywords: Retail Trade; Water Transportation; Transportation

October 2012
Teaching Plan

Vertex Pharmaceuticals and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation: Venture Philanthropy Funding for Biotech (TP)

By: Robert F. Higgins

This is the teaching note related to HBS case 808005. In 2001, Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated acquired the San Diego-based biotech company, Aurora Biosciences. The combination of Vertex's and Aurora's technologies would improve the flow of novel drug candidates... View Details

Keywords: Venture Philanthropy; Biotechnology; Funding Philanthropy Venture; Cystic Fibrosis; Foundations; Pharmaceuticals; Mergers and Acquisitions; For-Profit Firms; Venture Capital; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Science-Based Business; Nonprofit Organizations; Pharmaceutical Industry; Biotechnology Industry; United States; San Diego

February 1987 (Revised February 2000)
Case

Polysar Limited

By: Robert L. Simons

Canada's largest chemical company produces and markets butyl rubber in two divisions, each treated as a profit center. The new plant in the North American Division operates below capacity resulting in a significant volume variance and an operating loss. The European... View Details

Keywords: Loss; Profit; Financial Management; Volume; Performance Capacity; Financial Statements; For-Profit Firms; Market Participation; Chemical Industry; Rubber Industry; Canada

Fast Answer

Social Entrepreneurship & Systems Change

Detailed information on company professionals including relationships among firms/organizations and executives Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation - a global venture philanthropy firm supporting early stage, high impact... View Details

15 Jan 2025
Blog Post

Building Bridges to Sustainable Infrastructure with Allied Climate Partners

The firm operates with a mission to deploy hundreds of millions of dollars across regions like Africa, India, the Caribbean, and Southeast Asia—essentially targeting places where sustainable infrastructure is often most needed yet... View Details

Keywords: All Industries

17 Feb 2011
News

Field Report: Rwanda

middle ground of companies that employ 50 to 100 people — somewhere between the nonprofit that would get help from USAID and bigger, for-profit firms served by traditional consulting companies.” For his... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations; Personal Services

September 2010
Teaching Note

Acumen Fund: Measurement in Impact Investing (TN) (A) and (B)

By: Alnoor Ebrahim

Teaching Note for 310011 and 310017. View Details

Keywords: Projects; For-Profit Firms; Networks; Health Care and Treatment; Performance Evaluation; Investment Portfolio; Asset Pricing; Competition; Multinational Firms and Management; Venture Capital; Investment Return; Poverty; Financial Services Industry; Kenya

January 2008 (Revised September 2008)
Supplement

Marketing the "$100 Laptop" (C)

By: John A. Quelch and David Chen

In October 2007, the OLPC reported production delays and missed its shipment date. In early November, the $100 PC finally went into production, with initial shipments planned for Uruguay and Mongolia, and mid-month launched the "Give One, Get One" program. It enabled... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; For-Profit Firms; Partners and Partnerships; Information Infrastructure; Problems and Challenges; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Computer Industry; Canada; Mongolia; Uruguay; United States