small businesses - Publications - Faculty & Research

16 Feb 2010
Research & Ideas

The Outside-In Approach to Customer Service

women traverse their stores. In addition, Best Buy acquired Geek Squad to broaden its footprint into installation of equipment. The company applied the same concerted effort toward serving other valuable customer segments it had discovered, including View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Consumer Products

02 Jun 2020
Research & Ideas

Coronavirus Careers: Cloud Kitchens Are Now Serving

The restaurant industry is one of those most devastated by COVID-19, and social distancing will continue to make many small restaurants unviable. Reduced revenue flows will never cover the rent. But not all is lost. In our research, one... View Details

Keywords: by Lena Ye and Geoffrey Jones; Food & Beverage

15 Sep 2008
Research & Ideas

The Coming Transformation of Social Enterprise

Professor Kash Rangan is one of the pioneers of Harvard Business School's Social Enterprise Initiative, now 15 years old. Back in 1993, most people took a "spray and pray" approach to philanthropy—writing checks to charities and... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson

22 Oct 2010
Research & Ideas

Panel on Pedagogical Innovations in MBA Courses

Editor's Note: This is a summary of an HBS Faculty Research Symposium 2010 presentation. View a full summary from the link below. Date of Event:May 10, 2010 Speakers:Ray Gilmartin, Joseph Lassiter, Youngme Moon, Nitin Nohria Multiple pedagogical innovations are taking... View Details

Keywords: Re: Multiple Faculty; Education

26 Sep 2006
First Look

First Look: September 26, 2006

Working PapersScale Without Mass: Business Process Replication and Industry Dynamics Authors:Erik Brynjolfsson, Andrew McAfee, Michael Sorell, and Feng Zhu Abstract Since the mid-1990s, productivity growth has accelerated in the U.S.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

25 Apr 2024
News

Origin Stories

Subscribe on iTunes Subscribe on Spotify More Skydeck episodes Dan Morrell: Hi, this is Dan Morrell, host of Skydeck. Where we come from and how we were raised has a profound effect on who we become. The recipients of this year’s Alumni Achievement Award grew up... View Details

05 Mar 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, March 5, 2019

forbearance in non-democracies. We argue that unelected regimes forbear their supporters’ informal businesses. We test this argument in Jordan. Using survey data of over 3,800 micro and small enterprises (MSEs), we find that informal... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

07 Dec 2022
Blog Post

2022 Climate Symposium: Tackling Climate Together

production is incredibly resource intensive and that even a small shift in consumption and production can have a massive impact on greenhouse gas emissions. From there, Karen Skelton, Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Energy at the... View Details

26 Apr 2004
Research & Ideas

A Clear Eye for Innovation

excelled at analog photography but hasn't been able to make the leap to digital cameras. Boeing, a longtime leader in commercial aircraft, has experienced difficulties in its defense-contracting businesses and has recently stumbled in the... View Details

Keywords: by Charles A. O'Reilly III & Michael L. Tushman

July 2012
Case

Revenue Solutions, LLC

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Ari Wasserman and Nick Esayian were both dissatisfied with their future prospects in their current careers. Wasserman, who managed an infomercial business for a direct response consumer marketing company, wanted more flexibility and ownership. Esayian was the CEO of... View Details

Keywords: Work-Life Balance; Partners and Partnerships; Small Business; Israel; United States

Citation

Educators

Purchase

05 May 2003
Research & Ideas

Sharing the Responsibility of Corporate Governance

Harvard Business School professor Constance Bagley studies the intersection of business and law, and is interested in how companies can use legal resources as a competitive asset. In this interview, Bagley... View Details

Keywords: by Carla Tishler

13 Mar 2025
Blog Post

Launching Leaders: HBS's New Initiative Fuels First-Generation and Low-Income Student Success

James Bedford (MBA 2025) smiles as he recalls growing up on a boat off the southwest coast of England. "It was just me and my dad in the most beautiful spot in the world," he says. Looking back now, he recognizes it was poverty—but at the time, "it was just life."... View Details

27 Apr 2021
Research & Ideas

New Research: Surviving Bankruptcy, Useful Economics, and Retirement

Cash Out Josh Lerner and James Mason “In November 2020, the co-founders of DigiPlex study the future growth trajectory of their Nordic data center venture. A critical question was on the agenda: was now finally the right time to sell DigiPlex? Originally a $2.75... View Details

22 Sep 2023
News

Capital Connection

Vernon Beckford (MBA 2013) saw the gap almost immediately. From the beginning of his career in commercial real estate finance—first at Credit Suisse and then later at CW Capital and Global Atlantic Financial Group—Beckford observed Wall Street’s obsession with... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley; Real Estate

01 Dec 2023
News

Action Plan: Life Study

Above: photo by Beth Perkins “There’s an artistic spark in everybody,” says Ted Hartley (MMP 4, 1956). “If you can get rid of that left-brain inner critic, you can explore what will open up in the right-brain side in all of us.” Hartley came to painting a little over a... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna

06 Nov 2015
Blog Post

Casey Gerald: Becoming a Leader at HBS

creatively in the world. I think that was one small manifestation of the larger surprise of Harvard Business School for me-- so many of us are worried that we will have to pretend to be someone else when we... View Details

07 Feb 2005
What Do You Think?

If You Blink, Will You Miss?

blink. As Skip Corsini put it, "I believe a person with the attention span of a hummingbird who really knows his or her business is better prepared to deal with the world as it has become than someone who has to have every single... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

26 Oct 2017
Research Event

In an Era of 'Fake News,' What is the Future of Advertising and Publishing?

A year ago, discussions of the business of digital media may have focused on the plateauing ebook market or the diminishing pay for content providers. But after the 2016 presidential election, in which Russian operatives allegedly used... View Details

Keywords: by Jen Deaderick; Media & Broadcasting; Journalism & News

29 Jan 2008
First Look

First Look: January 29, 2008

whom were above median wealth. This finding suggests that an important part of the positive relationship between personal wealth and entrepreneurship may be driven by the fact that wealthy individuals with lower ability can start new View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

17 Jul 2012
First Look

First Look: July 17

identified and classified in terms of specifying, allocating, and utilizing capacity. The first two categories reflect challenges faced by infrastructure providers; the last category, challenges faced by airlines. Building Effective View Details