Investor Demand - Publications - Faculty & Research

07 Feb 2022
Research & Ideas

Digital Transformation: A New Roadmap for Success

digital-first incumbents struggle to make the necessary longer-term investments when their investors focus on shorter-term metrics, participants say. At the same time, companies must deliver value at speed. They’re cutting costs through... View Details

Keywords: by Linda A. Hill, Ann Le Cam, Sunand Menon, and Emily Tedards

07 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

Why Companies Fail—and How Their Founders Can Bounce Back

a potential for improvement. The statistics are disheartening no matter how an entrepreneur defines failure. If failure means liquidating all assets, with investors losing most or all the money they put into the company, then the failure... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

17 Jan 2023
In Practice

8 Trends to Watch in 2023

As 2023 begins, businesses and employees face an uncertain economy and labor market, as the twin dilemmas of inflation and interest rates weigh on forecasts. Harvard Business School faculty share the top trends that they believe will shape the workplace and markets... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

16 Feb 2023
HBS Case

ESG Activists Met the Moment at ExxonMobil, But Did They Succeed?

The impact-investment hedge fund Engine No. 1 made a big splash in May 2021 when it managed to get three nominees elected to the ExxonMobil board of directors. It was an open effort to prod the oil giant toward renewable energy and test whether activist investing could... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Financial Services

10 Feb 2016
HBS Seminar

Hong Luo of Harvard Business School and Julie Mortimer of Boston College, Department of Economics

Article

Network Effects Aren't Enough

By: Andrei Hagiu and Simon Rothman

In many ways, online marketplaces are the perfect business model. Since they facilitate transactions between independent suppliers and customers rather than take possession of and responsibility for the products or services in question, they have inherently low cost... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Competition; Internet and the Web; Network Effects; Market Participation

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10 Jul 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, July 10, 2018

investors shapes information diffusion in the stock market. We exploit trade-level data to show that central brokers gather information by executing informed trades, which is then leaked to their best clients. We show that after large... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

November 2004 (Revised September 2019)
Background Note

The U.S. Health Club Industry in 2004

By: John R. Wells, Gabriel Ellsworth and Benjamin Weinstock

In 2004, the $16.8 billion U.S. health club industry continued its strong record of growth. There were almost 27,000 health clubs in the United States, up from 6,700 two decades earlier, and these clubs claimed 41 million members, over 14% of the U.S. population.... View Details

Keywords: Health Clubs; Fitness; Gyms; Chain; Weight Loss; Obesity; Exercise; Personal Training; Bally Total Fitness; 24 Hour Fitness; YMCA; Gold's Gym; Curves; Franchise; Franchising; Subscription; Promotional Sales; Promotions; Fixed Costs; Body; Accrual Accounting; Revenue Recognition; Buildings and Facilities; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Trends; Customers; Demographics; Age; Income; Private Equity; Financing and Loans; Profit; Revenue; Geographic Scope; Multinational Firms and Management; Health; Nutrition; Business History; Employees; Retention; Human Capital; Working Conditions; Contracts; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Markets; Demand and Consumers; Supply and Industry; Industry Growth; Industry Structures; Operations; Service Operations; Franchise Ownership; Private Ownership; Public Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Sales; Salesforce Management; Situation or Environment; Opportunities; Nonprofit Organizations; Welfare; Sports; Strategy; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Consolidation; Corporate Strategy; Customization and Personalization; Expansion; Segmentation; Hardware; Health Industry; United States

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Technology & Innovation - Faculty & Research

investments based on anticipated industry trends and client demand. Now, despite slowing demand for CRO services, PAREXEL is betting that a global footprint and technology capabilities will become its key future competitive advantage.... View Details

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2023 Reunion Presentations - Alumni

learn from the recent spectacular failures of FTX, Genesis, Celsius, and other cryptocurrency firms, and whether existing bankruptcy laws and practices are up to the task of reorganizing these businesses; recovering value for customers, creditors, and View Details

02 Nov 2023
News

Seeding Startups

Shirish Nadkarni (MBA 1987) was the director of product planning for Microsoft’s MSN when he decided he was ready to become an entrepreneur. He had recently led the growing internet portal’s 1997 acquisition of Hotmail, the first free, web-based email solution, and the... View Details

Keywords: April White

13 Jan 2023
Research & Ideas

Are Companies Actually Greener—or Are They All Talk?

Most companies now account for social good in their financial reports in some way, but with regulation scattershot and evolving, it’s complicated for investors to assess so-called ESG reports. The disclosures, known as Environmental, Social, and Governance reports,... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

24 Dec 2013
First Look

First Look: December 24

Lakshmi, Xin Meng, Nancy Qian, and Xiaoxue Zhao Abstract—This paper studies the policy determinants of economic transition and estimates the demand for labor in the infant private sector in urban China. We show that a reform that untied... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

28 Mar 2024
News

Rooms with a View

Alexander Mirza (MBA 1997) has spent two decades in the hospitality industry, opening and growing major hotel brands, including Hilton, Starwood, and Caesars, with locations around the world. And with each new project, Mirza faced the same primary challenge. “It didn’t... View Details

Keywords: April White; photos by Christina Gandolfo; Hospitality

Web

Health Care - Faculty & Research

had struggled with reimbursement and revenue-predictability challenges. However, venture investors still continued to be enthusiastic about the space, prompting Faraz and Youssef to dive headfirst into the world of entrepreneurship and... View Details

Web

Research - Behavioral Finance & Financial Stability

Hanson , Jeremy C. Stein & Adi Sunderam JULY 2020 The authors provide a framework for understanding how the detailed structure of financial intermediation impacts foreign exchange rates. They develop a model in which specialized bond View Details

28 Jun 2016
First Look

June 28, 2016

internal venture capital arm in 2011, which promptly became the world's largest investor in energy related startups. In choosing to proceed, the company's New Business Development unit (NPD) wrestled with a number of challenges. How... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Jun 2024
News

Quantum Leap

it,” he says. That intuition has served him well: Over the past three decades, Levy has founded and led several tech companies and played a role as an investor and board member at dozens more. Now he and his team of scientists and... View Details

Keywords: Alexander Gelfand; photographed by Chris Sorensen; quantum computing; innovation; leadership; Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing; Manufacturing

01 Jun 2023
News

Pet Project

that demand payment for product placement and by wholesalers who are slow to pay. If Katie pursues this direction, she needs senior team members with the experience to navigate this challenging path and View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; Miscellaneous Store Retailers; Retail Trade; Sporting Goods, Hobby, Musical Instrument, and Book Stores; Retail Trade

12 Aug 2019
Research & Ideas

How Scale Changes a Manager's Responsibilities

I've experienced first-hand the excitement and pain that come as companies with a few founders scale to hundreds or thousands of employees. At somewhere around 75 to 100 employees, running a business becomes more complicated, demanding... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Austin

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