Publications

20 Oct 2022
Other Presentation

4 Business Ideas That Changed the World: Shareholder Value

By: Adi Ignatius, Lynn Paine, Mihir Desai and Carola Frydman

A roundtable conversation appraises the 50-year reign of shareholder primacy and the growing backlash against it today.

The idea that maximizing shareholder value takes legal and practical precedence above all else first came to prominence in the 1970s. The... View Details

Keywords: Shareholder Value Maximization; Business and Shareholder Relations

TeachingInterests

How to Talk Gooder in Business and Life

By: Alison Wood Brooks

This is an Elective Curriculum course for HBS MBA students. People must converse effectively to achieve success in every aspect of business and life – from pitching ideas to giving feedback, brainstorming and making strategic decisions, from interviewing to firing.... View Details

12 Feb 2001
Research & Ideas

John Irving’s Lessons for Business

solitary pursuit of writing, not jockeying for advancement in a business organization. Even so, according to HBS professor Teresa Amabile, a good look at Irving's life to date reveals fascinating lessons on... View Details

Keywords: by Mallory Stark & Martha Lagace

August 2021
Case

Mylestone: Can Multiple Pivots Preserve the Life of a Death Tech Startup?

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Marilyn Morgan Westner

Dave Balter and Jim Myers co-founded Mylestone, a death tech startup that applied technology to transform how grieving people memorialize the dead. The startup addressed a cultural problem and promised to solve a pressing need in the antiquated, multi-billion dollar... View Details

Keywords: Pivot; Startup; Business Model; Cryptocurrency; Ethical Decision Making; Emotions; Growth and Development Strategy; Ethics; Market Entry and Exit; Customer Relationship Management; Loss; Change Management; Relationships

November 2022
Case

Wendy Estrella: Scaling Multiple Businesses

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Sarah Mehta

Entrepreneur Wendy Estrella, a self-made, Latina millionaire based in Lawrence, Massachusetts, is attempting to simultaneously scale her law practice as well as her property management and development company. What path should she take for each and can she do it all,... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Change; Competency and Skills; Decision Making; Demographics; Entrepreneurship; Personal Development and Career; Legal Services Industry; Legal Services Industry; Massachusetts

11 Oct 2006
Research & Ideas

U.S. Tops Business Competitiveness Index 2006

by the World Economic Forum. The U.S., ranked number one in four of the last six years, scored high on business environment, financial markets, and innovative capacity. Germany, number two, benefited from... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

25 Sep 2006
Research & Ideas

How Software Platforms Revolutionize Business

Software Platforms Drive Innovation and Transform Industries, available October 4 from MIT Press. Evans is Managing Director of the Global Competitive Policy Practice at LEGC LLC. Hagiu is a professor in the Strategy unit at Harvard View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Video Game; Web Services

11 Jan 2016
Blog Post

Meet the Business and Environment Initiative

do you think the Business & Environment Initiative is an important part of the HBS ecosystem? Environmental issues are by nature general management issues, with implications for every View Details

05 Sep 2000
Research & Ideas

Building Bridges Between Education and Business

specific aspects of a company. It's much easier to get a business to open up about its marketing or logistics work, he said, when it doesn't feel compelled to show its overall... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

Web

Evolution of the Social Enterprise Conference | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

catalyzing solutions around them. If you read the front page of the newspaper any day, it's increasingly obvious that social and environmental externalities cannot be separated from the business and market... View Details

March 2017 (Revised April 2021)
Module Note

Responsibilities to Society

By: Nien-hê Hsieh

This module note for students outlines an approach to help managers deliver on their responsibilities in relation to society. The approach frames these responsibilities in terms of potential harms to third parties beyond investors, customers, and employees. The... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Political Activity; Corporate Social Responsibility; Human Rights; Role Of Business In Society; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Ethics; Business and Community Relations; Rights; Society

9 AM – 5 PM EST, 12 Feb 2022
Virtual Programming

31st Women In Business Conference: Building a Successful Life

We are thrilled to invite you to the 31st Annual Dynamic Women in Business Conference. The conference provides an exciting opportunity to forge new connections while learning from the experiences of all our speakers and each other. The theme of the conference is... View Details

Web

The Idea of Instant Photography - Edwin H. Land & Polaroid | Harvard Business School

sales would fall, and Land would have to let go of hundreds of employees. Land's patent attorney Donald Brown explained, "Before the end of the War Dr. Land had decided that... View Details

May 2020 (Revised July 2020)
Case

Justice-as-a-Service at RightNow

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Amir Reza Rezvani

The case examines the focus of an early stage company, and how an unexpected external incidence can threaten or void the business model. It encompasses issues such as minimal viable product, defining and pivoting a business model, organizational requirements for a... View Details

Keywords: Legacy Business; Teams; Startup; Business Models; Pivot; Entrepreneurship; Law; Venture Capital; Business Startups; Business Model; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategy; Legal Services Industry; Germany