Publications

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March 2009
Case

Incept LLC and Confluent Surgical (A)

By: Bhaskar Chakravorti, Toby E. Stuart and James Weber

A venture capitalist must decide whether to invest in a medical technology company that licenses intellectual property from a privately held IP holding company based on a platform technology. Entrepreneurs Amar Sawhney and Fred Khosravi founded Incept LLC to... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Entrepreneurship; Intellectual Property; Rights; Agreements and Arrangements; Partners and Partnerships; Trust; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

May 2006 (Revised November 2006)
Case

IKEA's Global Sourcing Challenge: Indian Rugs and Child Labor (A)

By: Christopher A. Bartlett, Vincent Marie Dessain and Anders Sjoman

Traces the history of IKEA's response to a TV report that its Indian carpet suppliers were using child labor. Describes IKEA's growth, including the importance of a sourcing strategy based on its close relationships with suppliers in developing countries. Details the... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Moral Sensibility; Policy; Employment; Contracts; Supply Chain Management; Organizational Culture; Natural Environment; Non-Governmental Organizations; Social Issues

June 2005 (Revised January 2007)
Case

Equator Principles, The: An Industry Approach to Managing Environmental and Social Risks

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Aldo Sesia

In June 2003, 10 leading international banks adopted new voluntary guidelines, called the Equator Principles, to promote sustainable development in project finance. In recent years, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) had raised issues about the lenders'... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Competition; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Social Issues; Environmental Sustainability; Policy; Project Finance; Standards; Projects; Commercial Banking; Non-Governmental Organizations

11 Jul 2007
Working Paper Summaries

Managing Proprietary and Shared Platforms: A Life-Cycle View

Keywords: by Thomas R. Eisenmann; Technology

2024
Working Paper

Migration, Climate Similarity, and the Consequences of Climate Mismatch

By: Marguerite Obolensky, Marco Tabellini and Charles Taylor

This paper examines the concept of “climate matching” in migration—the idea that migrants seek out destinations with familiar climates. Focusing on the US, we document that temperature distance between origin and destination predicts the distribution of migrants across... View Details

Keywords: Migration; Climate; Immigration; Residency; Weather; Ethnicity; Climate Change; Geographic Location; Policy; United States

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September 2010
Case

Angola and the Resource Curse

By: Aldo Musacchio, Eric D. Werker and Jonathan Schlefer

Since emerging from decades of conflict in 2002, Angola has been growing at a scorching double-digit rate, led by its oil industry. But the nation remains beset with seemingly intractable problems: immense inequality, low life expectancy, a non-diversified economy, and... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Developing Countries and Economies; Financial Crisis; Borrowing and Debt; Financial Institutions; Globalized Economies and Regions; Policy; Government Administration; Emerging Markets; Natural Environment; Angola

2014
Working Paper

The Organizational and Geographic Drivers of Absorptive Capacity: An Empirical Analysis of Pharmaceutical R&D Laboratories

By: Francesca Lazzeri and Gary P. Pisano

Scholars and practitioners alike now recognize that a firm's capacity to assimilate and use know-how from external sources—what Cohen and Levinthal (1990) called "absorptive capacity"—plays a central role in innovation performance. In recent years, a common strategy... View Details

Keywords: Geographic Location; Industry Clusters; Knowledge Acquisition; Pharmaceutical Industry; San Francisco; San Diego; Massachusetts

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18 Feb 2020
Working Paper Summaries

A Preliminary Framework for Product Impact-Weighted Accounts

Keywords: by George Serafeim, Katie Trinh, and Robert Zochowski

27 Feb 2024
Cold Call Podcast

How Could Harvard Decarbonize Its Supply Chain?

Keywords: Re: Robert S. Kaplan & Shirley Lu; Green Technology

02 Oct 2006
Research & Ideas

Negotiating in Three Dimensions

is an essential skill, and where the science of negotiation is headed. Negotiation is a core competence for life, "not merely an important skill to be wheeled out for special occasions," they argue. James K. Sebenius is the... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

08 Nov 2024
Op-Ed

How Private Investors Can Help Solve Africa's Climate Crisis

fixed-income securities, mostly earning near-zero real yields. How can this capital find bankable projects that allow for private sector development and investment—at huge scale—to help solve these challenges while at the same time... View Details

Keywords: by John Macomber; Green Technology; Energy

May 2023 (Revised June 2023)
Case

Harvard University and Urban Mining Industries: Decarbonizing the Supply Chain

By: Shirley Lu and Robert S. Kaplan

The case describes Harvard University’s consideration to decarbonize its supply chain by replacing cement with a low-carbon substitute called Pozzotive®. Developed and produced by Urban Mining Industries, Pozzotive® is a ground-glass material made with post-consumer... View Details

Keywords: Carbon Emissions; Blockchain; Supply Chain; Green Technology; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability

July 2004 (Revised May 2008)
Case

Beacon Lakes

By: Arthur I Segel, Robert Barlick Jr and Jose Gonzalez

In September 2001, Armando Codina, the CEO and chairman of Codina Group, is facing the decision of whether to go ahead as planned with its $220 million Beacon Lakes project, a 6.6-million-square-foot warehouse and office park in Miami's Airport West submarket. Although... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Urban Scope; Business and Government Relations; Natural Environment; Expansion; Environmental Sustainability; Real Estate Industry; Everglades National Park; Miami

01 Dec 2021
What Do You Think?

How Will the Metaverse Affect Productivity?

(iStockphoto/tolgart) In 1992, the very funny cyberpunk novelist Neal Stephenson brought “the pizza Deliverator,” also known as Hiro Protagonist, to life along with the notion of the Metaverse in his book Snow Crash. Hiro, a “member of... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

20 Apr 2010
First Look

First Look: April 20

Nonverbal Displays Affect Neuroendocrine Levels and Risk Tolerance Authors: Dana R. Carney, Amy J.C. Cuddy, and Andy J. Yap Publication: Psychological Science (forthcoming) Abstract Humans and other animals express power through open,... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

15 Oct 2013
First Look

First Look: October 15

economic reasons. The conventional wisdom is that politically motivated aid is less effective in promoting developmental objectives. We examine the ex-post performance ratings of World Bank projects and generally find that View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

09 Sep 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Boundary Spanning in a For-Profit Research Lab: An Exploration of the Interface Between Commerce and Academe

Keywords: by Christopher C. Liu & Toby E. Stuart; Biotechnology

April 2017
Teaching Note

Basecamp: Pricing

By: Frank V. Cespedes

This Teaching Note accompanies HBS No. 817-067 “Basecamp: Pricing” in which a data analyst at Basecamp is evaluating the results of pricing research and its potential implications for the venture's latest version of its project management software product. View Details

Keywords: Analytics and Data Science; Price; Analysis; Customers; Product Marketing

2016
Book

Finding Purpose: Environmental Stewardship as a Personal Calling

By: Andrew J. Hoffman

Both thoughtful and thought-provoking, Finding Purpose aims to challenge our understanding of how humanity interacts with planet Earth, and our role within this. This book is an invitation: would you like to participate in one of the most important projects of... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Ethics; Society; Mission and Purpose; Natural Environment

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