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HBS Working Knowledge – Harvard Business School Faculty Research

three working Americans with criminal records from the economy? In a case study, Paul Gompers explores the challenges a social justice startup encounters in helping the formerly incarcerated, as well as lessons for other entrepreneurs. 12... View Details

August 8, 2017
Article

Buying Time Promotes Happiness

By: A.V. Whillans, Elizabeth W. Dunn, Paul Smeets, Rene Bekkers and Michael I. Norton

Around the world, increases in wealth have produced an unintended consequence: a rising sense of time scarcity. We provide evidence that using money to buy time can provide a buffer against this time famine, thereby promoting happiness. Using large, diverse samples... View Details

Keywords: Time; Money Funds; Well-being; Money; Happiness; Satisfaction

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Article

Riding the Passion Wave or Fighting to Stay Afloat? A Theory of Differentiated Passion Contagion

By: Emma Frank, Kai Krautter, Wen Wu and Jon M. Jachimowicz

Prior research suggests that employees benefit from highly passionate teammates because passion spreads easily from one employee to the next. We develop theory to propose that life in high-passion teams may not be as uniformly advantageous as previously assumed. We... View Details

Keywords: Passion; Emotional Contagion; Emotions; Groups and Teams; Employees; Power and Influence; Performance Improvement

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01 Dec 2015
Research & Ideas

What to Do When Your Organization Has Dueling Missions

corporations, which are under increasing pressure to demonstrate corporate social responsibility in addition to generating profits. She acknowledges that the idea could be a tough sell. “If I went to a... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

20 Feb 2007
First Look

First Look: February 20, 2007

November 2006, Kapur faced a number of issues, including how to expand without capital, how to deal with imitation, and how to balance Keggfarm's for-profit and social values. Purchase this case:... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Riding the Passion Wave or Fighting to Stay Afloat? A Theory of Differentiated Passion Contagion

Prior research suggests employees benefit from highly passionate teammates because passion spreads easily from one employee to the next. We develop theory to propose that life in high-passion teams may not be as uniformly advantageous as previously assumed. More... View Details

Article

Operations Research in the Public Sector and Nonprofit Organizations

By: Zilla Sinuany-Stern and H. David Sherman

Public sector and nonprofit organizations (NPO) have been growing substantially in number and size since the turn of the millennium. In light of the ongoing economic crises these sectors are expected to grow even more with expanded demands for services, increased need... View Details

Keywords: Third Sector; Operations; Public Sector; Nonprofit Organizations

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March 2022 (Revised April 2022)
Teaching Note

France Télécom (A), (B), and (C)

By: Ashley Whillans

This case series discusses the evolution of France Télécom (now Orange) from a national telephone monopoly to a private company. During this process, the company faced numerous challenges including the entry of new competition from other countries and a workforce that... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Compensation and Benefits; Employee Relationship Management; Business Organization; Well-being; Communications Industry; Telecommunications Industry; France

January 2010 (Revised March 2013)
Case

HubSpot: Lower Churn through Greater CHI

By: F. Asis Martinez Jerez, Thomas Steenburgh, Jill Avery and Lisa Brem

HubSpot, a web marketing startup is under pressure from VCs to rapidly acquire new customers and to maintain a low level of customer churn. In the case, students explore the drivers of customer churn and uncover opportunities to increase customer retention across the... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Customer Relationship Management; Customer Satisfaction; Customer Value and Value Chain; Forecasting and Prediction; Consumer Behavior; Happiness; Consulting Industry

Article

Reputation When Threats and Transfers Are Available

By: Ernesto Dal Bo, Pedro Dal Bo and Rafael Di Tella

We present a model where a long-run player is allowed to use both money transfers and threats to influence the decisions of a sequence of short-run players. We show that threats might be used credibly (even in arbitrarily short repeated games) by a long-lived player... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Decision Choices and Conditions; Game Theory; Mathematical Methods; Interests; Power and Influence; Reputation

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August 2024 (Revised November 2024)
Case

No Labels and the 2024 Presidential Insurance Plan

By: Robert F. White and Tom Quinn

After observing record voter dissatisfaction with the choices in the 2024 U.S. presidential election—Democratic nominee President Joe Biden and Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump—the bipartisan nonprofit No Labels decided to reserve ballot access in... View Details

Keywords: Disruption; Forecasting and Prediction; Lawsuits and Litigation; Failure; System Shocks; Political Elections; Motivation and Incentives; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; United States

March–April 2016
Article

Scrutiny, Norms, and Selective Disclosure: A Global Study of Greenwashing

By: Christopher Marquis, Michael W. Toffel and Yanhua Zhou

Under increased pressure to report environmental impacts, some firms selectively disclose relatively benign impacts, creating an impression of transparency while masking their true performance. We identify key company- and country-level factors that limit firms' use of... View Details

Keywords: Disclosure Strategy; Disclosure; Environmental Performance; Environmental Strategy; Environment; Symbolic; Reporting; Corporate Disclosure; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact

19 Aug 2011
Working Paper Summaries

The Globalization of Corporate Environmental Disclosure: Accountability or Greenwashing?

Keywords: by Christopher Marquis & Michael W. Toffel

Research Summary

Managing Multiple Identities at Work

By: Lakshmi Ramarajan

Peoples’ work identities, which are often a deep source of meaning for them, may conflict with or complement cultural, familial, or personal identities they value. A central focus of Professor Ramarajan’s work is understanding, on the individual level, how these... View Details

April 2015
Teaching Plan

Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement?

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Lisa Mazzanti

This is a Teaching Plan for the case on Codecademy, an open-platform, online community for learning computer programming, launched in 2011. By 2014, the company had raised a total of $12.5 million in funding and was, on many fronts, an overwhelming success. However,... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Internet and the Web; Open Source Distribution; Social Entrepreneurship; Education

29 Aug 2017
Blog Post

3 Insights from My First Year at HBS

It’s hard to believe how quickly a year can fly by. When I first started my RC year at Harvard Business School, I grossly underestimated the advice, "business school is a constant struggle to balance your social life, academics, and... View Details

January 2024 (Revised May 2024)
Case

PortageBay and ESG Analytics

By: Vikram S. Gandhi and Radhika Kak

In 2023, sustainable investors faced several challenges. The first was the lack of access to standardized and vetted environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data, and equally, the interpretation of this data into investment-useful insights. Reducing reliance on... View Details

Keywords: ESG Ratings; Investment Funds; Governance; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact