Publications

February 15, 2022
Article

How Managers Can Build a Culture of Experimentation

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Neil Hoyne

Testing in business presents qualitatively different challenges than those in clinical trials and most scientific research. There are very few opportunities for randomized control experiments in a changing, competitive market. Yet, change and competition make testing a... View Details

Keywords: Experimentation; Management; Decision Making

Find at Harvard

Read Now

2021
Working Paper

The Luck of the Draw: The Causal Effect of Physicians on Birth Outcomes

By: Arlen Guarin, Christian Posso, Estefania Saravia and Jorge Tamayo

Identifying the effect of physicians’ skills on health outcomes is a challenging task due to the nonrandom sorting between physicians and hospitals. We overcome this challenge by exploiting a Colombian government program that randomly assigned 2,126 physicians to 618... View Details

Keywords: Physicians' Health Skills; Health Birth Outcomes; Birthing Outcomes; Experimental Evidence; Health Care and Treatment; Competency and Skills; Outcome or Result; Health Industry; Colombia

Read Now

September 2002 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Environmental Power Corporation: Changing Manure Into Gold?

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Laure Mougeot Stroock

In 2002, Environmental Power Corp. (EPC), a small company developing renewable energy projects, was attempting to commercialize its "digester," a facility that extracted methane from manure, reduced manure's environmental impact, and generated electricity. The company... View Details

Keywords: Commercialization; Energy Generation; Renewable Energy; Environmental Sustainability; Investment; Projects; Wastes and Waste Processing; Corporate Finance; Business and Government Relations; Energy Industry

October 2017 (Revised October 2022)
Case

Jumia Nigeria: from Retail to Marketplace (A)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Namrata Arora

Founded in 2012, Jumia Nigeria, a startup effort by Germany-based Rocket Internet, aimed to become an African Amazon. The company entered the nascent market and immediately enjoyed an uptick in consumer spending fueled by the strength of Nigeria’s oil-based economy. By... View Details

Keywords: Retail; Marketplace; Inventory; Ecommerce; Funding; Business Ecosystem; Business Ecosystems; Competition; Business Model; Globalization; Emerging Markets; Expansion; Logistics; Competitive Strategy; E-commerce; Retail Industry; India; Nigeria; Africa

June 2021
Case

Modern Endowment Management: Paula Volent and the Bowdoin Endowment

By: Luis M. Viceira, Emily R. McComb and Dean Xu

This case examines modern endowment investment management through the lens of a leadership transition between Chief Investment Officers (CIOs). In March 2021, Paula Volent is about to step down as the CIO of the endowment of Bowdoin College after twenty-one years, and... View Details

Keywords: Investment Portfolio; Investment Banking; Growth Management; Investment Return; Capital Markets; Interest Rates; Competition; Cost Management; Risk Management; Financial Liquidity; Performance Evaluation

Teaching Interest

Governing for Nonprofit Excellence (Executive Education, Faculty Chair)

This Executive Education course, an HBS Social Enterprise Initiative program, is designed to maximize the contributions of individual nonprofit board members. Participants are challenged to examine their role and the role of their boards in improving organizational... View Details

May 2012
Case

Columbia's Final Mission (Abridged) (A)

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Kerry Herman

This case documents decision-making processes, organizational culture, and other contributors to NASA's failed Columbia mission in 2003. Addresses the question of how organizations should deal with "ambiguous threats" - weak signals of potential crisis - and explores... View Details

Keywords: Cognitive Biases; Teams; Organizational Learning; Ambiguous Threat; Leadership; Organizational Culture; Decision Making; Failure; Crisis Management; Aerospace Industry

Article

In Search of the Hybrid Ideal

By: Julie Battilana, Matthew Lee, John Walker and Cheryl Dorsey

In the first large-scale, quantitative study of nascent social entrepreneurs, researchers from Harvard Business School and Echoing Green examine the rise of hybrid organizations that combine aspects of nonprofits and for-profits and the challenges hybrids face as they... View Details

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Organizational Design

Find at Harvard

August 2011 (Revised August 2012)
Case

JetBlue Airways: Deicing at Logan Airport

By: Douglas Fearing and Robert S. Huckman

The case explores a deicing capacity expansion decision made by JetBlue at Boston Logan International Airport in the summer of 2010. The need for capacity expansion was driven by significant challenges faced during the previous winter combined with substantial... View Details

Keywords: Operational Disruptions; Strategic Planning; Disruption; Cost vs Benefits; Air Transportation; Service Operations; Logistics; Operations; Air Transportation Industry; Boston

June 2004
Case

TechnoServe and the Tanzanian Specialty Coffee Industry

In 2003, TechnoServe, a U.S.-based, international, nonprofit organization, was deciding how to structure the capital investments required for Tanzanian business groups to acquire coffee bean central pulperies. This case explores the challenges of capital budgeting and... View Details

Keywords: Small Business; Nonprofit Organizations; Cash Flow; Emerging Markets; Financing and Loans; Capital Budgeting; Tanzania

November 2000 (Revised October 2001)
Background Note

Rethinking "Preparation" in Negotiation

Challenges the notion that pre-negotiation preparation is the most important determination of success. Examines two fundamental problems with current thinking about preparation: the boundaries problem and the limits problem. Proposes an alternative model of negotiation... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Preparation

September 1993 (Revised January 2007)
Case

British Satellite Broadcasting versus Sky Television

Describes the rivalry between two competitors who have attempted to become the dominant force in the emerging British satellite television industry. Can be used to examine issues of competitive positioning, technology adoption, and scenario analysis. Helps students... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Technology Adoption; Telecommunications Industry; Great Britain

25 Oct 2019
HBS Seminar

SBBI Seminar: Some Executive Views of Technology on the Future of Work

April 2015 (Revised March 2017)
Case

Instacart and the New Wave of Grocery Startups

By: John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld

Instacart is testing an Uber-style solution to the challenge of building a home-delivered grocery business. It is backed by $220 million of venture funding. Will this model succeed where businessses like Webvan failed? What are the questions that this exploratory... View Details

Keywords: Food Retailing; Outsourced Grocery Delivery; Online Ordering; Dynamic Pricing; Data Analytics; Marketing Strategy; Food; Distribution Channels; Business Startups; Food and Beverage Industry; California

November 2005 (Revised May 2007)
Case

HP Nanotech: Partnership with CNSI

Stan Williams, leading nanotech researcher at Hewlett Packard Laboratories, must decide whether to renew the firm's sponsorship of California NanoSystems Institute, spend the funds on internal R&D, or fund foreign universities. Illustrates the challenge of managing... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Partners and Partnerships; Investment; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Business and Community Relations; Financial Strategy; Technology Industry; California