by HBS Staff - Publications - Faculty & Research

05 Jul 2006
Research & Ideas

Reinventing the Dowdy Savings Bond

In the family of investment products, a U.S. savings bond might be cast as boring old Uncle Ned, snoozing away in the corner after dinner. There's nothing wrong with that—but HBS professor Peter Tufano envisions a more meaningful role for... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Banking; Financial Services

30 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

New Paths to Success in Asia

leapfrogged U.S. advances. In this dynamic environment, detailed insights such as those developed by Lane and other HBS scholars are essential to understanding the realities of doing business. They provide... View Details

Keywords: by Alejandro Reyes & Deborah Blagg

02 Jan 2001
Research & Ideas

Can Japan Compete? [Part One]

considered exemplary policies and practices by government. By looking more closely, however, Porter, Takeuchi, and Sakakibara also began to discover what they call "another Japan." While the... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace & Hilah Geer

14 Dec 2009
Research & Ideas

Can Entrepreneurs Drive People Movers to Success?

personal rapid transport, or PRT for short, has been percolating since the mid-1950s and is finally gaining ground, according to HBS professor Benjamin G. Edelman. Business and communities small and large are increasingly aware of PRT as... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Transportation

15 Apr 2002
Research & Ideas

In the Virtual Dressing Room Returns Are A Real Problem

decision-making process—color, feel, and fit—are difficult, if not impossible, to communicate "virtually." Moreover, unlike books, music, and consumer electronics, the difficulty in describing the product cannot be offset easily with customer reviews, reviews... View Details

Keywords: by Jan Hammond & Kristin Kohler; Apparel & Accessories; Fashion; Consumer Products; Manufacturing; Retail

28 May 2014
Research & Ideas

Building Histories of Emerging Economies One Interview at a Time

world's largest non-governmental organization. An extensively updated website highlighting dozens of interviews and associated research has just been made public. The project—which includes links to supporting information about the leaders and their organizations—grew... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

24 Sep 2001
Research & Ideas

Why the Internet Doesn’t Change Everything

of sorts. They have allowed entrepreneurs to build empires out of fiber and thin air and to establish these empires in a realm without rules. They have challenged governments and their traditional authority—not by design or intent, but... View Details

Keywords: by Debora L. Spar

06 Jul 2010
Research & Ideas

Renewable Energy: Winds at Our Back?

off Massachusetts' coastline is the subject of HBS professor Richard Vietor's case study "Cape Wind: Offshore Wind Energy in the USA." The case highlights the challenges and opportunities that face green businesses as they attempt to... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Energy; Utilities

13 Mar 2005
Research & Ideas

The Tricky Business of Nonprofit Brands

corporations such as Microsoft or Coca-Cola, particularly in Europe. Many NGOs, by the very nature of the work they do and the dedication of their staff and volunteers, attract the respect and admiration of... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls

15 Jun 2007
Research & Ideas

Remembering Alfred Chandler

academics talk a good game about the need for interdisciplinary thinking, but we usually fall back on the strengths (or prejudices) of our primary discipline. Chandler was heavily influenced by sociologists such as Max Weber and Talcott... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

26 Sep 2019
Research & Ideas

What Can the World’s Largest Refugee Camp Teach Us About the Meaning of Work?

day.” Testing the unique benefits of work By all accounts, overcrowding, extreme poverty, and the experience of forced displacement inside the camps has taken a profound toll. Doctors Without Borders has provided almost 1.4 million... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

05 Feb 2007
Research & Ideas

Business and the Global Poor

2005 on business solutions for alleviating poverty. The work combines chapters from a variety of perspectives—business, academic, government, nonprofit—to examine the nature of poverty, how the poor can become producers as well as consumers, and the roles to be played... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

18 Jun 2001
Research & Ideas

Tech Investment the Wise Way

Press, 2001. This excerpt is taken with permission from a contributed essay in Taking Technical Risks: How Innovators, Executives And Investors Manage High-Tech Risks, edited by Lewis M. Branscomb and Phillip E. Auerswald. Chesbrough and... View Details

Keywords: by Henry Chesbrough & Richard S. Rosenbloom

13 Jul 2016
HBS Case

How Uber, Airbnb, and Etsy Attracted Their First 1,000 Customers

three of the best-known and most successful startups—Uber, Etsy, and Airbnb—hoping to find some commonalities in how those businesses solved the dilemma. Spoiler alert: it’s the egg that needs incubating. As Teixeira reports in a new HBS... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Retail; Service; Transportation

31 Jan 2011
Research & Ideas

Taking the Fear out of Diversity Policies

sexual orientation are based on studies that focus on the scourge of discrimination—rather than on the benefits of a diverse workforce, she says. In a new working paper, A Positive Approach to Studying Diversity in Organizations, Ramarajan and fellow View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

19 May 2008
Research & Ideas

Connecting School Ties and Stock Recommendations

Social networks matter for more than just efficient Internet communication. They're also crucial for the strong performance of stock recommendations by analysts, according to researchers at Harvard Business School and the University of... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Financial Services

18 Sep 2000
Research & Ideas

Getting It Done: Improving Nonprofit Performance

making sure that these donations actually make a difference in alleviating some of the major ills and inequities of society. What, many ask, are the measures of effectiveness in these operations? Where is the accountability? Would there be better bang for the buck... View Details

Keywords: by James E. Aisner

23 Jun 2003
Research & Ideas

Psychology, Pathology, and the CEO

financial and strategic decision making. But along the way, I also noted another important aspect of this leadership task, a related line of effort that seemed to go largely unnoticed and unstudied by observers but that was just as vital... View Details

Keywords: by Rosabeth Moss Kanter

15 Nov 2017
Research & Ideas

How Does a Social Startup Decide to Commercialize? It May Depend on the Founder's Gender

their quest for revenue generation. It can also be risky and difficult to finance a hybrid: Venture capitalists may be turned off by the idea of funding an organization preoccupied with its social mission, while charitable foundations may... View Details