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- January 2025
- Case
Untapped Global: Financing Africa’s Missing Middle
By: Raymond Kluender and Emanuele Colonnelli
In November 2024, Jim Chu, founder and CEO of Untapped Global, faced mounting internal tensions over the company’s strategic direction. Untapped had developed a data-driven revenue-based financing (RBF) model to address the “missing middle” problem—the $5.2 trillion... View Details
Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Social Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Working Capital; Private Equity; Financial Strategy; Microfinance; International Finance; Currency Exchange Rate; Profit Sharing; Revenue; Developing Countries and Economies; Economic Growth; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; Information Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Africa; Nigeria; South Africa; Kenya; Uganda; California; San Francisco
- 2025
- Working Paper
Crossing the Design-Use Divide: How Process Manipulation Shapes the Design and Use of AI
By: Rebecca Karp
Existing literature often separates research on the design of innovations from their implementation and use, neglecting the role of selection—how organizations choose which innovations to implement. Although scholars suggest scientific approaches for selecting novel... View Details
- January 2025
- Supplement
Hippo: Weathering the Storm of the Home Insurance Crisis (B)
By: Lauren Cohen, Grace Headinger and Sophia Pan
Rick McCathron, CEO of Hippo, was optimistic about the InsurTech's path to profitability after navigating the financial uncertainties of 2022. By bundling their home insurance services with third-parties and established insurance incumbents, Hippo was adopting a... View Details
Keywords: Fintech; Underwriters; Big Data; Homeowners' Insurance; Catastrophe Risk; Global Warming; Environment; Business Economics; Vertical Specialization; Bundling; Economies Of Scale; Business Model; Forecasting and Prediction; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Green Technology; Technological Innovation; Natural Environment; Natural Disasters; Weather; Business Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Business Earnings; Insurance; Social Issues; Insurance Industry; California; United States
- January 2025
- Case
Blue Frontier: Disrupting Air Conditioning
By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jacob A. Small
Serial entrepreneur Daniel Betts founded Blue Frontier in South Florida to offer a climate-friendly solution to increase air conditioning efficiency and dehumidify using new technology he developed. Backed by significant venture capital, Blue Frontier had to choose... View Details
- January 2025
- Article
Everyone Steps Back?: The Widespread Retraction of Crowd-Funding Support for Minority Creators When Migration Fear Is High
By: John (Jianqui) Bai, William R. Kerr, Chi Wan and Alptug Yorulmaz
We study funding gaps on Kickstarter across multiple ethnic groups from 2009 to 2021. Scaling the concept of racially salient events, we quantify the close co-movement of minority funding gaps in crowd-funding to inflamed political rhetoric surrounding migration. The... View Details
- January 2025
- Case
Less Is More: Will Aldi's Expansion Plans Pay Off in a Crowded U.S. Grocery Market?
By: David Collis and Haisley Wert
In 2024, the discount grocery retailer Aldi announced bold U.S. expansion plans. Within five years, the German company would increase its store count by 30% to reach 3,200+ stores across the United States and approach becoming the fifth largest grocery retailer in the... View Details
- January–February 2025
- Article
Want Your Company to Get Better at Experimentation?: Learn Fast by Democratizing Testing
By: Iavor Bojinov, David Holtz, Ramesh Johari, Sven Schmit and Martin Tingley
For years, online experimentation has fueled the innovations of leading tech companies, enabling them to rapidly test and refine new ideas, optimize product features, personalize user experiences, and maintain a competitive edge. The widespread availability and lower... View Details
- December 2024
- Supplement
Northvolt: Building Batteries to Fight Climate Change (B)
The (B) case explores Northvolt’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing on November 21, 2024, highlighting the company’s
struggles to scale operations amid a global EV market slowdown and internal production challenges. While the (A) case detailed
Northvolt’s ambitious... View Details
Keywords: Batteries; Electric Vehicles; Climate Change; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Energy; Green Technology; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Investment; Technological Innovation; Risk Management; Failure; Business and Government Relations; Business and Shareholder Relations; Transportation; Green Technology Industry; Europe; Sweden
- December 2024
- Case
WayCool: Addressing Food Loss
By: Rajiv Lal and Kairavi Dey
Headquartered in Chennai, India, WayCool started by focusing on solving the growing challenge of food losses and low farmer incomes. Dasari and Jayaraman, surprised at the amount of fruits and vegetables lost in the agricultural supply chain, set up the company with... View Details
- December 5, 2024
- Article
A Consensus Definition of Creativity in Surgery: A Delphi Study Protocol
By: Alex Thabane, Tyler McKechnie, Phillip Staibano, Vikram Arora, Goran Calic, Jason W. Busse, Sameer Parpia and Mohit Bhandari
Introduction
Clear definitions are essential in science, particularly in the study of abstract phenomena like creativity. Due to its inherent complexity and domain-specific nature, the study of creativity has been complicated, as evidenced by the various... View Details
Clear definitions are essential in science, particularly in the study of abstract phenomena like creativity. Due to its inherent complexity and domain-specific nature, the study of creativity has been complicated, as evidenced by the various... View Details
- 2024
- Working Paper
Assessing Assessors
By: Huaizhi Chen and Lauren Cohen
Property tax revenues – the largest discretionary source of revenue for local governments - adjust at a pace that is inconsistent with property values in the US. We show that this form of revenue smoothing may be rooted in the political economy of municipalities.... View Details
- November–December 2024
- Article
Scaling Up Transformational Innovations
By: Peter Koen, Ananya Sheth, Mike DiPaola and Linda A. Hill
For large companies operating in mature sectors—such as Procter & Gamble in consumer goods, Apple in consumer electronics, and Adobe in cloud software—driving growth is a perennial challenge. Growth through acquisition is always an option, but companies often quickly... View Details
- November 2024
- Case
Demond Martin and WellWithAll
By: Hise Gibson, Archie L. Jones and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone
This case study chronicles the transformative entrepreneurial path of Demond Martin, co-founder and CEO of WellWithAll, a health and wellness startup. Motivated by a pivotal life experience and deep concern for racial health inequities, Martin transitions from a... View Details
Keywords: Customers; Diversity; Ethnicity; Race; Health; Recruitment; Leadership Style; Management Style; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Product Launch; Product Positioning; Organizational Culture; Mission and Purpose; Relationships; Trust; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Investment; Consumer Products Industry; Retail Industry; Health Industry; United States; Chicago; Boston; Atlanta; North Carolina; District of Columbia
- November 2024
- Background Note
Social Enterprise in the MENA Region
By: Brian Trelstad and Ahmed Dahawy
This research note provides an overview of the socio-economic landscape of social enterprise in the Middle East and North Africa. It highlights the diversity of players in the region including social enterprise organizations (in their many forms) and supporting... View Details
Keywords: MENA; Non-Governmental Organizations; Nonprofit Organizations; Civil Society or Community; Social Issues; Diasporas; Social Entrepreneurship; Cultural Entrepreneurship; Environmental Sustainability; Geographic Scope; Health Care and Treatment; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Social and Collaborative Networks; Demographics; Health Industry; Service Industry; Tourism Industry; Egypt; Morocco; North Africa; Tunisia; Jordan; Lebanon; Saudi Arabia; United Arab Emirates; Dubai; Middle East
- November 2024
- Case
Polish Agro: Where Do We Grow from Here?
By: Willy C. Shih, Lena Duchene and Daniela Beyersdorfer
By July 2024, Polish Agro had grown into one of Poland’s fastest-growing agribusinesses, with €230 million in revenue, 82 employees, and operations across Northern Poland. The company supported farmers with essential agricultural inputs like fertilizers and seeds,... View Details
Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Distribution; Volatility; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Value and Value Chain; Climate Change; Environmental Regulation; Profit; Trade; Digital Strategy; Innovation Strategy; Crisis Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Resource Allocation; Advertising; Brands and Branding; E-commerce; Business and Community Relations; Networks; Adaptation; Adoption; Competitive Advantage; Business Model; Health Pandemics; War; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Europe; Poland
- November 2024
- Case
Dr. Bombay Ice Cream
By: William R. Kerr, Alexis Brownell and Michael Liu
This case examines the creation, launch, and rapid growth of Dr. Bombay Ice Cream, a joint venture between Happi Co., a consumer packaged goods incubator, and entertainment mogul Snoop Dogg, with his son, Cordell Broadus. The brand was inspired by a Bored Ape Yacht... View Details
- 2024
- Working Paper
Why Has Construction Productivity Stagnated? The Role of Land-Use Regulation
By: Leonardo D’Amico, Edward Glaeser, Joseph Gyourko, William Kerr and Giacomo A. M. Ponzetto
We document a Kuznets curve for construction productivity in 20th-century America.
Homes built per construction worker remained stagnant between 1900 and 1940, boomed after
World War II, and then plummeted after 1970. The productivity boom from 1940 to 1970
shows... View Details
- November 5, 2024
- Article
The International Empirics of Management
By: Daniela Scur, Scott Ohlmacher, John Van Reenen, Morten Bennedsen, Nick Bloom, Ali Choudhary, Lucia Foster, Jesse Groenewegen, Arti Grover, Sjoerd Hardeman, Leonardo Iacovone, Ryo Kambayashi, Marie-Christine Laible, Renata Lemos, Hongbin Li, Andrea Linarello, Mika Maliranta, Denis Medvedev, Charlotte Meng, John Miles Touya, Natalia Mandirola, Roope Ohlsbom, Atsushi Ohyama, Megha Patnaik, Mariana Pereira-López, Raffaella Sadun, Tatsuro Senga, Franklin Qian and Florian Zimmermann
A country’s national income broadly depends on the quantity and quality of workers and capital. But how well these factors are managed within and between firms may be a key determinant of a country’s productivity and its GDP. Although social scientists have long... View Details
- October 2024
- Case
Tonik
By: Andy Wu, Maliha Malek Quadir and Aticus Peterson
This case study examines Tonik, the first digital bank in the Philippines, as it navigates the challenges of scaling its lending operations and achieving profitability in an evolving fintech landscape. It explores Tonik's journey from its launch in 2018 to early 2024,... View Details
- October 2024
- Case
Parexel: Scaling Up and Industry Dynamics
By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Ben Creo
Through the lens of biopharmaceutical contract research organization (CRO) PAREXEL, this case traces the evolution of the firm as it reinvents itself in response to the transformation of the CRO sector from a small, secondary cluster of firms into a major player with... View Details