News & Highlights

  • March 2025
  • Event

Doctoral workshop on Participant Centered Learning (DPCL) and the Case Method at HBS

A workshop focused on participant-centered learning - a hallmark of Harvard Business School - was held for the first time focused on doctoral students from business schools across India. Hosted in Mumbai on March 20-21, the one-and-a-half-day workshop was led by HBS Professors Rohit Deshpandé and Willis Emmons. Seventy-three doctoral students participated and described the experience as immersive, extensive, and insightful, especially in understanding how deep learning occurs when students are actively engaged in the classroom. Participants appreciated the opportunity to learn from HBS faculty.
  • February 2025
  • Event

Immersion for One on Corporate Governance and Women Leaders with Prof. Aiyesha Dey

In February 2025, Professor Aiyesha Dey traveled to India for an 'Immersion for One' organized by the HBS India Research Center. Events in Pune, Delhi, and Kolkata highlighted her research on “The CEO Factor” examining how CEO characteristics influence corporate behavior and governance. The sessions, attended by the alumni and business leaders, sparked discussions on CEO personality and its impact on leadership and decision-making. A special thanks to HBS alumni Ganesh Natarajan (AMP 169, 2005), Fariha Ansari Javed (PLDA 18, 2014), Nupur Arya (AMP 192, 2017), and Vinita Bajoria (GMP 10, 2011; AMP 183, 2012), who were wonderful hosts and ensured the success of these get-togethers.
  • January 2025
  • Immersive Field Course

Case Discussion on “Tata Power and India’s Energy Transition” with Prof. Vikram Gandhi for Immersive Field Course

Professor Vikram Gandhi led a visit to India as part of the Immersive Field Course on ‘Development while Decarbonizing: India’s Path to Net Zero,’ a full-credit elective course in the MBA curriculum. For the visit, 38 MBA students traveled to India. During the visit, Professor Gandhi taught the HBS case ‘Tata Power and India’s Energy Transition’, marking the first time an MBA class was taught in the HBS Classroom in the Taj Land’s End in Mumbai. The case discussion centered on Tata Power’s strategic commitment to achieving net zero by 2045.
  • January 2025
  • EVENT

Case Discussion on “Digital Transformation at Tata Steel” with Prof. Das Narayandas

Professor Das Narayandas led a case discussion in Mumbai in January 2025, bringing together around 100 alums and business leaders. The session focused on ‘Digital Transformation at Tata Steel,’ exploring the challenges faced by T.V. Narendran, CEO of Tata Steel, as he considered expanding the firm’s e-commerce platform, Aashiyana, into a one-stop shop for home construction products. The interactive discussion delved into critical questions about Aashiyana’s potential, Tata Steel’s digital transformation journey, and execution challenges. It sparked insightful perspectives on balancing innovation with core business strategy and was followed by networking over dinner.
  • NOVEMBER 2024
  • EVENT

Reskilling in the Age of AI with Prof. Raffaella Sadun

HBS Professor Raffaella Sadun conducted a virtual "Reskilling in the Age of AI" session on November 26, 2024, jointly hosted by the HBS India Research Center, Harvard Business Publishing, the HBS Club of India, and the Lakshmi Mittal Family South Asia Institute at Harvard University. The session explored AI's potentially transformative effects on the workforce and emphasized the importance of strategic, evidence-based reskilling initiatives for firms navigating this new environment. The event saw 185 participants, including alumni and industry leaders.
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New Research on the Region

  • September 2025
  • Article
  • Journal of Development Economics

Using Satellites and Phones to Evaluate and Promote Agricultural Technology Adoption: Evidence from Smallholder Farms in India

By: Shawn Cole, Tomoko Harigaya, Grady Killeen and Aparna Krishna

This paper evaluates a low-cost, customized soil nutrient management advisory service in India. As a methodological contribution, we examine whether and in which settings satellite measurements may be effective at estimating both agricultural yields and treatment effects. The intervention improves self-reported fertilizer management practices, though not enough to measurably affect yields. Satellite measurements calibrated using OLS produce more precise point estimates than farmer-reported data, suggesting power gains. However, linear models, common in the literature, likely produce biased estimates. We propose an alternative procedure, using two-stage least squares. In settings without attrition, this approach obtains lower statistical power than self-reported yields; in settings with differential attrition, it may substantially increase power. We include a “cookbook'' and code that should allow other researchers to use remote sensing for yield estimation and program evaluation.

  • June 2025
  • Case

TagHive: Edtech Pricing and Distributor Decisions

By: Isamar Troncoso, Frank V. Cespedes and Stacy Straaberg

Education technology (edtech) company TagHive, founded in 2017, used a direct sales team and third-party distributors to sell its Class Saathi hardware and software solution to 300 clients, mainly primary and secondary schools in India. The product aimed to improve student engagement and performance, reduce the time it took teachers to develop and grade learning assessments, enable administrators to better track data, and provide parents more insight into their children’s learning. Founder and CEO Pankaj Agarwal initially priced Class Saathi using a one-time fee, or perpetual licensing, model. However, in 2023, the company began piloting a recurring subscription fee model to ensure steadier revenue. To support the new pricing structure, TagHive enhanced its software with artificial intelligence and expanded its customer support team and their responsibilities to subscription fee customers. By December 2024, TagHive was cash flow positive and planning to scale. Pankaj and his leadership team were considering whether to extend the pilot to all customers and what the effects on other parts of the organization might be. For example, the pilot had prompted TagHive to increase the capacity and responsibilities of its customer support team. If all clients were under the subscription fee model, could the company afford to continue expanding the team or should it rely on its distributors to provide post-sale customer support? Distributors were responsible for half of sales, but outsourcing customer engagement and support could put customer satisfaction and TagHive’s reputation at risk.

  • May 2025 (Revised May 2025)
  • Case

Netflix Beyond Streaming: Strategies for the Next Era of Entertainment

By: Juan Alcacer and Lorenzo Lucidi

Netflix loses subscribers for the first time in over a decade—can the streaming pioneer reinvent itself before competitors, costs, and churn catch up? In 2022, facing fierce competition and shifting consumer behaviors, Netflix confronts its most critical strategic inflection point. With subscriber growth slowing, market value tumbling, and content costs skyrocketing, the company considers bold moves: live sports, advertising, and theatrical releases. Students must analyze Netflix’s evolving business model, assess emerging growth avenues, and decide how the platform can maintain its leadership in a maturing, fragmented, and rapidly converging entertainment industry.

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