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2009

Harvard Business School Students Prepare to Enter the Job Market
BOSTON, June 4, 2009 - This year's Harvard Business School graduates will step into a job market they did not anticipate two years ago when submitting their application to the MBA program. Because of the economic crisis, the landscape for MBAs has changed significantly and with that, so have employment opportunities.

Graduating Students Honored for Service to the School and Society
BOSTON, May 26, 2009 - Six members of the Harvard Business School MBA Class of 2009 have been named winners of the School's prestigious Dean's Award. The recipients, who will be recognized by HBS Dean Jay Light at Commencement ceremonies on June 4th on the HBS campus, are Andrew Goldin, Garrett Smith, and the team of Rye Barcott, Alex Ellis, Neil Wagle, and Kate Wattson.

Harvard Business School Holds 13th Annual Business Plan Contest
BOSTON, April 28, 2009 -- In a series of lively presentations yesterday in Burden Auditorium, teams of students presented their ideas and dreams for entrepreneurial success at the final round of Harvard Business School's 13th annual Business Plan Contest. A record 93 teams entered the contest when it officially began in January. Over time, panels of judges from fields such as venture capital, consulting, law, accounting, life sciences, and high technology reduced the field to the eight semifinalists who competed on Monday - four in the traditional for-profit track and four in the social enterprise track, which focuses creating social value and may include nonprofit, for-profit, or hybrid business plans.

Past Business Plan Contest Winners Pave the Way for 2009 Participants
BOSTON, April 27, 2009 -- Participants in this afternoon's 13th annual Harvard Business School Business Plan Contest don't have to look back very far for inspiration. Last year's winner in the Social Enterprise track, Diagnostic-For-All (DFA), won kudos for a revolutionary, inexpensive product designed to diagnose certain common diseases in developing countries. Patients simply put their fingertip on a specially treated piece of paper. DFA scored another coup when it went on to capture first place in MIT's $100K Entrepreneurship Competition as well.

Professor James Austin Wins Social Entrepreneurship Award
BOSTON, April 1, 2009 - James E. Austin, the Eliot I. Snider and Family Professor of Business Administration Emeritus at Harvard Business School, has been named a winner of a 2008 Faculty Pioneer Award in Social Entrepreneurship by Ashoka, the world's largest network of social entrepreneurs, and the Aspen Institute, which equips business leaders for the 21st century with the vision and knowledge to integrate corporate profitability and social value.

Harvard Business School Selects Inaugural Recipient of Social Entrepreneurship Fellowship
BOSTON, March 25, 2009 - Elizabeth Scharpf (MBA 2007) has been named the first Harvard Business School Social Entrepreneurship Fellow for her work in launching Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE). SHE is a platform for starting businesses that use innovative, market-based approaches to tackle socio-economic and public health problems in developing countries. Scharpf started SHE in late 2007 based on the belief that charitable efforts alone are not enough to address the breadth and complexity of socio-economic and health problems that exist in developing countries.

Clayton Christensen Writes a Prescription for Health Care Reform
BOSTON, Feb 9, 2009 - The U.S. health care system is in critical condition. Each year, fewer Americans can afford health care, fewer businesses can provide it, and fewer government programs can promise it for future generations. Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen - author of the pioneering bestseller The Innovator's Dilemma, now offers his diagnosis of this acute problem in his new book, The Innovator's Prescription: A Disruptive Solution for Health Care (McGraw Hill).

Social Enterprise Conference Named to Forbes.com's Top 12 Executive Conferences for 2009
BOSTON, Feb. 3, 2009 - The 10th Annual Social Enterprise Conference, presented jointly by the Social Enterprise Club of Harvard Business School and the Harvard Kennedy School, has been named one of Forbes.com's Top Executive Gatherings for 2009 - alongside several other major international conferences including the World Economic Forum and the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting.

Harvard Business School Students Immersed in Experiential Learning
BOSTON, Jan. 21, 2009 - Traditionally, the phrase "winter break" denotes relaxation - a rest for the mind between the semesters of a school year. Yet for some Harvard Business School (HBS) students, this year's break involved stimulating field work in locations such as Israel, Mexico, and New Orleans. More than 320 first- and second- year Harvard MBA students participated in this year's Immersion Experience Program (IXP), which maximizes participant-centered learning by integrating HBS's distinctive case method of instruction with field-based learning. Each IXP group is anchored by the expertise of one or more faculty members who develop the program content and lead the various activities.

Thomas Tierney (MBA 1980) Named Chair of HBS Social Enterprise Initiative Advisory Board
BOSTON, January 5, 2009 - The Harvard Business School Social Enterprise Initiative (SEI) announced today that Thomas J. Tierney (MBA 1980), chairman and co-founder of the Bridgespan Group, will succeed John C. Whitehead (MBA 1947) as chair of the SEI Advisory Board. Tierney is a widely recognized leader in the nonprofit sector, and since cofounding the Bridgespan Group in 1999, he has focused on bringing leading-edge strategies and tools to the challenges and opportunities facing nonprofit organizations and philanthropy. As chair of the SEI Advisory Board, Tierney will work with the SEI leadership team to develop strategies to advance the work of the Initiative, maintain and build upon connections with the field of practice, and ensure that SEI continues to operate at and advance the frontiers of knowledge in the private, non-profit and public sectors in applying management skills to create social value.

2008

HBS Professor Clayton Christensen Brings Disruptive Innovation to Education
BOSTON, Oct. 10, 2008 - According to recent studies in neuroscience, the way we learn doesn't always match up with the way we are taught. Therefore, to stay competitive - academically, economically, and technologically - we need to rethink our understanding of intelligence, reevaluate our educational system, and reinvigorate our commitment to learning. In other words, we need "disruptive innovation."

Bill Gates Speaks at Harvard Business School Global Business Summit
BOSTON, Oct. 14, 2008 - Bill Gates, cochair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has donated more than $16 million dollars to help improve global development, global health, and U.S education, spoke yesterday at the Harvard Business School (HBS) Global Business Summit, the culmination of the School's Centennial celebration. He offered his views on what he called "creative capitalism," or the ability of companies to tap into their powers of innovation to empower the poor.

Winners of 2008 Harvard Business School Business Plan Contest Ring Opening Bell at New York Stock Exchange
BOSTON, June 20, 2008 — Members of the start-up company Diagnostics–For–All were in New York City this morning to ring the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange. The company, which recently won the social enterprise track of Harvard Business School's 12th annual Business Plan Contest, will provide health care agencies and commercial organizations with a new generation of point–of–care tools to address the diagnostic and clinical management needs of the global medical community.

Harvard Business School Celebrates 98th Commencement
BOSTON, June 5, 2008 — Harvard Business School (HBS) held its 98th Commencement exercises today. The Class of 2008 included 907 MBA candidates from more than 70 countries. In conjunction with the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, HBS also awarded 8 Ph.D. degrees –– three specializing in business economics, three in organizational behavior, and two in informational technology management. Four students were awarded doctorates in business administration.

HBS Leadership Fellows Program Announces 2008–09 Recipients
BOSTON, June 2, 2008 - Soon after they graduate this year, nine newly minted Harvard Business School MBAs will join nonprofit and public–sector organizations with the help of the School's Leadership Fellows program. Now in its seventh year, the program provides Fellows with a one–year position in a nonprofit or public sector organization where they can make a significant contribution.

Six HBS Students Honored for Service to the School and Society
BOSTON, May 29, 2008 — Harvard Business School announced today that six members of the MBA Class of 2008 have been named winners of the School's prestigious Dean's Award. The recipients, who will be recognized by HBS Dean Jay Light at Commencement ceremonies on the HBS campus on June 5, are Shad Z. Ahmed, Jens Audenaert, Johnita W. Mizelle, Jon R. Puz, Jeffrey C. Shaddix, and Justin L. Silver.

Harvard Business School Hosts Business and Human Rights Conference
BOSTON, May 7, 2008 — How do, and how should, business managers address human rights issues within their organizations' operations and supply chains? A recent conference organized by Harvard Business School Assistant Professor Michael Toffel and the U.S. Network of the United Nations Global Compact tackled these questions with a day–long series of panels and speeches.

HBS Holds 12th Annual Business Plan Contest
BOSTON - April 29, 2008 — Harvard Business School (HBS) held the final round of its 12th annual Business Plan Contest yesterday in the School's Burden Auditorium, the culmination of a process that began last January with a total of some 70 student teams. Eleven made it through the various stages of judging to Monday's final round of presentations.

Happy Birthday, Harvard Business School
BOSTON - April 9, 2008 — More than 3,000 members of the Harvard Business School community–MBA and doctoral students, faculty, and staff–came together yesterday for a day–long series of festivities and special events to celebrate the Centennial anniversary of the School.

Melinda Gates Comments on the Future of Social Enterprise
BOSTON - April 9, 2008 — Melinda Gates visited Harvard Business School recently in conjunction with a two–day symposium organized by the HBS Social Enterprise Initiative. Part of an ongoing series of colloquia in honor of the School's Centennial celebration, the Future of Social Enterprise colloquium examined a wide range of topics, including funding trends and strategies for designing, measuring, and sustaining high–performing social enterprises.

Marketing Can Serve Citizens as Well as Consumers
BOSTON — March 6, 2008 – In Greater Good: How Good Marketing Makes for Better Democracy (Harvard Business Press), Harvard Business School Professor John A. Quelch and Research Associate Katherine E. Jocz argue that democracy can be driven by good marketing and healthy dialogue. When governments treat citizens more like consumers - studying their needs, encouraging their feedback, and developing long-term relationships - democracy becomes more democratic. On the flip side, the authors also discuss how managers and marketers can learn from democracy's focus on fairness and concern for society.

Harvard Business School Community Partners Receives President's Council on Service and Civic Participation Pro Bono Award
BOSTON, February 13, 2008—At a ceremony last night at the Harvard Club of New York, The President's Council on Service and Civic Participation presented a Pro Bono Award to Harvard Business School (HBS) alumni club community consulting programs for their commitment to providing volunteer business consulting services to leading nonprofits in various regions throughout the United States.

2007

HBS Leadership Fellows Program Announces 2007-08 Recipients
BOSTON, June 6, 2007—Soon after they graduate, ten newly minted Harvard Business School MBAs will join nonprofit and public-sector organizations with the help of the School's Leadership Fellows program. Now in its sixth year, the program provides Fellows with a one-year position in a nonprofit or public–sector organization where they can make a significant contribution. Participating organizations pay fellows $45,000, and HBS supplements that with a one-year grant of an equal amount so that compensation is competitive with what the graduate would earn at a for-profit enterprise.

Seven HBS Students Honored for Service to the School and Society
BOSTON, June 1, 2007—Seven members of the Harvard Business School MBA Class of 2007 will take home more than the coveted diploma they are receiving today from HBS Dean Jay O. Light. Anthony D'Avella, Sachin Jain, José Antonio Morán, Jean-Philippe (JP) Odunlami, John Serafini, Heather Thompson, and Arturo Weiss Pick are winners of the School's prestigious Dean's Award.

HBS Holds 11th Annual Business Plan Contest
BOSTON, April 24, 2007—Harvard Business School held the culmination of its 11th annual Business Plan Contest yesterday in the School's Burden Auditorium, the finale of a process that began last January with a total of 62 student teams. Eight made it through the various stages of judging to Monday's final round of presentations-four teams in the traditional track and four in the Social Enterprise Track, reserved for ventures with a primarily social agenda.

Harvard Business School, Kennedy School Announce New Joint Degree Program
CAMBRIDGE, MA, April 3, 2007—Harvard Business School and Harvard's Kennedy School of Government announced today the creation of a fully integrated joint degree program in business and government that represents an innovative approach to preparing leaders for a growing area of practice of critical importance to global society.

New Book Proposes Business Solutions for the Global Poor
BOSTON, Jan. 26, 2007—The problem of global poverty is ubiquitous and enduring. According to the latest World Bank statistics, nearly half the world's population (2.8 billion people) is forced to survive on less than $2 a day, with 1.2 billion (nearly 20 percent of the world's population) living in abject poverty under $1 a day. In an effort to aid those who dwell at the base of the economic pyramid (BOP), more than 100 academics and business, nonprofit, and government leaders from around the world converged on the HBS campus in 2005 for a conference that explored business approaches to alleviating poverty.