City Year at 30: Toward Long-Term Impact

Rosabeth Moss Kanter; Jonathan  Cohen

Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | September 2018

City Year at 30: Toward Long-Term Impact

by Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jonathan Cohen

Abstract

This teaching note assists in the classroom instruction of the HBS No. 318-089, “City Year at 30: Toward Long-Term Impact.” It offers to instructors a case summary and analysis, along with student preparation questions and a guide for classroom discussion of the case. The teaching note helps explain teaching objectives of the case, including lessons on how to manage the growth and evolution of not-for-profit social enterprises and how to pursue even bigger societal change.

Keywords: scaling; Education Entrepreneurship; Education; Service Operations; Nonprofit Organizations; Growth and Development Strategy; Performance Efficiency; Resource Allocation; Change Management; Social Entrepreneurship; Middle School Education; Secondary Education; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Human Capital; Growth Management; Service Delivery; Organizational Design; Social Enterprise; Poverty; United States;

Language: English

Format: Print

18 pages

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Citation:

Kanter, Rosabeth Moss, and Jonathan Cohen. "City Year at 30: Toward Long-Term Impact." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 319-040, September 2018.

Gun violence was a significant problem in America. Three Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative Fellows Christy Wood, Russell Sternlicht, and Gareth Glaser each decided to do something about gun safety. They each used their professional and leadership experience to identify their own solutions to the issue. Wood created a set of principles for investments funds to pressure gun manufacturers and gun sellers within their portfolios to adopt safety standards. Sternlicht designed a membership-based lobbying and advocacy group in order to harness the power of mass movements to create positive change. And Glaser founded a smart-gun company whose product could help reduce certain types of deaths and injuries. Would any of these three innovations move beyond the historical gridlock on gun safety?

This is a teaching note to the original case: Gun violence was a significant problem in America. Three Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative Fellows Christy Wood, Russell Sternlicht, and Gareth Glaser each decided to do something about gun safety. They each used their professional and leadership experience to identify their own solutions to the issue. Wood created a set of principles for investments funds to pressure gun manufacturers and gun sellers within their portfolios to adopt safety standards. Sternlicht designed a membership-based lobbying and advocacy group in order to harness the power of mass movements to create positive change. And Glaser founded a smart-gun company whose product could help reduce certain types of deaths and injuries. Would any of these three innovations move beyond the historical gridlock on gun safety?

From 2008-2010 Anand Piramal ran a series of pilots for his digital healthcare startup, Piramal e-Swasthya (PeS) to “democratize healthcare” in rural areas of India. PeS ran into difficulties so Anand Piramal had to decide whether to continue the organization and if so how. In 2010, an unexpected opportunity emerged that could have significant implications for PeS’s organizational structure and future prospects. Anand Piramal now faced several options for PeS. He needed to weigh the pros and cons of each option to make the best decision to fulfill his vision of providing quality healthcare services to “bottom-of-the-pyramid” populations. This case exemplifies the strategic decisions an entrepreneur must make to ensure that a social impact venture can be sustainable and scalable.

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City Year at 30: Toward Long-Term Impact

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