Category: Industry Insights

FIELD Prep En Brief

Before you head out, read some of the recommendations below. As RC students prepare for FIELD classes, the Harbus Editor Loujaine AlMoallim (MBA ’24) gathered information about students’ experiences in years past. We bring the findings to you here in print to help you avoid the mistakes of your HBS forebears.  Unsurprisingly, most of the… Continue reading FIELD Prep En Brief

Summer Plans Are Just Around the Corner

Jimena Gutierrez (MBA ’24) interviews students who share reflections on their summer internship endeavors. “What are you doing this summer?” That is the question that everyone is asking and being asked this time of the year. It brings excitement to some and anxiety to others. People generally think of their internship as falling in one… Continue reading Summer Plans Are Just Around the Corner

Landing a Product Manager Job in a Dry Job Market

Jigya Bhagat (MBA ’24) shares advice for folks from a non-PM background looking to break into PM roles. As an international student from India with a prior background as a management consultant, I was unprepared to deal with the recruiting market in the US. Previously, recruiting was more predictable in the sense that if you… Continue reading Landing a Product Manager Job in a Dry Job Market

Female Professors at HBS Series: Elisabeth Paulson

Loujaine AlMoallim (MBA ’24) interviews RC TOM Professor Elisabeth Paulson about her personal journey, her time at HBS, and her advice for HBS leaders. Can you briefly tell us about your journey that got you to where you are today? My mom was a statistics professor, so a career in academia was always something that… Continue reading Female Professors at HBS Series: Elisabeth Paulson

HBS RC Trailblazers Bridging Diversity Gap in Tech and VC 

Networking opportunities are being created for womxn from HBS, Harvard University & MIT Angel An (MBA ’24), Contributor Ayushi Sinha (MBA ’24), Contributor Ayushi Sinha (MBA ’24), Angel An (MBA ’24) and Caroline Frost (MBA ’24), coming to HBS from the VC and tech world, bonded over shared experiences of being one of few women… Continue reading HBS RC Trailblazers Bridging Diversity Gap in Tech and VC 

It Is Recruitment Season

Edgard Mejico (MBA ’24) writes about the start of RC recruitment season on campus and analyzes internship statistics. Edgard Mejico, Industry Insights Editor Spangler common hall is full of people greeting each other for the first time and having animated conversations about interesting industries. RC students are wearing professional outfits after months of getting used… Continue reading It Is Recruitment Season

Stability, Growth, and Radical Uncertainty: Assessing Options and Opportunities

Distinguished academics, policymakers, and thought leaders gather for the Alamos Alliance XXIX conference in San Antonio, Texas. From the emerging new geopolitics of international trade to what led to the downfall of the Chilean model in Latin America and the originally “transitory” but now not-so inflationary bubble, Alamos Alliance XXIX convened in San Antonio, Texas,… Continue reading Stability, Growth, and Radical Uncertainty: Assessing Options and Opportunities

Deep Purpose Leaders: How Mona Ataya Built One of the Most Successful E-commerce Companies in the Middle East

Ziana Kotadia (MBA ’22) reports on Professor Ranjay Gulati’s interview with Mona Ataya, CEO and Founder of Mumzworld Professor Ranjay Gulati has been hosting a series of interviews with CEOs to better understand how they’ve led with ‘deep purpose’ throughout their careers. As we honor International Women’s Day, and reflect on the theme ‘Break the… Continue reading Deep Purpose Leaders: How Mona Ataya Built One of the Most Successful E-commerce Companies in the Middle East

Student Feedback Prompts Adjustment to New Inclusive Leadership Course

Professors Francesca Gino and Hise Gibson share their reflections on what went well—and not so well—with the RC-wide course. In the third week of Inclusive Leadership—a new RC-wide course on leadership, diversity, equity and inclusion—the faculty team delivered an emotional apology in Klarman Hall. “Our execution has been off in dozens of ways, and we… Continue reading Student Feedback Prompts Adjustment to New Inclusive Leadership Course

Deep Purpose: The Heart and Soul of High-Performance Companies

HBS Professor Ranjay Gulati provides a sneak peak into his new book about the revolutionary impact deep purpose can have on company performance. Why did you decide to write this book—and why is its message so important right now? Efforts to tackle pressing problems such as climate change and inequality have stalled, leaving society at… Continue reading Deep Purpose: The Heart and Soul of High-Performance Companies

The Transformation of Marketing in Healthcare

David Edelman (MBA ’86), a Marketing professor at HBS, shares his experience as the Chief Marketing Officer at Aetna. Tell us more about your background and what drew you to marketing. Everything I did well at growing up combined left and right brain—analytics and creativity—especially playing saxophone, music directing shows, and playing on the math… Continue reading The Transformation of Marketing in Healthcare

The United States Should Compete Rather than Block China

Jorge Heine, former Chilean ambassador to China, discusses US-China relations. Martín Rodríguez Rodríguez reports.  I sat down with Jorge Heine at the Boston University faculty club in late October for a wide-ranging interview discussing the Chinese real estate bubble, climate diplomacy, big tech companies, Blackrock’s foray into China and international trade. Mr. Heine, a former… Continue reading The United States Should Compete Rather than Block China

Can Seeds Save the World?

Alex Smith (MBA ’23) shares her conversation with Rafaella Mazza (MBA ’23) and Henry Tao (MBA ’23) about the fast-changing world of AgTech. Rafaella Mazza (MBA ’23) is an RC in Section I. She is an Agronomic Engineer with experience in regenerative agriculture and recently collaborated with a Brazilian VC (Atlantico) to publish  The Digital… Continue reading Can Seeds Save the World?

Financial Empowerment or Dangerous Gamble?

Photo by Bermix Studio on Unsplash

Martín Rodríguez Rodríguez reports on the promise and perils of El Salvador making Bitcoin legal tender Last month, El Salvador became the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender, granting people the possibility of discharging debts and contractual obligations, such as paying taxes, in the cryptocurrency. The new law raises… Continue reading Financial Empowerment or Dangerous Gamble?

Payments Industry Powering the E-Commerce Market

Umang Sota (MBA ’21) shares the innovation journey of Checkout.com, an online payments platform. In my previous article, “Retail Apocalypse: Is This It?” (Harbus, February 2020), I wrote about how the global e-commerce players are bringing us the joy of shopping for stuff from all around the world while sitting on our comfy couch. The… Continue reading Payments Industry Powering the E-Commerce Market

Retail Apocalypse: Is This It?

Umang Sota (MBA ’21) talks with co-founder of London-based startup Trouva that is using online to spread the beauty of offline and not steal it. Undoubtedly, technology advancements—not only in the e-commerce space but also across the whole ecosystem—including mobile penetration, payment systems, and logistics are increasingly attracting customers towards digital stores. The rhetoric on… Continue reading Retail Apocalypse: Is This It?

Bill Tai on How to Invest in a Unicorn

Zoom’s first investor and noted kiteboarding venture capitalist analyzes the company’s origins; Philip Levinson (HKS ’12) reports. Wall Street is buzzing about the recent IPO of Zoom Video, with its market cap now exceeding $17 billion. But the 2011 origins of the company were quite inauspicious. After the successful Zoom IPO on April 18, venture… Continue reading Bill Tai on How to Invest in a Unicorn

A Conversation with Laurent Claquin, President of Kering Americas

Following his keynote at the Retail & Luxury Goods Conference, Laurent Claquin shares with Sergio Velasquez-Terjesen (MBA ’19) his views on reinvention, connection, relevance, and sustainability in luxury. Blair Waldorf once said on Gossip Girl that “fashion is the most powerful art there is. It’s movement, design, and architecture all in one. It shows the… Continue reading A Conversation with Laurent Claquin, President of Kering Americas

Back to Progress: Piloting a Reborn Revolution

Shrinking the world at supersonic speed could be a reality in less than a decade, says Sergio Porres (MBA ’19). Innovation and progress have completely transformed the way the world looks, particularly in the last few decades. The pace of scientific development has been breathtakingly fast, with consumers benefiting handsomely, from the rise of electronics… Continue reading Back to Progress: Piloting a Reborn Revolution

BIGS Welcomes Lincoln Center’s Henry Timms for a Discussion on “New Power”

BIGS hosted the CEO of New York’s 92nd Street Y and newly-named President of the renowned Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts for a discussion of themes from his national bestseller, New Power. Keith Bender (MBA ’20) reports. What can an MBA student learn from Boaty McBoatface? Nothing short of the “key way of understanding… Continue reading BIGS Welcomes Lincoln Center’s Henry Timms for a Discussion on “New Power”

Getting Lenders to Compete for Student Loans

What is the problem you are trying to solve? Individuals taking loans have no leverage to negotiate their rates. At the same time, lenders spend considerable resources marketing to potential borrowers. What is your solution? We use group buying power to negotiate down student loan interest rates. We attract a large number of students to… Continue reading Getting Lenders to Compete for Student Loans