Publications

spring 2008
Article

Cost Reductions, Cost Padding and Stock Market Prices: The Chilean Experience with Price Cap Regulation

By: Rafael Di Tella and Alexander Dyck

Keywords: Cost; Price; Stocks; Markets; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Chile

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Article

Regulation and UK Retailing Productivity: Evidence from Microdata

By: Jonathan Haskel and Raffaella Sadun

We explore the effects of planning regulation on the UK retail sector between 1997 and 2003 using micro-data from the UK census. We document a shift to smaller shops following a 1996 regulatory change that increased the costs of opening large stores. Our analysis... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Performance Productivity; Growth and Development; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Change; Cost; Retail Industry; United Kingdom

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17 Oct 2014
Research & Ideas

New Treasury Rules Help Long-Retirement Planning

The United States Treasury recently amended its rules to encourage workers with retirement plans to purchase life annuities within these plans. Life annuities generally make fixed monthly payments from the date of retirement until the death of the purchaser. For years,... View Details

Keywords: by Robert Pozen; Financial Services

April 1998 (Revised May 2001)
Supplement

Acquisition of Consolidated Rail Corporation (B), The

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Lori A. Flees and Mathew M Millett

Eight days after CSX announced it was going to buy Consolidated Rail (Conrail) for $88.65 per share, Norfolk Southern made a hostile $100 per share bid for Conrail. Over the next several months, the potential acquirers upped their bids while exchanging criticism in the... View Details

Keywords: Law; Valuation; Rail Transportation; Bids and Bidding; Governance Controls; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Strategy; Corporate Finance; Rail Industry; United States

July 2004 (Revised January 2007)
Case

H&R Block and "Everyday Financial Services"

By: Peter Tufano and Daniel Schneider

H&R Block, the U.S. market leader in tax preparation services, must decide whether to offer financial services to its low-income clients. H&R Block is facing increased competition from branded and nonbranded tax preparers, and the number of returns prepared by the... View Details

Keywords: Financial Management; Income; Taxation; Product Development; Financial Services Industry; United States

July 2004 (Revised June 2005)
Case

Digitas (A)

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Ashley Robertson

Raises issues about how the nature and function of a board changes as its company moves from ownership by its employees (including the founder) to ownership by a private equity firm, Hellman & Friedman, to public ownership. Teaching Purpose: To consider changes in... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Governing and Advisory Boards; Behavior; Organizations; Employee Ownership; Public Ownership

Web

Creating the Modern Financial System - Course Catalog

HBS Course Catalog Creating the Modern Financial System Course Number 1160 Professor David Moss Spring; Q3Q4; 3.0 credits 27 Sessions (with some reserved for paper preparation), 2-hour class sessions Paper/Project Creating the Modern Financial System offers a vital... View Details

March 2011 (Revised April 2011)
Case

Gold in 2011: Bubble or Safe Haven Asset?

By: Robin Greenwood and Benjamin Steiner

Case explores the pricing of gold in 2011. Is the pricing justified or are we in a speculative bubble? What data are useful in determining a view on this question? View Details

Keywords: Inflation and Deflation; Money; Asset Management; Investment; Price Bubble; Policy; Risk Management

31 Jan 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Boardroom Centrality and Firm Performance

Keywords: by David F. Larcker, Eric C. So & Charles C.Y. Wang

01 Apr 1996
News

Stasis and Turmoil: HBS Research for the Real World

Associate Professor Willis Emmons's work in the area of government policy and business. In Praise of Predictability "It used to be that if you worked hard and kept your nose clean, you'd enjoy a good career," says Howard Stevenson, the... View Details

06 Nov 2019
Op-Ed

Torched Planet: The Business Case to Reinvent Almost Everything

addressing the enormous problems that we face. Investors are increasingly turning to environmental, social, and governance metrics—ESG metrics—to help identify firms who are future-proofed in today’s environment. Firms are finding new... View Details

Keywords: by Rebecca Henderson; Energy

September 1992 (Revised March 1997)
Case

Summit Distributors (A)

By: William J. Bruns Jr. and Amy P. Hutton

Summit Distributors was in danger of violating loan covenants because of slow economic activity and forecasted losses and was faced with a choice. Changing the inventory valuation method from LIFO to FIFO would avoid default but would require higher future income... View Details

Keywords: Taxation; Cost Accounting; Cash Flow; Interest Rates; Economic Systems; Borrowing and Debt; Financial Statements; Valuation; Accounting Audits; Financing and Loans; Accounting Industry; Legal Services Industry

June 2011 (Revised September 2011)
Case

Tough Choices for the Illinois Pension System

By: Robert C. Pozen and Brij S. Khurana

This case describes the precarious fiscal situation of the Illinois public pension system in the spring of 2009 and the accounting of pension plans by non-federal municipalities more generally. In February 2009, in the midst of a recession, recently-appointed Governor... View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Financial Crisis; Financial Liquidity; Annuities; Financial Management; Financing and Loans; Taxation; Strategic Planning; Problems and Challenges; Illinois

01 Oct 2002
News

Banishing Balkan Ghosts

It's past midnight and the Minister of Finance and Economy is home early from work, fumbling around in the kitchen of his spartan apartment, trying to find something to eat. He's two years into the job, but meals and sleep still occur... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons

01 Sep 2012
News

What’s the Big Idea?

and governance dimensions. Critics of the One Report concept maintain that it destroys shareholder value by diverting attention from short-term profit maximization. But Eccles and two colleagues found just the opposite. In a recent paper... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons;Julia Hanna;Roger Thompson; Corporate Services; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Management

October 1994 (Revised November 1995)
Case

N.V. Philips Electronics - Currency Hedging Policies

By: Richard F. Meyer

Describes Philips Electronics' policies and problems relating to foreign exchange risk and hedging. Explains centralization versus decentralization of currency hedging, economic role versus transaction role, the difficulties of capturing the necessary information... View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Currency Exchange Rate; International Finance; Globalization; Policy; Information Management; Management; Problems and Challenges; Risk and Uncertainty

September 1992 (Revised August 2010)
Case

The Carried Interest

By: Henry B. Reiling

Makes the point that general partners and others frequently contract to receive a share of any profits that the venture they manage generates. This practice raises the question of whether the value of this contract right should be taxed when it is received or only when... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Cash Flow; Profit Sharing; Taxation; Contracts; Business or Company Management; Partners and Partnerships