Publications

10 Jun 2015
Research & Ideas

The Transparency Revolution in Corporate Reporting

enormous impact on the very big problems we're facing in the world today: natural resource scarcity, social inequality, and poverty, as well as on View Details

Keywords: Re: George Serafeim

02 Nov 2020
What Do You Think?

Is Antitrust Just a Quaint Notion in the Digital Age?

level the consumer seems to benefit What are the downsides for consumers?: no choice in platform content feed from ‘preferred’ sources, personal information, and pattern... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Retail; Technology; Telecommunications; Communications; Consumer Products; Service

December 2019 (Revised June 2024)
Case

The Dutch East India Company in 1612 (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Giuseppe Dari-Mattiacci

The Dutch East India Company’s board of directors must decide what to do about an impending legal requirement to liquidate the company’s assets and return to shareholders their capital and any profits earned during a ten-year lock-up period. The charter granted to the... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Globalized Firms and Management; Organizational Structure; Laws and Statutes; Financial Markets; Business and Shareholder Relations; Business and Government Relations; Business History; Shipping Industry; Netherlands

February 2010 (Revised June 2012)
Case

"Plugging In" the Consumer: The Adoption of Electrically Powered Vehicles in the U.S.

By: Elie Ofek and Polly Ribatt

How will U.S. consumers respond to the proliferation of alternative-fuel vehicles, such as cars powered partially or completely by electricity, in the coming decade? After a century in which fossil fuel-powered vehicles dominated the market, it appeared consumers would... View Details

Keywords: Energy Sources; Policy; Marketing; Demand and Consumers; Business and Government Relations; Natural Environment; Pollutants; Adoption; Auto Industry; United States

29 Sep 2015
Research & Ideas

Work 3.0: Redefining Jobs and Companies in the Uber Age

today are still employees, the contractor option gives a company flexibility in building its workforce" Although most workers today are still employees, the contractor... View Details

Keywords: by Andrei Hagiu; Transportation; Web Services

Article

On Derivatives Markets and Social Welfare: A Theory of Empty Voting and Hidden Ownership

By: Jordan M. Barry, John William Hatfield and Scott Duke Kominers

In the past twenty-five years, derivatives markets have grown exponentially. Large, modern derivatives markets increasingly enable investors to hold economic interests in corporations without owning voting rights, and vice versa. This leads to both empty... View Details

Keywords: Voting; Corporate Disclosure; Financial Markets; Ownership

January 2007 (Revised December 2008)
Case

The Challenges of Launching a Start-Up in China: Dorm99.com

By: William C. Kirby, F. Warren McFarlan and Tracy Manty

After graduating from Harvard Business School in June 2006, Ken Pao and Bill Li were ready to fully commit to the Internet start-up they had been working on since they first stepped foot on the business school campus. They moved to Beijing, rounded out their management... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Joint Ventures; Entrepreneurship; Product Launch; Business and Government Relations; Internet; China

March 2006 (Revised June 2010)
Case

Eldeco: Playing in the Big League

By: Arthur I Segel, Nicolas P. Retsinas and Siddarth Yog

In 2001, Pankaj Bajaj is considering whether to go forward with a residential development outside New Delhi. Facing an uncooperative local authority, he must determine how to evaluate the risks of proceeding against the potential loss of a golden opportunity to bring... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Construction; Government and Politics; Risk Management; Emerging Markets; Business and Government Relations; Conflict and Resolution; Real Estate Industry; New Delhi

September 2007 (Revised August 2008)
Case

Suncor in the Oil Sands Industry

By: Forest L. Reinhardt and Nazli Uludere

Describes the economics, technology, and politics of the oil sands industry, focusing on one of the industry's leading firms. Oil sands deposits in Alberta represent a potentially vast reserve of hydrocarbons, but the extraction, refining, and transportation challenges... View Details

Keywords: Economics; Non-Renewable Energy; Government and Politics; Supply and Industry; Natural Environment; Competitive Strategy; Environmental Sustainability; Energy Industry; Alberta

September 2013 (Revised January 2015)
Case

Wal-Mart Lobbying in India?

By: Karthik Ramanna and Vidhya Muthuram

In 2012, as part of a routine disclosure under U.S. law, Wal-Mart revealed it had spent $25 million since 2008 on lobbying to "enhance market access for investment in India." This disclosure, which came weeks after the Indian government made a controversial decision to... View Details

Keywords: Lobbying; India; Multinational Corporations; Business and Government Relations; Crime and Corruption; Retail Industry; India

2013
Working Paper

Cross-Border Reverse Mergers: Causes and Consequences

By: Jordan Siegel and Yanbo Wang

We study non-U.S. companies that have used reverse mergers as a means to adopt U.S. corporate law (and sometimes U.S. securities law as well). Early adopters of cross-border reverse mergers and those firms that hired a Big Four auditor exhibited superior corporate... View Details

Keywords: Reverse Merger; Corporate Law; Corporate Governance; Nevada; United States

SSRN

2011
Article

Bias in Search Results?: Diagnosis and Response

By: Benjamin Edelman

I explore allegations of search engine bias, including understanding a search engine's incentives to bias results, identifying possible forms of bias, and evaluating methods of verifying whether bias in fact occurs. I then consider possible legal and policy responses,... View Details

Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; Motivation and Incentives; Outcome or Result; Markets; Legal Liability; Policy; Search Technology; Performance Evaluation; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

January 2013 (Revised May 2013)
Case

Kunshan, Incorporated: The Making of China's Richest Town

By: William C. Kirby, Nora Bynum, Tracy Yuen Manty and Erica M. Zendell

In 1980, the city of Kunshan was mere countryside, registering neither on the Chinese government's nor the international business community's radar. By 2010, Kunshan had become the richest city per capita in China and a global technology powerhouse, home to companies... View Details

Keywords: Foreign Investment; Entrepreneurship; Competition; Emerging Markets; FDI; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Innovation Leadership; Technology Industry; China; Taiwan Strait

2010
Working Paper

Venture Capital Investment in the Clean Energy Sector

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Ramana Nanda

We examine the extent to which venture capital is adequately positioned for the rapid commercialization of clean energy technologies in the United States. While there are several startups in clean energy that are well-suited to the traditional venture capital... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Energy Generation; Venture Capital; Investment; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Technological Innovation; Competition; Energy Industry; Green Technology Industry; United States

12 Sep 2023
What Do You Think?

Who Gets the Loudest Voice in DEI Decisions?

social, and governance issues at the heart of so-called “stakeholder capitalism.” Corporations that become too visible in support of stakeholder capitalism run View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

November 2015 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Cisco Systems: In Search of the Next CEO

By: Boris Groysberg, Sarah L. Abbott, Olivia Hull and J. Yo-Jud Cheng

It’s August 2014 and John Chambers is expected to announce his retirement after 17 years as CEO of global technology giant Cisco Systems. Under Chambers’s leadership, Cisco has grown from $2.2 billion in annual revenues and under 4,000 employees to revenues of $46... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Succession Planning; CEO Succession; Managing Change; Person-organization Fit; Management Succession; Transition; Talent and Talent Management; Change Management; Retirement; Innovation Leadership; Recruitment; Corporate Governance; Experience and Expertise; Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; United States; San Jose; California

04 May 2009
Working Paper Summaries

An Ounce of Prevention: The Power of Public Risk Management in Stabilizing the Financial System

Keywords: by David A. Moss; Banking; Financial Services

February 2024 (Revised May 2024)
Case

Lina Khan at the FTC: Redefining Antitrust in the Age of Big Tech

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr. and Susan Pinckney

In 2023 and 2024, the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice sued Google, Amazon, and Apple claiming antitrust violations. These lawsuits marked a shift in U.S. antitrust enforcement away from the Chicago School and towards the New Brandeis school of... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Government Administration; Lawsuits and Litigation; Monopoly; Technology Industry; United States; European Union; China; India