Publications

23 Feb 2004
Research & Ideas

It’s Back to Business-Basics for Nonprofits

everything is not equally worth doing.— Jeff Bradach Bradach said when he moved from the classroom to consulting he was surprised to find so many nonprofits lacking a basic business theory to run their organizations. The philosophies of... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls

01 Apr 2019
What Do You Think?

Does Our Bias Against Federal Deficits Need Rethinking?

scanrail SUMMING UP: Is Modern Monetary Theory a Fancy Term for Today’s Reality? Modern monetary theory (MMT) is “silly thinking” (Andy), “a totally unproven theory” (Alex), a “free lunch” (John), and... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

Research Summary

Understanding Human Nature

By: Nitin Nohria

Recent advances in biological sciences provide great insights into the workings of the human brain and thereby into human nature. Drawing upon this research, my colleague Paul Lawrence and I propose a neo-Darwinian theory of human motivation based on four basic human... View Details

February 1991 (Revised May 2016)
Background Note

Note on Organizational Structure

By: Ethan Bernstein and Nitin Nohria

Provides the reader with a basic understanding of organizational structure. The first section outlines some of the key tools and criteria that must be taken into account in designing organizational structures. In the second section, some archetypal forms of... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Structure

July 2018
Article

Revisiting the Classical View of Benefit-Based Taxation

By: Matthew Weinzierl

This article incorporates into modern optimal tax theory the classical logic of benefit‐based taxation in which an individual's benefit from the activities of the state is tied to his or her income‐earning ability. First‐best optimal policy is characterized... View Details

Keywords: Taxation; Theory; Policy

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22 Jul 2002
Research & Ideas

How Business Strategy Tamed the “Invisible Hand”

an "invisible hand" that was largely beyond the control of individual firms. Competitive theory has been advanced at Harvard Business School, shown here under construction. The scope for strategy as a way to control market... View Details

Keywords: by Pankaj Ghemawat

28 Aug 2017
Research & Ideas

Should Industry Competitors Cooperate More to Solve World Problems?

Source: Cecilie_Arcurs George Serafeim has a startling suggestion to fix the world’s biggest environmental, social, and governance (ESG) problems such as water pollution, deforestation, and wealth inequality: encourage companies within industries to do less competing... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Financial Services; Manufacturing; Agriculture & Agribusiness; Mining

November 2006 (Revised November 2009)
Course Overview Note

Introduction to Competitive Dynamics: Strategy and Tactics

By: Dennis A. Yao

Provides an overview of the course Competitive Dynamics: Strategy and Tactics and discusses challenges facing those who wish to use game theory to assist in strategic and tactical decision making. View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Game Theory; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage

10 May 2010
Research & Ideas

What Top Scholars Say About Leadership

Handbook of Leadership Theory and Practice, recently published by Harvard Business Press, aims to give the topic its intellectual due. Edited by Khurana and Nitin Nohria, who will become the new Dean of Harvard Business School on July 1,... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Education

March 1994 (Revised February 2001)
Background Note

Why Manage Risk?

By: Peter Tufano

Conventional finance theory demonstrates that, under simplistic assumptions, firms cannot add to shareholder value through the use of risk management activities. Modern finance theory has begun to carefully consider and examine those circumstances under which firms can... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management

June 2013
Column

Unternehmen als Quelle des Wohlstandes

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee

Ökonomen führen die Armut vieler Länder auf die schlechten Institutionen zurück. Diese Theorie berücksichtigt aber nicht die zentrale Bedeutung von Unternehmen. View Details

01 Sep 2020
Working Paper Summaries

Transaction Cost Economics in the Digital Economy: A Research Agenda

Keywords: by Frank Nagle, Robert Seamans, and Steve Tadelis

2013
Chapter

Behavioral Corporate Finance: A Current Survey

By: Malcolm Baker and Jeffrey Wurgler

We survey the theory and evidence of behavioral corporate finance, which generally takes one of two approaches. The market timing and catering approach views managerial financing and investment decisions as rational managerial responses to securities mispricing. The... View Details

Keywords: Managerial Roles; Theory; Corporate Finance; Financial Management; Investment; Market Timing; Behavioral Finance; Prejudice and Bias; Economics; Forecasting and Prediction

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January 1999 (Revised March 1999)
Background Note

Note on Currency Crises

Introduces students to theories about why currency crises occur. Discusses whether crises can be predicted. View Details

Keywords: Currency; Financial Crisis

May 2001 (Revised October 2001)
Case

Harvard Management Company (2001)

By: Jay O. Light

Harvard Management Co. uses portfolio theory to help consider the asset allocation issues for its endowment. View Details

Keywords: Asset Management

July 2011 (Revised December 2015)
Case

Assistant Professor Gyan Gupta and the Wet Noodle Class (A)

By: Dorothy Leonard and Susan S. Harmeling

Professor Gupta faces three major problems in teaching cases: 1) his students, accustomed to lectures, don't know how to conduct a case discussion; 2) the students are using the Internet to discover the outcome of managerial dilemmas posed in the case; 3) he wants to... View Details

Keywords: Business Education; Curriculum and Courses; Learning; Teaching; Cases; Outcome or Result; Internet and the Web; Theory; Education Industry

Fall 2013
Article

In Strange Company: The Puzzle of Private Investment in State-Controlled Firms

By: Mariana Pargendler, Aldo Musacchio and Sergio G. Lazzarini

A large legal and economic literature describes how state-owned enterprises (SOEs) suffer from a variety of agency and political problems. Less theory and evidence, however, have been generated about the reasons why state-owned enterprises listed in stock markets... View Details

Keywords: State-owned Enterprises; Oil Companies; Corporate Governance; Business and Shareholder Relations; Energy Industry; Brazil; Mexico; Norway

SSRN

December 2009
Article

Catering Through Nominal Share Prices

By: Malcolm Baker, Robin Greenwood and Jeffrey Wurgler

We propose and test a catering theory of nominal stock prices. The theory predicts that when investors place higher valuation on low-price firms, managers will maintain share prices at lower levels, and vice-versa. Using measures of time-varying catering incentives... View Details

Keywords: Stocks; Stock Shares; Investment; Investment Return; Price; Theory; Valuation

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