Publications

03 Jul 2012
First Look

First Look: July 3

Understanding Variation across Local Communities Authors:Christian Seelos, Johanna Mair, Julie Battilana, and M. Tina Dacin Publication:In Communities and Organizations. Vol. 33, edited by Christopher Marquis, Michael Lounsbury, and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 1991 (Revised October 2004)
Case

Hilton Manufacturing Company

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

A professional manager is hired by a small manufacturing company after the president discovers he made poor decisions. One product appears to be unprofitable, whereas the product sold in highest volume is under competitive price pressure. A crude cost accounting system... View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Asset Pricing; Problems and Challenges; Risk and Uncertainty; Decisions; Governance Controls; Performance Effectiveness; Business Strategy; Two-Sided Platforms; Fair Value Accounting; Manufacturing Industry

17 Aug 2010
First Look

First Look: August 17

expenditures, to manage earnings to meet or beat key benchmarks. This paper examines this hypothesis by testing how different types of marketing expenditures are used to boost earnings for a durable commodity consumer product, which can... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

2021
Working Paper

Winner Takes All? Tech Clusters, Population Centers, and the Spatial Transformation of U.S. Invention

By: Brad Chattergoon and William R. Kerr

U.S. invention has become increasingly concentrated around major tech centers since the 1970s, with implications for how much cities across the country share in concomitant local benefits. Is invention becoming a winner-takes-all race? We explore the rising spatial... View Details

Keywords: Invention; Innovation; Artificial Intelligence; Clusters; Agglomeration; Innovation and Invention; Patents; Applications and Software; Industry Clusters; United States

May 2017
Supplement

Battle for the Soul of Capitalism: Unilever and the Kraft Heinz Takeover Bid (B)

By: William W. George and Amram Migdal

This (B) case describes the aftermath of Unilever’s February 2017 rejection of Kraft Heinz Company’s (KHC)/3G Capital’s (3G) unsolicited $143 billion takeover offer. In an effort to defend itself against future attempts by KHC/3G or other suitors, Unilever announced on... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Restructuring; Performance Improvement

2009
Working Paper

Clusters of Entrepreneurship

By: Edward L. Glaeser, William R. Kerr and Giacomo A.M. Ponzetto

Employment growth is strongly predicted by smaller average establishment size, both across cities and across industries within cities, but there is little consensus on why this relationship exists. Traditional economic explanations emphasize factors that reduce entry... View Details

Keywords: Economic Growth; Entrepreneurship; Cost; Employment; Market Entry and Exit

January 2016 (Revised March 2016)
Case

HNA Group: Global Excellence with Chinese Characteristics

By: William C. Kirby, F. Warren McFarlan and Joycelyn W. Eby

By 2015, the HNA Group had grown from its roots as Hainan Airlines, a small airline founded in 1993 into a global conglomerate that ranked #464 in the Global 500. Much of this success it had achieved by cross-industry expansion within China, but since 2008, it had... View Details

Keywords: China; Aviation And Aerospace; Airline Industry; Airlines; Globalization; Corporate Culture; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Global Strategy; Globalized Markets and Industries; Growth and Development; Air Transportation; Air Transportation Industry; China

September 2006 (Revised July 2009)
Case

BzzAgent, Inc. - 2005

By: William A. Sahlman and Caroline Perkins

Describes a set of financing issues confronting a rapidly growing company that uses "Word-of-Mouth" marketing techniques in promoting research, new products, or services. The company proposes to set the terms for a new round of venture capital it needs and to have... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Investment; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Value

June 2007
Article

Does Employment Protection Reduce Productivity? Evidence from U.S. States

By: David H Autor, William R. Kerr and Adriana D. Kugler

Theory predicts that mandated employment protections may reduce productivity by distorting production choices. Firms facing (non-Coasean) worker dismissal costs will curtail hiring below efficient levels and retain unproductive workers, both of which should affect... View Details

Keywords: Theory; Production; Selection and Staffing; Cost; Employment; Capital; Performance Productivity; United States

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2017
Chapter

Immigrant Entrepreneurship

By: William R. Kerr and Sari Pekkala Kerr

We examine immigrant entrepreneurship and the survival and growth of immigrant-founded businesses over time relative to native-founded companies. Our work quantifies immigrant contributions to new firm creation in a wide variety of fields and using multiple... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Immigration; United States

12 Apr 2011
First Look

First Look: April 12

Handbook for Banking and Governance, edited by James Barth, Chen Lin, and Clas Wihlborg. Cheltenham, U.K.: Edward Elgar Publishing, forthcoming Abstract In this chapter, we examine the characteristics of acquisition of private firms View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

19 Dec 2006
First Look

First Look: December 19, 2006

percent of the 366 pairs of cross elasticities are sign asymmetric. Finally, we find that the occurrence of negatively signed cross elasticities can be partially explained by a set of hypothesized relationships between cross-price... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

August 1994
Case

Intuit, Inc.

By: William E. Fruhan Jr.

The merger of two computer software firms with very rapidly growing non-overlapping products makes great strategic sense, but presents difficult valuation and accounting problems. How can a firm pay $225 million to acquire another firm with negligible current earnings,... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Mergers and Acquisitions; Applications and Software; Accounting; Financial Strategy; Goodwill Accounting; Corporate Finance; Information Technology Industry; United States

November 1991 (Revised June 1993)
Case

Accounting for Frequent Fliers

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

Airline frequent flier programs offer members the opportunity to earn free flights by accumulating mileage. Accounting and reporting the obligations of airlines and the cost of frequent flier programs raises difficult measurement issues. In 1991, the U.S. Securities... View Details

Keywords: Cost; Fair Value Accounting; Policy; Air Transportation Industry; United States

23 Feb 2011
First Look

First Look: Feb. 23

PublicationsEngineers and the State in Modern China Author:William C. Kirby Publication:In Prospects for the Professions in China, edited by William P. Alford, William C.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

27 Sep 2011
First Look

First Look: September 27

Intervention Method, Empirical Evidence, and Theory Author:Michael Beer Publication:In Research in Organizational Change and Development. Vol. 19, edited by Richard Woodman, William Pasmore, and Abraham B.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2011
Case

Pacific Grove Spice Company

By: William E. Fruhan and Craig Stephenson

Pacific Grove Spice Company is a profitable, rapidly growing manufacturer, marketer, and distributor of quality spices and seasonings. The company's business model requires significant investment in accounts receivable, inventory, and fixed assets to support sales.... View Details

Keywords: Capital Expenditures; Investments; Acquisitions; Securities Analysis; Debt Securities; Opportunities; Cost of Capital; Valuation; Investment; Capital Budgeting; Business Model; Cash Flow; Financing and Loans; Acquisition; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

23 Feb 2010
First Look

First Look: Feb. 23

and Rakesh Khurana Harvard Business Publishing, 2010 An abstract is unavailable at this time. Book: http://hbr.org/product/handbook-of-leadership-theory-and-practice/an/12326-HBK-ENG The Supply Side of Innovation: H-1B Visa Reforms and U.S. Ethnic Invention... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

August 2018
Article

Growth Through Heterogeneous Innovations

By: Ufuk Akcigit and William R. Kerr

We build a tractable growth model where multi-product incumbents invest in internal innovations to improve their existing products, while new entrants and incumbents invest in external innovations to acquire new product lines. External and internal innovations generate... View Details

Keywords: Endogenous Growth; Innovation; Citations; Scientists; Entrepreneurs; External; Internal; Patents; Innovation Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Economic Growth; Research and Development; Science

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