Publications

23 Mar 2023
HBS Seminar

Tinglong Dai, Johns Hopkins

Program

Finance for Senior Executives

Benefits By examining corporate finance from both internal and external perspectives, this executive finance program provides a solid grounding in the fundamentals of finance. You will build the skills and confidence to immediately apply... View Details

March 2022 (Revised April 2022)
Teaching Note

France Télécom (A), (B), and (C)

By: Ashley Whillans

This case series discusses the evolution of France Télécom (now Orange) from a national telephone monopoly to a private company. During this process, the company faced numerous challenges including the entry of new competition from other countries and a workforce that... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Compensation and Benefits; Employee Relationship Management; Business Organization; Well-being; Communications Industry; Telecommunications Industry; France

Program

Strategic Negotiations

key issues, and develop the best process for each deal—all before the negotiations even start. This program is eligible for the Certificate of Management Excellence. Learn More Key Benefits The advanced skills you develop in this program... View Details

06 Nov 2023
Research & Ideas

Did You Hear What I Said? How to Listen Better

these misperceptions are problematic, the researchers say. First, vital information the person is trying to communicate might be lost, and secondly, the speaker might feel unnecessarily hurt, thinking the other person isn’t listening. “In both cases, we could View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

December 2020
Article

Sovereign Debt Portfolios, Bond Risks, and the Credibility of Monetary Policy

By: Wenxin Du, Carolin Pflueger and Jesse Schreger

We document that governments whose local currency debt provides them with greater hedging benefits actually borrow more in foreign currency. We introduce two features into a government's debt portfolio choice problem to explain this finding: risk-averse lenders and... View Details

Keywords: Investment Portfolio; Currency; Policy; Risk and Uncertainty

02 Nov 2017
News

Trump’s tax bill is one tough sell

July 2022
Case

David Crane’s Clean(er) Energy Strategy at NRG

By: George Serafeim, Michael W. Toffel and Tom Quinn

In 2015, David Crane was the CEO of NRG, the second-largest energy producer in the United States. NRG got most of its power from fossil fuels, but Crane – hired as CEO in 2003 as NRG emerged from bankruptcy – had invested heavily in alternative energy, loudly... View Details

Keywords: Energy; Leadership; Corporate Governance; Transformation; Alternative Energy; Energy Generation; Climate Change; Corporate Accountability; Renewable Energy; Energy Industry; United States

16 Apr 2015
News

Why e-commerce giants must reinvent, and why the human touch is still vital

January 11, 2024
Article

Understanding the Tradeoffs of the Amazon Antitrust Case

By: Chiara Farronato, Andrey Fradkin, Andrei Hagiu and Dionne Lomax

Regulators in the United States and Europe have been taking on Big Tech, challenging what they say are the companies’ anti-competitive and predatory strategies that harm consumers and third-party users of their platforms. This article examines the FTC’s case against... View Details

Keywords: Monopoly; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Market Design; Lawsuits and Litigation

August 2014
Article

Religion, Politician Identity and Development Outcomes: Evidence from India

By: Sonia Bhalotra, Irma Clots-Figueras, Guilhem Cassan and Lakshmi Iyer

This paper investigates whether the religious identity of state legislators in India influences development outcomes, both for citizens of their religious group and for the population as a whole. Using an instrumental variables approach derived from a regression... View Details

Keywords: Politician Identity; Infant Mortality; Primary Education; India; Muslim; Fairness; Religion; Government and Politics; India

January 2013 (Revised September 2013)
Case

Royal DSM: Fighting Hidden Hunger

By: Rebecca Henderson, Noah Fisher and Mary Shelman

In 2007 Royal DSM, a leading life science and materials company, entered a partnership with the World Food Programme (WFP) to combat hidden hunger around the world by providing micronutrient solutions. The case investigates the unexpectedly large impact the partnership... View Details

Keywords: Conflict of Interests; Human Needs; Partners and Partnerships; Global Range; Nutrition; Science-Based Business; Non-Governmental Organizations; Service Industry; Health Industry

June 2023
Case

ByteDance: TikTok and the Trials of Going Viral in 2023

By: William C. Kirby, Noah B. Truwit and John P. McHugh

In March 2023, Chew, with an army of well-paid U.S. lobbyists and TikTok creators, descended on Washington. In his testimony, he planned to highlight the 150 million daily active American users on TikTok and how the platform had benefitted small business owners and... View Details

Keywords: Social Media; International Relations; Government Legislation; China; United States

September 2014 (Revised March 2017)
Case

The Road to Kolkata: NH-34 and PPP in India

By: Sid Yog and Ben Eppler

In 2014, Arjun Dhawan (MBA 2004), President of HCC Concessions, is working toward the completion of his largest road development project yet. The route, a 250-km stretch leading from the critical eastern Indian port of Kolkata into the interior of the province of West... View Details

Keywords: India; Real Estate; Roads; Transportation; Project Finance; Property; Infrastructure; Finance; Partners and Partnerships; Construction Industry; Financial Services Industry; India

September 2021 (Revised December 2021)
Case

Spire, the CubeSat Revolution, and the Government as a Space Data Customer

By: Matthew Weinzierl, Mehak Sarang and Brendan L. Rosseau

This case outlines the rise of Spire Global, a young space company using CubeSats to provide weather data and weather prediction services. In addition to tracing the evolution of a space startup from novel idea to publicly-traded company, the case also examines the... View Details

Keywords: Space; Government Contracting; Remote Sensing; Satellites; Business Startups; Public Sector; Cost vs Benefits; Competition; Weather; Forecasting and Prediction

17 Jan 2020
Blog Post

Going the Distance for Investment Excellence

under his belt, including a recent personal best of 2:39:49, it’s easy for Cameron to draw the parallel between running and research. He makes it a point to go the distance every day for the benefit of his clients’ long-term investment... View Details

November 2022 (Revised March 2024)
Case

Replika AI: Monetizing a Chatbot

By: Julian De Freitas and Nicole Tempest Keller

In early 2018, Eugenia Kuyda, co-founder and CEO of San Francisco-based chatbot Replika AI, was deciding how to monetize the app she had built. Launched in 2017, Replika was a consumer AI “companion app” developed by a team of AI software engineers originally based in... View Details

Keywords: Mental Health; Subscriber Models; TAM; Monetization Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; AI and Machine Learning; Applications and Software; Product Positioning; Health Disorders; Technology Industry

March–April 2013
Article

Vaporware, Suddenware and Trueware: New Product Preannouncements under Market Uncertainty

By: Elie Ofek and Ozge Turut

A firm may want to preannounce its plans to develop a new product in order to stimulate future demand. But given that such communications can affect rivals' incentives to develop the same new product, a firm may decide to preannounce untruthfully in order to deter... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Announcements; Competition; Product Launch; Product Development

Article

Prosocial Bonuses Increase Employee Satisfaction and Team Performance

By: Lalin Anik, Lara B. Aknin, Elizabeth W. Dunn, Michael I. Norton and Jordi Quoidbach

In three field studies, we explore the impact of providing employees and teammates with prosocial bonuses, a novel type of bonus spent on others rather than on oneself. In Experiment 1, we show that prosocial bonuses in the form of donations to charity lead to happier... View Details

Keywords: Satisfaction; Groups and Teams; Performance; Compensation and Benefits; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Banking Industry; Sports Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Canada; Belgium; Australia