Publications

04 Sep 2001
Research & Ideas

Is Government Just Stupid? How Bad Decisions Are Made

The main goal of any government should be, the authors maintain, to enlarge the pie of resources that society has available to distribute. This is done by identifying wise tradeoffs for society as a whole. But it's not just politicians who can View Details

Keywords: by Max H. Bazerman, Jonathan Baron & Katherine Shonk

29 Oct 2014
News

The Businessman Disrupting Organ Transplantation

April 2020 (Revised October 2021)
Case

SpaceX, Economies of Scale, and a Revolution in Space Access

By: Matthew C. Weinzierl, Kylie Lucas and Mehak Sarang

From the time he transformed the world of online banking, Elon Musk established himself as a bold innovator. After selling X.com to PayPal in 2002, he founded a series of revolutionary start-ups, starting with Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX). Hoping to "make... View Details

Keywords: Space Tech; Space Access; Vision; Economies Of Scale; Technological Innovation; Emerging Markets; Commercialization; Finance; Aerospace Industry

February 2016
Teaching Note

Indonesia: Growth and Stability in a Global Economy

By: Lakshmi Iyer

This country case on Indonesia is designed to enable a discussion of the potential risks in financial globalization. The country suffered a severe economic crisis in 1997-98 when global capital withdrew from many Asian countries. A significant currency depreciation of... View Details

Keywords: Indonesia; Growth; Stability; Currency Depreciation; Decentralization; Currency; Balance and Stability; Globalization; Economic Growth; Indonesia

December 2010
Article

Nominal versus Indexed Debt: A Quantitative Horse Race

By: Laura Alfaro and Fabio Kanczuk

The main arguments in favor of and against nominal and indexed debt are the incentive to default through inflation versus hedging against unforeseen shocks. We model and calibrate these arguments to assess their quantitative importance. We use a dynamic equilibrium... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Motivation and Incentives; Inflation and Deflation; System Shocks; Taxation; Risk and Uncertainty; Framework; Problems and Challenges; Interest Rates; Cost; Developing Countries and Economies; Service Operations

14 Dec 2011
News

A Manifesto for Sustainable Capitalism

March 2001
Case

Corruption in International Business (A)

By: Robert E. Kennedy and Rafael M. Di Tella

Explores various aspects of corruption in international business, in two sections. The first section provides a broad discussion of the ethical, business, and legal aspects of corruption. The second section provides a series of "caselets" that are designed to promote... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Emerging Markets; Policy; Globalization

2016
Working Paper

The Structure of Board Committees

By: Kevin D. Chen and Andy Wu

We document and analyze board committee structures utilizing a novel dataset containing full board committee membership for over 6,000 firms. Board committees provide benefits (specialization, efficiency, and accountability benefits) and costs (information... View Details

Keywords: Board Of Directors; Board Committees; Specialization; Accountability; Information Segregation; Overloaded Directors; Multi-commitee Directors; Sarbanes-Oxley Act; Corporate Accountability; Governing and Advisory Boards; Accounting; Corporate Governance

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2005
Working Paper

Nominal versus Indexed Debt: A Quantitative Horse Race

By: Laura Alfaro and Fabio Kanczuk

The main arguments in favor of and against nominal and indexed debt are the incentive to default through inflation versus hedging against unforeseen shocks. We model and calibrate these arguments to assess their quantitative importance. We use a dynamic equilibrium... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Taxation; Risk and Uncertainty; Inflation and Deflation; System Shocks; Developing Countries and Economies; Mathematical Methods

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30 Sep 2014
First Look

First Look: September 30

the puzzle of low adoption, we show that payouts improve trust in the product and that farmers shield payouts from claims by relatives. Download working paper: http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/13-080_138f3c30-b5c2-4a97-bf56-9821f89fcbd3.pdf Lifting the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Article

Analyzing Scrip Systems

By: Kris Johnson, David Simchi-Levi and Peng Sun

Scrip systems provide a nonmonetary trade economy for exchange of resources. We model a scrip system as a stochastic game and study system design issues on selection rules to match potential trade partners over time. We show the optimality of one particular rule in... View Details

Keywords: ＂Repeated Games＂; Stochastic Trust Game; Dynamic Program; P2P Lending; Scrip Systems; Artificial Currency; Non-monetary Trade Economies; Marketplace Matching; Currency; Operations; Game Theory

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May 1999 (Revised August 1999)
Case

Victory Supermarkets: Expansion Strategy?

By: David E. Bell and Ann Leamon

Jay DiGeronimo, president of a 16-store supermarket chain, is trying to decide the timing and method for expanding his chain. The family-owned company could continue in a maintenance mode, with each family member running one store. It could expand slowly using a new... View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Cost vs Benefits; Trade; Investment; Market Entry and Exit; Supply Chain Management; Private Ownership; Competition; Expansion; Retail Industry

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September 2009 (Revised September 2010)
Case

Avid Radiopharmaceuticals and Lighthouse Capital Partners

By: Matthew Rhodes-Kropf and Ann Leamon

In fall 2008, a venture lender must decide whether to make a loan to Avid, a small but promising venture-backed life sciences firm. In reviewing her proposal, Cristy Barnes considers the company's characteristics and how they differ from a typical investment. At the... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Crisis; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Financing and Loans; Investment; Financial Services Industry; Health Industry

August 2008 (Revised May 2009)
Case

Kmart and ESL Investments (A)

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah Abbott

A major bankrupt retailer is poised to emerge from Chapter 11. Two activist hedge funds ("vulture investors") will own over 50% of reorganized Kmart's common stock, based on prior investments in Kmart's debt claims, and an infusion of new equity financing. The Chapter... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Capital Structure; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Investment; Investment Activism; Valuation; Financial Services Industry; Retail Industry; United States

August 2000 (Revised January 2001)
Background Note

Asset Reporting

By: Paul M. Healy and Preeti Choudhary

Using historical cost and conservatism to identify and value assets, this case explains the criteria for asset reporting in straightforward situations and then examines scenarios where implementing the criteria for recognition and valuation of assets is conceptually... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Assets; Problems and Challenges; Accounting Industry

March 2022 (Revised March 2024)
Case

Hometown Foods: Changing Price amid Inflation

By: Julian De Freitas, Jeremy Yang and Das Narayandas

During the early part of the 2021 Covid-19 pandemic, Hometown Foods, a large seller of flour-based products, thrived as consumers hoarded baked goods and took up baking to pass the time and find comfort. Then, amid growing shortages in commodities, a vaccine arrived,... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Consumer Behavior; Supply Chain; Inflation and Deflation; Spending; Price Bubble; Price; Volatility; Food and Beverage Industry

January 2009 (Revised June 2014)
Case

CityCenter (A): Vision and Design

By: A. Eugene Kohn, John D. Macomber and Ben Creo

CityCenter is a $9 billion project for MGM MIRAGE. The project's star architects have a major disagreement about a critical design issue. Bill Smith, head of the MGM MIRAGE Design Group, must resolve this issue to the satisfaction of all the project's stakeholders.... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Cost vs Benefits; Design; Construction; Projects; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Conflict Management; Value Creation