Publications

September 2012 (Revised November 2012)
Case

Integrated Reporting in South Africa

This case presents a 20-year history of the evolution of corporate governance and corporate reporting in South Africa starting in 1992 with a focus on the three King codes of corporate governance (King I in 1994, King II in 2000, and King III in 2009). From a reporting... View Details

Keywords: Integrated Reporting; Sustainability Reporting; Stock Exchanges; South Africa; Corporate Reporting; Regulation; Nonfinancial Performance; History; Corporate Disclosure; Markets; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Performance; Corporate Governance; South Africa

21 Jul 2022
Research & Ideas

Did Pandemic Stimulus Funds Spur the Rise of 'Meme Stocks'?

The US government set out to support consumers and jolt the economy when it issued federal stimulus checks during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. But actually, that money helped propel questionable investments in “meme stocks,” one of the most visible... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Financial Services

January 2008 (Revised May 2008)
Case

Subprime Meltdown: American Housing and Global Financial Turmoil

By: Julio Rotemberg

This case focuses on the financial difficulties faced in the U.S. from August to December 2006 as well as their roots in subprime lending. After briefly discussing how mortgages were structured and traded in the pre-1990 period, it describes subprime mortgage lending,... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Central Banking; Financial Markets; Mortgages; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; United States

19 May 2015
First Look

First Look: May 19

Publications May 2015 Cambridge University Press Land Bargains and Chinese Capitalism: The Politics of Property Rights under Reform By: Rithmire, Meg Abstract—Land reforms have been critical to the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

28 Mar 2023
Research & Ideas

The FDA’s Speedy Drug Approvals Are Safe: A Win-Win for Patients and Pharma Innovation

and effective in preventing severe disease, and their accelerated review will go down in history as having saved millions of lives. But COVID vaccines weren’t the first medical products to be brought to market through an expedited... View Details

Keywords: by Kasandra Brabaw; Pharmaceutical

June 2016 (Revised May 2017)
Case

FANUC Corporation: Reassessing the Firm's Governance and Financial Policies

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Nobuo Sato and Akiko Kanno

In February 2015, Daniel Loeb (a U.S.–based activist investor) announced his firm had a large investment in FANUC Corporation, a leading producer of industrial robots and software for machine tools. Loeb was demanding that the Japanese firm change its financial and... View Details

Keywords: Hedge Funds; Economic Policy; Investments; Government Policy; Deregulation; Financial Management; Valuation; Investment Funds; Policy; Corporate Governance; Macroeconomics; Investment Activism; Change Management; Financial Strategy; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Japan; United States

April 2020 (Revised January 2022)
Case

Uber: Competing Globally

By: Alexander J. MacKay, Amram Migdal and John Masko

This case describes Uber’s global market entry strategy and responses by regulators and local competitors. It details Uber’s entry into New York City (New York), Bogotá (Colombia), Delhi (India), Shanghai (China), Accra (Ghana), and London (United Kingdom). In each... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Geography; Geographic Location; Geographic Scope; Globalization; Global Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Globalized Markets and Industries; Governance; Governance Controls; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Innovation and Invention; Disruptive Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Law; Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Markets; Demand and Consumers; Consumer Behavior; Network Effects; Emerging Markets; Market Design; Market Entry and Exit; Market Participation; Supply and Industry; Industry Structures; Planning; Strategic Planning; Relationships; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Labor and Management Relations; Networks; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Expansion; Information Technology; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Digital Platforms; Transportation; Transportation Networks; Transportation Industry; Technology Industry; Africa; Ghana; Asia; China; Shanghai Shi; Shanghai; India; New Delhi; Europe; United Kingdom; England; London; Latin America; North and Central America; United States; New York (city, NY); New York (state, US); South America; Colombia

04 Jun 2007
Research & Ideas

Is Health Care Making You Better—or Dead?

think in any of these cases I launched a revolution, but I think I was helpful. But the pace was so slow, and people were saying that these high deductibles represented consumer-driven health care. It's ridiculous. Consumer markets have... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Health

August 2009
Case

Global Wine War 2009: New World versus Old

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

The case contrasts the tradition-bound Old World wine industry with the market-oriented New World producers, the battle for the US market, the most desirable export target in 2009 due to its large, fast-growing, high-priced market segments. The case allows analysis of... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Global Strategy; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Consumer Behavior; Market Entry and Exit; Competition; Food and Beverage Industry

October 2009
Article

Democratizing Entry: Banking Deregulations, Financing Constraints, and Entrepreneurship

By: William R. Kerr and Ramana Nanda

We examine entrepreneurship and creative destruction following US banking deregulations using Census Bureau data. US banking reforms brought about exceptional growth in both entrepreneurship and business closures. Most of the closures, however, were the new ventures... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Market Entry and Exit; Capital Markets; Banks and Banking; Growth and Development; Disruptive Innovation

Read Now

March 2002 (Revised March 2002)
Case

Note on Regulatory Choices

For many firms, government interaction is expansive, influencing the conduct of firms and industry structure. The visible hand of government, in the form of a regulatory scheme, plays a role in firm affairs along with the invisible hand of market forces. Deregulation... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Governance Compliance

March 2012
Article

How to Make Finance Work

By: Robin Greenwood and David S. Scharfstein

Once a sleepy old boys' club, the U.S. financial sector is now a dynamic and growing business that attracts the best and the brightest. It is tempting to declare the industry a roaring success. But its purpose is to serve the needs of U.S. households and firms, and by... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Value; Competitive Advantage; Investment; Performance Evaluation; Household; Financial Crisis; Finance; Financial Services Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

November 1999
Case

Long-Term Capital Management, L.P. (A)

By: Andre F. Perold

Long-Term Capital Management, L.P. (LTCM) was in the business of engaging in trading strategies to exploit market pricing discrepancies. Because the firm employed strategies designed to make money over long horizons--from six months to two years or more--it adopted a... View Details

Keywords: Fluctuation; Capital; Financial Liquidity; Financing and Loans; Investment Funds; Investment Portfolio; Corporate Governance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Management; Risk Management; Marketing; Motivation and Incentives; Financial Services Industry

23 Feb 2016
First Look

February 23, 2016

cases many-to-many matching markets and buyer/seller markets with heterogeneous and indivisible goods. In our setting, substitutable preferences are sufficient to guarantee the existence of stable outcomes;... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 2002 (Revised June 2014)
Case

The Netherlands: Is the Polder Model Sinking?

By: Huw Pill, Marie-Laure Y Goepfer, Mathijs Robbens and Ingrid Vogel

The Netherlands suffered economic crisis in the late 1970s and early 1980s, despite (or perhaps because of) its access to North Sea gas. In response to mounting inflation and unemployment, a tripartite agreement between employers, unions, and government was reached in... View Details

Keywords: Macroeconomics; Labor Unions; Netherlands

December 1994 (Revised July 1996)
Case

USSR 1988, The: The Search for Growth

For decades after the revolution of 1917, Communist Party leaders claimed that the socialist economic system was superior to the capitalist system on both moral and economic grounds. By 1985, when Mikhail Gorbachev became general secretary of the Communist Party of the... View Details

Keywords: Economic Systems; Economic Growth; Government and Politics; Soviet Union

February 1997
Case

RPG Enterprises--1995

By: Tarun Khanna

As in most emerging markets, a significant portion of the Indian private sector is dominated by extensively diversified, often family-owned or controlled, business groups. This case examines the strategy and structure of one of the largest business groups in India, at... View Details

Keywords: Emerging Markets; Restructuring; Corporate Strategy; Alignment; Policy; Problems and Challenges; India

2006
Working Paper

Democratizing Entry: Banking Deregulations, Financing Constraints, and Entrepreneurship

By: William R. Kerr and Ramana Nanda

We examine entrepreneurship and creative destruction following US banking deregulations using Census Bureau data. US banking reforms brought about exceptional growth in both entrepreneurship and business closures. The vast majority of closures, however, were the new... View Details

Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Market Entry and Exit; Capital Markets; Entrepreneurship; Outcome or Result; Business Startups; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry; United States