Publications

December 2005 (Revised March 2010)
Case

William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia

By: Nitin Nohria, Anthony Mayo and Mark Benson

Demand for low-cost housing after World War II far exceeded supply. Was this a profitable new market? New York developer William Levitt had to decide. During World War II, Levitt was eager to build basic housing for the working class—otherwise, Levitt & Sons would have... View Details

Keywords: Demographics; Construction; Business History; Housing; Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Development; Business and Government Relations; Construction Industry; Real Estate Industry; United States; New York (state, US)

19 Oct 2010
First Look

First Look: October 19, 2010

charitable giving, crowding out intrinsic motivations to give by corrupting a purely social act with economic considerations. Purchase the Book: http://www.psypress.com/the-science-of-giving-9781848728851 Americans Do I.T. Better: U.S.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

08 Jan 2008
First Look

First Look: January 8, 2008

to best finance his company's growth. Over the previous five years as founder and CEO of D2Hawkeye, a Waltham, Massachusetts-based healthcare analytics company, Kryder had grown the firm from a six-person start-up into a leading developer and provider of medical... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

23 Dec 2008
First Look

First Look: December 23, 2008

they experienced from growth prior to the 1960s. Download the working paper from SSRN ($5): http://papers.nber.org/papers/w14539 The Supply Side of Innovation: H-1B Visa Reforms and U.S. Ethnic Invention Authors:William R. Kerr and... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

2019
Working Paper

The Consequences of Invention Secrecy: Evidence from the USPTO Patent Secrecy Program in World War II

By: Daniel P. Gross

This paper studies the effects of the USPTO's patent secrecy program in World War II, under which over 11,000 U.S. patent applications were issued secrecy orders that halted examination and prohibited inventors from disclosing their inventions or filing in foreign... View Details

Keywords: Invention Secrecy; Invention Disclosure; Trade Secrecy; Secrecy Orders; Cummulative Innovation; Wold War 2; Patents; National Security; History; Innovation and Invention; Outcome or Result; Intellectual Property; Policy; Commercialization; United States

SSRN

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February 2016 (Revised February 2018)
Case

The Battle over the Initiative and Referendum in Massachusetts (1918)

By: David Moss and Dean Grodzins

On Election Day in 1918, Massachusetts voters would have to decide not only on their preferred candidates for governor and U.S. Senator, but also whether or not to approve 19 proposed amendments to the state constitution. By far the most controversial of these would... View Details

Keywords: Political Elections; Government Legislation; Power and Influence; History; Massachusetts

November 2003 (Revised November 2015)
Case

Brazil at the Wheel

By: Geoffrey Jones

Taught in the second-year MBA elective on the Evolution of Global Business. Examines the costs and benefits of the Brazilian government's policies to encourage foreign multinationals to develop an automobile industry during the 1950s. A combination of incentives and... View Details

Keywords: Foreign Direct Investment; Multinational Firms and Management; Policy; Government and Politics; Business History; Business and Government Relations; Auto Industry; Brazil

December 1995 (Revised November 1996)
Background Note

Corporate Purpose and Responsibility

By: Lynn S. Paine

Presents several conceptions of corporate purpose and responsibility as articulated by a variety of groups and individuals during the period 1970-95. Included are materials from the Business Roundtable, the American Law Institute, the Royal Society of Arts and... View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; History; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact

February 2016 (Revised April 2017)
Case

Democracy and Women's Rights in America: The Fight over the ERA

By: David Moss, Amy Smekar, Dean Grodzins, Rachel Wilf and Marc Campasano

On the afternoon of June 21, 1982, the Florida Senate prepared to vote on whether to ratify the proposed Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the U.S. Constitution, which stated that “Equality of Rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or... View Details

Keywords: Rights; Government Legislation; Gender; History; Public Administration Industry; Florida

June 2002 (Revised November 2004)
Compilation

John Maynard Keynes: His Life, Times, and Writings

By: Huw Pill and Ingrid Vogel

Discusses the life, times, and writings of John Maynard Keynes. Consists of three parts. First, it summarizes Keynes' life by reproducing his 1946 obituary from The Times of London. Second, it recalls the dramatic economic events of the times in which he lived by... View Details

Keywords: History; Personal Development and Career; Economics; Theory; Macroeconomics

26 Aug 2008
First Look

First Look: August 26, 2008

Working PapersApplicant and Examiner Citations in U.S. Patents: An Overview and Analysis Authors:Juan Alcacer Abstract Researchers studying innovation increasingly use indicators based on patent citations. However, it is well known that... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

29 Feb 2000
Research & Ideas

Whence IT Value?

During the past few years inventory turns among U.S. manufacturers have climbed steadily, and it appears as if productivity has improved nicely. One explanation for these happy trends is that the massive investments we've been making in... View Details

Keywords: by Andrew McAfee

30 Jun 2009
First Look

First Look: June 30

examined. The creation of the bidet-toilet category in Japan was a defining accomplishment for TOTO, and this history has created a strong commitment to promoting it in the U.S. But given that TOTO has been... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

February 2021
Case

The Tulsa Massacre and the Call for Reparations

By: Mihir Desai, Ruth Page, Suzanne Antoniou and Leanne Fan

How should historic social injustices be addressed? Survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Massacre and their descendants, including Representative Regina Goodwin of Tulsa, believe they should be addressed through reparations and have consequently continued to push the government... View Details

February 2021 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Barbarians at the Gate or Turnaround Gurus? Private Equity and the Rise of the LBO

By: Tom Nicholas and John Masko

During the 1980s, leveraged buyouts (LBOs) and the private equity (PE) firms responsible for carrying them out revolutionized both investment and management in the U.S. Between 1980 and 1989, buyout activity in the U.S. surged from $1 billion per year to $60 billion.... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Conglomerates; Restructuring; Borrowing and Debt; Private Equity; Bonds; Investment Return; Institutional Investing; Profit Sharing; Business History; Management Style; Private Ownership; Performance Effectiveness; Value Creation; Financial Services Industry; United States

November 2005 (Revised December 2016)
Case

Bally Total Fitness (A): The Rise, 1962–2004

By: John R. Wells, Elizabeth A. Raabe and Gabriel Ellsworth

From a single, modest club in 1962, Bally Total Fitness had grown to become—in management’s words—the “largest and only nationwide commercial operator of fitness centers” in the United States in 2004. Bally had faced its share of challenges, but the last couple of... View Details

Keywords: Bally Total Fitness; Fitness; Gyms; Health Clubs; Chain; Securities And Exchange Commission; Paul Toback; Weight Loss; Exercise; Contracts; Personal Training; Retention; Accounting; Accounting Audits; Accrual Accounting; Finance; Advertising; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Customers; Customer Satisfaction; Public Equity; Financing and Loans; Revenue; Revenue Recognition; Geographic Scope; Multinational Firms and Management; Health; Nutrition; Business History; Lawsuits and Litigation; Management; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing; Operations; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Public Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Business and Shareholder Relations; Business Strategy; Competition; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Segmentation; Trends; Cost Management; Profit; Growth and Development; Leadership Style; Five Forces Framework; Private Ownership; Opportunities; Motivation and Incentives; Competitive Strategy; Health Industry; United States; Illinois; Chicago

November 2007 (Revised February 2011)
Case

The Ice King

By: Tom Nicholas and Sandra Nicholas

Provides an opportunity to examine the risk-reward tradeoff and the travails of entrepreneurial venturing in the nascent U.S. economy. Traces the origins and development of Frederic Tudor's Ice Company, a business which developed during the 19th century to hack chunks... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Cost vs Benefits; Entrepreneurship; Globalization; Business History; Operations; Risk and Uncertainty; United States

22 Jul 2008
First Look

First Look: July 22, 2008

in on his market. Half a century later the whole U.S. auto industry made the same mistake: Enter the Japanese. But denial comes in many forms, as Sears, Digital Equipment, and Bear Stearns can attest. Heart of Darkness: Business Tokens of... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

January 2004
Background Note

Cross-Border Listings and Depositary Receipts

By: Mihir A. Desai, Maria Raga-Frances, Ami Dave, Mark Veblen and Kathleen Luchs

This case describes the varied instruments that have evolved to facilitate investments in foreign corporations, emphasizing American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) and cross-border listings. It describes the different types of ADRs and the regulatory requirements foreign... View Details

Keywords: Financial Markets; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Business History; Research; Motivation and Incentives; United States