Publications

01 Mar 2019
News

A Wider Net

sportswriter Brian Phillips wrote in the New York Times. “The next thing I want to see from United States soccer is a jackhammer, not a news conference.” “It was heartbreaking,” says Carlos Cordeiro (MBA 1980), who at the time was vice president of US Soccer, the... View Details

Keywords: Dan Morrell; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries

14 Dec 2020
Research & Ideas

What Does December's Drug-Approval Dash Mean for COVID-19 Vaccines?

of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, finds that 19 percent of all drugs approved worldwide are reviewed in December, twice the percentage of a typical month. However, drugs passed before an... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Pharmaceutical; Health

January 2001 (Revised March 2002)
Case

Ford Motor Company's Value Enhancement Plan

By: Andre F. Perold

In April 2000, Ford Motor Co. announced a shareholder Value Enhancement Plan (VEP) to significantly recapitalize the firm's ownership structure. Ford had accumulated $23 billion in cash reserves and under the VEP would return as much as $10 billion of this cash to... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Forecasting and Prediction; Capital Structure; Cash; Financial Liquidity; Policy; Business and Shareholder Relations; Value; Auto Industry

02 Sep 2008
First Look

First Look: September 3, 2008

industry—as well as those that target other industries—increases the likelihood that the firm will acquiesce to shareholder requests to disclose related information. These findings extend existing theory by showing how organizational... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 2011
Article

Watch What I Do, Not What I Say: The Unintended Consequences of the Homeland Investment Act

By: Dhammika Dharmapala, C. Fritz Foley and Kristin J. Forbes

This paper analyzes the impact of the Homeland Investment Act of 2004, which provided a one-time tax holiday for the repatriation of foreign earnings and thereby reduced the cost to U.S. multinationals of accessing a source of internal capital. Lawmakers and lobbyists... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Performance Effectiveness; Code Law; Taxation; Cost; Capital; Financial Strategy; Research and Development; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business and Shareholder Relations; United States

September 2023 (Revised August 2024)
Case

Avive: Resuscitating a Defibrillator from the Regulatory Brink

By: Satish Tadikonda and William Marks

Avive Solutions set out to create a better Automatic External Defibrillator (AED) that would solve many of the problems with existing solutions, including lack of connectivity, difficulty-of-use and requiring prior training for successful use of the device, data... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Product Development; Business and Government Relations; Research and Development; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States

August 2023
Teaching Note

Kunshan, Incorporated: The Making of China’s Richest Town

By: William C. Kirby and Noah B. Truwit

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 313-103. The case is designed to give the students an understanding of the local Chinese entrepreneurial state and how foreign and Chinese firms have worked with it to create China’s richest small city. The major themes are—local state... View Details

Keywords: Higher Education; Entrepreneurship; Economic Growth; Economic Systems; Business and Government Relations; Development Economics; China

May 2018
Supplement

Abe on Womenomics, part 2: Women as Leaders – Policies & Exemplars: Excerpt from Opening Address to the World Assembly of Women, Tokyo, August 28, 2015

By: Boris Groysberg

This video supplement is a lightly edited excerpt from a 2015 speech by Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe in which he describes Womenomics--policies and aspirations to promote greater economic participation by Japan's women, thereby promoting economic growth, greater... View Details

Keywords: Leading Change; Gender; Employment; Business and Government Relations; Growth and Development; Working Conditions; Japan

August 2021
Supplement

Danone S.A.: Becoming a Mission-Driven Company (C)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Emilie Billaud

Describes the events that took place in the first year after Danone became France’s first “entreprise à mission” (mission-driven company). View Details

Keywords: Business and Stakeholder Relations; Corporate Governance; Leadership; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Environmental Sustainability; Goals and Objectives; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; France; Europe

August 2021
Supplement

Danone S.A.: Becoming a Mission-Driven Company (B)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Emilie Billaud

Describes the events that took place in the first six months after Danone became France’s first “entreprise à mission” (mission-driven company). View Details

Keywords: Business and Stakeholder Relations; Corporate Governance; Leadership; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Environmental Sustainability; Goals and Objectives; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; France; Europe

2012
Working Paper

Payout Taxes and the Allocation of Investment

When corporate payout is taxed, internal equity (retained earnings) is cheaper than external equity (share issues). If there are no perfect substitutes for equity finance, payout taxes may therefore have an effect on the investment of firms. High taxes will favor... View Details

Keywords: Business Earnings; Equity; Financing and Loans; Investment; Taxation; Business and Shareholder Relations; Motivation and Incentives

Read Now

01 Jun 1999
News

HBS Alumni Association Board of Directors: President's Report

distinguished group of South African business and government leaders speak about the challenges facing their dynamic continent? Be sure to note the dates for the next conference, June 13-16, 2000, in Berlin,... View Details

23 Dec 2013
Research & Ideas

Just How Independent are ‘Independent’ Directors?

In theory, a board of directors protects the rights of shareholders. Independent directors are supposed to be just that—independent—free to dissent from a decision of the majority. The reality is more complex. Directors are tied to one another by View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

May 2010 (Revised January 2014)
Case

Water Shortage and Property Investing in Mexico City

By: John D. Macomber, Regina Garcia-Cuellar and Griffin James

A commercial property company evaluates water risks including the government's ability to remedy, the company's operating exposure and mitigation, and whether to relocate because of water risk. A real estate fund manager assesses investment prospects in Mexico City in... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Investment; Risk Management; Infrastructure; Privatization; Business and Government Relations; Partners and Partnerships; Financial Services Industry; Real Estate Industry; Utilities Industry; Mexico City

August 2008 (Revised July 2009)
Supplement

Gazprom (B): Energy and Strategy in a New Era

By: Rawi E. Abdelal, Sogomon Tarontsi and Alexander Jorov

President Putin publicly stated that Gazprom, the largest natural gas producer in the world, was a powerful political lever of the Russian state in the world and a keystone in the foundation of the country's energy security. Thus the top leadership of Russia has... View Details

Keywords: Non-Renewable Energy; Growth and Development Strategy; State Ownership; Business and Government Relations; Expansion; Energy Industry; Russia; Ukraine

September 2006 (Revised November 2008)
Case

Supergrid

By: Richard H.K. Vietor

Supergrid is a mammoth wind-power development scheme for Europe, recently proposed by Airtricity. This firm, founded in 1997, is a fast-growing power-development company focused on wind. Already having built about 600 megawatts of wind turbines in Scotland and Ireland,... View Details

Keywords: Energy Generation; Renewable Energy; Entrepreneurship; Performance Capacity; Business and Government Relations; Environmental Sustainability; Energy Industry; Europe; United States

June 2011
Teaching Note

Freddie Mac: Managing in Conservatorship (TN)

By: Robert Steven Kaplan

Teaching Note for 411048. View Details

Keywords: Business and Government Relations; Leadership; Operations; Housing; Price; Ownership Stake; Framework; Mortgages; Organizational Culture; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Financial Services Industry; United States

March 2001
Case

Sime Darby Berhad (C): Responding to the Asian Crisis

By: Tarun Khanna and Danielle Melito Wu

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Business Conglomerates; Economy; Capital Markets; Emerging Markets; Business and Government Relations; Corporate Strategy; Value Creation; Financial Services Industry; Malaysia