Publications

January 2005 (Revised February 2006)
Background Note

Note on Corporate Strategy

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski

Introduces students to the study of corporate strategy. Focuses on questions of scope and ownership. Examines both horizontal and vertical integration. Underscores the point that economies of scope, or the existence of relationship-specific investments, are... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Contracts; Ownership; Corporate Strategy; Horizontal Integration; Vertical Integration

Video

Aroon Purie

Aroon Purie, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of India Today, explains the opening of the Indian economy and suggests that the major drivers of economic growth have not been government policies but rather due to a series of revolutions in the IT industry, the auto... View Details

2017
Blitz Discussions

The Structured World and the Self

29 Apr 2020
News

What Makes an Office Building “Healthy”

20 Oct 2021
Blog Post

Mobilizing Private Sector Action For Racial Equity in Milwaukee: SE Summer Fellow Zach Komes (MBA 2022)

of Milwaukee, I witnessed the impact of a rapidly changing economy on my neighbors’ lives. Every day on the way to school, I rode past shuttered manufacturing plants that once... View Details

14 May 2024
News

Vatican Conference on ‘Climate Resilience’ Is the Latest in a Long Line of Environment Initiatives by Pope Francis and the Catholic Church – 5 Essential Reads

February 2009 (Revised December 2010)
Case

Upgrading the Economy: Industrial Policy and Taiwan's Semiconductor Industry

By: Willy C. Shih and Jyun-Cheng Wang

The government-led creation and incubation of the semiconductor industry in Taiwan is a striking success for advocates of strong industrial policy. It has led to the island nation's domination of the global "foundry" business in which firms like Taiwan Semiconductor... View Details

Keywords: Economic Growth; Industry Structures; State Ownership; Business and Government Relations; Competition; Semiconductor Industry; Taiwan

October 2012
Case

Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy

By: Rawi Abdelal and Kaitlyn Tuthill

In 2012, the energy sector in the United States was demanding major reform. Prices of oil and gas had continued to cripple the middle and lower class as the U.S. economy slowly recovered. At the same time, the U.S. lagged behind developed economies in production of... View Details

Keywords: Mitt Romney; Barack Obama; Energy; Election Outcomes; Climate Change; Renewable Energy; Political Elections; Policy; Business and Government Relations; Public Administration Industry; United States

10 Apr 2014
Blog Post

HBS FIELD 2 - A good sneak-peek into consulting

One of Harvard’s most interesting experiences during the first year of the MBA is FIELD 2. FIELD 2 is a program where students work in small teams to complete projects for companies operating in emerging... View Details

Keywords: Consulting

March 2019 (Revised August 2019)
Case

CareerWise Colorado

By: Rawi Abdelal, Joseph B. Fuller and Matthew Preble

CareerWise Colorado (CWC) is an organization that equips high school students with the skills to build successful careers through apprenticeships. Founded in 2016, the young organization has attracted interest from different groups and civic leaders from across the... View Details

Keywords: Apprenticeship; Nonprofit; Not For Profit; Labor Markets; Skills; Nonprofit Organizations; Education; Competency and Skills; Personal Development and Career; Growth and Development Strategy

17 Jun 2002
Research & Ideas

Entrepreneurship in Asia and Foreign Direct Investment

Barron's Business Terms, FDI is "investment in a country by foreign citizens, often involving majority stock ownership of an enterprise." Huang is looking deeper into how and why FDI played quite different roles in these four... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

September 2021 (Revised October 2021)
Case

Dream: Impact Through Real Estate

By: Michael Chu and John Masko

The Canadian city of Toronto had one of the largest housing affordability problems of any city in the developed world. One company trying to address this problem was Dream, one of the largest real estate groups in Canada. In 2021, Dream had just launched a new system... View Details

04 Aug 2017
Working Paper Summaries

Private Equity and Financial Fragility During the Crisis

Keywords: by Shai Bernstein, Josh Lerner, and Filippo Mezzanotti; Financial Services

23 Aug 2019
News

Can Capitalism Be Made Better By Corporate Social Responsibility?

08 Aug 2017
News

Great News For Everyone! Elon Musk Is Building A Hyperloop

2012
Case

Zhejiang Semir Garment Co., Ltd.

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Jie Jiao and Yuren Fang

With the rapid growth of China's economy and China's increasing integration into the global economy in the past two decades, China's leisure clothing and garment enterprises achieved a rapid rise and became an important competitive force confronting the foreign brands... View Details

Keywords: Business Model Innovation; Competitive Strategy; Management Controls; China; China

January 2017
Case

Exotic Interest Rate Swaps: Snowballs in Portugal

By: Boris Vallee, Patrick Augustin and Philippe Rich

This case explores a complex swap transaction implemented by Metro do Porto in 2007. It represents an opportunity to study fixed income derivative instruments, such as plain-vanilla swaps and structured swaps, as well as understand the opportunities and challenges of... View Details

Keywords: Swaps; Public Finance; Structured Finance; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Public Sector; Transportation Industry; Rail Industry; Portugal