Publications

2012
Article

The Cost and Timing of Financial Distress

By: Christopher Parsons

Assessments of the trade-off theory have typically compared the present value of tax benefits to the present value of bankruptcy costs. We verify that this comparison overwhelmingly favors tax benefits, suggesting that firms are under-leveraged. However, when we... View Details

Keywords: Taxation; Insolvency and Bankruptcy

October 1998 (Revised November 1999)
Case

Chantal Cookware Corp.

By: H. Kent Bowen, Paul W. Marshall and Stephanie Dodson

Chantal Cookware is a small, private company with a 15-year record of success in the design, assembly, and sale of high-end cookware. It experiences serious setbacks when consumers' tastes shift from colorful enamel-on-steel products to commercial-style cookware.... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Behavior; Strategic Planning; Market Entry and Exit; Product Positioning; Trends; Manufacturing Industry

July 1993 (Revised October 2004)
Case

Aston-Blair, Inc.

By: John J. Gabarro

Describes the formation, selection, and experience of a task force with multidepartmental membership. The problems faced by the task force leader at the end of the case raise issues of who does the selection; the establishment of group norms, values, and goals; the... View Details

Keywords: Employees; Leadership; Problems and Challenges; Groups and Teams; Conflict Management

24 May 2013
News

Four Lean Advertising Campaigns That Went Viral

03 Sep 2019
News

At Booking.com, Innovation Means Constant Failure

01 Sep 2016
News

Behind Apple’s Success, An Unprecedented Financial Model

28 May 2020
Video

Take a Seat in the Harvard MBA Case Classroom

Program

Leading and Building a Culture of Innovation

and innovate again and again. This lab-style leadership program immerses you in every stage of the innovation process. You'll roll up your sleeves and experience first-hand what it really takes to build the culture and capabilities... View Details

September 2016
Article

Whitened Résumés: Race and Self-Presentation in the Labor Market

By: Sonia K. Kang, K. A. DeCelles, András Tilcsik and Sora Jun

Using interviews, a laboratory experiment, and a résumé audit study, we examine racial minorities’ attempts to avoid anticipated discrimination in labor markets by concealing or downplaying racial cues in job applications, a practice known as "résumé whitening."... View Details

Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; Selection and Staffing; Job Search; Race

Jacob Cook is a Lecturer in the Marketing Unit at Harvard Business School, where he teaches the EC course Digital Marketing & AI Workshop. His work focuses on how companies design and scale customer acquisition and retention strategies using digital marketing,... View Details

January 2019
Case

First Aid Beauty

By: Karen Mills and Annie Dang

In 2008, Lilli Gordon, an experienced financial and skincare entrepreneur, founded First Aid Beauty (FAB). She had discovered a white space in the prestige beauty market: high-end skin solutions that were suitable for sensitive skin. After initial success through... View Details

Keywords: Prestige Beauty; Skincare; Preferred Shares; Common Stock; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Decision Choices and Conditions; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry

Research Summary

International Comparison of the Management of Information Technology

Having set out to compare Western and Japanese IT-management practices, we were startled to discover that Japanese companies rarely experience the IT problems so common in the United States and Europe. In this project, we seek to further explore the five principles of... View Details

August 2013
Teaching Plan

Remicade-Simponi

By: Guhan Subramanian and Charlotte Krontiris

This exercise models a negotiation between two pharmaceutical companies—Johnson & Johnson and Merck—concerning the international distribution rights for Remicade, a blockbuster anti-arthritis drug. At odds over the original distribution contract, the two companies... View Details

Keywords: Johnson ＆ Johnson; Merck; Negotiation; Negotiation Participants; Negotiation Deal; Pharmaceutical Industry

August 2008 (Revised April 2012)
Case

Real Property Negotiation Game (A): Seller Case, Las Vegas Pines

By: Arthur I Segel and John H. Vogel, Jr.

The Real Property Negotiation Game simulates the experience negotiating the sale, purchase, or financing of a property. The class competes as either a lender, buyer, or one of two groups of sellers, Raleigh, North Carolina and Las Vegas, Nevada. This is the seller... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Property; Sales; Price; Financing and Loans; Real Estate Industry; Las Vegas

November 1999 (Revised April 2008)
Case

Revere Street

By: Arthur I Segel, John H. Vogel, Jr., Lisa Strope and Erich Dylus

Although inexperienced in real estate, Edward Alexander hopes in June 1999 that youthful enthusiasm and an $80,000 inheritance will help him enter the real estate business. His experience chronicles the process of finding, evaluating, and acquiring a four-unit... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Investment; Housing; Real Estate Industry; Boston

August 1998 (Revised June 2000)
Case

FairMarket, Inc.: Where Buyers and Sellers Connect

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Jack Wieland and Chad M. M Raube

On February 20, 1997, FairMarket, an Internet-based business-to-business auction site, was launched. CEO, founder Scott Randall, drew on his experience building Internet businesses at NECX Direct, Yahoo, and Internet Shopping Network to build his business. This case,... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Debates; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development; Growth Management; Management Style; Product Launch; Multi-Sided Platforms; Problems and Challenges; Information Technology; Information Technology Industry; Web Services Industry