Publications

October 2010 (Revised May 2012)
Background Note

Reverse Engineering, Learning, and Innovation

By: Willy C. Shih

This background reading looks at reverse engineering in the context of piracy and knock-offs in emerging markets like China. It first considers legal aspects of reverse engineering in strong property rights regimes like the United States as a way of unpacking the legal... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Learning; Engineering; Innovation and Invention; Intellectual Property; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Emerging Markets; China; United States

January 2010
Background Note

In the Spotlight: The Market for Iron Ore

By: Aldo Musacchio, Tarun Khanna and Jenna Bernhardson

This note discusses the structure and functioning of the market for iron ore. This market has traditionally functioned using a benchmark pricing mechanism, in which large steel mills in Japan (now in China) negotiate the benchmark price with the largest of the big... View Details

Keywords: Industry Structures; Mining; Price; Valuation; Business Strategy; Demand and Consumers; Business and Government Relations; Mining Industry; China

Find at Harvard

July 2007 (Revised May 2008)
Case

Central Bank: The ChexSystemsSM QualiFile® Decision

By: Dennis Campbell, Francisco de Asis Martinez-Jerez, Peter Tufano and Emily McClintock

The "Central Bank" series analyzes the use of information and product design for managing the counterparty risk of newly acquired customers. Central Bank, a mid-sized regional U.S. bank, was attempting to grow its customer base by increasing the number of new checking... View Details

Keywords: Central Banking; Knowledge Management; Customer Satisfaction; Risk Management; Risk and Uncertainty; Decision Making; Banking Industry; United States

December 2004 (Revised August 2005)
Exercise

Orientation to the Public Image Assessment Exercise

By: Robin J. Ely

The Public Image Assessment exercise acquaints students with the ideal images they hold of themselves, the actions they engage in to convey these images, and the benefits and costs of these behaviors to themselves and to others. Social psychologists call this process... View Details

Keywords: Reputation; Perception

2007
Working Paper

How Is Foreign Aid Spent? Evidence from a Natural Experiment

By: Eric D. Werker, Faisal Z. Ahmed and Charles Cohen

We use oil price fluctuations to construct a new instrument to test the impact of transfers from wealthy OPEC nations to their poorer Muslim allies. The instrument identifies plausibly exogenous variation in foreign aid. We investigate how aid is spent by tracking its... View Details

Keywords: International Finance; Energy Sources; Energy Industry; Asia

Read Now

September 2007
Journal Article

Refugee Camp Economies

By: Eric D. Werker

This paper describes the economy of a refugee camp. Key distortions to the economy of Kyangwali Refugee Settlement in Uganda are noted and the findings are used to construct a generic model of a refugee camp economy. Camp economies are influenced by host country... View Details

Keywords: Refugees; Economy; Policy; Civil Society or Community; Human Needs; Societal Protocols; Uganda

Find at Harvard

Read Now

February 1989 (Revised August 1989)
Case

Portman Hotel Co.

A brand new hotel has opened with a new service strategy: import to America Asian-style service using a butler-like employee group called the personal valets. To achieve this high level of service, the hotel has paid great attention to its human resource policies,... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Service Delivery; Employees; Accommodations Industry; Asia; North America