Publications

2016
Article

Organizational Decision-Making and Information: Angel Investments by Venture Capital Partners

By: Andy Wu

We study information aggregation in organizational decision-making for the financing of entrepreneurial ventures. We introduce a formal model of voting where agents face costly tacit information to improve their decision quality. Equilibrium outcomes suggest a... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Finance; Angel Investors; Organization Design; Voting; Group Decision-making; Information; Strategy; Organizations; Entrepreneurship; Decision Making; Financing and Loans

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September 2020 (Revised July 2022)
Teaching Note

Algorithmic Bias in Marketing

By: Ayelet Israeli and Eva Ascarza

Teaching Note for HBS No. 521-020. This note focuses on algorithmic bias in marketing. First, it presents a variety of marketing examples in which algorithmic bias may occur. The examples are organized around the 4 P’s of marketing – promotion, price, place and... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Race; Ethnicity; Gender; Diversity; Prejudice and Bias; Decision Making; Ethics; Customer Relationship Management; Retail Industry; Technology Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States

February 1984
Case

AT&T Co.--1983

Describes the financing problems facing AT&T in 1983 prior to divestiture of the local telephone operating companies on Jan. 1, 1984. Leads up to the decision to issue equity, which AT&T did in early 1983 and which reduced AT&T's market value by $2 billion. The case is... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Finance; Telecommunications Industry

31 Jul 2023
News

Why Better Pay Didn’t Stop Amazon Employees from Trying to Unionize

Article

Wisdom or Madness? Comparing Crowds with Expert Evaluation in Funding the Arts

By: Ethan Mollick and Ramana Nanda

In fields as diverse as technology entrepreneurship and the arts, crowds of interested stakeholders are increasingly responsible for deciding which innovations to fund, a privilege that was previously reserved for a few experts, such as venture capitalists and... View Details

Keywords: Crowdfunding; Arts; Decision Choices and Conditions; Entrepreneurship; Investment; Fine Arts Industry; Technology Industry

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June 2024
Case

Alignvest Student Housing: Keep Building or Time to Sell?

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Patrick Sanguineti

Sanjil Shah, Managing Partner of Alignvest Student Housing REIT (ASH), faces the most significant decision thus far in his career: is it the right time to sell the company? Together with his partner Reza Satchu, Shah had developed ASH into the largest student housing... View Details

Keywords: Exit Strategy; Real Estate; Founder; Equity Valuation; Decisions; Entrepreneurial Finance; Interest Rates; Health Pandemics; Housing; Partners and Partnerships; Expansion; Entrepreneurship; Business Exit or Shutdown; Canada

Web

Managing the Future of Work

Kerr combines insights and lessons from business, government, and individual decision making to explore the data and ideas that should drive the next wave of immigration policy and business practice. Reports Building From the Bottom Up... View Details

September 2011 (Revised February 2014)
Case

Duke Energy and the Nuclear Renaissance

By: Richard H.K. Vietor and Forest L. Reinhardt

Duke Energy, an American investor-owned electric utility, confronts multibillion dollar decisions about its future fuel mix. In particular, its leaders are considering building new nuclear capacity. Whether this is sensible depends, among other things, on demand... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Expansion; Policy; Business Strategy; Energy Sources; Utilities Industry; Energy Industry; United States

Program

Aligning Strategy and Sales

challenges and career decisions Who Should Attend Executive decision-makers who are responsible for defining, communicating, hiring, managing, budgeting for, and measuring a company's go-to-market strategy and sales efforts, such as:... View Details

September 2001
Case

Charitableway

By: James E. Austin and Elizabeth Kind

In early 2001, Charitableway, an ePhilanthropy application service provider that enabled the collection of charitable donations online; faced major strategic decisions relating to its alliance with United Way of America to foster workplace giving online. One of the... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving

February 1990 (Revised December 1993)
Case

Fusion Systems Corp. in Japan (A)

Describes the international business of Fusion Systems Corp., a small high technology American firm, and a five-year patent dispute the company has in Japan with Mitsubishi Electric. Also describes key features of the intellectual property systems in Japan and related... View Details

Keywords: Patents; Conflict and Resolution; Technology Industry; Japan; United States

12 May 2021
News

When Should CEOs Speak Out on Public Issues?

17 Oct 2019
News

A New Small Business Tech Ecosystem is Emerging

April 10, 2017
Article

The Different Approaches Firms Use to Set Strategy

By: Kimberly Teti, Mu-Jeung Yang, Nicholas Bloom, Jan Rivkin and Raffaella Sadun

Many senior executives struggle to describe how they make strategic decisions. That’s a serious problem since the process for making strategic decisions can shape the strategy itself. To understand better how companies really make strategic choices, we interviewed 92... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Decision Making

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February 2003 (Revised January 2006)
Case

AIT Group Plc

By: G. Felda Hardymon, Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon

A U.S. venture capital firm has just learned that the deal structure for purchasing an illiquid U.K. software firm is unacceptable to institutional investors. The group must decide if it still wants to go through with the deal. This decision hinges on whether the... View Details

Keywords: Price; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Mergers and Acquisitions; Venture Capital; Financial Condition; Risk and Uncertainty; Decision Making; Financial Services Industry; United States; United Kingdom

March 2002
Case

Mark Taper Forum (A)

The Mark Taper Forum, a regional nonprofit theatre in Los Angeles, has discovered and produced a highly acclaimed play entitled Angles in America. Because of the play's success, for-profit theatres on Broadway in New York have become extremely interested in... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Nonprofit Organizations; For-Profit Firms; Decision Choices and Conditions; Theater Entertainment; Los Angeles