Unit Economics - Publications - Faculty & Research

January 2025
Case

AI Meets VC: The Data-Driven Revolution at Quantum Light Capital

By: Lauren Cohen, Grace Headinger and Sophia Pan

Ilya Kondrashov, CEO of Quantum Light Capital, was driven to harness AI for identifying high-potential scale-ups. Collaborating with Nik Storonsky, founder of Revolut, the duo observed that most venture capital (VC) decisions were heavily influenced by emotion, with... View Details

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December 2008
Case

JBS Swift & Co.

By: David E. Bell and Cathy Ross

Brazilian meat packer JBS surprised many in the U.S. beef industry when it acquired Swift & Co.—a company more than five times its size—in 2007, then moved to acquire the U.S.'s fourth and fifth largest beef producers in 2008. The new JBS Swift slashed costs and... View Details

Keywords: Animal-Based Agribusiness; Mergers and Acquisitions; Restructuring; Financial Crisis; Borrowing and Debt; Global Strategy; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; United States; Brazil

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2009
Book

Merchants to Multinationals

By: G. Jones

Merchants to Multinationals examines the evolution of multinational trading companies from the eighteenth century to the present day. During the Industrial Revolution, British merchants established overseas branches which became major trade intermediaries and... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Foreign Direct Investment; Multinational Firms and Management; Business History; Alliances; Groups and Teams; Distribution Industry; Africa; Asia; Great Britain; Latin America

Citation

05 Oct 2010
First Look

First Look: October 5, 2010

hypothesis that perceived network benefits from the extant worldwide adoption of IFRS influences a country's shift away from local accounting standards. That is, as more jurisdictions with economic ties to a given country adopt IFRS,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

13 Jun 2012
HBS Case

HBS Cases: A Startup Takes On the Credit Ratings Giants

For most of the 20th century, three bond ratings agencies—Moody's, Fitch, and Standard & Poor's—dominated the credit ratings industry, recently controlling 97 percent of the market. But the status quo was disrupted by the 2008 global View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish; Banking; Financial Services

March 2001
Case

Charlene Barshefsky (B)

By: James K. Sebenius and Rebecca Hulse

Details former U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky's strategic and tactical approach to surmounting the barriers laid out in the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Trade; International Relations; Copyright; Negotiation Style; Negotiation Tactics; Alliances; Business and Government Relations; China; United States

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March 2010 (Revised May 2010)
Case

Chrysler's Sale to Fiat

By: C. Fritz Foley, Lena G. Goldberg and Linnea Meyer

This case provides students with an opportunity to analyze the restructuring of Chrysler in the midst of the financial crisis of 2008–2009. It describes how debtors can use section 363 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code to sell assets quickly. It allows for discussion of who... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Restructuring; Financial Crisis; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Laws and Statutes; Business and Government Relations; Sales; Auto Industry; United States

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04 Jun 2018
Research & Ideas

Think of it as Professors in Cars Having Coffee

I’ve heard many ideas for reducing gun violence in the United States, but this was a new one on me. Mihir Desai, a finance professor at Harvard Business School, noted in a recent podcast that stock prices of gun manufacturers are severely... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Education; Entertainment & Recreation

10 Nov 2008
Research Event

Social Media Leads the Future of Technology

work will influence technology, and the greater population will be exercising an increasing amount of control," she said. Decker cited statistics suggesting that in 2007, 12 percent of newlyweds met online. In addition, of the users in the View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

20 Mar 2000
Research & Ideas

No Place Like Home: America’s Housing Crisis and Its Impact on Business

times and worst of times if you're a consumer in the current U.S. housing market. On the plus side, thanks to the 1990s' economic boom, some two-thirds of Americans, more than ever before, currently own their homes. At the same time,... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons; Construction; Real Estate

05 Nov 2021
Op-Ed

How to Tap the Talent Automated HR Platforms Miss

As the global staffing shortage grinds on, corporate recruiters everywhere are relying on their online hiring platforms and automated systems to deliver the candidates they need. Too often, these tools will fail them, sidelining many qualified workers in the process.... View Details

Keywords: by Joseph B. Fuller

26 May 2003
Research & Ideas

Corporate Transparency Improves For Foreign Firms in U.S. Markets

are negatively associated with the disclosure scores. Our results are broadly consistent with the hypothesis that cross-border economic interactions are associated with similarities in disclosure and governance practices. Q: While... View Details

Keywords: by Cynthia Churchwell

January 2010 (Revised April 2010)
Case

Greenbriar Growth Partners and Microsurgery Devices

Greenbriar Growth Partners (GGP), a venture capital (VC) firm, has been an investor in Microsurgery Devices (MSD) for four-plus years and has come into conflict with the company's founder. Should the Board's nominating committee re-nominate the VC investor, and should... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Initial Public Offering; Governing and Advisory Boards; Conflict of Interests; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States

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February 2000 (Revised October 2000)
Case

E-commerce at Williams-Sonoma

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Daniel Galvin

Describes Williams-Sonoma's development of a third channel of business on the Internet. Describes the strategies for managing changes in the organizational, operational, and technological structure of the company. The new e-commerce division confronts challenges posed... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Internet and the Web; Trade; Corporate Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Operations; Information Technology; Technological Innovation; Information Technology Industry; Retail Industry; California

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31 Jan 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: January 31, 2017

democracy as well as its resilience over time. The book adapts the case method to revitalize conversations about governance and democracy and show how the United States has often thrived on political conflict. Each of the book’s nineteen... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

12 Feb 2013
First Look

First Look: Feb. 12

http://or.journal.informs.org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/content/60/5/1199.full.pdf+html Convergence of Position Auctions under Myopic Best-Response Dynamics Authors:Cary, Matthew, Aparna Das, Benjamin Edelman, Ioannis Giotis, Kurtis Heimerl, Anna Karlin, Scott... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

04 Apr 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research, April 4

Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=51635 forthcoming Journal of Financial Economics Cost of Experimentation and the Evolution of Venture Capital By: Ewens, Michael, Ramana Nanda, and Matthew Rhodes-Kropf... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2018 (Revised January 2019)
Case

The TARP Bailouts: Saving the Banking and Automotive Industries

By: Kristin Mugford

Comparison of the U.S. Government response, using the $700 billion TARP fund, to downturns in the banking and auto industries during the global financial crisis. View Details

Keywords: Bailout; Financial Crisis; Borrowing and Debt; Banks and Banking; Government and Politics; Debt Securities; Government Legislation; Public Opinion; Auto Industry; Banking Industry; United States

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31 Jan 2017
Research & Ideas

The Dow at 20,000: What's That All About?

particular, which means that profits are going to be higher. As a result, stockholders will get a bigger share of the pie. That raises stock prices all over the place. A related effect is the issue of repatriating profits from abroad – with companies bringing back to... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner

May 2009 (Revised June 2011)
Case

Going to the Oracle: Goldman Sachs, September 2008

By: Clayton S. Rose and David Lane

On September 23, 2008, in the midst of an historic crisis in the U.S. financial markets, Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway invested $5 billion in Goldman Sachs. Goldman CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, said: "We are pleased that given our longstanding relationship, Warren... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Crisis; Capital Structure; Financial Liquidity; Financial Markets; Investment; Performance Capacity; Financial Services Industry; United States

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