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09 Feb 2009
Research & Ideas

Uncompromising Leadership in Tough Times

observed, "We know our limits and understand the law, but we tend to be very open with our employees, we communicate a lot." "They reassured us," said an account executive, "by calling it straight they informed us... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

17 Aug 2023
Research & Ideas

‘Not a Bunch of Weirdos’: Why Mainstream Investors Buy Crypto

$45,000 or less accounted for another 20 percent of the transactions. This shows, Di Maggio says, that the crypto market consists of “average US investors that are using crypto as an alternative asset class in their portfolio.” Impact of... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

October 2001 (Revised November 2001)
Case

Provident Life and Accident Insurance: The Acquisition of Paul Revere

By: Mihir A. Desai, Frank Williamson, Mark Veblen and Yuming Zou

Provident Life & Accident Insurance Co. has made an initial bid to acquire a primary competitor, Paul Revere, from conglomerate, Textron. The due diligence process uncovers a significant block of problematic disability insurance policies. Provident is forced to assess... View Details

Keywords: Insurance; Financial Management; Mergers and Acquisitions; Policy; Investment; Business Strategy; Cash Flow; Price; Bids and Bidding; Financial Reporting; Business Conglomerates; Insurance Industry; Service Industry

December 1998
Background Note

Cash Management Practices in Small Companies

By: H. Kent Bowen, Andrew R. Jassy, Laurence E. Katz, Kevin E. Kelly and Baltej Kochar

Most small business managers claim that cash management is their leading concern. Often walking a tightrope between growth and illiquidity, small business managers face different cash management challenges than their counterparts in larger companies. Compared to larger... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Working Capital; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Design; Cash; Forecasting and Prediction; Policy; Business Strategy

22 Apr 2014
First Look

First Look: April 22

control over the use of remittances. In partnership with a Salvadoran bank, we offered U.S.-based migrants from El Salvador bank accounts in their home country into which they could send remittances. We randomly varied migrant control... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

15 May 2007
First Look

First Look: May 15, 2007

Africa by 2010. The announcement raised questions whether debt relief would really help the poor. By examining past aid trends and policies of multilateral institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, this... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

2017
Working Paper

Self-Employment Dynamics and the Returns to Entrepreneurship

By: Eleanor W. Dillon and Christopher T. Stanton

Small business owners and others in self-employment have the option to transition to paid work. If there is initial uncertainty about entrepreneurial earnings, this option increases the expected lifetime value of self-employment relative to pay in a single year. This... View Details

Keywords: Self-employed; Small Business; Business Earnings; Entrepreneurship; Ownership; Compensation and Benefits

Read Now

27 Nov 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Skilled Immigration and the Employment Structures of US Firms

Keywords: by Sari Pekkala Kerr, William R. Kerr & William F. Lincoln

17 Mar 2008
Research & Ideas

The Lessons of Business History: A Handbook

training, accounting and information systems, design and engineering, and so on. Business history has widened its scope enormously in the last two decades. A striking feature of the research reviewed in the Handbook is that so much of it... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

16 Feb 2016
First Look

February 16, 2016

later in the day, test performance decreases by 0.9% of a standard deviation (95% CI: 0.7%–1.0%). However, a 20–30 minute break improves average test performance by 1.7% of a standard deviation (95% CI: 1.2%–2.2%). These findings have two important View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 2020 (Revised February 2021)
Case

The Tulsa Massacre and the Call for Reparations

By: Mihir A. Desai, Suzanne Antoniou and Leanne Fan

How should historic social injustices be addressed? Survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Massacre and their descendants, including Representative Regina Goodwin of Tulsa, believe they should be addressed through reparations and have consequently continued to push the government... View Details

11 Jun 2024
In Practice

The Harvard Business School Faculty Summer Reader 2024

As the vacation season looms, Harvard Business School faculty members share recommendations for a little light reading. Spoiler alert: Lessons in Chemistry tops two of their beach-read lists. For those whose brains can’t—or won’t—turn off, HBS faculty also suggest some... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

November 2013 (Revised February 2016)
Case

A Long, Bumpy and Unfinished Road: Education Reform in Memphis, Tennessee

By: Allen Grossman, J. Puckett and Nithya Vaduganathan

In 2010 the Memphis City School District merged with the neighboring Shelby County School system under the supervision of a single board of education and superintendent. It promised much more than just administrative synergies—it was an opportunity to change a... View Details

Keywords: Education Reform; Public Education; Business Engagement; Public Sector; Education; Business and Community Relations; Education Industry; Tennessee