Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(1,981)
- Faculty Publications (251)
- 2006
- Working Paper
The Value of a 'Free' Customer
By: Sunil Gupta, Carl F. Mela and Jose M. Vidal-Sanz
Central to a firm's growth and marketing policy is the revenus and profit potential of its customer assets. As a result, there has been a recent proliferation of work regarding customer lifetime value. However, extant research in this area is silent regarding how to... View Details
- August 2006
- Article
Investor Sentiment and the Cross Section of Stock Returns
By: Malcolm Baker and Jeffrey Wurgler
We examine how investor sentiment affects the cross-section of stock returns. Theory predicts that a broad wave of sentiment will disproportionately affect stocks whose valuations are highly subjective and are difficult to arbitrage. We test this prediction by... View Details
- June 2006 (Revised April 2007)
- Case
Nephila: Innovation in Catastrophe Risk Insurance
By: Kenneth A. Froot and Michael Heinrich
At the cross-section of capital markets and the catastrophe insurance space stands the hedge fund Nephila. Nephila must decide how best to take advantage of the newly presented market opportunities post hurricanes Katrina, Wilma, and Rita. Nephila has a plethora of... View Details
- May 2006 (Revised June 2006)
- Case
Icebreaker: The China Entry Decision
By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and Dan Heath
Jeremy Moon, CEO of Icebreaker, maker of merino-fiber activewear, thinks about the strengths and weaknesses of staying focused on his rapidly expanding U.S. and European markets vs. broadening his attack to include China. If he enters China, should he continue his... View Details
- 2006
- Working Paper
Too Motivated?
I show that an agent's motivation to do well (objectively) may be unambiguously bad in a world with differing priors, i.e., when people openly disagree on the optimal course of action. The reason is that an agent who is strongly motivated is more likely to follow... View Details
- July 2005
- Article
The Consequences of Labor Market Flexibility: Panel Evidence Based on Survey Data
By: Rafael Di Tella and Robert MacCulloch
We introduce a new data set on hiring and firing restrictions for 21 OECD countries for the period 1984 –1990. The data are based on surveys of business people in the countries covered, so the indices we use are subjective in nature. Controlling for country and time... View Details
- June 2005 (Revised September 2005)
- Case
Accounting at MacCloud Winery
By: David F. Hawkins, Robert S. Kaplan and Gregory S. Miller
Uses a fictional new winery to introduce accounting concepts and practices such as assets, liabilities, expenses, the matching principle, and contingent activities. Designed to approach the subject at a conceptual level, allowing class discussion to focus on the... View Details
- 2005
- Working Paper
Investor Sentiment and the Cross-Section of Stock Returns
By: Malcolm Baker and Jeffrey Wurgler
We examine how investor sentiment affects the cross-section of stock returns. Theory predicts that a broad wave of sentiment will disproportionately affect stocks whose valuations are highly subjective and are difficult to arbitrage. We test this prediction by studying... View Details
- April 2005
- Article
Partisan Social Happiness
By: Rafael Di Tella and Robert MacCulloch
We use a new approach to study questions in political economy that relies on data on the subjective well-being of a large sample of people living in the OECD over the period 1975-1992. Controlling for the personal characteristics of the respondents, year and country... View Details
- October 2004
- Article
FDI and Economic Growth: The Role of Local Financial Markets
By: Laura Alfaro, Areendam Chanda, Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan and Selin Sayek
The purpose of this paper is to examine the various links among foreign direct investment, financial markets and growth. We model an economy with a continuum of agents indexed by their level of ability. Agents have two choices: they can work for the foreign company in... View Details
- January 2004 (Revised May 2004)
- Background Note
Strategy and Positioning in Professional Service Firms
By: Ashish Nanda
This case provides a definition of strategy, distinguishes between corporate and practice strategy, and discusses how and why developing and implementing strategy for professional service firms is different from developing and implementing strategy for commercial... View Details
- January 2004 (Revised July 2006)
- Background Note
Incentives within Organizations
By: Brian J. Hall
Serves as a brief introduction to incentive design and implementation. The analysis first locates incentive strategy within the larger structure of organizations and markets and then helps to define the central components and difficulties of incentive design. Focuses... View Details
- October 2003 (Revised October 2004)
- Case
AT&T Canada (A)
By: Andre F. Perold and Kwame C. Van Leeuwen
AT&T Canada (ATTC) is a merger arbitrage situation where AT&T Corp. has a contractual commitment to purchase the shares of ATTC at an escalating formula price. However, ATTC's business is performing poorly, and its bonds are trading at significant discounts to par.... View Details
- January 2003 (Revised September 2004)
- Case
Consulting by Auditors (B): The Compromise and its Fallout
By: Ashish Nanda
This case tracks the evolution from October 2000 to July 2001 of public debate, regulatory decisions, and firm perspectives on the subject of consulting by accounting firms. View Details
- March 2002
- Background Note
Incentive Strategy Within Organizations
By: Brian J. Hall
This case serves as a supplement to any course on incentive design and implementation. The analysis first locates incentive strategy within the larger structure of organizations and markets and then helps to define the central components and difficulties of incentive... View Details
- February 2002 (Revised December 2003)
- Exercise
Incentives Game, The
By: Jason R. Barro, Brian J. Hall and Jonathan Lim
This exercise provides an opportunity to gain insight about designing, negotiating, and responding to incentives. The setting is investment management. A class is divided into a certain number of investment firms. Each company has one CEO and begins with four portfolio... View Details
- January 2002 (Revised August 2004)
- Case
Massachusetts Financial Services
By: Brian J. Hall and Jonathan Lim
This case describes the compensation and performance evaluations at an investment management company. The senior management team of Massachusetts Financial Services (MFS) Investment Management was contemplating an introduction of hedge funds at the firm, but many... View Details
- 2001
- Working Paper
The Malleability of Environmentalism
By: Kimberly A. Wade-Benzoni, Min Li, Leigh L. Thompson and M. Bazerman
In this paper, we predict and find that self-perceptions of environmentalism are changed by subtle manipulations of context and, in turn, affect environmental behavior. In Study 1, we found that people exhibit greater positive assessments of their environmental... View Details
- January 2001 (Revised May 2010)
- Case
BP Amoco (A): Policy Statement on the Use of Project Finance
By: Benjamin C. Esty and Michael Kane
Following the BP/Amoco merger in December 1998, CFO David Watson asked Bill Young to recommend when and under what circumstances the firm should use external project finance instead of internal corporate funds to finance new capital investments. As part of this... View Details
- 2000
- Chapter
Anticipating Greener Supply Chain Demands: One Singapore Company's Journey to ISO 14001
One major benefit of Jebsen & Jessen Packaging Pte Ltd (JJPS’s) implementation of ISO 14001 is that it acquired a third-party 'seal of approval' that will be used in its marketing efforts to meet the growing environmental concern of its customers within the electronics... View Details