Publications

18 Dec 2012
First Look

First Look: December 18

consistency between instrument, research question, and context. Paper: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1838538 Working PapersGrowth through Heterogeneous Innovations Authors:Akcigit, Ufuk, and William R. Kerr Abstract We study how exploration versus exploitation innovations... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

18 Apr 2012
Research & Ideas

HBS Cases: Who Controls Water?

world trade system founders it's going to founder in food." Other options were also discussed: moving out of California and buying land in more politically, geographically, and economically friendly countries; planting less thirsty... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish; Agriculture & Agribusiness

08 Mar 2011
First Look

First Look: March 8

management friendly provisions, we identify the economic determinants of the resulting trade-offs for shareholder value. Consistent with the theory, our empirical analysis shows that provisions that allow managers to delay takeovers have... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

23 Sep 2014
First Look

First Look: September 23

for ideal pay ratios. Moreover, data from 16 countries reveals that people dramatically underestimate actual pay inequality. In the United States-where underestimation was particularly pronounced-the actual pay ratio of CEOs to unskilled... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

14 Jun 2004
Research & Ideas

The Big Money for Big Projects

structure, value, and finance large, "Greenfield" projects. He also has created the Project Finance Portal. Perhaps fittingly, his HBS office is just a few miles down the road from one of the most expensive public works project undertaken in the View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen; Financial Services

12 Feb 2008
First Look

First Look: February 12, 2007

symbiotic economic relationship that has developed between the People's Republic of China and the United States of America. The entry of Chinese labor into the world economy has significantly boosted the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

05 Mar 2014
What Do You Think?

When Will the Next Dot.com Bubble Burst?

Summing Up Is "Collateral Damage" from Economic Bubbles Inevitable, Necessary, and Useful? According to the old saw, markets are made by differences of opinion. If that's the case, there is a real market around the question of... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Publishing; Retail

18 Jun 2013
First Look

First Look: June 18

negotiated a path for converting the region into a global water hub to address economic and environmental concerns. The leaders with various stakes in the change managed to work together to rearrange and support existing pieces to... View Details

Keywords: Anna Secino

15 Oct 2012
Research & Ideas

Why Business IT Innovation is so Difficult

and Operations Management Unit at HBS. "The longer we take to figure this out, the more likely we're going to have a few of the best firms pulling way ahead based on this competitive advantage." More Likely To Go Radical In her research,... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish

03 Jul 2012
First Look

First Look: July 3

negative causal impact on FDI flows. This effect is robust to a broad set of competing accounts, including the effects of other cultural dimensions, various features of the prevailing legal and regulatory regimes, other features of the institutional environment, View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

30 Jun 2008
Research & Ideas

Rethinking Retirement Planning

place an undue burden on workers who don't have the interest, time, or expertise to manage their finances. A pioneer in translating finance and mathematics into practical, Wall Street-ready models, Merton was awarded the 1997 Nobel Memorial Prize in View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Banking; Financial Services

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

08 Jul 2015
What Do You Think?

Do Americans Work Too Much and Think About Work Too Little?

would have you, and themselves, believe in how 'hard' they work it's about productivity in spite of how workers report about how hard any of us 'feel' we work." TNoble101, arguing for better economic justice for overtime workers,... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; 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

December 2013 (Revised July 2015)
Case

VP Group: Vegpro Grows Beyond Kenya

By: Jose Alvarez and Natalie Kindred

In 2013, Kenyan horticulture producer and exporter VP Group is weighing potential expansion opportunities against the growing risks in its production and export markets. With $121 million in 2012 revenues, VP Group has grown rapidly in recent years by expanding its... View Details

07 Jun 2017
Research & Ideas

How an African History Scholar Became a Modern Righter of Wrongs

present-day administrative structures, legal norms, cultural forms, questions about ethnicity and race, and, of course, ongoing economic relations between the former colonized and colonizer.” Related information: Kenya: White Terror, a... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

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

December 2009 (Revised April 2022)
Case

Lyondell Chemical Company

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah Abbott

Hit with an industry recession and the global financial crisis of 2008, in January 2009 LyondellBasell Industries AF S.C.A., one of the world's largest internationally diversified chemical companies headquartered in The Netherlands, placed its U.S. operations and a... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Financial Crisis; Borrowing and Debt; Capital Structure; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financing and Loans; International Finance; Crisis Management; Chemical Industry; Netherlands; United States