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2019
Working Paper

Collusive Investments in Technological Compatibility: Lessons from U.S. Railroads in the Late 19th Century

By: Daniel P. Gross

Collusion is widely condemned for its negative effects on consumer welfare and market efficiency. In this paper, I show that collusion may also in some cases facilitate the creation of unexpected new sources of value. I bring this possibility into focus through the... View Details

Keywords: Collusion; Compatibility; Railroads; Rail Transportation; Standards; Integration; Trade; History; United States

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January 2011 (Revised June 2011)
Case

Fixed Income Arbitrage in a Financial Crisis (A): US Treasuries in November 2008

Investment manager James Franey confronts an apparent arbitrage opportunity during the global financial crisis of 2008 when he notices a wide yield spread between two U.S. Treasury bonds that mature on the same date. Franey must decide if there is an opportunity, how... View Details

Keywords: Bonds; Valuation; Interest Rates; Financial Crisis; Financial Services Industry; United States

November 2021 (Revised January 2022)
Case

KFA, Inc.: Building the Future

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Elizabeth M. Adams

In 2021, Greg Bush, Jr., owner, president, and CEO of KFA, Inc. is working with his leadership team to plan for the future. KFA provides consulting services on software and project management needs for infrastructure projects. Bush and his team have just debuted a new... View Details

Keywords: Small Business; Communication Technology; Developing Countries and Economies; Growth and Development Strategy; Infrastructure; Consulting Industry; Information Technology Industry; Chicago; United States

01 Jun 2014
News

Book Review: Hooray for the Huddled Masses

to create. But life in America, which began when he left Iran as a one-year-old, taught him about the qualities that immigrants bring to the country—perseverance, entrepreneurialism, a willingness to adapt to new cultures—that made it possible, he says, for the View Details

Keywords: Maureen Harmon

Portrait Project

Thomas Rajan

industry one airline at a time to where value isn't just a fair ticket price or a healthy balance sheet, but where customers and employees are treated with dignity and respect as well. To lift nations to the heights of their economic... View Details

September 2007
Teaching Note

China and the WTO: What Price Membership? (TN)

By: Richard H.K. Vietor

Teaching Note to 707032. View Details

Keywords: Trade; Growth and Development; Problems and Challenges; China; United States

September 2017 (Revised January 2019)
Case

Public Entrepreneurs? Picking a Path

By: Mitchell Weiss and Matthew Segneri

Direct entry into government remained an uncommon post-HBS path, with only 1%–2% of recent classes going directly into the public sector. But, for public-minded MBAs, government wasn’t the sole province for public problem-solving. MBAs could join or launch companies... View Details

February 2009 (Revised February 2022)
Case

Fannie Mae: Public or Private?

By: David A. Moss, Cole Bolton and Kimberly Hagan

In 1987, President Ronald Reagan established the President's Commission on Privatization to identify federal government functions that could be shifted to the private sector. One agency that the Commission considered was the Federal National Mortgage Association, or... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Financial Institutions; Mortgages; Government and Politics; Business History; Privatization; Private Sector; Laws and Statutes; United States

01 Mar 2009
News

Your Taxi Is Waiting

particularly business travelers, will appreciate the efficiency of this scenario. But can “air taxis” really take off in the current economic climate? Will companies economize by placing an even greater... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Air Transportation; Transportation

01 Dec 2008
News

Stormy Weather

the HBS experience. Attendees also sat in on a last-minute faculty panel, convened to address issues surrounding the current economic turmoil. Selected faculty presentations and a photo gallery of the weekend’s activities may be viewed... View Details

04 Sep 2001
Research & Ideas

Five Questions for Max Bazerman

on ways to grow the pie of social resources within the legal and legislative systems of the United States, as well as within the democratic systems of other nations. The constraints that democracies place on power certainly do not... View Details

Keywords: Re: Max H. Bazerman

June 2010 (Revised July 2012)
Supplement

Dubai: Debt, Development, and Crisis (C)

By: Aldo Musacchio, Andrew Christopher Goodman and Claire K. Qureshi

On November 25, 2009, the city state of Dubai stunned markets by announcing that Dubai World, its flagship state holding company, would seek a six month "standstill" on at least $4 billion U.S. dollars of its $26 billion in debt obligations. This case describes Dubai's... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Investment; Emerging Markets; Trade; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Development Economics; Financial Crisis; State Ownership; Sovereign Finance; Business Strategy; Dubai

05 Aug 2015
What Do You Think?

What Happened to the ‘Innovation, Disruption, Technology’ Dividend?

per unit of energy consumed.” Dan Wallace asked whether or not we have “the wrong expectations.” As an example, he cited the sharing economy, where we achieve “better asset utilization and customer experience, but not necessarily... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Computer; Technology

17 Feb 2015
HBS Case

HBS Cases: The Battle for San Francisco

Allison Ciechanover (Harvard MBA 2002) and Kunal Modi (Harvard MBA/MPP 2013), a manager at McKinsey & Co. in San Francisco. The influx of wealthy tech workers into San Francisco'sneighborhoods is the subject of a case study.©iStock.com/franckreporter At a time when... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Technology

04 Mar 2009
Op-Ed

Credit is Not the Bogey

commercials. From one vantage, the credit industry is to blame for our economic woes. The solutions have centered on tightening credit—loaning only to homebuyers who can make a 20 percent down payment, returning to the standards of 20... View Details

Keywords: by Nicolas P. Retsinas & Eric S. Belsky; Construction; Real Estate; Financial Services

March 2017
Teaching Plan

The Maine Food Cluster Project

By: Karen Mills

The case introduces Craig Denekas, the head of the Libra Foundation, an unusual, private foundation based in Maine, which owns three locally based food companies. Denekas has initiated a project to explore how to grow the food sector in Maine, benefiting not only... View Details

Keywords: Maine; Clusters; Libra Foundation; Locally-based Companies; Food Industry; Development Economics; Industry Clusters; Food; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Maine