Publications

22 Nov 2016
First Look

November 22, 2016

benchmarks and documents that, relative to a normative benchmark, index-based RPE benchmarks perform 14% worse in their time-series return-regression R2; firms choosing specific peers as RPE benchmarks only modestly underperform. View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 1992 (Revised March 1993)
Case

Fleetwood Enterprises, Inc. 1990

By: Timothy A. Luehrman

The CFO of Fleetwood Enterprises is considering whether to recommend a large share repurchase to the board of directors. Fleetwood's core businesses, manufactured housing and recreational vehicles, are very sensitive to business cycles and oil prices. Following Iraq's... View Details

Keywords: Business Cycles; Capital Structure; Stock Shares; Price; Crisis Management; Production; Manufacturing Industry; Iraq; Kuwait

2023
Article

Dynamic HTA for Digital Health Solutions: Opportunities and Challenges for Patient-Centered Evaluation

By: Jan B. Brönneke, Annika Herr, Simon Reif and Ariel D. Stern

Germany’s 2019 Digital Healthcare Act (Digitale-Versorgung-Gesetz, or DVG) created a number of opportunities for the digital transformation of the health care delivery system. Key among these was the creation of a reimbursement pathway for patient-centered digital... View Details

Keywords: Digital Transformation; Applications and Software; Product Development; Insurance; Policy; Health Industry; Germany

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03 Mar 2008
Research & Ideas

Marketing Your Way Through a Recession

need to know more than ever how consumers are redefining value and responding to the recession. Price elasticity curves are changing. Consumers take more time searching for durable goods and negotiate harder at the point of sale. They are... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch

March 2016 (Revised October 2018)
Case

Project Deutschland: Unpeeling the Onion of a Distressed Real Estate Portfolio

By: Nori Gerardo Lietz and Ricardo Andrade

James Tallest analyzed the opportunity to invest in a distressed portfolio of high quality properties in Germany by acquiring one or more non-performing loans from Deutschland Bank. While he considers the many aspects of the deal that is about to unfold, he must decide... View Details

Keywords: Real Estate; Distress Investing; Non-performing Loan; Borrowing and Debt; Capital Structure; Private Equity; Negotiation Deal; Valuation; Real Estate Industry; Financial Services Industry; Germany; Europe

July 2018 (Revised July 2018)
Teaching Note

Argentina Power—Don’t Cry for Me Argentina

By: Nori Gerardo Lietz and Sayiddah Fatima McCree

Teaching Note for HBS No. 218-041. This case concerns a complex potential energy infrastructure investment in Argentina by a global conglomerate shortly after Mauricio Macri (“Macri”) became President of Argentina in 2015. The central issues are (i) why was a country... View Details

Keywords: Argentina; Argentine Exceptionalism; Infrastructure Finance; Investing; Finance; Inflation and Deflation; Government and Politics; Energy Generation; Infrastructure; Utilities Industry; Energy Industry; Financial Services Industry; Argentina; South America

October 2018
Case

P-Will at DISCO

By: Ethan Bernstein, Naoko Jinjo and Yuna Sakuma

From the outside, DISCO—a Japan-based manufacturer of precision tools for semiconductor production devices—appeared to be a rather ordinary company that had achieved rather extraordinary success: it had simultaneously achieved 70% global market share, had lifted its... View Details

Keywords: Human Capital; P-Will; DISCO; Semiconductors; Self-Managed Organizations; Governance; Human Resources; Selection and Staffing; Management Practices and Processes; Management Systems; Organizational Structure; Organizational Design; Semiconductor Industry; Japan

2020
Working Paper

Cutting the Gordian Knot of Employee Health Care Benefits and Costs: A Corporate Model Built on Employee Choice

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Barak D. Richman

The U.S. employer-based health insurance tax exclusion created a system of employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) with limited insurance choices and transparency that may lock employed households into health plans that are costlier or different from those they prefer to... View Details

Keywords: After-tax Income; Consumer-driven Health Care; Health Care Costs; Health Insurance; Income Inequality; Tax Policy; Health Care and Treatment; Cost; Insurance; Employees; Income; Taxation; Policy; United States

SSRN

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19 Feb 2013
First Look

First Look: Feb. 19

and when buyers and sellers do manage to find each other, they usually negotiate under enormous uncertainty: prices of similar patents vary widely from transaction to transaction, and the terms of the transactions (including prices) are... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

06 Oct 2015
First Look

October 6, 2015

unavoidably exert influence over politics through power that is generated by both structure and process. While both political economy and management scholars address international firms, neither field has an adequate understanding of the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

14 Aug 2012
First Look

First Look: August 14

Working PapersLegislating Stock Prices Authors:Lauren Cohen, Karl Diether, and Christopher Malloy Abstract In this paper we demonstrate that legislation has a simple, yet previously undetected impact on firm stock prices. While it is... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2006 (Revised February 2006)
Case

Deutsche Borse and the European Markets

By: Dwight B. Crane and Monika Stachowiak

In December 2004, Deutsche Borse proposed an offer for the London Stock Exchange. Some shareholders opposed the acquisition, leading to the offer's withdrawal and replacement of management, including the CEO and board members. Written from the viewpoint of Deutsche... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Strategy; Governing and Advisory Boards; Capital Structure; Stocks; Valuation; Corporate Governance; Price; Change Management; Commercialization; Financial Services Industry; Europe

Find at Harvard

17 Nov 2015
First Look

November 17, 2015

forthcoming Journal of Financial Economics Introduction: New Perspectives on Corporate Capital Structure By: Acharya, Viral, Heitor Almeida, and Malcolm Baker Abstract—The National Bureau of Economic Research held a symposium titled... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

17 Oct 2023
HBS Case

With Subscription Fatigue Setting In, Companies Need to Think Hard About Fees

fact, they can just as easily lose great customers in the process. “There is such a thing as a poorly thought-out subscription model,” says Ofek, the Malcolm P. McNair Professor of Marketing at HBS. “You have to be careful in terms of what subscriptions you think... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald; Consumer Products; Information; Information Technology

March 2024 (Revised May 2024)
Case

Amperity: First-Party Data at a Crossroads

By: Elie Ofek, Hema Yoganarasimhan and Alexis Lefort

In the summer of 2023, Amperity management was facing a critical decision on its future direction. Given the dramatic changes occurring within the digital advertising ecosystem, as concerns over consumer privacy placed limits on the ability to engage in third-party... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Technology Adoption; Business Strategy; Digital Marketing; Price; Product; Business or Company Management; Advertising Industry

February 2020
Case

Klöckner & Co: Steeling for a Digital World

By: Scott Duke Kominers and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Hoping to get ahead of potential digital disruption at Klöckner & Co.—one of the world’s largest steel and metal distributors—CEO Gisbert Rühl set up both kloeckner.i (KCI), an internal transformation arm, and XOM Materials (XOM), an independent industry platform. KCI... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Market Design; Digital Platforms; Markets; Industry Structures; Supply and Industry; Technology Adoption; Transformation; Digital Transformation; Steel Industry; Information Technology Industry; Europe; Germany

04 Dec 2012
First Look

First Look: December 4

opportunity to launch a new venture that would use SMS to deliver crop price information to farmers in India. The case describes the structure of Indian agriculture and the problems experienced by farmers,... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

November 2010 (Revised May 2014)
Case

Dow's Bid for Rohm and Haas

By: Benjamin C. Esty and David Lane

This case analyzes Dow Chemical Company's proposed acquisition of Rohm and Haas in 2008. The $18.8 billion acquisition was part of Dow's strategic transformation from a slow-growth, low-margin, and cyclical producer of basic chemicals into a higher-growth,... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Financial Crisis; Capital Structure; Financial Condition; Financial Management; Contracts; Lawsuits and Litigation; Risk and Uncertainty; Valuation; Chemical Industry