Publications

March 1999 (Revised August 1999)
Case

SCORE! Educational Centers (A)

Describes the start-up, strategy, organizational design, and operations of SCORE! Educational Centers, an after-school tutoring enterprise. Alan Tripp, founder and CEO, is faced with growing organizational stresses and a looming venture capital deadline. Examines... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Management Style; Leadership; Organizational Design; Teaching; Entrepreneurship; Education Industry; United States

11 Mar 2022
News

Professors Josh Lerner and Shai Bernstein: Complexity

2020
Working Paper

Is Accounting Useful for Forecasting GDP Growth? A Machine Learning Perspective

By: Srikant Datar, Apurv Jain, Charles C.Y. Wang and Siyu Zhang

We provide a comprehensive examination of whether, to what extent, and which accounting variables are useful for improving the predictive accuracy of GDP growth forecasts. We leverage statistical models that accommodate a broad set of (341) variables—outnumbering the... View Details

Keywords: Big Data; Elastic Net; GDP Growth; Machine Learning; Macro Forecasting; Short Fat Data; Accounting; Economic Growth; Forecasting and Prediction; Analytics and Data Science

SSRN

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June 2010 (Revised January 2011)
Case

Scientific Glass Incorporated: Inventory Management

By: Steven C. Wheelwright and William Schmidt

Scientific Glassware is a fast-growing, privately held company that provides specialized glassware for laboratory and research facilities. Excess inventory is tying up extra capital needed to fund the company's expansion plans. The newly hired Manager of Inventory... View Details

Keywords: Inventory Control; Inventory Management; Materials Management; Order Processing; Warehousing; Salesforce Management; Logistics; Operations; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Finance; Consumer Products Industry; Technology Industry

31 Jan 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: January 31, 2017

Sophie Q. Wang Abstract—In this paper we document the patterns of labor market participation by women and ethnic minorities in venture capital firms and as founders of venture capital–backed startups. We show that from 1990 to 2016 women... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

20 Oct 2015
News

HBS Professor Shawn Cole Named Faculty Pioneer by Aspen Institute Business and Society Program

Article

Best Practices in Estimating the Cost of Capital: Survey and Synthesis

By: Robert Bruner, Kenneth M. Eades, Robert S. Harris and Robert F. Higgins

This paper presents the results of a cost-of-capital survey of 27 highly regarded corporations, ten leading financial advisers, and seven best selling textbooks and trade books. The results show close alignment among all these groups on the use of common theoretical... View Details

Keywords: Cost of Capital

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April 2009 (Revised March 2011)
Case

Dave and Millie: A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs

By: G. Felda Hardymon and Ann Leamon

Two entrepreneurs have just been told by their venture capital backer to prepare a list of possible cuts to help them weather the 2008–2009 economic downturn. The impact on each firm is very different: one is a later-stage company with revenues in excess of $100... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Crisis; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Cost Management; Growth and Development Strategy

Trevor Fetter is a Senior Lecturer and the Henry B. Arthur Fellow on the faculty of Harvard Business School. He teaches two MBA required courses: Leadership and Corporate Accountability, and Financial Reporting and Control. At HBS he has also taught a Short... View Details

June 1990 (Revised August 1990)
Case

Sun Microsystems, Inc.--1987 (A)

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

An integrated sequence of three cases on the financing of a technical workstation manufacturer. This case focuses on Sun's competitive strategy which requires an inordinately high rate of growth (over 20% per quarter) and commensurate amounts of working capital.... View Details

Keywords: Cash Flow; Competitive Strategy; Financing and Loans; Capital; Financial Strategy; Public Equity; Corporate Finance; Information Technology Industry

19 Feb 2018
Working Paper Summaries

The Supply Chain Economy: A New Framework for Understanding Innovation and Services

Keywords: by Mercedes Delgado and Karen G. Mills

03 Jun 2016
Working Paper Summaries

The Risk Anomaly Tradeoff of Leverage

Keywords: by Malcolm Baker, Mathias F. Hoeyer, and Jeffrey Wurgler

September 1995 (Revised May 1998)
Case

RogersCasey Alternative Investments: Innovative Response to the Distribution Challenge

By: Josh Lerner

RogersCasey Alternative Investments faces the challenge of managing distributions of stock by the private equity investors in which their clients have invested. These distributed shares appear to behave in complex ways, apparently at odds with market efficiency. A... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Stocks; Financial Strategy; Investment; Innovation Strategy; Management; Distribution; Performance; Behavior

March 1983 (Revised January 1989)
Case

American Home Products Corp.

American Home Products is a company with virtually no debt. Students are asked to analyze the company's debt policy and make a recommendation to the CEO. It is likely that adding debt to the capital structure would create some value for shareholders; the CEO is firmly... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Business Strategy; Borrowing and Debt; Consumer Products Industry

05 Aug 2011
News

Failure is not an option. It's a necessity.

January 2014 (Revised May 2014)
Case

Tech Mahindra and the Acquisition of Satyam Computers (A)

By: Srikant M. Datar, Anjali Raina and Namrata Arora

Set in 2008, the case details Tech Mahindra, an information technology (IT) company within the Mahindra Group, an Indian multi-industry company with a diverse stable of businesses including automotives, farm equipment, and financial services, and its decision to... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Corporate Governance; Computer Industry; India

August 2008
Case

Progressive Corporation: Variable Dividends

By: Timothy A. Luehrman and Brenda W. Chia

In 2006, Progressive Corporation announced a change in its dividend policy. Henceforth, dividends would be paid annually rather than quarterly and, more importantly, would be set according to a formula that would result in considerably greater year-to-year variability... View Details

Keywords: Capital Structure; Policy; Goals and Objectives; Performance; Business and Shareholder Relations; Insurance Industry

2014
Book

Accelerate: Building Strategic Agility for a Faster-Moving World

By: John P. Kotter

Based on the award-winning article in Harvard Business Review, from global leadership expert John Kotter. It's a familiar scene in organizations today: a new competitive threat or a big opportunity emerges. You quickly create a strategic initiative in response and... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Organizational Structure

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June 2020
Case

Agile Consumer Product Innovation with Alibaba's Tmall Innovation Center

By: William R. Kerr, Daniel O'Connor and James Palano

Consumer products companies were beset by changes on all sides during the 2010s. Customers were increasingly turning to ecommerce platforms rather than shopping in-store. Meanwhile, nimble, digitally-savvy competitors were gaining market share by capitalizing on the... View Details

Keywords: Future Of Work; Retail; Ecommerce; Alibaba; Consumer Products; Innovation; Innovation and Invention; Product Development; Consumer Behavior; E-commerce; Consumer Products Industry; Retail Industry; China