Publications

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March 2024
Module Note

Accounting Standards for the 21st Century

By: Jonas Heese

Over the past two decades, accounting standards have evolved to meet the demands of a rapidly changing business environment. This module note focuses on understanding the impact of these standards on measuring firm performance and financial position in the context of a... View Details

Keywords: Financial Statements; Standards; Performance Evaluation; Change Management

May 1993 (Revised June 2004)
Case

PepsiCo Bottling in Mexico

By: Kenneth A. Froot

This case describes Pepsico's program to restructure its Mexican bottling network. It wants to work with existing bottlers and find an organizational arrangement that will allow the bottlers to grow and change with the Mexican soft drink industry. View Details

Keywords: Bottling; Mergers and Acquisitions; Joint Ventures; Multinational Firms and Management; International Finance; Valuation; Programs; Organizational Design; Food and Beverage Industry; Mexico

13 Dec 2018
Blog Post

Working at the Intersection of Business and Environment

the recent Climate Change Challenge assignment in Technology & Operations Management, a required first-year course taught by Mike Toffel, Senator John Heinz Professor of Environmental Management and BEI... View Details

27 Aug 2014
Lessons from the Classroom

Learning From Japan’s Remarkable Disaster Recovery

It's common in Harvard Business School classrooms to discuss the "pivot," the moment an enterprise changes direction to pursue a new strategy. On a visit to eastern Japan, MBA students talked to Masamichi Ono, CEO of... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Energy; Utilities; Retail

January 2002 (Revised October 2005)
Case

General Electric Medical Systems 2002

By: Tarun Khanna and James Weber

Discusses one of General Electric's flagship divisions--the world's leading provider of medical diagnostic imaging equipment. Provides an opportunity to examine a multinational confronting massive technological and demographic changes around the world. Genomics has... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Business Model; Change Management; Multinational Firms and Management; Genetics; Customer Value and Value Chain; Age; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; China; United States

October 2019
Case

China Merchants Bank: Ushering in the Era of Family Office in China

By: Lauren Cohen, Hao Gao, Billy Chan and Dawn H. Lau

China Merchants Bank, the sixth-largest lender in China, intends to boost its family office business as a result of an increase in the population of ultra-high net worth individuals. Already ranked China’s number-one private bank with AUM exceeding US$300 billion, the... View Details

Keywords: Family Office; Strategy; Banks and Banking; Organizational Design; Competitive Strategy; Banking Industry; China

2015
Working Paper

Auditor Lobbying on Accounting Standards

By: Abigail Allen, Karthik Ramanna and Sugata Roychowdhury

We examine how Big N auditors' changing incentives impact their comment-letter lobbying on U.S. GAAP over the first thirty-four years of the FASB (1973–2006). We examine the influence of auditors' lobbying incentives arising from three basic factors: managing expected... View Details

Keywords: Auditors; FASB; GAAP; Lobbying; Fair Value Accounting; Accounting Audits

Article

Complementarity between Audited Financial Reporting and Voluntary Disclosure: The Case of Former Andersen Clients

By: Richard Frankel, Alon Kalay, Gil Sadka and Yuan Zou

Prior literature presents various perspectives on the role of financial reporting. One view is that mandatory periodic reporting disciplines managers and encourages timely voluntary disclosure. We examine this "confirmation hypothesis" using the shock to financial... View Details

Keywords: Financial Disclosure; Mandatory Reporting; Reliability; Voluntary Disclosure; Financial Reporting; Quality; Corporate Disclosure

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November 1986 (Revised October 1995)
Case

Suzanne de Passe at Motown Productions (A)

By: Linda A. Hill

Illustrates: 1) the impact of a manager's leadership style on corporate culture, direction, and performance; 2) the concept of fit between leadership style and the requirements of situations in which managers find themselves; and 3) the need for managers to adapt their... View Details

Keywords: Management Style; Race; Organizational Culture; Leadership Style; Gender; Management Teams; Change Management; Situation or Environment; Creativity; Relationships; Music Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

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August 2015 (Revised July 2017)
Technical Note

Hotel Industry

By: Arthur I. Segel, Daniel Woodbury and Michael Horowitz

This note teaches the critical elements to understand the fundamentals of hotel investing, ownership, and management. It outlines the basics of hotel segmentation, operations, ownership, management, and valuation. The changing impact of technology is also addressed. View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Investment; Ownership; Accommodations Industry

23 Jul 2014
Lessons from the Classroom

Innovation Is Magic. Really

authors also teamed to write The Magic of Innovation, published in the European Business Review earlier this year. A Magical Process Thomke maintains that innovative managers looking to create successful new products or services can... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Consumer Products

11 Feb 2019
Research & Ideas

The Business of Saving the Planet

employees are demanding businesses take action. Even business managers who retain doubts about climate change must nevertheless account for the possibility in their risk planning. At Harvard Business School,... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Energy; Green Technology

October 2022 (Revised October 2022)
Case

Lyra Health: Transforming Mental Health

By: Rembrand Koning and Nicole Keller

In January 2022, Lyra Health was deciding between several different alternatives to grow the business. Founded in 2015, Lyra Health, was a digital mental health platform that combined technology with human therapists and coaches to deliver high quality mental health... View Details

Keywords: Mental Health; Health Care and Treatment; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Customer Value and Value Chain; Growth and Development Strategy; Expansion; Health Industry; Technology Industry; San Francisco

June 1994 (Revised October 2001)
Case

Mrs. Fields, Inc. (1988-1992)

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Keri O. Pearlson and Randi Wade Purchia

Continues the story of Mrs. Fields Cookies. Explores the new challenges the company faced managing its geographic growth and its expansion of products and markets through combination stores. Details the decision of Debbi and Randy Fields to delegate management... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Expansion; Growth Management; Organizational Structure; Globalization; Information Management; Food and Beverage Industry

Research Summary

Corporate transparency and information disclosure strategies

By: Michael W. Toffel

This research focuses on transparency and information disclosure strategies, a topic of growing importance in environmental sustainability, corporate strategy, stakeholder relations, and public policy. My prior research in this area explored why... View Details

Keywords: Transparency; Disclosure Strategy; Disclosure; Environment; Environmental Performance; Regulation; Supply Chain; Environmental Sustainability; United States

26 Aug 2020
Blog Post

Two sides, same coin: How I left the Bay Area as an operator and returned as an investor

Janelle Teng is from the Class of 2020 and a proud member of Section C. From completing her undergraduate studies at Stanford University to working as a product manager at SalesforceIQ, Janelle has spent most of her academic and... View Details

August 1993
Background Note

Six Principles of Successful Persuasion

By: Nitin Nohria

Describes some of the key principles that managers must follow in order to successfully persuade their organization of their vision for change. View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Leadership; Organizational Change and Adaptation