Publications

March 2020 (Revised April 2021)
Case

Odebrecht's 'Transformation Journey' (A)

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Lynn S. Paine, Ruth Costas and Mariana Cal

At the center of one of the largest corruption scandals in Latin America, Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht signed a leniency agreement with American, Swiss and Brazilian prosecutors in 2016 admitting to paying bribes in 12 countries. In an effort to regain financial... View Details

January 2020 (Revised April 2020)
Case

Rumo: Infrastructure for a Healthier Economy

By: Forest L. Reinhardt, Mariana Cal, Ruth Costas and Natalie Kindred

Brazilian logistics company Rumo operated 13,500 km in railway networks, port terminals, and inland transshipment terminals, connecting major Brazilian ports to the agriculture hubs of Mato Grosso and São Paulo state. Controlled by Cosan, Brazil's leading sugar and... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Customer Relationship Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Logistics; Rail Transportation; Value Creation; Rail Industry; Transportation Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Latin America; Brazil

December 2019
Supplement

Mãe Terra and Unilever (B)

By: Lynn S. Paine, Ruth Costas and Mariana Cal

Unilever is making strides to integrate the operations of Mãe Terra—one of Brazil's leading brands for packaged organic foods—into its own structures, after acquiring the company in 2017. Mãe Terra’s CEO, Alexandre Borges, must decide whether to implement his original... View Details

Keywords: Brand Management; Sustainability; Mergers and Acquisitions; Mission and Purpose; Social Enterprise; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Environmental Sustainability; Organizational Culture; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Brazil; Latin America

14 Sep 2010
First Look

First Look: September 14, 2010

countries, but also especially within countries. Much of the poorer average management quality in countries like Brazil and India seems to result from a long tail of poorly managed firms, which barely exist in the United States. Some... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

29 Apr 2008
First Look

First Look: April 29, 2008

http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=508049 Avaya (C): Implementing Demand Generation in Brazil Harvard Business School Supplement 508-050 Supplements the (A) case. Purchase this supplement:... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

November 2003 (Revised March 2004)
Case

Drilling South: Petrobras Evaluates Pecom

By: Mihir A. Desai and Ricardo Reisen de Pinho

The Brazilian oil company, Petrobras, is evaluating the acquisition of an Argentine oil company, the Perez Companc Group (Pecom). The acquisition would increase Petrobras' oil reserves and expand its interests outside Brazil, a significant step for the largest company... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Forecasting and Prediction; Financial Crisis; Non-Renewable Energy; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Corporate Governance; Risk Management; Emerging Markets; State Ownership; Performance Evaluation; Risk and Uncertainty; Valuation; Energy Industry; Argentina; Brazil

spring 2004
Article

Multinationals and Linkages: An Empirical Investigation

By: Laura Alfaro and Andres Rodriguez-Clare

Several recent papers have used plant-level data and panel econometric techniques to carefully explore the existence FDI externalities. One conclusion that emerges from this literature is that it is difficult to find evidence of positive externalities from... View Details

Keywords: Foreign Direct Investment; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Relationships; Multinational Firms and Management; Brazil; Chile; Venezuela; Mexico

Find at Harvard

Read Now

16 Sep 2015
Op-Ed

The Real Duty of the Board of Directors

liability, separate corporate personhood, and the primacy of directors’ duty to the corporation are universal. From Russia to China to Brazil to India to the United Kingdom, the notion of directors’ duty to shareholders is always separate... View Details

Keywords: by Robert G. Eccles & Tim Youmans

04 Jan 2012
What Do You Think?

Income Inequality: What’s the Right Amount?

children to school and get them vaccinated. For whatever reason, the concentration of wealth is much lower in Brazil than in Chile. But these countries represent two of the few bright spots among the world's economies as well as two very... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

2022
Working Paper

THEMIS: A Framework for Cost-Benefit Analysis of COVID-19 Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions

By: Dimitris Bertsimas, Michael Lingzhi Li and Saksham Soni

Since December 2019, the world has been ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic, with over 150 million confirmed cases and 3 million confirmed deaths worldwide. To combat the spread of COVID-19, governments have issued unprecedented non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs),... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Health Pandemics; Policy; Framework; Cost vs Benefits; Outcome or Result; United States; Germany; Brazil; Singapore; Spain

Read Now

October 2019
Supplement

Airbus vs. Boeing (K): New Partnerships (2018)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Karen Elterman

This case describes Airbus’ partnership with the Montreal-based aircraft manufacturer Bombardier beginning in 2017. The two companies partnered on the C Series of aircraft (later named the A220 Family), which consisted of small aircraft with 100–150 seats. The case... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Air Transportation; Projects; Competition; Partners and Partnerships; Joint Ventures; Manufacturing Industry; Air Transportation Industry; United States; Europe; Canada; Brazil

14 Jun 2016
First Look

June 14, 2016

parameter is calibrated to local interest rates. A quantitative exercise calibrated to Brazil finds welfare gains of the optimal fiscal policy to be economically substantial, and the optimal rule to not entail a countercyclical fiscal... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

08 Mar 2016
Research & Ideas

Solving an Economic Mystery Surrounding Argentina and Chile

detail, Argentina has demonstrated over the last 50 years a unique ability to disappoint optimistic expectations. A particular concern now is the educational system, once upon a time one of Latin America’s best, but which some indexes now suggest has fallen behind even... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

16 Mar 2010
First Look

First Look: March 16

better respond to market forces. Download the paper: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1413775 The Great Leap Forward: The Political Economy of Education in Brazil, 1889-1930 Authors:André Martínez-Fritscher, Aldo Musacchio, and Martina Viarengo... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

March 2024
Case

Nomad: A License to Bank

By: Paul A. Gompers and Pedro Levindo

In late 2023, Lucas Vargas, CEO and co-founder of Nomad, a fintech that offered financial services in the United States for Brazilian residents, had to decide what to do to ensure the company’s continued expansion. Nomad launched its first product, a U.S. digital bank... View Details

July 2004 (Revised July 2020)
Case

Hines Goes to Rio

By: Arthur I Segel and Ricardo Reisen De Pinho

The Torre Almirante office tower, Hines' newest project in Rio de Janeiro, was a 36-story, Class AA office tower with an adjoining 420-stall parking structure and a preserved 14-story historic facade. It was completely different from anything that had previously been... View Details

Keywords: Property; Design; Construction; Buildings and Facilities; Risk Management; Problems and Challenges; Real Estate Industry; Brazil; New York (city, NY)

April 1989
Teaching Note

Roles and Relationships of Business and Government, Teaching Note

By: George C. Lodge

Teaching Note for (9-388-159). View Details

Keywords: Japan; Europe; United States; Mexico; Brazil