Publications

March 2011 (Revised June 2013)
Case

Next Street, LLC

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Next Street Financial, LLC was a modern merchant bank that provided high quality advisory services and capital to small- and mid-sized inner city businesses. Next Street was a for-profit business that aimed to increase the growth, profitability and success of its... View Details

Keywords: Development Economics; Entrepreneurship; Capital; Commercial Banking; Investment Funds; Urban Development; Financial Services Industry

August 2002 (Revised January 2003)
Case

Australia-Japan Cable: Structuring the Project Company

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Carrie Ferman

In late September 1999, representatives from Telstri, Japan Telecom, and Teleglobe met to discuss the structure of the Australia-Japan Cable (AJC) project, a $520 million submarine cable system that would run from Australia to Japan. The sponsors, excited by the... View Details

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Cooperative Ownership; Organizational Structure; Investment; Ownership; Capital; Corporate Governance; Management Teams; Communication Technology; Projects; Compensation and Benefits; Corporate Finance; Telecommunications Industry; Australia; Japan

April 1999 (Revised February 2001)
Background Note

Offshore Drilling Industry, The

After booming in 1997 and early 1998, the offshore drilling industry slumps in late 1998 and early 1999. Lower oil prices lead oil companies to reduce drilling budgets, and rig utilization falls from essentially 100% to 70% in some markets. Day rates--the prices paid... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Demand and Consumers; Price; Supply and Industry; Mining Industry

August 1994
Case

Saturn Corp.'s Module II Decision

In the Spring of 1994, Saturn Corp. was setting sales records by attracting more than 25,000 buyers per month. Saturn officials believed there was a long-term opportunity to sell 400,000 to 500,000 cars per year in the United States and selected international markets.... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Production; Expansion; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry; Retail Industry; Tennessee; United States

March 2002
Article

The Potential Role of Economic Cost Models in the Regulation of Telecommunications in Developing Countries

What is the efficient cost of providing telecommunications services to a certain area or type of customer? As developing countries build up their capacity to regulate infrastructure monopolies, cost models are likely to prove increasingly important in answering... View Details

Keywords: Information; Cost; Mathematical Methods; Developing Countries and Economies; Telecommunications Industry

November 2018 (Revised June 2019)
Case

ofo

By: Mitchell Weiss

Dai Wei and his co-founders grew Beijing-based ofo from a school-based startup to a bike-share behemoth in a matter of months, topped an all-out market-share battle fueled with almost $1 billion in venture capital, provided 2 billion bicycle rides, soaked up the... View Details

Fall 2016
Article

Global Talent Flows

By: Sari Pekkala Kerr, William R. Kerr, Çağlar Özden and Christopher Parsons

The global distribution of talent is highly skewed and the resources available to countries to develop and utilize their best and brightest vary substantially. The migration of skilled workers across countries tilts the deck even further. Using newly available data, we... View Details

Keywords: Geographic Location; Human Capital; Entrepreneurship; Global Range; Competency and Skills; Immigration

May 2017
Case

CNS Worldwide

By: Robert J. Dolan and Karthik Easwar

CNS Worldwide has long been the market share leader in the IaaS cloud server market, yet it has remained unprofitable for years. Industry capacity utilization is low, and prices have declined over 70% over the last decade. CNS is considering withdrawing from the market... View Details

Keywords: Price; Marketing; Performance Capacity; Bids and Bidding; Analysis; Web Services Industry

2022
Working Paper

Credit and the Family: The Economic Consequences of Closing the Credit Gap of U.S. Couples

By: Olivia S. Kim

Closing disparities in credit access between spouses can help reduce consumption inequality in the household. The 2013 reversal of the Truth-in-Lending Act increased the borrowing capacity of secondary earners in equitable-distribution states but not in... View Details

Keywords: Household; Credit; Equality and Inequality; Income; Policy; Family and Family Relationships

SSRN

May 2020
Teaching Note

Chem-Ecol

By: Richard S. Ruback, Royce Yudkoff and Ahron Rosenfeld

Dahra Allen acquired Chem-Ecol, a machine oil recycling business, for C$13.3 million in December of 2012. Allen decided to hire a sales director and the case discussion largely focuses on selecting the sales director from her short-list of five candidates. During the... View Details

Keywords: Salesforce Management; Selection and Staffing; Sales; Performance Improvement; Canada

January 2008
Article

Mastering the Management System

By: Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton

Companies have always found it hard to balance pressing operational concerns with long-term strategic priorities. The tension is critical: World-class processes won't lead to success without the right strategic direction, and the best strategy in the world will get... View Details

Keywords: Framework; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Management Systems; Operations; Performance Improvement; Strategy

26 Apr 2020
Other Presentation

Towards Modeling the Variability of Human Attention

By: Kuno Kim, Megumi Sano, Julian De Freitas, Daniel Yamins and Nick Haber

Children exhibit extraordinary exploratory behaviors hypothesized to contribute to the building of models of their world. Harnessing this capacity in artificial systems promises not only more flexible technology but also cognitive models of the developmental processes... View Details

Keywords: Exploratory Learning Behaviors; Modeling; Artificial Intelligence; AI and Machine Learning

2012
Working Paper

Expertise Dissensus: A Multi-level Model of Teams' Differing Perceptions about Member Expertise

By: Heidi K. Gardner and Lisa Kwan

Why are some teams more effective than others at using their members' expertise to achieve short-term performance and longer term developmental benefits? We propose that a critical factor is expertise dissensus-members' differing perceptions of each other's level of... View Details

Keywords: Groups and Teams; Failure; Experience and Expertise; Research; Performance Effectiveness; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Perception; Personal Development and Career

September 2009
Case

Intel NBI: Image Components Organization

By: Willy C. Shih and Thomas Thurston

The Image Components Organization (ICO) was an internal venture that was part of Intel's New Business Initiatives. It sought to initially develop and sell a high performance integrated CMOS image sensor module for cellular phones. ICO's opening assumptions were that it... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Product Development; Production; Failure; Diversification; Semiconductor Industry

March 2019
Article

Economics of Converting Renewable Power to Hydrogen

By: Gunther Glenk and Stefan Reichelstein

The recent sharp decline in the cost of renewable energy suggests that the production of hydrogen from renewable power through a power-to-gas process might become more economical. Here we examine this alternative from the perspective of an investor who considers a... View Details

February 2014 (Revised May 2014)
Background Note

Flying High, Landing Low: Strengths and Challenges for U.S. Air Transportation

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Aditi Jain and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

The U.S. air transportation system flies high on some indicators, mostly involving capacity to take to the air, but lands low on others, mostly involving ground facilities and processes. This note provides an overview of the history and current state of air... View Details

November 2007
Case

Antegren: A Beacon of Hope

By: Joshua D. Margolis, Thomas J. DeLong and Terence Heymann

The CEO of Biogen Idec faces a set of difficult decisions regarding a promising drug for Multiple Sclerosis that is headed for early approval by the FDA. The first in a series focuses on operational decisions triggered by the drive for early approval. Sparks discussion... View Details

Keywords: Demand and Consumers; Leadership; Ethics; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Decision Choices and Conditions; Crisis Management; Health Testing and Trials; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

May 2023
Case

Natural Gas in New England

By: Robin Greenwood, Richard S. Ruback and Gil Highet

Participants in the New England power market are exploring several strategies to meet the region's renewable power goals while also providing its residents with inexpensive and reliable electricity and heating fuel. New England was a first-mover into natural gas power... View Details

Keywords: Natural Gas; Energy; Energy Industry; United States; Massachusetts