Publications

Article

Czech Mate: Expropriation and Investor Protection in a Converging World

By: Mihir A. Desai and Alberto Moel

This paper examines the expropriation of a foreign investor by a local partner and the subsequent resolution of that case through international arbitration in favor of the investor. Despite the investor's 99% interest in joint venture, the local partner managed to... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Capital Markets; Foreign Direct Investment; Geographic Location; Multinational Firms and Management; Governance Controls; Courts and Trials; Rights; Czech Republic; United States

SSRN

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20 May 2014
First Look

First Look: May 20

the World Management Survey (WMS) has collected firm-level management practices data across multiple sectors and countries. We developed the survey to try to explain the large and persistent TFP differences across firms and countries.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

April 2006 (Revised March 2007)
Case

Black Duck Software

By: Constance E. Bagley and David Lane

Black Duck Software involves a venture-backed start-up that converted software developers' concerns about violating copyright licensing agreements or open source protocols into an opportunity to help firms use technology to better manage their compliance efforts.... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Law; Open Source Distribution; Applications and Software; Business Startups; Copyright

February 2006 (Revised February 2007)
Case

Barry Riceman at NetD (A)

Brandon Fogg must solve two seemingly unrelated problems in his management of creative R&D professionals. First, despite having hired brilliant research professionals, his firm is having problems commercializing their ideas. Second, his most brilliant engineer has... View Details

Keywords: Intellectual Property; Knowledge Management; Contracts; Research and Development; Creativity; Commercialization

17 Jan 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: January 17

across space? Why does the law of gravity apply? How do the costs of transporting goods, tasks, and technologies influence firms’ decisions to separate tasks geographically and locate relative to one another? We discuss a variety of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Research Summary

Overview

My focus is empirical financial accounting research, with particular interests in governance, valuation, M&A, and short-sellers. All three of my papers to date fall under the broad heading of “alternative governance mechanisms”—studies of how accounting information is... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Corporate Governance; Valuation; Law

Research Summary

Overview

My focus is empirical financial accounting research, with particular interests in governance, valuation, M&A, and short-sellers. All three of my papers to date fall under the broad heading of “alternative governance mechanisms”—studies of how accounting information is... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Corporate Governance; Valuation; Law

08 Sep 2010
First Look

First Look: September 8, 2010

by overseas Chinese in China. Our paper takes advantage of a large dataset—over 50,000 firms over a period of eight years—that is comprised of two types of foreign firms with investments in China—those owned... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Research Summary

Research Thrust

By: Rakesh Khurana

I am trained in organizational sociology and my main areas of interest lie in macro-organizational theory and the dynamics of executive labor markets. To date, my research has focused on two themes. The first revolves around understanding the forces that govern the... View Details

2023
Working Paper

Pulp Friction: The Value of Quantity Contracts in Decentralized Markets

By: Olivier Darmouni, Simon Essig Aberg and Juha Tolvanen

Firms in decentralized markets often trade using quantity contracts, agreements that specify quantity prior to the point of sale. These contracts are valuable because they provide quantity assurance, as trading frictions could prevent a buyer and seller from matching... View Details

Keywords: Decentralized Markets; Trading Frictions; Market Structure; Transaction Costs; Contracts; Market Transactions; Pulp and Paper Industry

SSRN

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02 Oct 2012
First Look

First Look: October 2

strategies leads to better access to finance. We hypothesize that better access to finance can be attributed to a) reduced agency costs due to enhanced stakeholder engagement and b) reduced informational asymmetry due to increased transparency. Using a large... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

16 Nov 2021
HBS Case

How a Company Made Employees So Miserable, They Killed Themselves

have deeply downsized their staffs. “There’s a lot that happened in the situation that should sound alarm bells for others,” Montgomery says. “The cases point to risks that can arise when firms facing severe competitive threats adopt a... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

27 Jun 2005
Research & Ideas

Asian and American Leadership Styles: How Are They Unique?

holding group], for example, runs his companies closely and is planning to pass the leadership of his firms to his two sons. Similarly, the heads of some of America's largest firms, both publicly held and private, are the scions of the... View Details

Keywords: by D. Quinn Mills

24 Oct 2016
Research & Ideas

Bernie Madoff Explains Himself

students that Madoff was once best known for pioneering the controversial but legal practice of payment for order flow, in which he would pay brokerage firms a couple of cents per share to send orders through his firm. This made him... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Financial Services

03 Mar 2003
Research & Ideas

Top Ten Legal Mistakes Made by Entrepreneurs

that she was a corporate securities partner in the San Francisco office of the law firm of Bingham McCutchen. She is author or coauthor of several textbooks, including the just-published second edition of... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

12 Sep 2023
What Do You Think?

Who Gets the Loudest Voice in DEI Decisions?

profitability than those in the bottom quartile. A 2016 study of 21,980 firms in 91 countries found that companies with mixed gender boards outperformed those with all-male boards. Of course, you are aware of controversies surrounding... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

February 2024 (Revised May 2024)
Case

Lina Khan at the FTC: Redefining Antitrust in the Age of Big Tech

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr. and Susan Pinckney

In 2023 and 2024, the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice sued Google, Amazon, and Apple claiming antitrust violations. These lawsuits marked a shift in U.S. antitrust enforcement away from the Chicago School and towards the New Brandeis school of... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Government Administration; Lawsuits and Litigation; Monopoly; Technology Industry; United States; European Union; China; India

August 2018
Case

Christine Lagarde

By: Julie Battilana, Carin-Isabel Knoop, Vanessa Ampelas and Noemie Assenat

For a modular presentation of the same material, please see “Christine Lagarde (A): A French Prime Minister Calls” (HBS No. 419-017), “Christine Lagarde (B): Being a Public Servant” (HBS No. 419-018), and “Christine Lagarde (C): Managing the IMF” (HBS No. 419-019).... View Details

Keywords: Change; Personal Development and Career; Power and Influence; Leadership; Gender; Leading Change