Publications

December 2011 (Revised May 2012)
Case

Heavy Metal (A): Baosteel Enters Brazil

What is Baosteel, a top Chinese steelmaker, doing in Brazil? The company is responding to the Chinese government's "go global" policy and to the possible rise in iron ore input costs. But steel mills are complex, capital-intensive projects, and Brazil is an emerging... View Details

April 2010 (Revised October 2010)
Case

Vale: Global Expansion in the Challenging World of Mining

By: Tarun Khanna, Aldo Musacchio and Ricardo Reisen de Pinho

In 2009 the management of Vale, a Brazilian diversified mining company and the largest iron ore producer in the world, was under pressure from at least two fronts. First, the emergence of China as the most important consumer of iron ore in the last few years had... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Investment; Global Strategy; Risk Management; Market Entry and Exit; Business and Government Relations; Competitive Strategy; Mining Industry; Brazil

Web

Placement - Doctoral

School of Economics and Political Science Dissertation: Essays on Enforcement and Disclosure Advisors: Eugene F. Soltes (Co-Chair), Suraj Srinivasan (Co-Chair), and Charles C.Y. Wang 2020 Wei Cai Accounting & Management, 2020 Placement:... View Details

28 Sep 2009
Research & Ideas

Improving Accountability at the World Bank

is particularly important for politically marginalized groups such as women, rural populations, and indigenous peoples; The Bank should provide adequate budgetary resources for participation and capacity building through all stages of... View Details

Keywords: by Alnoor Ebrahim

January 2014
Article

Randomized Tax Enforcement Messages: A Policy Tool for Improving Audit Strategies

By: Dina Pomeranz, Cristobal Marshall and Pamela Castellon

Reducing tax evasion is a key challenge for governments around the world, particularly in developing countries. This paper presents a methodology to generate information to optimize audit strategies. Randomly selected taxpayers receive a deterrence message. Comparing... View Details

Keywords: Lawfulness; Taxation; Chile

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30 Oct 2006
First Look

First Look: October 31, 2006

capital are also important for the effect of FDI on economic growth. Download working paper: http://papers.nber.org/papers/W12522 A New Framework for Analyzing and Managing Macrofinancial Risks of an Economy Authors:Dale F. Gray, Robert... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

06 Aug 2007
Research & Ideas

High Hills, Deep Poverty: Explaining Civil War in Nepal

to prevent them. "The main conclusion from this whole stream of research is that investing in poverty reduction strategies not only has direct economic benefits but also political benefits," says Lakshmi Iyer, a Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

Research Summary

Overview

By: Peter Tufano

Tufano’s research has focused on financial innovation and financial engineering—and for more than two decades, household finance. While he continues to study these topics, his current primary research is on the role of business in addressing climate change. With... View Details

28 Feb 2007
Research & Ideas

Capital Rules: The Tensions of Global Finance

lived through the end of history more than once, however, and policymakers continue to relearn old lessons about the difficulties of regulation and the risks of liberalization. The idea that capital ought to flow unrestricted across the... View Details

Keywords: by Rawi Abdelal

Web

Business, Government & the International Economy - Faculty & Research

prominent in reshaping the global business landscape and the presentation of risk for U.S. companies. The primary source of risk for businesses is the transformation of China’s View Details

Article

Crowdsourcing City Government: Using Tournaments to Improve Inspection Accuracy

By: Edward Glaeser, Andrew Hillis, Scott Duke Kominers and Michael Luca

The proliferation of big data makes it possible to better target city services like hygiene inspections, but city governments rarely have the in-house talent needed for developing prediction algorithms. Cities could hire consultants, but a cheaper alternative is to... View Details

Keywords: User-generated Content; Operations; Tournaments; Policy-making; Machine Learning; Online Platforms; Analytics and Data Science; Mathematical Methods; City; Infrastructure; Business Processes; Government and Politics

Find at Harvard

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04 Mar 2009
Op-Ed

Credit is Not the Bogey

with a balance that they never pay off. For low-wage workers, credit has been the lifesaving crutch. So as we attempt to jump-start the economy of 2009, we should recognize both the risks and the advantages inherent in a robust credit... View Details

Keywords: by Nicolas P. Retsinas & Eric S. Belsky; Construction; Real Estate; Financial Services

27 Jan 2009
First Look

First Look: January 27, 2009

strategic choices that affect both the expected profits of the firm and their riskiness. Even if competition at first pushes the manager towards profit maximization as commonly argued, I show that further increases in competitive forces might as well lead him to take... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

W. Carl Kester

Carl Kester is a Baker Foundation Professor and the George Fisher Baker Jr. Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus at Harvard Business School. He is a member of the Finance Unit. He served as Deputy Dean for Academic Affairs (2006-2010), Chairman of the... View Details

Keywords: asset management; banking; education industry; financial services; investment banking industry; pharmaceuticals; private equity (LBO funds)

24 Oct 2006
First Look

First Look: October 24, 2006

Working PapersManaging Functional Biases in Organizational Forecasts: A Case Study of Consensus Forecasting in Supply Chain Planning Authors:Rogelio Oliva and Noel Watson Abstract To date, little research has been done on managing the organizational and View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 2022
Case

BancoSol: Financial Inclusion in the Perfect Storm

By: Michael Chu and Carla Larangeira

In the pandemic, financial inclusion icon BancoSol faces a government-mandated year-long deferral of all loan payments, followed by the sudden Covid death of its CEO. In a Bolivia mired in political turmoil following a failed presidential election, with clients not... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Crisis Management; Management Succession; Business Strategy; Innovation Leadership; Risk and Uncertainty; Financing and Loans; Restructuring; Financial Services Industry; Latin America; Bolivia

April 1992 (Revised February 1996)
Case

CFM International, Inc.

In April 1987 the management team of CFM International, Inc. (CFMI) was considering developing a new jet engine for the Airbus A340. The withdrawal of a competitor's engine had created an unforeseen opportunity for CFMI to re-enter a competition it had apparently lost... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Partners and Partnerships; Investment; Globalized Markets and Industries; Manufacturing Industry; Air Transportation Industry