Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(1,598)
- Faculty Publications (286)
- Article
Why Schumpeter Was Right: Innovation, Market Power and Creative Destruction in 1920s America
By: Tom Nicholas
Are firms with strong market positions powerful engines of technological progress? Joseph Schumpeter thought so, but his hypothesis has proved difficult to verify empirically. This article highlights Schumpeterian market-power and creative-destruction effects in a... View Details
- November 2003 (Revised March 2006)
- Case
Dow Chemical's Bid for the Privatization of PBB in Argentina
By: Mihir A. Desai and Alexandra de Royere
What price should Dow Chemical bid for PBB, a petrochemical complex that is being privatized by the Argentine government? To answer this question, students are forced to consider the role of country risk, the underlying currency exposure of the business, and how to... View Details
- 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
- October 2003
- Case
Financing Biodiversity Conservation by the Global Conservation Fund
By: Mihir A. Desai and Julia Stevens
The Global Conservation Fund is an international nonprofit organization with a $100 million endowment and an exclusive focus on land preservation. The fund and its director must decide which projects to fund over the next year and what financing mechanism to use.... View Details
- October 2003 (Revised January 2004)
- Case
The 2001 Crisis in Argentina: An IMF-Sponsored Default? (A)
By: Rafael M. Di Tella and Ingrid Vogel
At the end of 2001, Argentina's economy and society both appeared on the verge of collapse. Furious about controls imposed on the convertibility of their bank deposits into cash (the "corralito") and huge proposed government spending cuts amidst high unemployment and... View Details
- August 2003
- Case
BRAC
By: John A. Quelch
BRAC is the world's largest NGO and has over the past 20 years experienced tremendous rates of growth. The case looks at diversity within the organization and the aspects of management that have made the organization so successful. View Details
- February 2003 (Revised December 2006)
- Case
Toys "R" Us (A)
By: Michael G. Rukstad, Dennis A. Yao and Cate Reavis
In 1992, Toys "R" Us, the pioneer of the "category killer" retail format, faced significant competitive threats from mass discounters and warehouse clubs and was losing market share. This case explores the dynamic sustainability of Toys "R" Us's retailing model, its... View Details
- August 2002 (Revised January 2003)
- Case
Siebel Systems: Anatomy of a Sale, Part 1
By: John A. Deighton and Das Narayandas
How does a $2 million software sale happen? This case traces efforts by Siebel Systems to sell lead management software to discount broker Quick & Reilly. The buying process is mapped out over four years. Covers in detail the last six months—from Siebel's initial... View Details
- August 2002 (Revised February 2003)
- Case
Siebel Systems: Anatomy of a Sale, Part 2
By: John A. Deighton and Das Narayandas
How does a $2 million software sale happen? This case traces efforts by Siebel Systems to sell lead management software to discount broker Quick & Reilly. The buying process is mapped out over four years. Covers in detail the last six months--from Siebel's initial... View Details
- April 2002 (Revised February 2003)
- Background Note
An Economic Framework for Assessing Development Impact
By: Benjamin C. Esty, Frank J. Lysy and Carrie Ferman
Discusses the differences between private and social returns and describes an economic framework for assessing a project's social return [known as the economic rate of return (ERR)]. The framework begins by analyzing the impact of a new project on private financiers... View Details
- April 2002 (Revised May 2003)
- Case
Nghe An Tate & Lyle Sugar Company (Vietnam)
By: Benjamin C. Esty, Frank J. Lysy and Carrie Ferman
In September 1998, Paul Cooper, Tate & Lyle's finance director for international investments, asked the International Finance Corp. (IFC) to consider lending up to $45 million to finance a $90 million sugar mill in northern Vietnam. Ewen Cobban, an IFC agricultural... View Details
- October 2001 (Revised February 2002)
- Case
Acme Investment Trust: January 2001
By: Josh Lerner
The managers of a large corporate pension fund must decide whether to invest in a private equity fund that is offering a guaranteed rate of return of 20% on part of its portfolio. The background behind and implications of the guarantee are explored. View Details
- October 2001
- Exercise
Liability Problems
By: Robert S. Kaplan
This case provides three examples of the recognition and measurement of liabilities. The first focuses on recognizing when employees have rendered services for which future period benefits have been earned, that is, whether unused vacation, sick, and personal days at... View Details
Keywords: Cash; Annuities; Interest Rates; Compensation and Benefits; Employees; Wages; Problems and Challenges; Value
- July 2001
- Case
Paula Evans and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (A)
By: Linda A. Hill, Kristin Doughty and Ellen Pruyne
Paula Evans is in her second year as principal of the only high school in Cambridge, MA. Her mandate when she arrived was to redesign the high school so that long-standing inequities in academic achievement rates across race and socioeconomic class were removed. In her... View Details
- June 2001 (Revised September 2010)
- Exercise
Deal-crafting Toolkit
Illustrates the potential sources of value creation as well as practical barriers to its achievement. Students analyze five brief scenarios that would yield efficient trades over valuation, discount rates, expectations, and risk tolerance, but that might be thwarted by... View Details
- January 2001
- Case
Valuing Project Achieve
By: Mihir A. Desai and Kathleen Luchs
Project Achieve is a start-up providing information management solutions for schools. Its founders see a need for software both to manage the volumes of information necessary to administer a school and to connect parents, teachers, and students in a more effective way.... View Details
- December 2000 (Revised December 2016)
- Technical Note
Valuing Companies in Corporate Restructurings: Technical Note
By: Stuart C. Gilson
This case provides a technical overview of different valuation techniques for use in valuing companies in corporate restructuring. Techniques covered include adjusted present value, WACC, capital cash flow, and discounted cash flow valuation. Specific numerical... View Details
- December 2000 (Revised May 2002)
- Case
Reverend Jeffrey Brown: Cops, Kids and Ministers
By: Kathleen L. McGinn and Alexis Lefort
Introduces Reverend Jeffrey Brown, one of the cofounders of the Ten Point Coalition in Boston, Mass. The Ten Point Coalition, a group of ministers that worked to change the dynamics between the Boston Police Department and the kids on the street, was instrumental in... View Details
- October 2000 (Revised April 2001)
- Case
Cost of Capital at Ameritrade
By: Mark L. Mitchell and Erik Stafford
Ameritrade Holding Corp. is planning large marketing and technology investments to improve the company's competitive position in deep-discount brokerage by taking advantage of emerging economies of scale. In order to evaluate whether the strategy would generate... View Details
- June 2000 (Revised December 2000)
- Case
Compensation and Performance Evaluation at Arrow Electronics
By: Brian J. Hall and Carleen Madigan
Describes a company's struggles in implementing a subjective performance rating system for its employees. In particular, it describes the difficulties faced by the CEO in getting managers to combat "ratings inflation"--that is, to produce numerical ratings that are... View Details