Publications

March 2016
Article

The Cost of Friendship

By: Paul A. Gompers, Vladimir Mukharlyamov and Yuhai Xuan

We investigate how personal characteristics affect people's desire to collaborate and whether this attraction enhances or detracts from performance in venture capital. We find that venture capitalists who share the same ethnic, educational, or career background are... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Partners and Partnerships; Entrepreneurship; Personal Characteristics

Read Now

February 2015
Article

Corporate Investment and Stock Market Listing: A Puzzle?

By: John Asker, Joan Farre-Mensa and Alexander Ljungqvist

We investigate whether short-termism distorts the investment decisions of stock market listed firms. To do so, we compare the investment behavior of observably similar public and private firms using a new data source on private U.S. firms, assuming for identification... View Details

Keywords: Private Ownership; Public Ownership; Corporate Finance

SSRN

September 2014
Module Note

The Development of the Markets for Natural, Organic, and Health Foods in the U.S.

By: Mukti Khaire and Eleanor Kenyon

Discourses on the links between eating, health, and social standing in America have deep roots. As mechanisms of food production, distribution and storage were developed in the nineteenth century, Americans began receiving information about what to and not-to eat, from... View Details

Keywords: Food Marketing; Food; Markets; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

June 2013 (Revised June 2014)
Case

Valero Energy Corporation and Tight Oil

By: Richard H.K. Vietor, Eric Adamson, Aaron Byrd, Ned Chiverton, Mariko Meier and Rob Rain

Valero Energy, an incredibly successful US refiner, needs to make some decisions about tight oil. As production of light tight oil increases—from Eagle Ford, Bakken and elsewhere—Valero considers whether to add topping capacity to handle it, on top of its recent... View Details

Keywords: Petroleum; Oil ＆ Gas; Energy; Environment; Refining; Globalization; Tight Oil; Strategy; Natural Environment; Demand and Consumers; Supply and Industry; Policy; Energy Sources; Energy Industry; United States

October 2009 (Revised November 2016)
Case

Generation Health: A Pioneer in Genetics Benefit Management (A)

By: Robert F. Higgins, Jeffrey D. Marrazzo and Rachel Gordon

Generation Health, a pioneer in the new field of genetics benefit management and a newly formed company, faces many strategic issues. CEO Per Lofberg is in the midst of negotiating a partnership with a major pharmacy benefit management company. As part of these... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Growth and Development Strategy; Partners and Partnerships; Genetics; Health Industry; Insurance Industry

February 2003
Case

Dubai Ports Authority (A)

The Dubai Ports Authority (DPA) wishes to digitize many of the documents it shares with its external partners, including shipping lines and agents, merchants, and the country's customs authority. DPA also wishes to automate the many document transmissions related to... View Details

Keywords: Communication Technology; Information Technology; Cooperation; Globalized Markets and Industries; Shipping Industry; Dubai

May 2002 (Revised August 2006)
Case

Yangcheng: AES in China

By: Richard H.K. Vietor

AES, an American electric power company with 141 plants worldwide, is just completing construction of a 2,100-MW plant in China--the largest ever. The project, a joint venture with five local companies, has several environmental, ownership, and operational issues as... View Details

Keywords: Energy Generation; Joint Ventures; Foreign Direct Investment; Environmental Sustainability; Problems and Challenges; Energy Industry; China

November 1990 (Revised August 1992)
Case

Corning, Inc.: A Network of Alliances

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Ashish Nanda

Describes James Houghton's actions in assuming the role of CEO at Corning in the midst of a recession. Not only must he turn around operating performance, he must also revitalize a demoralized organization and set a new, clear strategic direction. In doing so, the case... View Details

Keywords: Business Cycles; Policy; Leading Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance Expectations; Partners and Partnerships; Business Strategy

07 Jul 2010
News

Innovation in Entrepreneurship Pedagogy Award

04 Feb 2020
News

How to Set Up — and Learn — from Experiments

12 Jan 2016
News

Girl Scouts Take Cookies Online

11 Sep 2014
HBS Seminar

Petra Moser, Stanford University

TeachingInterests

Investment Management Workshop

By: Luis M. Viceira

Investing and Strategic Decision-Making for Principals, Portfolio Managers, and Executives of Asset Management Firms

For nearly 50 years, the Investment Management Workshop (IMW) has convened the world's top principals, portfolio managers, and... View Details

TeachingInterests

MBA Required Curriculum Marketing

Marketing

The objectives of this course are to demonstrate the role of marketing in the company; to explore the relationship of marketing to other functions; and to show how effective marketing builds on a thorough understanding of buyer behavior to create... View Details

December 1991 (Revised February 1992)
Case

Dayton Electric Corp.

By: Steven C. Wheelwright

Concerns a product redesign decision for one of the company's most successful motor products, its rectified power, medium D-C motor, the RPM. A one-year redesign program has proposed a design that comes close to meeting its stated cost and performance goals, but at the... View Details

Keywords: Product Design; Strategic Planning; Research and Development; Business Divisions; Decisions; Forecasting and Prediction; Product Development; Technological Innovation; Machinery and Machining; Manufacturing Industry; Ohio

03 Nov 2008
HBS Case

Economics of the Ethanol Business

Reinhardt, with Senior Researcher James Weber and Agribusiness Program Director Mary Shelman (HBS MBA '87), examines the complex political and economic underpinnings of the ethanol industry and the dilemma facing the farmers of Mid-Missouri Energy (MME). The farmers... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Agriculture & Agribusiness; Energy

April 1993 (Revised October 1995)
Case

ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (A): Technological and Financial Innovation

By: Josh Lerner and Peter Tufano

To develop the next generation of risky products, ALZA, a mature and profitable biotechnology firm specializing in drug delivery systems, must raise $40 million. Organizational constraints and competitive concerns demand that the work be done inside the firm. However,... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Technological Innovation; Business Subsidiaries; Decision Choices and Conditions; Corporate Finance; Biotechnology Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

16 Nov 2021
HBS Case

How a Company Made Employees So Miserable, They Killed Themselves

In 2009, a 51-year-old man killed himself in Marseille, a city in southern France, leaving behind a suicide note that blamed his employer for “overwork” and “management by terror.” “I am committing suicide because of my work at France Télécom,” his note said. “That’s... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

July 2002 (Revised April 2003)
Case

QuickMedx Inc.

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer and Jonathan P Groberg

QuickMedx has created a chain of small kiosks, located in drugstores and shopping malls in the Minneapolis area, that cater to patients with a limited range of very simple primary care conditions. Service is rapid and cheap and patients wait only a few minutes to be... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Decision Making; Disruptive Innovation; Expansion; Service Delivery; Business Processes; Design; Management; Health Industry