Publications

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May 2009 (Revised November 2010)
Case

Depreciation at Delta Air Lines: The "Fresh Start"

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

In estimating depreciation for accounting purposes, Delta Air Lines has changed its assumptions about aircraft lifespan and residual values four times in the last thirty years or so. In the most recent changes, Delta adopted fair value accounting as part of its fresh... View Details

Keywords: Accounting Policies; Accounting Procedures; Depreciation; Bankruptcy; Cost Accounting; Financial Reporting; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Policy; Air Transportation Industry

August 2011 (Revised February 2015)
Teaching Note

Global Diversity and Inclusion at Royal Dutch Shell (A) and (B)

By: Sandra J. Sucher

Teaching Note for 610-056 and 611-051. View Details

Keywords: Policy; Cost; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Restructuring; Human Resources; Energy Industry; United States

June 1988
Case

Decontrol of Fertilizer Prices in Pakistan

By: Louis T. Wells Jr.

Keywords: Business and Government Relations; Developing Countries and Economies; Price; Pakistan

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30 Apr 2013
First Look

First Look: April 30

entities. The company primarily serves government intelligence agencies, but has some private sector clients and is considering taking on more. The CEO, Christopher Ahlberg, is wrestling with several key decisions about where to take the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 2001 (Revised November 2001)
Case

Provident Life and Accident Insurance: The Acquisition of Paul Revere

By: Mihir A. Desai, Frank Williamson, Mark Veblen and Yuming Zou

Provident Life & Accident Insurance Co. has made an initial bid to acquire a primary competitor, Paul Revere, from conglomerate, Textron. The due diligence process uncovers a significant block of problematic disability insurance policies. Provident is forced to assess... View Details

Keywords: Insurance; Financial Management; Mergers and Acquisitions; Policy; Investment; Business Strategy; Cash Flow; Price; Bids and Bidding; Financial Reporting; Business Conglomerates; Insurance Industry; Service Industry

22 May 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, May 22, 2018

generations of the same family may even cease to regress towards the mean. Moreover, we demonstrate that government interventions intended to ameliorate inequality may in fact lower intergenerational mobility—even when they do not... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

24 Oct 2012
Research & Ideas

Want People to Save More? Send a Text

safety net for emergencies, but also would reduce financial stress and improve their quality of life. "In the private sector, a lot of startups fail, and the market provides a signal about whether the product is viable," says Pomeranz, whose research focuses... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard

01 Sep 2010
News

Reinventing the Annual Report

combining the financial and CSR/sustainability reports into something I call “One Report,” which provides the essential information on a company’s financial, environmental, social, and governance performance and shows the relationships... View Details

Keywords: Robert G. Eccles

01 Oct 2002
News

Sam Hayes

corporations, financial institutions, and government agencies, including the Justice Department, Treasury Department, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Securities and Exchange Commission. He frequently comments in the news media on... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons

August 2019 (Revised August 2022)
Case

Baroo (A): Pet Concierge

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Susie L. Ma

Baroo CEO Lindsay Hyde was facing unrest from the board of her pet services startup in August 2017. One board member (and lead investor) was alarmed that Baroo’s growth was slowing while its appetite for funding was accelerating. Hyde wanted to hit the gas and continue... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Outcome or Result; Failure; Business and Shareholder Relations; Venture Capital; Governing and Advisory Boards; Opportunities; Strategy; Service Industry; United States; Massachusetts

February 2008 (Revised April 2009)
Case

Chronology of the Asian Financial Crisis

By: Laura Alfaro, Rafael Di Tella and Renee Kim

In July 1997, Thailand became the first Asian "tiger" economy to abandon its fixed exchange rate system in response to speculative attacks on its currency. Investors started to flee Asia, and the crisis rapidly spread to other countries. Central banks spent billions of... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Currency Exchange Rate; Central Banking; Policy; Crisis Management; Asia; Thailand

September 2018 (Revised January 2020)
Supplement

Apple Pay and Mobile Payments in Australia (B)

By: Feng Zhu, Susan Athey and David Lane

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Payment Methods; Mobile Payment; Apple; Banks and Banking; Cooperation; Problems and Challenges; Policy; Digital Platforms; Banking Industry; Australia

April 2011
Article

Local Dividend Clienteles

We exploit demographic variation to identify the effect of dividend demand on corporate payout policy. Retail investors tend to hold local stocks, and older investors prefer dividend-paying stocks. Together, these tendencies generate geographically varying demand for... View Details

Keywords: Business Headquarters; Demographics; Investment; Geographic Location; Policy; Business and Shareholder Relations