Publications

April 2015 (Revised April 2022)
Case

Bankruptcy in the City of Detroit

By: Stuart Gilson, Kristin Mugford and Annelena Lobb

The June 2013 bankruptcy of the city of Detroit, Michigan was, at the time, the largest municipal bankruptcy in American history. Detroit had struggled for years with a weakening tax base, high unemployment, a heavy debt load and increasing retiree costs. These... View Details

04 Feb 2008
Research & Ideas

Podcast: The Potential Partnership of India and China

powerful economic development programs that each is pursuing, these countries are poised to become dominant economic powers in short order. But there is a subtle trend... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

March–April 2017
Article

Advancing Conservation by Understanding and Influencing Human Behavior

By: Sheila M. Reddy, Jensen Montambault, Yuta J. Masuda, Ayelet Gneezy, Elizabeth Keenan, William Butler, Jonathan R. Fisher and Stanley T. Asah

Behavioral sciences can advance conservation by systematically identifying behavioral barriers to conservation and how to best overcome them. Behavioral sciences have informed policy in many other realms (e.g., health, savings), but they are a largely untapped resource... View Details

Keywords: Adaptive Management; Awareness; Behavioral Economics; Behavioral Science; Conservation Intervention; Conservation Planning; Decision-making; Incentives; Nudge; Management; Motivation and Incentives; Behavior; Marketing; Decision Making; Environmental Sustainability; Economics

Read Now

16 May 2012
Research & Ideas

Can Decades of Military Overspending be Fixed?

Fox, the Tiampo Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus, analyzes efforts since the Kennedy administration to reform defense spending on aircraft, ships, submarines, tanks, missiles, satellites and... View Details

Keywords: by J. Ronald Fox; Service

03 Apr 2025
HBS Seminar

Ziad Obermeyer, UC Berkeley School of Public Health

February 2010 (Revised April 2011)
Case

The Political Economy of Carbon Trading

By: Forest L. Reinhardt, J. Gunnar Trumbull, Mikell Hyman, Patia McGrath and Nazli Zeynep Uludere

Global climate change is an increasingly prominent political and business problem. Design of market-based systems to reduce carbon emissions has proven difficult. More broadly, national attempts to comply with the provisions of the Kyoto Protocol present both... View Details

Keywords: Policy; International Relations; Risk Management; Agreements and Arrangements; Business and Government Relations; Natural Environment; Pollutants; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Public Administration Industry

01 Jun 2003
News

Portraits from the Class of 2003

Srivatsa Krishna "I believe my life will have value only if it can add value to the lives of others." Currently: on sabbatical from the Indian Administrative Service, India's elite top management civil... View Details

Keywords: Administration of Economic Programs; Administration of Economic Programs

April 2002 (Revised September 2002)
Case

Transformation of Seattle Public Schools, 1995-2002

Investigates the reform of the Seattle Public Schools from 1995 to 2002. To initiate reform in 1995, the district hired John Stanford, an Army general, and Joseph Olchefske, an investment banker, as the district's superintendent and chief financial officer,... View Details

Keywords: Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leading Change; Organizational Structure; Education; Business Strategy; Public Administration Industry; Public Administration Industry; Seattle

Keywords: Garry Emmons; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management of Companies and Enterprises

Find at Harvard

01 Sep 2017
News

City of Dreams

planning and implementation for a 15-year, $40 billion initiative with the goal of creating sustainable development and economic revitalization for Colombo and its surrounding provinces, population 5.8... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; photographed by Alice Carfrae; Sri Lanka; Construction of Buildings; Construction of Buildings; Construction of Buildings; Construction of Buildings

30 Mar 2003
Research & Ideas

The Future of IT Consulting

not economical to maintain in a particular company. For example, computer security consulting requires a high level of expertise, which few firms can economically maintain... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Johnston; Consulting

01 Mar 2010
News

Lords of Strategy

has served as the host of business programs on radio and television. The Players Hendersen Photo courtesy BCG Bruce Henderson When one-time Bible salesman Bruce Henderson died in 1992, the Financial Times... View Details

Ramon Casadesus-Masanell

Ramon Casadesus-Masanell is the Herman C. Krannert Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. He joined HBS in 2000 where he has taught the required MBA Strategy course, an elective course on Competing Business Models, and Ph.D. courses on... View Details

Keywords: apparel; energy; paper; semiconductor; software

21 Nov 2011
Lessons from the Classroom

The New Challenge of Leading Financial Firms

A worldwide economic crisis. Intense scrutiny from board members, customers, and government regulators. Expanding global markets. Public protests aimed squarely at your industry. Running a financial institution, never easy to begin with,... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Financial Services

July 2002 (Revised February 2003)
Case

Fresh Start? Peru's Legacy of Debt and Default (A)

By: Julio J. Rotemberg and Lisa Lewis

Considers the situation facing Alberto Fujimori as he takes office in 1990. Pays particular attention to Peru's long history of international borrowing, default, and renegotiation. This history suggests that the costs imposed by foreigners on Peru when it failed to... View Details

Keywords: History; International Finance; Sovereign Finance; Economy; Borrowing and Debt; Peru