Publications

Educators

October 2002 (Revised November 2002)
Case

The EU's 13th Directive on Takeover Bids: Unlucky for Some?

By: Huw Pill and Ingrid Vogel

In the late 1990s, the United States boomed in the context of the so-called New Economy. The countries of the European Union--despite their progress with integration in the form of the Single Market 1992 program and the adoption of a single currency in January... View Details

Keywords: Horizontal Integration; Corporate Governance; Germany; European Union

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28 Mar 2023
Research & Ideas

The FDA’s Speedy Drug Approvals Are Safe: A Win-Win for Patients and Pharma Innovation

Stern and her colleagues’ research found that BTD drugs spent 23 percent less time in the final stage of clinical trials as compared to a matched set of drugs that came to market just before the BTD program was launched. “It hints at... View Details

Keywords: by Kasandra Brabaw; Pharmaceutical

30 May 2023
Research & Ideas

Can AI Predict Whether Shoppers Would Pick Crest or Colgate?

came from a sample of customers.” While the recent emergence of ChatGPT has reignited fears that machines may replace humans in the workplace, the results of this study don’t necessarily mean that AI is going to gut marketing departments,... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

March 2019
Article

Economics of Converting Renewable Power to Hydrogen

By: Gunther Glenk and Stefan Reichelstein

The recent sharp decline in the cost of renewable energy suggests that the production of hydrogen from renewable power through a power-to-gas process might become more economical. Here we examine this alternative from the perspective of an investor who considers a... View Details

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2010
Working Paper

Agency Revisited

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Daniel F. Spulber

The article presents a comprehensive overview of the principal-agent model that emphasizes the role of trust in the agency relationship. The analysis demonstrates that the legal remedy for breach of duty can result in a full-information efficient outcome eliminating... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Contracts; Agency Theory; Mathematical Methods; Behavior; Trust

April 2025
Teaching Note

Tabby: Winning Customers' Digital Wallets

By: Eva Ascarza

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 524-056. Tabby, a Saudi-based fintech founded in 2019, rapidly became one of the MENA region’s first unicorns by offering buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) services with a unique twist: instead of charging end consumers, it partnered with... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; Business Startups; Marketing; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; Business Model; Competitive Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Middle East; Saudi Arabia; United Arab Emirates

17 Aug 2021
Op-Ed

Dispensing Justice: The Case for Legalizing Cannabis Nationally

in states like Massachusetts to be unduly expensive and prevents growers in states like California from achieving economies of scale because of limited market size. Small, fragmented markets also limit... View Details

Keywords: by Ashish Nanda and Tabatha Robinson

17 Dec 2008
Lessons from the Classroom

‘Ted Levitt Changed My Life’

Abdelal examine the flaws in Levitt's ideas while making their own case for the article's ongoing importance to managers. "With Levitt's work, the medium is the message," they write. "He does not offer a 'ten step program' systematically to improve the... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Education; Retail

23 Jun 2010
Working Paper Summaries

The Role of Institutional Development in the Prevalence and Value of Family Firms

Keywords: by Raphael Amit, Yuan Ding, Belén Villalonga & Hua Zhang

2025
Working Paper

Unwinding Loan Prospecting Pressure Through Renegotiation: The Role of Loan Officer Changes in Debt Contracting

By: Jung Koo Kang, Regina Wittenberg Moerman and Jessie Cheong

We examine the impact of loan officer changes on debt contract design. Loan officers play a critical role in initiating and maintaining lending relationships but also face pressure to originate more loans, incentivizing them to offer loan terms more favorable than... View Details

Keywords: Financing and Loans; Borrowing and Debt; Contracts; Negotiation; Motivation and Incentives

Research Summary

Utilizing Display, Feature and Price Promotions: Getting the Biggest Bang for the Buck

Firms are continuously looking for more efficient ways to influence consumers to purchase their brand. Professor Lemon is conducting research to understand what motivates consumers' purchases of products and services. Her research suggests new strategies for category... View Details

05 Sep 2016
News

3 Reasons Why Trump Needs to Start an Advertising Blitz

January 2011
Case

AIC Netbooks: Optimizing Product Assembly

By: Steven C. Wheelwright and Sunru Yong

AIC Systems, located in Taichung, Taiwan, is a manufacturer of printed circuit boards, primarily for motherboards and video cards for personal computers. The firm is considered an original design manufacturer (ODM) and takes an active role in innovating and designing... View Details

Keywords: Performance Management; Quantitative Analysis; Manufacturing; Production Planning; Production Management; Diversification; Production; Performance Efficiency; Product Design; Performance Improvement; Mobile Technology; Manufacturing Industry; Electronics Industry; Taiwan

Educators

Blog

Is AI Coming for Your Job?

supply. "ONCE COMPANIES LEARN HOW TO EXPLOIT GENERATIVE AI, WE CAN ANTICIPATE RAPID RESTRUCTURING AT MANY COMPANIES THAT INVOLVE SUBSTANTIAL CUTS IN WHITE-COLLAR STAFF." Historically, companies have asked, "How can this new technology improve the View Details

2021
Working Paper

Quantifying the Inefficiency of Multi-unit Auctions for Normal Goods

By: Brian Baisa and Simon Essig Aberg

We study multi-unit auctions for homogenous goods in a private value setting where bidders have non-quasilinear preferences. Several recent impossibility results study this setting and find there is no mechanism that retains the Vickrey auction’s desired incentive and... View Details

Keywords: Multi-unit Auctions; Auctions; Bids and Bidding; Value

SSRN

January 2016
Case

COFCO

By: David E. Bell and Natalie Kindred

In 2015, COFCO, China's state-owned agribusiness giant, was working to protect China's food security (a key national security priority) by extending its control of the global food system through overseas acquisitions. At the same time, COFCO sought to grow its market... View Details

Educators

George Serafeim is the Charles M. Williams Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He co-leads a Lab, within Harvard's Digital, Data, Design Institute, and serves on the faculty steering commitee of Harvard University's Salata Institute. He... View Details

Keywords: asset management; insurance industry; automobiles; industrial goods; fashion; food; green technology

Bank Capital and the Low Risk Anomaly

Minimum capital requirements are a central tool of banking regulation. Setting them balances a number of factors, including any effects on the cost of capital and in turn the rates available to borrowers. Standard theory predicts that, in perfect and efficient... View Details

2013
Working Paper

Do Strict Capital Requirements Raise the Cost of Capital? Banking Regulation and the Low Risk Anomaly

By: Malcolm Baker and Jeffrey Wurgler

Minimum capital requirements are a central tool of banking regulation. Setting them balances a number of factors, including any effects on the cost of capital and in turn the rates available to borrowers. Standard theory predicts that, in perfect and efficient capital... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Cost of Capital; Capital Markets; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry; United States