Publications

February 2022 (Revised April 2022)
Case

BUA Group

By: John D. Macomber, Pippa Tubman Armerding and Wale Lawal

BUA Group must decide between investments in cement, road building, power generation, or sugar. Private businesses are important to economic development in Africa. Students must assess the competitive nature of each of these industries, the magnitude of capital... View Details

Keywords: Investing; Transportation; Strategy; Project Finance; Agribusiness; Construction; Infrastructure; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Nigeria; Africa

07 Jul 2008
Research & Ideas

Innovation Corrupted: How Managers Can Avoid Another Enron

discipline throughout business organizations With respect to strengthening board governance, I argue that a potentially powerful remedy for the governance breakdown that afflicted Enron as a public company can be found outside the... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Energy; Utilities

19 Nov 2013
First Look

First Look: November 19

http://ssrn.com/abstract=2350805 Surfacing the Submerged State with Operational Transparency in Government Services By: Buell, Ryan W., and Michael I. Norton Abstract—As Americans' trust in government nears... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2010 (Revised May 2010)
Case

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Anette Mikes

The case, in a non-profit project-oriented setting, introduces fundamental risk management principles and processes that are easily applicable to private sector settings. Gentry Lee, senior systems engineer and de-facto chief risk officer, is applying a new... View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Governance; Leadership; Management Practices and Processes; Management Systems; Risk Management; Projects; Aerospace Industry; United States

26 Dec 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Reinforcing Regulatory Regimes: How States, Civil Society, and Codes of Conduct Promote Adherence to Global Labor Standards

Keywords: by Michael W. Toffel, Jodi L. Short & Melissa Ouellet

January 2022 (Revised November 2023)
Supplement

Uber in China (C): The Cost of Success for Didi

By: William C. Kirby and Noah B. Truwit

On June 30, 2021, ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing (Didi) raised $4.4 billion in its initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the largest IPO of a Chinese company listed on an American exchange since Alibaba raised $25 billion in 2014.... View Details

Keywords: Uber; Didi Chuxing; Start-up Growth; Regulation; Ride-sharing; Transportation; Business Startups; Business and Government Relations; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Growth and Development; Policy; Competition; Laws and Statutes; Transportation Industry; Technology Industry; China

2025
Working Paper

Impact Investing and Worker Outcomes

By: Josh Lerner, Markus Lithell and Gordon M. Phillips

Impact investors claim to distinguish themselves from traditional venture capital and growth equity investors by also pursuing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) objectives. Whether they successfully do so in practice is unclear. We use confidential Census... View Details

Keywords: ESG; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Private Equity; Venture Capital; Wages

SSRN

Read Now

June 2023
Article

The Effect of Firms' Information Exposure on Safeguarding Employee Health: Evidence from COVID-19

By: Lisa Yao Liu and Shirley Lu

We show that information exposure through international business networks enables firms to take proactive measures that benefit employees and potentially the local community. Specifically, in the early days of COVID-19, firms that have business networks with China and... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Networks; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Health Pandemics; Decision Choices and Conditions; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact

December 1998
Case

Australian Wheat Board Limited.: Becoming a Grower-owned Corporation

By: Ray A. Goldberg, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Cate Reavis

In July 1999, the Australian Wheat Board (AWB), a statutory national and international grain marketing organization, would become grower-owned. As a private corporation, the AWB would no longer receive government borrowing guarantees and would have to rely on its own... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Capital Structure; Globalized Markets and Industries; Monopoly; Employee Ownership; Competition

August 2012 (Revised December 2023)
Background Note

Note on Health Insurance Coverage, Coding, and Payment

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Jo Ellen Slurzberg

This note explains how health care technology and service innovators receive payment from government insurers, in the U.S. and abroad, and from private insurers. It describes each of the three steps needed to obtain reimbursement: coverage, coding, and payment. It also... View Details

Keywords: Health Care Delivery; Health Care Costs; Health Insurance; Health Insurance Marketplaces; Health Care and Treatment; Cost; Insurance; Innovation and Invention; Private Sector; Public Sector; Decision Making; Information Technology; Health Industry; Insurance Industry

March 2007 (Revised March 2008)
Case

Chiaphua Group Vietnam

By: Nicolas P. Retsinas and Michael Shih-ta Chen

As part of its expansion and diversification strategy, the Chiaphua Group explored real estate investments in emerging markets. The Group was one of the largest privately held company groups based in Hong Kong, with international investments in a variety of... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Laws and Statutes; Emerging Markets; Market Entry and Exit; Business and Government Relations; Diversification; Hong Kong

December 2017 (Revised January 2019)
Case

In the Eye of a Geopolitical Storm: South Korea's Lotte Group, China and the U.S. THAAD Missile Defense System (A)

By: Andy Zelleke and Brian Tilley

By late 2016 and early 2017, Lotte Group, a South Korean chaebol (large family-controlled business group) had become embroiled not only in the domestic political turmoil surrounding President Park Geun-hye, but also—uncomfortably—in a four-country geopolitical storm. ... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility; Politics; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; National Security; International Relations; Decision Making; Government and Politics; Leadership; South Korea; China; Japan

20 Jul 2010
First Look

First Look: July 20

case:http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/710054-PDF-ENG Jiamei Dental: Private Health Care in China William C. Kirby and G.A. DonovanHarvard Business School Case 910-404 With the recent announcement from the Chinese View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

October 2020 (Revised December 2020)
Case

AfricInvest: A Pan-African Investment Platform

By: Victoria Ivashina and Youssef Abdel Aal

The case is set in December 2018, when Ziad Oueslati, co-managing director and co-founder of AfricInvest, a leading pan-African private equity firm headquartered in Tunisia, was reflecting on the future direction of his firm. AfricInvest started as a traditional small... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Private Equity; Venture Capital; Strategy; Governance; Financial Services Industry; Tunisia; Africa; Middle East

18 Jun 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Evaluating the Impact of SA 8000 Certification

Keywords: by Michael J. Hiscox, Claire Schwartz & Michael W. Toffel

09 Nov 2022
In Practice

COP27: What Can Business Leaders Do to Fight Climate Change Now?

The US government’s newly passed Inflation Reduction Act will direct $370 billion toward advancing renewal energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions—the country's largest investment in fighting climate change so far. As business and government leaders around the... View Details

Keywords: by Lynn Schenk and Danielle Kost

May 2018 (Revised October 2018)
Case

Argentina Power—Don't Cry for Me Argentina

By: Nori Gerardo Lietz and Sayiddah Fatima McCree

In 2016, Bruce Wayne, Managing Director of Energy Finance Corporation (“EFC”), was refining the Investment/Credit Committee materials for the development of up to 10 power generating plants in Argentina. As a subsidiary of the much larger International Conglomerate... View Details

Keywords: Cross Border; Energy Markets; Infrastructure Finance; Infrastructure Development; Business Subsidiaries; Business Cycles; Macroeconomics; Energy Generation; International Finance; Project Finance; Government and Politics; Demand and Consumers; Infrastructure; Utilities Industry; Energy Industry; Financial Services Industry; Argentina; Latin America

March 2021 (Revised August 2021)
Case

Nayana Mawilmada: Transforming Urban Development in Sri Lanka

By: Joshua D. Margolis and Mahima Rao-Kachroo

In February 2018, Nayana Mawilmada (Nayana), investment head for the Sri Lankan government’s ambitious $40 billion Megapolis project, must weigh an attractive job offer to move from the public sector to the private sector. A massive government project aimed at... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transformation; Decision Making; Public Sector; Experience and Expertise; Strategic Planning; Work-Life Balance; Transportation; Risk and Uncertainty; Power and Influence; Personal Development and Career; Real Estate Industry; Rail Industry; Transportation Industry; South Asia; Sri Lanka; Boston; Virginia; United States

April 2011 (Revised April 2012)
Case

Angels in British Columbia

By: Josh Lerner, Thomas Hellmann and Ilkin Ilyaszade

The case study provides an overview of the angel investment practices and describes government policies towards angel and venture capital investing in British Columbia, Canada. It focuses in particular on the Equity Capital Program (BCECP henceforth), which provides... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Private Equity; Investment; Policy; Taxation; Performance Improvement; Programs; British Columbia