Publications

20 Dec 2010
Research & Ideas

Panama Canal: Troubled History, Astounding Turnaround

relationship that many scholars have claimed could greatly improve governance in many third world nations: the United States ran the currency, provided aid, posted an official inside the Panamanian government, and operated one of the... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Transportation

Article

The Board's New Innovation Imperative: Directors Need to Rethink Their Roles and Their Attitude to Risk

By: Linda A. Hill and George Davis

As firms scramble for competitive advantage, boards—once the cautious voices urging management to mitigate risk—are now calling for breakthrough innovation. Indeed, avoiding risk is now seen as the riskiest proposition of all. In speaking with CEOs and board members... View Details

Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Innovation Leadership; Risk and Uncertainty; Corporate Governance

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March 2024 (Revised February 2025)
Case

Doing Business in São Paulo, Brazil

By: Laura Alfaro, Hise O. Gibson, Leonard A. Schlesinger and Pedro Levindo

The case gives readers an overview of key factors of doing business in Brazil, including Brazil’s economic transformation since its colonial years until 2023, when leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was sworn in for his third term, after the most polarized... View Details

Keywords: Business Cycles; Developing Countries and Economies; Economic Growth; Economic Sectors; Economy; Macroeconomics; Business History; International Relations; Political Elections; Taxation; Consumer Behavior; Brazil; Latin America; Sao Paulo

Web

Frameworks & Key Concepts - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

HBS ISC Competitiveness & Economic Development CED Competitiveness & Economic Development Frameworks & Key Concepts Research & Applications Frameworks & Key Concepts Frameworks & Key Concepts Drivers of Competitiveness The Diamond Model Clusters Stages of Development... View Details

June 2011
Case

Steering Monetary Policy Through Unprecedented Crises

By: David Moss and Cole Bolton

In early April 2008, economic conditions in Europe appeared to be deteriorating on almost all fronts: sales figures were falling, business and consumer confidence were slumping, forecasts for European growth were being revised downward, and inflation was rising. In... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Financial Crisis; Inflation and Deflation; Financial Institutions; Interest Rates; Policy

04 Sep 2013
What Do You Think?

How Relevant is Long-Range Strategic Planning?

governance problem . The problem is that network governance is not taught in business schools or any other faculties." How can strategic planning be adapted to changing needs? What will it take? What do... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

11 Mar 2008
First Look

First Look: March 11, 2008

Mexico's long history with authoritarian government shaped its judicial, taxation, and property rights institutions. These institutions, the authors argue, cannot be reformed with the stroke of a pen. Moreover, they represent powerful... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

November 2018 (Revised January 2020)
Case

Tesla, Inc. in 2018

By: Siko Sikochi, Suraj Srinivasan and Quinn Pitcher

On August 7, 2018 Elon Musk, Chairman and CEO of Tesla tweeted that he was considering taking Tesla private and had secured funding. Weeks went by without details about a deal and speculation grew that Musk had misled investors. He soon abandoned the idea, but the... View Details

Keywords: Disclosure Regulation; Board Independence; Corporate Governance; Business and Shareholder Relations; Governing and Advisory Boards

July 2018
Article

Reimagining Health Data Exchange: An Application Programming Interface-Enabled Roadmap for India

By: Satchit Balsari, Alexander Fortenko MD, MPH, Joaquin A. Blaya PhD, Adrian Gropper MD, Malavika Jayaram LLM, Rahul Matthan LLM, Ram Sahasranam, Mark Shankar MD, Suptendra N. Sarbadhikari PhD, Barbara Bierer, Kenneth D. Mandl MD, Sanjay Mehendale MD, MPH and Tarun Khanna

In February 2018, the Government of India announced a massive public health insurance scheme extending coverage to 500 million citizens, in effect making it the world’s largest insurance program. To meet this target, the government will rely on technology to... View Details

Keywords: Health Information Exchange; India; Health APIs; Health Care and Treatment; Information; Analytics and Data Science; Information Technology; Health Industry; India

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2014
Working Paper

Sharing Design Rights: A Commons Approach for Developing Infrastructure

By: Nuno Gil and Carliss Y. Baldwin

This study empirically investigates the relationship between design structure and organization structure in the context of new infrastructure development projects. Our research setting is a capital program to develop new school buildings in the city of Manchester, UK.... View Details

Keywords: Design; Buildings and Facilities; Education

SSRN

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By 2050 the number of people living in cities will have nearly doubled, to 6 billion, and the problems created by this rampant urbanization are among the most important challenges of our time. Of all resource-management issues, the author argues, water, electricity,... View Details

October 24, 2018
Article

End the Corporate Health Care Tax

By: Mark R. Kramer and John Pontillo

Imagine if a single piece of legislation could effectively eliminate all U.S. corporate taxes, subsidize hundreds of millions of dollars in new corporate investment, increase the take-home pay of most U.S. employees, ease state and local budgets, and reduce the U.S.... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Taxation; Health Care and Treatment; Insurance; Taxation; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; United States

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Web

Skydeck - Alumni

2014) new book is an intervention in the shape of a memoir A Shout Through Time How an alumni connection helped bring a WWII soldier home after 73 years Bringing Government Up to Code Code for America COO Minnie Ingersoll (MBA 2002) on... View Details

May 2017
Article

Psychologically Informed Implementations of Sugary-Drink Portion Limits

By: Leslie John, Grant Donnelly and Christina Roberto

In 2012, the New York City Board of Health prohibited restaurants from selling sugary drinks in containers larger than 16 ounces. Although a state court ruled that the Board of Health did not have the authority to implement such a policy, it remains a legally viable... View Details

Keywords: Nutrition; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Public Administration Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; New York (city, NY)

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December 2010
Article

The Case for Professional Boards

By: Robert C. Pozen

When the world's largest financial institutions had to be rescued from insolvency in 2008, many experts laid the blame at the feet of corporate boards. But insufficient board oversight is a problem that had supposedly been solved in 2002. As the United States... View Details

Keywords: Financial Institutions; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Governing and Advisory Boards; Failure; Accounting Audits; Quality; Behavior; Legal Liability; Experience and Expertise; Corporate Governance; Governance Controls; Performance Effectiveness; United States

Research Summary

Ruling the Waves: Business and Politics along the Technological Frontier

By: Debora L. Spar

There are certain periods of time when technological innovation pushes at the frontiers of government and law; when technology undermines state authority and opens massive loopholes for entreneneurs to exploit. During these critical junctures, rules disappear and... View Details

August 2017 (Revised December 2017)
Case

Accounting for Nuclear Power Provisions at RWE

By: Paul Healy and Jonas Heese

In early 2016, RWE, a utility that operates nuclear power plants in Germany, came under scrutiny from regulators and the media over the adequacy of its provisions for costs of decommissioning and dismantling (D&D) its nuclear power plants. Accounting standards required... View Details

Keywords: Liabilities; Provisions For Long-term Obligations; Discounting; Accounting; Energy Generation; Energy Industry; Germany