Publications

July 2011 (Revised June 2013)
Case

Foxconn Technology Group (A)

By: Robert G. Eccles, George Serafeim and Beiting Cheng

In 2010, Foxconn Technology Group, the largest and fastest growing multinational company in the Electronic Manufacturing Services (EMS) industry, came under public scrutiny after a string of employee suicides reached the international press. Although the company was... View Details

June 2016 (Revised November 2021)
Case

Longchamp

By: Jill Avery, Tonia Junker and Daniela Beyersdorfer

Longchamp’s Le Pliage is one of the fashion world’s most successful products, a cultural icon across the globe. But managing the low priced, nylon handbag is challenging as Longchamp tries to move its brand upmarket into higher priced, luxury leather goods. How much... View Details

Keywords: Brand Management; Luxury Brand; Brand Positioning; Product Strategy; Retailing; Pricing Strategy; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Luxury; Family Business; Price; Strategy; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Retail Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Fashion Industry; France; Europe

24 Apr 2019
Research & Ideas

The 'Amazon Effect' Is Changing Online Price Competition—and the Fed Needs to Pay Attention

It’s no secret that fierce competition from Amazon puts downward pressure on prices charged by Walmart and other big multichannel retailers for the same items. However, the bigger “Amazon effect” relates not to the prices themselves but to the pricing behaviors of... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Retail

December 2003 (Revised October 2006)
Case

Globalizing the Cost of Capital and Capital Budgeting at AES

By: Mihir A. Desai and Douglas Kurt Schillinger

With electricity generating businesses around the world, AES Corp. is seeking a methodology for calculating the cost of capital for its various businesses and potential projects. In the past, AES used the same cost of capital for all of its capital budgeting, but the... View Details

Keywords: International Finance; Risk Management; Globalized Firms and Management; Cost of Capital; Valuation; Emerging Markets; Foreign Direct Investment; Capital Budgeting; Energy Industry; South America

23 Jun 2023
News

Highlights from the Spring 2023 Alumni Board Meeting

Greenwood, George Gund Professor of Finance and Banking, James F. Rothenberg Faculty Fellow, and Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Research; and Jeff Bussgang, Senior Lecturer; and Samuel Hanson, William L. White Professor... View Details

March 2001 (Revised August 2003)
Case

Wilkerson Company

By: Robert S. Kaplan

The president of Wilkerson, faced with declining profits, is struggling to understand why the company is encountering severe price competition on one product line while able to raise prices without competitive response on another product line. The controller proposes... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Competition; Profit; Product; Consumer Products Industry

Profile

Ahmed Alimi

accountant" for the small business his mother ran in his home country, Nigeria. He continued to study accounting in high school, then pivoted to the actuarial sciences when he attended the University of Lagos. In the following six years, he assumed accounting and... View Details

Keywords: Consulting; Financial Services

28 May 2019
Research & Ideas

Investor Lawsuits Against Auditors Are Falling, and That's Bad News for Capital Markets

Investors rely on corporate auditors to keep impartial watch on the accounting practices of the companies they invest in. Historically, investors have not been shy about launching litigation when they believed auditors did not do enough to stop their clients from... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Financial Services; Accounting

31 May 2023
News

Alumni Achievement Awards 2023

Photographed by Susan Young; Edited by Julia Hanna MORE ON THE RECIPIENTS Read more about the 2023 recipients, and learn about past recipients. ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS SITE MORE ON THE RECIPIENTS Read more about the 2023 recipients, and learn about past recipients.... View Details

Keywords: leadership; management; work-life balance

14 Jun 2013
Talk

Why Business Can Be Good at Solving Social Problems

By: Michael E. Porter

Why do we turn to nonprofits, NGOs and governments to solve society's biggest problems? Michael Porter admits he's biased, as a business school professor, but he wants you to hear his case for letting business try to solve massive problems like climate change and... View Details

Keywords: Creating Shared Value; Strategy; Value Creation; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Profit; Scotland

Article

Reaching for Yield in the Bond Market

By: Bo Becker and Victoria Ivashina

Reaching for yield—the propensity to buy riskier assets in order to achieve higher yields—is believed to be an important factor contributing to the credit cycle. This paper analyzes this phenomenon in the corporate bond market. Specifically, we show evidence for... View Details

Keywords: Fixed Income; Reaching For Yield; Financial Intermediation; Insurance Companies; Insurance; Assets; Bonds; Investment Return; Investment Portfolio; Risk Management; Insurance Industry

SSRN

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September 2013
Case

The Case of the Unidentified Industries—2013

By: Mihir A. Desai, William E. Fruhan Jr. and Elizabeth A. Meyer

Helps students to understand how the characteristics of a business are reflected in its financial statements. This case consists of an exercise in which students are given balance sheet data in percentage form and other selected financial data for companies in 14... View Details

Keywords: Financial Management; Accounting Statements; Ratio Analysis; Financial Statements; Finance

Web

Judges - Alumni

start-ups, and consumer brands and technology. She has worked closely with many founders over the past decade and has collaborated with numerous leading VC and PE firms. Tina enjoys working with start-ups across a range of areas including: · Fundraising and View Details

03 Dec 2020
News

Cut Payroll Costs with Transparency, Fairness, and Compassion

Web

Courses by Faculty Unit - Course Catalog

Management) Michael S. Kaufman Andy Pforzheimer Spring 2026 Q3Q4 3.0 The Coming of Managerial Capitalism Tom Nicholas Spring 2026 Q3Q4 3.0 Entrepreneurial Finance (also listed under Finance) Sabrina Howell Fall 2025 Q1Q2 3.0... View Details

2023
Working Paper

ESG: From Process to Product

By: George Serafeim

ESG measurement, analysis, management, and communication is a process that the financial industry has turned into a product, resulting in many investment funds using the ESG label. This has caused confusion, generating demand for a framework that defines... View Details

Keywords: ESG; ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; ESG Ratings; ESG Reporting; Investment Fund; Investment; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Financial Services Industry

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Web

Faculty - Race, Gender & Equity

Faculty Faculty Lynda M. Applegate Sarofim-Rock Professor of Business Administration, Emerita Lynda M. Applegate is a Baker Foundation Professor at HBS and is Chair of the Advisory Committee for Harvard University’s Masters Degree of Liberal Arts in View Details

30 Oct 2019
News

How to Recover Gracefully After Shutting Down Your Startup

June 2011 (Revised June 2012)
Case

Sephora Direct: Investing in Social Media, Video, and Mobile

By: Elie Ofek and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

Julie Bornstein, senior vice president of Sephora Direct, is seeking to double her budget for social media and other digital marketing initiatives for 2011. A number of digital efforts implemented in the past two years seem to be bearing fruit and there is a desire to... View Details

Keywords: History; Leadership; Marketing Strategy; Marketing; Emerging Markets; Investment Return; Investment Funds; Budgets and Budgeting