Publications

16 Mar 2010
First Look

First Look: March 16

states to collect export taxes to finance expenditures, rendered states with higher windfall tax revenues from the export of commodities to spend more on education per capita. Second, we prove that colonial institutions constrained the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

20 Aug 2013
First Look

First Look: August 20

limitations and judo economics, natural monopoly and the effect of market size, technology choice as entry deterrence, endogenous economies of scale, and capacity limitation in commodity markets. Purchase this case:... View Details

Keywords: Anna Secino

17 Nov 2009
First Look

First Look: Nov. 17

Johnson, and Linnea MeyerHarvard Business School Case 210-021 What role does trade finance play in facilitating global supply chain management? Richard S. Elman, founder and CEO of Noble Group Ltd., a global commodities trading company... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

30 May 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, May 30

pricing for first-exposure products on the site. Many in the industry have relied on years of experience and intuition to determine pricing—can Wilson provide new insights? Purchase this case:https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/product/617059-PDF-ENG Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 2010
Case

Aaron's: Household Goods for the U.S. Base of the Pyramid

By: Michael Chu and Charles Augustus Smithgall IV

With $2.5 billion system-wide revenues, Aaron's, a major rent-to-own supplier to the U.S. base of the pyramid, continues to grow in the recession, but CEO R.C. Loudermilk, Jr. wonders how long the company can sustain the fast growth rate of its past. Founded in 1955,... View Details

Keywords: Fairness; For-Profit Firms; Renting or Rental; Financial Crisis; Demand and Consumers; Social Enterprise; Income; Goods and Commodities; Competitive Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; United States

September 2011 (Revised May 2012)
Case

GoodGuide

By: George Serafeim, Robert G. Eccles and Tiffany A. Clay

GoodGuide, a high-technology start-up company, founded by University of California Professor at Berkley Dara O'Rourke is at a critical junction. The venture capital funded company has yet to find the business model to monetize a very promising product that provides... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Strategic Planning; Venture Capital; Goods and Commodities; Business Model; Information Technology; Knowledge; Education Industry; California

November 2003 (Revised March 2004)
Case

Can Florida Orange Growers Survive Globalization?

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Hal Hogan

Florida Citrus Department has to deal with increasing competition from Brazil. What position should the industry take on its existing tariff? Who benefits? Who loses? View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Trade; Price; Globalized Markets and Industries; Goods and Commodities; Competition; Competitive Strategy

07 May 2018
Research & Ideas

Why Online Retailers Should Hide Their Best Discounts

Commodity Busters: Be a Price Maker, Not a Price Taker Fixing Price Tag Confusion What do you think of this research? Share your insights and experiences below. View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Retail

2010
Case

Vander Mining Partners, IPADE

By: Roberto Charvel

In 2010 Vander Mining was trying to raise one of the few private equity funds specialized in mining. This was difficult among other things because institutional investors did not have a private equity team specialized in mining and emerging markets. View Details

Keywords: Real Assets; Business Startups; Business Plan; Economics; Metals and Minerals; Mining; Assets; Private Equity; Public Equity; Goods and Commodities; Emerging Markets; Market Participation; Mining Industry; Financial Services Industry; North and Central America

27 Feb 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, February 27, 2018

functionality the company used, such as a pricing system tied to the company’s commodity hedging positions on a real-time, as well as off-the-shelf systems, for recording financial transactions and reporting, purchasing, warehouse... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

22 Jul 2002
Research & Ideas

How Business Strategy Tamed the “Invisible Hand”

outcomes. Instead, in most lines of business—with the exception of a few commodities in which international trade had developed—firms had an incentive to remain small and to employ as little fixed capital as possible. It was in this era... View Details

Keywords: by Pankaj Ghemawat

23 Jul 2001
Research & Ideas

How the Giants of Enterprise Seized the Future

others. Result: Carnegie Steel became the low cost, high quality producer of a commodity vital to the creation of the modern world. Carnegie sold his company to J.P. Morgan, who used it as the fulcrum for United States Steel, in 1901.... View Details

Keywords: by Richard S. Tedlow

December 2007 (Revised March 2013)
Case

Queensland Sugar Limited

By: David E. Bell and Mary L. Shelman

Until industry deregulation in 2006, Queensland Sugar ran Australia's single desk marketing system for raw sugar exports. Since deregulation, eight of the ten Queensland sugar millers have elected to continue collective marketing through QSL. However, several millers... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Goods and Commodities; Trade; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Competition; Marketing Strategy; Supply Chain; Network Effects; Supply and Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Australia

18 Apr 2012
Research & Ideas

HBS Cases: Who Controls Water?

property access, which then lead to the creation of private property rights because that's the only way of solving the problem," he said. Solving the problem by treating water like any other commodity sparked lively discussion. “If... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish; Agriculture & Agribusiness

01 Aug 2006
First Look

First Look: August 1, 2006

We find evidence consistent with a shift toward a commodity relationship and an increased reliance on business-getting. Specifically, we find some evidence of a disappearance of the midsized firm and strong evidence of a rise in the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

21 Jul 2006
Op-Ed

Enron Jury Sent the Right Message

behavior could possibly arise, lie many examples of highly innovative management: the successful intermediation of the natural gas market, the "gas bank" created by Jeff Skilling, the development of standardized commodity... View Details

Keywords: by Malcolm S. Salter

02 Aug 2010
Research & Ideas

Modern Indian Art: The Birth of a Market

categories such as art and fashion and examining the processes in commodity markets such as tobacco, financial services, and so on. We propose a theory of market creation processes that involve multiple players working together out of... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

May 2020
Teaching Note

Danone: Changing the Food System

By: David E. Bell, Federica Gabrieli, Daniela Beyersdorfer, Amy Klopfenstein and Aldo Sesia

Teaching Note for HBS No. 520-053.
This is a teaching note for the case “Danone: Changing the Food System?” The case examines the efforts of one of the world’s largest food and beverage companies to resolve the social, environmental, and economic issues within... View Details

Keywords: Food; Goods and Commodities; Agribusiness; Animal-Based Agribusiness; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Environmental Management; Environmental Sustainability; Climate Change; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Europe; France; Paris