Publications

February 1982 (Revised November 1994)
Case

San Fabian Supply Co. (Philippines)

MacDowell Corp., a producer of construction supplies, terminated its exclusive distribution arrangement with San Fabian Supply Co., its sole distributor in the Philippines for nearly 20 years. Paul Cheng the owner of San Fabian had to decide whether to accept... View Details

Keywords: Relationships; Distribution Channels; Construction Industry; Construction Industry; Philippines

Rawi Abdelal is the Herbert F. Johnson Professor of International Management at Harvard Business School, the Emma Bloomberg Co-Chair of the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, and the European Faculty Chair of Harvard Business School’s Global... View Details

16 Sep 2012
News

'Green' warrior says doing nothing has a cost, too

Article

Pitfall or Scaffolding? Starting-point Pull in Configuration Decision Making

By: Eliran Halali, Yoella Bereby-Meyer and David Leiser

In configuration problems, such as the construction of a weekly study schedule, decision makers must assemble a combination of parts under a set of constraints. Interactions may be present between the parts, and more than a single objective function may exist, such as... View Details

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September 2005 (Revised June 2012)
Case

New Songdo City

By: Arthur I Segel, Brandon Blaser, Gerardo Garza, Albert Kim, John Richard and Andrew Murphy

The government of South Korea has chosen John Hynes and Gale International to construct New Songdo City. This is an entirely new city, about the size of Boston, between the new Incheon airport and the capital of Seoul. The proposed city is the government's attempt to... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Urban Development; Construction; Design; Climate Change; South Korea

3:30 PM – 4:30 PM EST, 25 Feb 2021
Virtual Programming

Books@Baker: Frank Cespedes

Sales is changing, but the practical impact of selling e-commerce, big data, artificial intelligence, and other megatrends is often misunderstood, says Harvard Business School Professor Frank Cespedes, author of Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World That... View Details

March 2006
Background Note

Business, Law, and Society: The Systems Approach to Law and Management

Presents the systems approach to law and management, a construct for understanding how public law affects the competitive environment and a firm's resources. Describes how the legally astute manager can use legal tools to assess opportunities, develop the firm's value... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Law; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact

January 2008 (Revised March 2011)
Case

Henry J. Kaiser and the Art of the Possible

By: Anthony J. Mayo, Mark Benson and David Chen

From his humble beginnings as a local salesman in New York, Henry J. Kaiser rose to become one of the leading industrialists of 20th century America. Though he had no technical engineering training, Kaiser mastered the management and execution of plans for several... View Details

Keywords: History; Mission and Purpose; Transition; Management Practices and Processes; Construction; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Leadership Style; Business History; Business Growth and Maturation; Civil Society or Community; Business Strategy; Planning; Construction Industry; Construction Industry; United States

December 2010
Article

Markets, Morals, and Practices of Trade: Jurisdictional Disputes in the U.S. Commerce in Cadavers

By: Michel Anteby

This study examines the U.S. commerce in human cadavers for medical education and research to explore variation in legitimacy in trades involving similar goods. It draws on archival, interview, and observational data mainly from New York state to analyze market... View Details

Keywords: Education; Goods and Commodities; Trade; Lawfulness; Moral Sensibility; Market Participation; Management Practices and Processes; New York (state, US)

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2021
Working Paper

Time Dependence and Preference: Implications for Compensation Structure and Shift Scheduling

By: Doug J. Chung, Byungyeon Kim and Byoung G. Park

This study jointly examines agents’ time dependence—period effects within instantaneous utility—and time preference—behavior on discounting future utility. The study considers the start- and end-of-period effects for time dependence and exponential and hyperbolic... View Details

Keywords: Time Preferences; Present Bias; Hyperbolic Discounting; Compensation; Dynamic Structural Models; Identification; Time Management; Motivation and Incentives; Behavior; Performance; Compensation and Benefits

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August 2020 (Revised November 2021)
Case

Beyond Beer: Brewing Innovation at Molson Coors

By: Derek C. M. van Bever, Stephen P. Kaufman, James Barnett and Shaye Roseman

In March 2019, Molson Coors CEO Mark Hunter considered a request to pull forward $65 million CAD in anticipated future funding for Truss Beverages, a Toronto-based cannabis beverage company that Molson Coors created in a joint venture with a Canadian cannabis... View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Joint Ventures; Ethics; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Disruptive Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Food and Beverage Industry; United States; Canada; Colorado

January 1998 (Revised February 1998)
Case

Sideco Americana S.A. (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Harold F. Hogan Jr

This case focuses on a decision the Sideco management team faces when customers of its newly acquired and privatized water and sewer company neglect to pay its bills. Describes the effort to transform an old-style Argentine construction and engineering company into a... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Government Relations; Transformation; Business or Company Management; Values and Beliefs; Argentina

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December 1980 (Revised January 1992)
Case

Savannah West

By: William J. Poorvu and John H. Vogel Jr.

Allison Porter, a loan officer for Chemical Bank, must decide whether to make a construction loan on a 216-unit apartment building to be built in Savannah, Georgia. In teaching this case, one begins by looking at the economics, marketing data, etc., of the proposed... View Details

Keywords: Credit; Property; Financing and Loans; Banks and Banking; Housing; Risk Management; Valuation; Real Estate Industry; Banking Industry; Georgia (state, US)

February 2016 (Revised October 2017)
Case

Nuclear Energy: An Answer to Climate Change?

By: Michael W. Toffel, Glen W. S. Dowell and James Weber

Environmental activist groups have traditionally opposed nuclear energy. However, the growing environmental problems associated with global climate change require major changes to reduce the carbon intensity of electricity generation. Should environmental groups... View Details

Keywords: Nuclear Energy; Nuclear Power; Climate Change; Safety; Activism; Nonprofit; Environment; Environmental Protection; Social Movements; Energy; Energy Generation; Environmental Sustainability; Non-Governmental Organizations; Non-Renewable Energy; Energy Industry; United States

December 2001
Case

Qwest Communications International Inc.

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Christopher Hackett

Describes the evolution of Qwest from a small fiber-optic construction firm in 1996 to a global telecommunications giant in 2001. Focuses on Qwest's pivotal acquisition of "Baby Bell" US West, a regional Bell operating company many times Qwest's size. Discusses the... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Asset Pricing; Business History; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Organizational Culture; Partners and Partnerships; Vertical Integration; Telecommunications Industry