Activities - Publications - Faculty & Research

June 2024
Article

Going Digital: Implications for Firm Value and Performance

We examine firm value and performance implications of the growing trend of non-technology companies engaging in digital transformation. We measure digital activities in firms based on the disclosure of digital words in the business description section of 10-Ks. Digital... View Details

Keywords: Digital Technologies; Valuation; Return Predictability; Financial Statement Analysis; Performance; Value; Information Technology

October 2013 (Revised September 2014)
Case

The TELUS Share Conversion Proposal

By: Lucy White, Benjamin C. Esty and Lisa Mazzanti

On February 21, 2013, TELUS announced a proposal to convert the firm's non-voting shares into voting shares on a one-to-one basis, thereby eliminating the firm's dual class structure. Shareholders were scheduled to vote on the proposal at the firm's annual general... View Details

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April 2006 (Revised April 2012)
Background Note

The Role of Private Equity Firms in Merger and Acquisition Transactions

By: William E. Fruhan Jr.

Explores the importance of private equity firms in merger and acquisitions activity around the globe. In many countries, these firms now account for one quarter of the total merger and acquisition activity of all firms. The larger private equity firms generate fees for... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Mergers and Acquisitions; Private Equity; Investment Funds; Value Creation

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July – August 2011
Article

Deliberate Learning to Improve Performance in Dynamic Service Settings: Evidence from Hospital Intensive Care Units

By: I. M. Nembhard and A. L. Tucker

Dynamic service settings-characterized by workers who interact with customers to deliver services in a rapidly changing, uncertain, and complex environment (e.g., hospitals)-play an important role in the economy. Organizational learning studies in these settings have... View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Customer Focus and Relationships; Learning; Health Care and Treatment; Service Delivery; Performance Improvement; Quality; Groups and Teams; Cooperation; Health Industry

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September 1984 (Revised July 2005)
Case

Higgins v. Commissioner

By: Henry B. Reiling

Discusses the issue of whether an activity is a trade or business. The Court held that the taxpayer's very substantial stock and bond portfolio management activities were not a trade or business, whereas the taxpayer's real estate activities did constitute a trade or... View Details

Keywords: Taxation; Courts and Trials; Investment Portfolio; Property; United States

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28 Apr 2020
Blog Post

HBS African American Student Union

transition to EC year and beyond graduation. Our current membership includes over 130 first years, second years and partners who engage in social events, cultural activities and academic and professional development workshops. New members... View Details

02 Feb 2021
Working Paper Summaries

Nonprofits in Good Times and Bad Times

Keywords: by Christine L. Exley, Nils H. Lehr, and Stephen J. Terry

April 2003
Article

Exploitation, Exploration, and Process Management: The Productivity Dilemma Revisited

By: Mary J. Benner and Michael L. Tushman

We develop a contingency view of process management's influence on both technological innovation and organizational adaptation. We argue that while process management activities are beneficial for organizations in stable contexts, they are fundamentally inconsistent... View Details

Keywords: Management; Problems and Challenges

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March 1994 (Revised September 1994)
Background Note

Note on Competitive Positioning

Emphasizes the connection between a firm's activities and its prices, costs, and volumes. A firm obtains a competitive advantage when it adopts a system of interrelated activities that generate superior profitabiltiy. Briefly describes differentiation and low-cost... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Advantage

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October 1991 (Revised September 1998)
Case

Maxwell Appliance Controls

By: Robert S. Kaplan

A profitable manufacturing division of a large company is looking for new ways to identify sources of productivity improvements. Led by its senior finance officer, an activity-based cost system is developed to identify activities performed for its highly varied product... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Management Teams; Quality; Performance Improvement; Organizational Culture; Problems and Challenges; Production; Manufacturing Industry

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Mar 2012
Article

Choosing the United States

the past three decades, business activities have become increasingly mobile, and more and more countries have become viable contenders for them. But new data--including the results of an unprecedented survey of 10,000 Harvard Business... View Details

14 Aug 2024
Video

Beyond Profit: How narrative guides investor-company alignment for social value

11 Sep 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Spatial Organization of Firms: Internal and External Agglomeration Economies and Location Choices Through the Value Chain

Keywords: by Juan Alcácer & Mercedes Delgado

12 Dec 2022
News

The Partnership Imperative: Community Colleges, Employers, and America’s Chronic Skills Gap

Spatial Organization of Firms

We explore the impact of geographically bounded intra-firm spillovers (internal agglomeration economies) and geographically bounded inter-firm spillovers (external agglomeration economies) on firms’ location strategies. Using data from the Census Bureau’s Longitudinal... View Details

November – December 1996
Article

What Is Strategy?

By: M. E. Porter

Today's dynamic markets and technologies have called into question the sustainability of competitive advantage. Under pressure to improve productivity, quality, and speed, managers have embraced tools such as TQM, benchmarking, and reengineering. Dramatic operational... View Details

Keywords: Strategy

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December 2001 (Revised February 2008)
Case

Borealis

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Bjorn N. Jorgensen

When Borealis, a European producer of plastics, used a traditional, time-consuming budgeting process, the budget was quickly out of date in a competitive environment characterized by continually changing input and output prices and dynamic market conditions. This case... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Budgets and Budgeting; Forecasting and Prediction; Investment; Governance Controls; Balanced Scorecard; Management Systems; Manufacturing Industry; Europe

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03 Aug 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Tax Policy and the Efficiency of US Direct Investment Abroad

Keywords: by Mihir A. Desai, C. Fritz Foley & James R. Hines Jr.

July 1999 (Revised June 2000)
Case

Edward Jones

By: Michael E. Porter and Gregory C. Bond

Edward Jones is a leading, highly profitable retail brokerage firm with a unique strategy very different from those of its rivals. The case describes Jones's activities and allows a rich discussion of its positioning choices, supporting activities, and tradeoffs. Jones... View Details