Publications

23 Mar 2023
News

SVB Crash Analysis

HBS faculty members and other experts across Harvard reflect on the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and the state of the banking industry. How ‘Payment Banks’ Could Prevent the Next Bank Collapse Professor Mihir Desai writes in Harvard Business Review that to shore up... View Details

February 2004 (Revised March 2004)
Background Note

Profitability Drivers in Professional Service Firms

By: Ashish Nanda

This case presents a simple model of the drivers of profitability in a professional service partnership and conducts an empirical exploration of the determinants of profitability among AmLaw 100 firms over the period 1994 to 1999. View Details

Keywords: Profitability; Model; Profit; Partners and Partnerships; Law; Service Industry

March 2017 (Revised April 2021)
Module Note

Responsibilities to Society

By: Nien-hê Hsieh

This module note for students outlines an approach to help managers deliver on their responsibilities in relation to society. The approach frames these responsibilities in terms of potential harms to third parties beyond investors, customers, and employees. The... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Political Activity; Corporate Social Responsibility; Human Rights; Role Of Business In Society; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Ethics; Business and Community Relations; Rights; Society

August 2007
Module Note

Managing Networked Businesses: Platform Evolution Module

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann

Offers an overview of conceptual content and pedagogical guidance for instructors using a six-session module, "Platform Evolution," from "Managing Networked Businesses" (MNB), a case-based MBA elective course on platform-mediated networks. The module explores the... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Networks; Business or Company Management; Rights; Business Strategy; Problems and Challenges; Multi-Sided Platforms; Market Transactions; Innovation and Invention; Marketing; Competition; Market Entry and Exit

18 Jul 2006
First Look

First Look: July 18, 2006

excessively beholden to chief executive officers. Regulation and the use of the legal system have been the predominant means of disciplining directors, but each has its drawbacks, particularly in terms of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

29 Jun 2007
First Look

First Look: June 29, 2007

Cultural Change (forthcoming) Abstract We examine the impact of the 1993 Land Law of Vietnam which gave households the power to exchange, transfer, lease, inherit and mortgage their land-use rights. We use... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

06 Nov 2015
Blog Post

Casey Gerald: Becoming a Leader at HBS

and resources that I-- and people like me in my neighborhood-- never had access to. The question really became permanent in my mind: What am I going to do with my opportunities to provide opportunities to... View Details

Article

Market Reactions to Sovereign Litigation

By: Faisal Z. Ahmed and Laura Alfaro

Recent rulings in the ongoing litigation over the pari passu clause in Argentinian sovereign debt instruments have generated considerable controversy. Some official-sector participants and academic articles have suggested that the rulings will disrupt or impede... View Details

Keywords: Sovereign Debt; Litigation; Vulture Funds; Argentina; Sovereign Finance; Lawsuits and Litigation; Markets; Argentina

January 1994 (Revised April 1995)
Case

EMC Corporation: Response to Shareholder Litigation (A)

By: Josh Lerner

EMC Corp. is the target of a shareholder class-action lawsuit for the second time. CEO, Richard Egan, must decide whether to settle the case, as is done in 96% of such cases and as EMC itself did previously, or fight the action. View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Lawsuits and Litigation; Going Public; Management Teams; Business and Shareholder Relations; Technology Industry; United States

June 2006 (Revised April 2024)
Case

Creditor Activism in Sovereign Debt: 'Vulture' Tactics or Market Backbone

By: Laura Alfaro and Ingrid Vogel

The role of distressed debt funds, also known as "vulture funds," in sovereign debt restructuring was a hotly debated topic, especially after the success of Elliot Associates in converting an $11 million investment in Peruvian bonds worth $21 million into a $58 million... View Details

Keywords: Vulture Funds; Borrowing and Debt; Bonds; Investment Activism; Investment Funds; Sovereign Finance; Government and Politics; Contracts; Business and Government Relations; Peru

25 Apr 2014
News

Agent of change

Working in law enforcement made Skovran notice inefficiencies in the way the government approached societal problems. "I became interested in finding more effective ways to reduce crime and violence," she... View Details

01 Mar 2010
News

HBS Grads Make Their Mark in India

Group CEO Abhi Shah (MBA ’06) Clutch Group is a global provider of legal support services, working with corporate legal departments and major law firms. Founded in 2006, based in Washington, D.C., with... View Details

16 Jul 2014
HBS Case

Marketing Obamacare

calculators" to explain benefits of new law in person. Stressed and Strained (25%): Those who wanted healthcare, but were too overwhelmed to think about it. Strategy: Emphasize affordability View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Health

04 Jun 2013
First Look

First Look: June 4

with U.K. and U.S. regulators the firm agreed to pay $450 million in fines. Within a few days of the settlement, Barclays' CEO, Robert Diamond, had resigned under pressure from British regulators. Diamond... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Sep 2003
What Do You Think?

To Whom Should Boards be Accountable?

Summing Up "It is pretty clear to me to whom the board is accountable: the shareholders."—J. W. Penland "When the board deviates from long- and short-term shareholder interests as it has recently done in some instances, it... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

August 2023 (Revised January 2024)
Supplement

Arla Foods: Data-Driven Decarbonization (A)

By: Michael Parzen, Michael W. Toffel, Amram Migdal and Susan Pinckney

Arla implemented a data-based price incentive system to measure, track, and influence climate friendly changes to reduce CO2 emissions across the world’s fourth largest dairy cooperative. View Details

Keywords: Dairy Industry; Business Earnings; Earnings Management; Environmental Accounting; Agribusiness; Animal-Based Agribusiness; Acquisition; Mergers and Acquisitions; Decision Making; Decisions; Voting; Environmental Management; Climate Change; Environmental Regulation; Environmental Sustainability; Green Technology; Pollution; Moral Sensibility; Values and Beliefs; Financial Strategy; Price; Profit; Revenue; Food; Geopolitical Units; Global Strategy; Ownership Type; Cooperative Ownership; Performance Efficiency; Performance Evaluation; Problems and Challenges; Natural Environment; Science-Based Business; Business Strategy; Commercialization; Cooperation; Corporate Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Europe; United Kingdom; European Union; Germany; Denmark; Sweden; Luxembourg; Belgium