Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(12,134)
- Faculty Publications (3,568)
- August 1988 (Revised August 1989)
- Case
Poletown Dilemma, The
By: Thomas R. Piper
Senior management of General Motors must select a site for a new assembly plant to replace two plants located in Detroit. The economics strongly favor a site in an adjacent state. However, a relocation would have substantial, negative impact on the existing work force,... View Details
- July 1988 (Revised October 1992)
- Exercise
Sellars' Market
By: David E. Bell
A shop owner has limited shelf space for display of impulse purchase products near the cash register. He must select only nine to display. Exercise shows the relevance of opportunity cost or resource pricing. By setting an appropriate charge for the shelf space the... View Details
Keywords: Marketing
- summer 1988
- Article
Aspects of Financial Contracting in Venture Capital
- Article
Beyond the Reach of the Invisible Hand: Impediments to Economic Activity, Market Failures, and Profitability
By: Dennis Yao
In this paper it is argued that failures of the competitive market are necessary conditions for supranormal profitability. Three fundamental causes of these market failures-production economies and sunk costs, transactions costs, and imperfect information-are developed... View Details
Keywords: Economics; Markets; Failure; Profit; Cost; Information; Market Transactions; Competition; Strategy; Production
- April 1988 (Revised September 1992)
- Case
Frito-Lay, Inc.: The Backhaul Decision
Prior to the Motor Carrier Act of 1980, companies with private trucking fleets were generally prohibited from selling transportation services to other companies. The deregulation of the trucking industry in 1980 allowed private carriers to offer for-hire transportation... View Details
- January 1988 (Revised May 1988)
- Case
General Motors' Asian Alliances
Describes all of General Motors' major alliances with Asian firms. These include Toyota, Fanuc, Isuzu, Daewoo, Suzuki, Nissan, and Hitachi. Students can discuss the rationale of each alliance, their risks, their management problems, and their likely evolution. Also... View Details
- September 1987
- Background Note
What Do Venture Capitalists Do?
Presents the results derived from 49 responses to a questionnaire mailed to 100 venture capitalists in late 1984. The purpose of the survey was to shed light on the relationship between venture capitalists and their portfolio companies. The survey revealed that the... View Details
- August 1987 (Revised June 1989)
- Background Note
Note on Financial Contracting: ""Deals""
Describes the issues involved in designing and evaluating financial contracts between users and suppliers of capital and between companies and employees. A simple conceptual framework is introduced and some critical issues addressed: 1) How is cash allocated? 2) How is... View Details
- August 1987 (Revised December 1998)
- Background Note
Capital Market Myopia
Focuses attention on a phenomenon we call capital market myopia, a situation in which participants in the capital markets ignore the logical implications of their individual investment decisions. Viewed in isolation, each decision seems to make sense. When taken... View Details
Keywords: Capital Markets
- July 1987 (Revised October 2009)
- Background Note
A Method For Valuing High-Risk, Long-Term Investments: The "Venture Capital Method"
By: William A. Sahlman and Daniel R Scherlis
Describes a method for valuing high-risk, long-term investments such as those confronting venture capitalists. The method entails forecasting a future value (e.g., five years from the present) and discounting that terminal value back to the present by applying a high... View Details
- June 1987 (Revised May 1990)
- Case
John Deere Component Works (B)
By: Robert S. Kaplan
Having installed an activity-based system, the division is now exploring the insight provided by that system. In particular, it is studying the economics of lot-size process planning and product mix management. View Details
- June 1987 (Revised August 1988)
- Case
American Bank
By: Robert S. Kaplan
American Bank is developing a new system to compute product costs. The deregulated, more competitive environment for commercial banks has created both problems and opportunities for banking operations. In order to price existing products and assess the desirability of... View Details
- May 1987 (Revised November 1998)
- Case
John Deere Component Works (A)
By: Robert S. Kaplan
The division has recognized the inadequacies of its existing, traditional cost system for estimating product costs. Describes the innovative activity-based system that was developed to more accurately trace overhead costs to individual products. Provides students with... View Details
- April 1987 (Revised April 1987)
- Case
Tiberg Co.
By: Michael Beer and Daniel J. Isenberg
Describes the efforts of a vice president of purchasing to coordinate and centralize purchasing procedures in a multinational company. He encounters a lack of active cooperation. A rewritten version of an earlier case by G. Lombard. View Details
- spring 1987
- Article
Second-Sourcing and the Experience Curve: Price Competition in Defense Procurement
By: James J. Anton and Dennis A. Yao
We examine a dynamic model of price competition in defense procurement that incorporates the experience curve, asymmetric cost information, and the availability of a higher cost alternative system. We model acquisition as a two-stage process in which initial production... View Details
- March 1987 (Revised July 1996)
- Case
Kansas City Zephyrs Baseball Club, Inc.
By: Kenneth A. Merchant, Krishna G. Palepu and Joseph P. Mulloy
Describes a dispute between the owners of the major league baseball teams and the players' union about the profitability of the baseball teams. The issue is important because of the ongoing collective bargaining negotiations. A consultant is brought in to decide... View Details
- January 1987 (Revised January 2002)
- Case
Baker Precision Instruments, Inc.
By: Ramchandran Jaikumar, Roy Shapiro, Donald Rosenfield and Kathryn E. Stecke
A rapidly growing machine parts manufacturer is trying to decide whether to acquire an advanced Flexible Manufacturing System or Systems. The selection decisions must address the impact of new technology, the effect of setup times on production planning and capacity,... View Details
- January 1987 (Revised November 1991)
- Case
R.J. Reynolds International Financing
By: W. Carl Kester and William B. Allen
Reynolds must source a substantial portion of the financing of its Nabisco acquisition in offshore bond markets. Morgan Guaranty has proposed a yen/dollar dual currency Eurobond that could be hedged into dollars. This structure is compared to Eurodollar Bonds, Euroyen... View Details