Publications

December 2014
Article

The Real Product Market Impact of Mergers

By: Albert Sheen

I document sources of value creation in mergers by analyzing novel data on the quality and price of goods sold by merging firms. When two competitors in a product market merge, their products converge in quality, and prices fall relative to the competition. These... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Quality; Price; Goods and Commodities; Mergers and Acquisitions

Read Now

October 1994 (Revised November 1994)
Case

Alcoma: The Strategic Use of Frozen Concentrated Orange Juice Futures

By: Ray A. Goldberg, Phil Herndon and Katherine L. Morris

Increases in orange tree production led to an orange juice surplus. How does one manage price risk in the orange juice industry under these conditions? View Details

Keywords: Hedging; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Price; Risk Management; Futures and Commodity Futures; Food and Beverage Industry

Educators

15 Oct 2019
News

Engaging More Deeply with Business in Africa

While meeting with representatives of the Kenya Ports Authority at the Port of Mombasa, faculty members toured a bulk carrier ship off-loading grain commodities to Grain Bulk Handlers, one of the companies HBS faculty visited during the... View Details

July 2022
Supplement

Solution for E-Commerce Analytics for CPG Firms (A): Estimating Sales

By: Ayelet Israeli

January 2021 (Revised March 2021)
Supplement

E-Commerce Analytics for CPG Firms (A): Estimating Sales

By: Ayelet Israeli and Fedor (Ted) Lisitsyn

The E-Commerce Analytics group at the traditional CPG firm was in charge of compiling various online sales reports, as well as making data-driven recommendations for sales and marketing tactics. In a series of exercises, students address different data challenges for... View Details

Article

Money is No Object: Testing The Endowment Effect in Exchange Goods

By: Dan Svirsky

We present a new experimental design to test whether the endowment effect exists for exchange goods, like money. We compare three groups to a baseline: one endowed with money, one endowed with chocolate coins, and one endowed with chocolate coins described as "tokens."... View Details

Keywords: Perception; Valuation; Goods and Commodities; Attitudes

October 1994 (Revised November 1994)
Case

Hedging with FCOJ Futures

By: Ray A. Goldberg, Phil Herndon and Katherine L. Morris

Keywords: Futures and Commodity Futures; Investment Funds

August 2022
Supplement

Sweet Teez Bakery: Projecting the Dough’s Rise Financial Supplement

By: Emily R. McComb, Mel Martin and Amy Klopfenstein

Abstract: In 2021, the HBS Impact Investment Fund student team met with entrepreneur Teresa Maynard, who had applied for a $25,000 impact investment loan. The students thought the former Harvard Data Scientist’s bakery business, Sweet Teez Bakery, showed promise.... View Details

Keywords: Impact Investment; Entrepreneurship; Social Entrepreneurship; Finance; Investment; Goods and Commodities; Financial Reporting; Small Business; Food and Beverage Industry; Massachusetts; United States

July 2008
Case

Aurora Capital Group - Douglas Dynamics

Aurora Capital, a U.S. Private Equity firm, contemplates whether to acquire Douglas Dynamics, the leading U.S. maker of snow plows. Does a business that is highly dependent on the weather, and is seasonal, make a good LBO candidate? This case provides a good... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Private Equity; Investment; Goods and Commodities; Value Creation

Educators

15 Sep 2003
Research & Ideas

The Lessons of New-Market Disruption

very inexpensive commodity components that perform basic computations in household appliances, like irons and toasters. At the time, microcontroller manufacturers were just beginning to use automated test equipment. Although the... View Details

Keywords: by Clark Gilbert; Technology

Profile

Joe Khoury

coaching, enhanced job search programs, and a large alumni database that consists of MBA and Executive Education alumni. Having worked in consulting for more than 5 years, I was able to discover a new career path and interned in View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Consulting; Investment Banking

01 Mar 2009
News

Buddy, Can You Spare a Trillion

bond markets, commodity markets, and derivatives markets. In fact, so did all asset classes — not to mention those that benefit when bonuses are big, from vintage Bordeaux to luxury yachts. But these boom years were also misery years,... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

27 Oct 2014
Research & Ideas

The Coffee Economy That Bloomed Out of Nowhere

Near the Guatemalan border in Mexico's Chiapas region, sandwiched between the Sierra Madres and the Pacific Ocean, there's a fertile pocket of land called the Soconusco. While once a hotbed of cacao production for the Aztecs and then the Spanish, the area was decimated... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Food & Beverage; Agriculture & Agribusiness

May 1995
Background Note

Note on Product Liability

By: Willis M. Emmons III, Monica Brand and Greg Keller

This note provides an overview to the evolution and current state of product liability law in the United States. View Details

Keywords: Goods and Commodities; Legal Liability; Safety; Product Marketing; Business Strategy; Policy; Government and Politics; United States