Publications

2009
Other Paper

Trade Policy and Firm Boundaries

By: Laura Alfaro, Paola Conconi, Andrew F. Newman and Harald Fadinger

We examine how trade policy affects firms' organizational choices. We embed a model of firms' vertical integration decisions into a standard perfectly-competitive international trade framework. In the model, integration decisions are driven by a trade-off... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Policy; Ownership; Business and Government Relations; Vertical Integration; Boundaries

2009
Book

Boulevard of Broken Dreams: Why Public Efforts to Boost Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Have Failed and What to Do About It

By: Josh Lerner

In response to the financial crisis, governments are being far more aggressive in intervening to promote economic activity, a trend that shows little tendency of alleviating. This book looks at the experiences of governments in encouraging entrepreneurs and venture... View Details

Keywords: Economic Growth; Financial Crisis; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Policy; Business and Government Relations

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October 2009 (Revised July 2010)
Case

Roshan: Light at the end of the tunnel in Afghanistan

By: Herman B. Leonard and Qahir Dhanani

Roshan is a highly successful telecommunications company founded by the Aga Khan fund for economic development in Afghanistan during an ongoing civil conflict. Company leaders must now decide financial and market strategy for the next phase of development of the... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Financial Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; War; Telecommunications Industry; Afghanistan

October 2009 (Revised November 2011)
Case

Citigroup-Wachovia-Wells Fargo

By: Guhan Subramanian and Nithyasri Sharma

In late September 2008, amidst the spiraling financial crisis, many firms on Wall Street were in a precarious position. One such institution was Wachovia, which entered acquisition talks with Citigroup and Wells Fargo. This case describes the development of these... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Financial Crisis; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Governing and Advisory Boards; Managerial Roles; Banking Industry; United States

September 2009 (Revised November 2010)
Case

Endeavor: Creating a Global Movement for High-Impact Entrepreneurship

By: William A. Sahlman

This case describes a critical inflection point in the growth of an international development "mentor capitalist" nonprofit, Endeavor. As Endeavor aims to scale its high-impact entrepreneurship model globally, founder Linda Rottenberg must determine what success looks... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Social Entrepreneurship; Global Strategy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Nonprofit Organizations; Jordan

Keywords: Green Building; LEED Rating System; Economic And Environmental Performance; Program Evaluation And Assessment; Tradeoffs Between Process- And Performance Standards; Buildings and Facilities; Business Headquarters; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Standards; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Performance Improvement; Environmental Sustainability; Pollutants; Green Technology Industry

September 2009 (Revised September 2010)
Case

Genzyme Center (A)

By: Michael W. Toffel and Aldo Sesia

Genzyme Corporation is in the midst of planning its new corporate headquarters, which incorporates many innovative green building features. After learning that the building as planned would likely earn a LEED Silver rating, an intermediate score in the LEED green... View Details

August 26, 2009
Comment

Where Cash for Clunkers Ran Off the Road

By: John A. Quelch

Today, let us celebrate the end of an unjustifiable drain on the U.S. taxpayer: the Cash for Clunkers (C4C) program.

True, C4C greatly boosted the number of consumers visiting car dealers. Doubtless, some new cars were sold to consumers who thought they... View Details

Keywords: Government Programs; Environmental Impact; Government Waste; Customer Behavior; Economic Growth; Economy; Financial Crisis; Government and Politics; Leadership; Marketing; Programs; Value; Auto Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Public Administration Industry; United States

2009
Working Paper

Culture Clash: The Costs and Benefits of Homogeneity

By: Eric J. Van den Steen

This paper develops an economic theory of the costs and benefits of corporate culture—in the sense of shared beliefs and values—in order to study the effects of "culture clash" in mergers and acquisitions. I first use a simple analytical framework to show that shared... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Cost vs Benefits; Values and Beliefs; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Motivation and Incentives; Theory

2009
Working Paper

Principles that Matter: Sustaining Software Innovation from the Client to the Web

By: Marco Iansiti

Economic analysis often reviews the role of principles—such as respect for intellectual property rights—in driving innovation. Given the interdependent nature of innovation in information technology, three core principles have emerged that work together to ensure that... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Technological Innovation; Intellectual Property; Partners and Partnerships; Competition; Information Technology; Internet and the Web

May 2009 (Revised January 2011)
Case

Enel: Power, Russia, and Global Markets

By: Rawi E. Abdelal, Richard H.K. Vietor and Sogomon Tarontsi

Although the global trend toward liberalization of electric utilities forced Enel, the largest power company in Italy, to give up some of its assets in its home base, it also opened up many opportunities abroad, including in Russia, one of the largest electricity... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Energy Generation; Foreign Direct Investment; Global Strategy; Globalized Firms and Management; Globalized Markets and Industries; Business and Government Relations; Utilities Industry; Russia; Italy

May 2009
Article

The Empirical Impact of Intellectual Property Rights on Innovation: Puzzles and Clues

By: Josh Lerner

Economists have long seen the patent system as a crucial lever through which policymakers affect the speed and nature of innovation in the economy. It is not surprising, then, that the profound changes which have roiled the global patent system over the past 20 years... View Details

Keywords: Economy; Policy; Innovation and Invention; Intellectual Property; Rights; Business and Government Relations

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April 2009
Compilation

A Defining Moment: The Financial Crisis of 2008 and Its Broader Impact

By: Nancy F. Koehn and Rachel Wilcox

Keywords: Business History; Financial Crisis; Economics

April 2009 (Revised August 2009)
Case

Backchannelmedia: Making Television 'Clickable'

By: Sunil Gupta, Kavita Shukla and Zachary Scott Clayton

Backchannelmedia (BCM), a three-year-old start-up, intended to completely disrupt the world of advertising by transforming the way Americans watched television. BCM had developed a technology to make television "clickable," enabling viewers to interact with the content... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Investment; Disruptive Innovation; Technological Innovation; Marketing Strategy; Partners and Partnerships; Competition

March 2009 (Revised July 2010)
Case

IBM: The Corporate Service Corps

By: Christopher Marquis and Rosabeth M. Kanter

Describes the conception, development, and implementation of the Corporate Services Corps (CSC), an international community service assignment for high-potential IBM employees. The year 2008 was the pilot year of the CSC program, and 100 of IBM's best global employees... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Global Strategy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Structure; Partners and Partnerships; Non-Governmental Organizations

March 2009
Background Note

Evaluating M&A Deals: Floors, Caps, and Collars

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

As equity consideration has become more popular in acquisitions, so has the use of the "pricing-protection" mechanisms, such as floors, caps, and collars. These contractual devices provide insurance to the shareholders of the target and may protect the buyer as well.... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Equity; Price; Contracts; Business and Shareholder Relations

March 2009
Article

The Impact of Shareholder Activism on Financial Reporting and Compensation: The Case of Employee Stock Options Expensing

By: F. Ferri and Tatiana Sandino

We examine the economic consequences of more than 150 shareholder proposals to expense employee stock options (ESO) submitted during the proxy seasons of 2003 and 2004, the first case in which the SEC allowed a shareholder vote on an accounting matter. Our results... View Details

Keywords: Shareholder Activism; Shareholder Votes; Stock Option Expensing; Executive Compensation; Financial Reporting; Employee Stock Ownership Plan; Corporate Governance; Business and Shareholder Relations; Investment Activism