Publications

October 2001 (Revised November 2001)
Case

Provident Life and Accident Insurance: The Acquisition of Paul Revere

By: Mihir A. Desai, Frank Williamson, Mark Veblen and Yuming Zou

Provident Life & Accident Insurance Co. has made an initial bid to acquire a primary competitor, Paul Revere, from conglomerate, Textron. The due diligence process uncovers a significant block of problematic disability insurance policies. Provident is forced to assess... View Details

Keywords: Insurance; Financial Management; Mergers and Acquisitions; Policy; Investment; Business Strategy; Cash Flow; Price; Bids and Bidding; Financial Reporting; Business Conglomerates; Insurance Industry; Service Industry

John Macomber is a Senior Lecturer in the Finance unit at Harvard Business School. His professional background includes leadership of real estate, construction, and information technology businesses. At HBS, Mr. Macomber's work focuses on climate adaptation and the... View Details

Keywords: building materials; construction; energy; green technology; infrastructure industry; real estate; transportation; utilities; waste management; insurance industry

February 2022 (Revised September 2022)
Case

Lilium: Preparing for Takeoff

By: Navid Mojir, Vincent Dessain, Mette Fuglsang Hjortshoej and Emer Moloney

Lilium is a German company focused on developing electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles (eVTOLs) that can be used to offer air taxi services. The company went public in September 2021 through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) deal, raising more than... View Details

October 1995 (Revised July 1996)
Case

Aspen Technology, Inc.: Currency Hedging Review

By: Peter Tufano

The chief financial officer of a rapidly growing U.S.-based software firm that sells its process-control software to industrial users around the globe must review the goals, strategies, and policies of the firm's currency hedging program. This review is prompted by... View Details

Keywords: Currency Exchange Rate; Applications and Software; Investment; Business Startups; Business Strategy; Information Technology Industry; United Kingdom; United States

04 Nov 2013
News

Surprise raises are more effective than higher salaries from the start, study finds

15 Mar 2024
HBS Case

Let's Talk: Why It's Time to Stop Avoiding Taboo Topics at Work

time in the workplace and can be addressed wisely—or poorly—says Harvard Business School Senior Lecturer Christina Wing, whose forthcoming book Unspeakable offers advice for managing weighty interactions. She has also created a... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

January 2001
Case

Accrue Software, Inc.

In 2000, Accrue is one of three survivors of the initial consolidation of the Web traffic analysis software industry. However, entry from CRM software providers and consultants, as well as ASPs offering Web analysis services, has introduced new threats to Accrue. Newly... View Details

Keywords: Customer Value and Value Chain; Competitive Advantage; Software; Web Services Industry

Climate change. Income inequality. Institutional collapse. Sustainable Business Strategy is a flexible, 3 week, highly-interactive online course designed to provide participants with the tools they need to build thriving businesses while... View Details

2017
Working Paper

Firm Selection and Corporate Cash Holdings

By: Juliane Begenau and Berardino Palazzo

Among stock market entrants, more firms over time are R&D intensive with initially lower profitability but higher growth potential. This sample-selection effect determines the secular trend in U.S. public firms’ cash holdings. A stylized firm industry model allows us... View Details

Keywords: Initial Public Offering; Market Entry and Exit; Supply and Industry; Research and Development

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10 Jan 2018
News

Publicly engaged PhDs shift the notion of the ivory tower

Article

Coming to America: IPOs from Emerging Market Issuers

By: Robert Bruner, Susan Chaplinsky and Latha Ramchand

We compare the issue costs of 299 companies from emerging and developed market countries making initial public offerings (IPOs) in the United States between 1991 and 2001. Our results indicate that IPOs from emerging markets experience the same costs on average as IPOs... View Details

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January 2002
Article

Organizational Endowments and the Performance of University Start-ups

By: Scott Shane and Toby E. Stuart

The question of how initial resource endowments—the stocks of resources that entrepreneurs contribute to their new ventures at the time of founding—affect organizational life chances is one of significant interest in organizational ecology, evolutionary... View Details

Keywords: Resource Allocation; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Research; Company History; Initial Public Offering; Venture Capital; Financing and Loans

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June 2014
Case

Starbucks Coffee Company: Transformation and Renewal

By: Nancy F. Koehn, Kelly McNamara, Nora N. Khan and Elizabeth Legris

Starbucks Coffee Company: Transformation and Renewal analyzes the turnaround and reconstruction of Starbucks Coffee Company from 2008 to 2014 as led by CEO and co-founder Howard Schultz. The case offers executives and students an opportunity to examine in depth how... View Details

Mihir A. Desai is the Mizuho Financial Group Professor of Finance at Harvard Business School and a Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. He received his Ph.D. in political economy from Harvard... View Details

10 Jan 2011
News

Is Groupon Good for Retailers?

July 2011
Case

Teach Plus: Mobilizing a New Generation of Teacher Leaders

By: David A. Thomas and Stephanie J. Creary

This case profiles the evolution of Teach Plus, a non-profit organization founded on the premise that in order for public schools to continuously improve urban student achievement, teaching must become a career that motivates and retains effective early career... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Decision Making; Strategy; Nonprofit Organizations; Social Entrepreneurship; Teaching; Cambridge; Boston

October 2010 (Revised January 2011)
Case

Toyota Recalls (A): Hitting the Skids

By: John A. Quelch, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Ryan Johnson

In the fall of 2009, Toyota Motor Corporation, once revered for its commitment to quality and reliability, faced a highly publicized series of recalls in the United States representing approximately a year's worth of sales in one of its most important markets. While... View Details

Keywords: Communication Strategy; Crisis Management; Brands and Branding; Quality; Public Opinion; Auto Industry; Japan; United States

Article

On Her Own Account: How Strengthening Women's Financial Control Impacts Labor Supply and Gender Norms

By: Natalia Rigol, Simone Schaner, Rohini Pande, Erica Field and Charity Troyer Moore

Can increasing control over earnings incentivize a woman to work, and thereby influence norms around gender roles? We randomly varied whether rural Indian women received bank accounts, training in account use, and direct deposit of public sector wages into their own... View Details

Keywords: Social Norms; Employment; Wages; Gender; Banks and Banking; Perception