Publications

April 2017
Case

Planetary Resources Inc., Property Rights, and the Regulation of the Space Economy

By: Matthew Weinzierl and Angela Acocella

Planetary Resources, Inc. (PRI) had a bold, some said crazy, vision: to mine asteroids. One might have assumed that developing the right technology would be the greatest challenge facing PRI. But even if the fledgling company could develop and deploy the sophisticated... View Details

Keywords: Property; Rights; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Aerospace Industry; Mining Industry

16 Apr 2013
Working Paper Summaries

The Auditing Oligopoly and Lobbying on Accounting Standards

Keywords: by Abigail M. Allen, Karthik Ramanna & Sugata Roychowdhury; Accounting; Banking

Research Summary

Leadership and Leadership Development: An Ontological Approach

This summarizes my research program over the last twelve years (with my co-investigators Werner Erhard, Steve Zaffron, and more recently Kari Granger) in which the objective has been to rigorously distinguish leader and leadership and to create a technology for... View Details

2017
Working Paper

Cellophane, the New Visuality, and the Creation of Self-Service Food Retailing

By: Ai Hisano

This working paper examines how innovations in transparent packaging, specifically cellophane in the mid-twentieth century United States, helped retailers create full self-service merchandising systems, including selling perishable food. While self-service stores began... View Details

Keywords: Food; Product Marketing; Business History; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

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September 1989 (Revised June 1993)
Case

Depreciation at Delta and Pan Am

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

Depreciation policies of Delta Air Lines and Pan Am Corp. are compared and contrasted against a summary of operating data from each airline. Questions with the case require projection of future depreciation on a new aircraft using the policies of each company. View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Management Systems; Economic Growth; Policy; Cost; Financial Strategy; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Activity Based Costing and Management; Air Transportation Industry

26 Sep 2013
Research & Ideas

Behind India’s Economic and Political Woes

Institute at Harvard University and Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor at Harvard Business School, offers some insights into the causes and conditions at play. Zeenat Potia: Can you give some context around the... View Details

Keywords: by Zeenat Potia

February 2011 (Revised May 2011)
Case

Utilis: Designing, Producing, and Selling Rapid Deployment Shelters for a Troubled World

By: Herman B. Leonard, Daniela Beyersdorfer and Simon Harrow

How can a company that supplies disaster response and humanitarian agencies best handle the intrinsically unpredictable and highly volatile demand for its products? Utilis is a French supplier of rapid-deploy high-end tent solutions for civilian and military uses (such... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Demand and Consumers; Strategic Planning; Natural Disasters; Competitive Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Industrial Products Industry; France

12 Dec 2023
Book

HBS Faculty Books of 2023: Find Happiness, Fix Things, and Fail Well

mobilize organizational change quickly, untangle digital strategy, and reflect on socially responsible leadership. Take a look back at some of the books by Harvard Business School faculty members that hit the market this year: Economic... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

September 2024 (Revised December 2024)
Case

Sona Comstar and Blackstone: Unlocking Value Through Business Transformation

By: Ranjay Gulati and Kanika Jain

Private equity firm Blackstone’s majority investment in automotive systems manufacturer Sona Comstar had culminated in the largest IPO in the Indian auto components industry in 2021, with stellar returns for all involved. This EV supplier was the result of a 2019... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Decision Making; Engineering; Management; Risk and Uncertainty; Private Equity; Mergers and Acquisitions; Initial Public Offering; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Technology Industry; Asia; Southeast Asia

2010
Chapter

The Financing of R&D and Innovation

By: Bronwyn H. Hall and Josh Lerner

Evidence on the “funding gap” for investment innovation is surveyed. The focus is on financial market reasons for underinvestment that exist even when externality-induced underinvestment is absent. We conclude that while small and new innovative firms experience high... View Details

Keywords: Research and Development; Innovation and Invention; Venture Capital; Corporate Finance

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08 Sep 2015
Working Paper Summaries

Blinded by Experience: Prior Experience, Negative News and Belief Updating

Keywords: by Bradley R. Staats, KC Diwas & Francesca Gino

02 Oct 2017
What Do You Think?

Do Bitcoin and Digital Currency Have a Future?

case a financial services company, to bail us out. The experience could have soured me on the entire notion of hedge funds. But of course hedge funds later came into vogue, prompting the growth and View Details

Keywords: by James L. Heskett; Financial Services

March 2013
Article

Bridging the Gap? Government Subsidized Lending and Access to Capital

By: Josh Lerner and Kristle Romero-Cortes

The consequences of providing public funds to financial institutions remain controversial. We examine the Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Fund's impact on credit union activity, using hitherto little studied U.S. Treasury data. The CDFI Fund grants... View Details

Keywords: Financing and Loans; Credit; Government and Politics; Financial Institutions; United States

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15 Jun 2021
News

June 2021 Books and Podcasts

drives; and how to manage the disease and vaccinations in the villages of developing countries. The book also explores how governments across the world can work closely with... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley; Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

March 2008
Supplement

Patel Food and Chemicals Private Limited (B)

By: Felda Hardymon and Ann Leamon

Alok Patel, the founder and chairman of a Gujarat-based, privately held edible oils processor, has hired a CFO and the company is doing extremely well. He wants to add a new plant to process oilive oil, but estimates he will need $20 million. He must decide among... View Details

Keywords: Financial Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Financing and Loans; Investment; Financial Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Gujarat

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Article

Leadership in Routine Emergencies and Crises: The Deepwater Horizon Incident

By: Arnold M. Howitt, Dutch Leonard and David W. Giles

Leadership in emergencies is a crucial element of becoming a high-performing Coast Guard officer. In this article, we argue that emergency leadership is not a single skill or uniform set of organizational competences. Instead, we identify a spectrum of emergency... View Details

Keywords: Emergency Preparedness; Crisis Management; Leadership; Safety; Performance Effectiveness

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28 Apr 2020
News

Vaccine Push Has Bill Gates, Science and Economics Going for It

2019
Working Paper

Government Technology Policy, Social Value, and National Competitiveness

By: Frank Nagle

This study seeks to better understand the impact that government technology procurement regulations have on social value and national competitiveness. To do this, it examines the impact of a change in France’s technology procurement policy that required government... View Details

Keywords: Social Value; Competitiveness; Government Administration; Information Technology; Acquisition; Policy; Value