Publications

2014
Working Paper

Modularity and Intellectual Property Protection

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin and Joachim Henkel

Modularity is a means of partitioning technical knowledge about a product or process. When state-sanctioned intellectual property (IP) rights are ineffective or costly to enforce, modularity can be used to hide information and thus protect IP. We investigate the impact... View Details

Keywords: Modularity; Value Appropriation; Relational Contracts; Clans; Rights; Complexity; Intellectual Property

SSRN

Read Now

29 Mar 2016
First Look

March 29, 2016

base helps attract merchants, the platform’s bargaining power may motivate some merchants to work with its smaller competitors, over which they have more influence on price setting. Our counterfactual... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

21 Jul 2023
Blog Post

Malcolm McClain (MBA/MPP 2023) Named First RISE Career Fellow

Malcolm McClain (MBA/MPP 2023) has been named the first recipient of the Harvard Business School (HBS) RISE (Recognizing Individuals Seeking Equity) Career Fellow, with his income supplemented for one year... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit / Government

June 2022
Teaching Plan

Pacesetters

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Mel Martin

Teaching Plan for HBS Case No. 322-019. City Sealcoating CEO Keith Chaney had just publicly called out the Boston Chamber of Commerce for their slow progress on their supplier diversity program, Pacesetters. Established in 2018 by regional business leaders,... View Details

Keywords: Minority-owned Businesses; Procurement; Racial Wealth Gap; Diversity; Small Business; Restructuring; Contracts; Goals and Objectives; Performance Improvement; Performance Evaluation; United States; Massachusetts

September 1992 (Revised August 2004)
Supplement

Martin Marietta: Managing Corporate Ethics (B)

By: Lynn S. Paine

The president of one of Martin Marietta's four main operating companies has learned of procurement irregularities in the company he manages. The problems involve U.S. government contracts the company is working on. After getting legal advice from the company's general... View Details

Keywords: Fluctuation; Crime and Corruption; Ethics; Governing and Advisory Boards; Policy; Contracts; Leadership; United States

06 Dec 2017
What Do You Think?

Is It Time To Break Up Amazon, Apple, Facebook, or Google?

Can a Platform-Based Tech Giant Be Broken Up? The answer to this month’s question of whether platform-based tech giants Amazon, Apple, Facebook, or Google should be broken up was a resounding “no.” “TD in FL” put it succinctly with View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Technology; Web Services

16 Jun 2009
First Look

First Look: June 16

a valuation objective, are critical features of an economic GAAP. We recognize the advantage of using fair values in circumstances where these are based on observable View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

March 2010 (Revised December 2010)
Case

The Market for Prisoners: Business, Crime and Punishment in the "American Dream"

By: Rafael M. Di Tella and Laura Winig

In 2010, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the largest private prison operator in the U.S., was considering expansion options. The company's largest customers, federal and state governments, were under economic pressure to reduce the incarceration rate and... View Details

Keywords: For-Profit Firms; Crime and Corruption; Profit; Law Enforcement; Growth and Development Strategy; Demand and Consumers; Business and Government Relations; Competitive Strategy; Expansion; United States

10 Nov 2009
First Look

First Look: Nov. 10

http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/07-104.pdf Stretching the Inelastic Rubber: Taxation, Welfare and Lobbies in Amazonia, 1870-1910 Author:Felipe Tâmega Fernandes Abstract This paper examines the effect of government intervention via... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

2018
Working Paper

It is Easy to be Brave From a Safe Distance: Proximity to the SEC and Insider Trading

By: Trung Nguyen and Quoc H. Nguyen

We use hand-collected data from SEC’s litigation releases for insider trading violations to examine the effect of geographic distance on its enforcement activities and insider trading activities. First, we find that the SEC is more likely to investigate companies that... View Details

Keywords: SEC; Enforcement; Financial Misconduct; Insider Trading; Geographic Proximity; Governance Compliance; Law Enforcement; Geographic Location; Finance; Crime and Corruption

SSRN

01 Mar 2016
First Look

March 1, 2016

their demand for a risky asset by weighing two signals: an average of the asset’s past price changes and the asset’s degree of overvaluation. The two signals are in conflict,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

13 Jul 2010
First Look

First Look: July 13

is the impact of foreign bank entry on the pricing and availability of credit in developing economies? The Mexican banking system provides a... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

19 Mar 2013
First Look

First Look: March 19

depending on the characteristics of the applications market. Second, giving open access to one side in a proprietary platform may lead to fewer users and developers and to... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2025 (Revised April 2025)
Case

WallStreetBets: Democratizing Retail Investing

By: Joseph Pacelli and Alexis Lefort

In summer 2024, Jaime Rogozinski anticipated the launch of a day-trading eSports event, a vision he had nurtured for years. Rogozinski, the founder of the influential subreddit WallStreetBets (WSB), created the forum in 2012 as a space for retail traders to explore... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Emerging Markets; Market Participation; Financial Strategy; Lawsuits and Litigation; Social and Collaborative Networks; Financial Markets; Financial Services Industry; United States

10 Oct 2005
Research & Ideas

Corporate Responsibility and the Environment: What is the Right Thing To Do?

suggesting, or even trying to prove, that business voluntarism (Corporate Social Responsibility)—spending money on the environment—adds to profitability IN MOST CASES! We decided to look at the literature of... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls

June 2024
Case

Aidoc: Building a Hospital-Centric AI Platform

By: Ariel D. Stern and Susan Pinckney

In 2023, Israel-based AI health care company Aidoc evaluated its future. The company, founded in 2016, had grown from commercializing a single AI product for radiologists to a software platform that could detect 20 conditions and immediately notify care teams of... View Details