Publications

October 2021
Case

Financial Reporting at Mattel

By: Aiyesha Dey, Trung Nguyen, Marshal Herrmann and Julia Kelley

In September 2020, Diana Ferguson was nearing her first Audit Committee meeting as the newly appointed Audit Committee chair of Mattel, Inc. Mattel was just recovering from an accounting scandal which had revealed the company’s poor internal controls and weak board... View Details

18 Jan 2022
Research & Ideas

How Eliminating Non-Competes Could Reshape Tech

non-compete agreements affect employers and professionals in technology? Andy Wu: A ban on non-compete agreements would be great for professionals in the technology industry, ranging from software developers to account managers.... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Technology

Brian K. Baik

Brian Baik is an assistant professor in the Accounting and Management Unit at Harvard Business School. He teaches the Financial Reporting and Control course in the MBA required curriculum.

Professor Baik studies how information, financial reporting, and... View Details

Keywords: venture capital industry; venture capital industry

January 2000
Supplement

Basic Statistics from the World Bank's World Development Report 1998/1999

By: Julio J. Rotemberg

Supplements National Income Accounting and The Origins of National Income Accounting. View Details

Keywords: Business Organization; History; Earnings Management; Financial Institutions; International Finance; International Accounting; Business Earnings; Mathematical Methods; Reports; Economic Growth; Commercial Banking; Financial Services Industry

December 2018 (Revised May 2021)
Background Note

Making UK Energy Smarter

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

This case describes the history of the United Kingdom's domestic energy industry and the country's efforts to create a more competitive, greener, and distributed power sector. On July 24, 2017, the United Kingdom government and the industry regulator, the Office of Gas... View Details

Forthcoming
Article

From Bupkis to Sechel in Health Care

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Richard Boxer

Fifty years ago, famed economist Milton Friedman declared that “The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits.” This free market manifesto was adopted by the healthcare industry as well. But transactional has evolved into transformational with the... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Accountability; Customer Focus and Relationships; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Health Industry

2012
Book

Producing Prosperity: Why America Needs a Manufacturing Renaissance

By: Gary P. Pisano and Willy Shih

For years—even decades—in response to intensifying global competition, American companies decided to outsource their manufacturing operations in order to reduce costs. But we are now seeing the alarming long-term effect of those choices: in many cases, once... View Details

Keywords: Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Production; Competitive Advantage; Transformation; Innovation and Invention; Manufacturing Industry; United States

March 2022 (Revised March 2024)
Case

Hometown Foods: Changing Price amid Inflation

By: Julian De Freitas, Jeremy Yang and Das Narayandas

During the early part of the 2021 Covid-19 pandemic, Hometown Foods, a large seller of flour-based products, thrived as consumers hoarded baked goods and took up baking to pass the time and find comfort. Then, amid growing shortages in commodities, a vaccine arrived,... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Consumer Behavior; Supply Chain; Inflation and Deflation; Spending; Price Bubble; Price; Volatility; Food and Beverage Industry

2007
Book

When Professionals Have to Lead: A New Model for High Performance

By: Thomas J. DeLong, John J. Gabarro and Robert Lees

For too long, professional services firms (PSFs) have relied on the "producer-manager" model, which works well in uncomplicated business environments. However, today's managing directors must balance conflicting roles, more demanding clients, tougher competitors, and... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Management Practices and Processes; Service Operations; Performance Effectiveness; Strategy

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08 May 2019
HBS Seminar

Mara Lederman, University of Toronto, Rotman School of Management

January 2011 (Revised July 2011)
Case

Elizabeth Jacobs: Price-Earnings Ratios and Employee Stock Option Grants

By: David F. Hawkins

Analyst questions the value of accounting measurement of earnings per share and stock option costs for equity valuation purposes. View Details

Keywords: Earnings Management; Business Earnings; Employee Stock Ownership Plan; Stock Shares; Employee Ownership; Stock Options; Equity; Accounting Audits; Valuation; Profit Sharing; Accounting Industry

07 Jul 2016
Blog Post

Can You Learn Finance through the Case Method?

Greetings from HBS! My name is Siri and I am a second-year student and a candidate for the joint MBA/MPP program between HBS and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Before graduate school, I worked for three years as a management consultant specializing in the... View Details

2013
Book

Wall Street Research: Past, Present, and Future

By: Boris Groysberg and Paul M. Healy

Wall Street equity analysts provide research products and services on publicly-traded companies to institutional and retail investors to help them make more profitable investment decisions. During the last ten years Wall Street research has been battered by a series of... View Details

Keywords: Financial Analysts; Investment Banks; Conflicts Of Interest; Accounting; Financial Institutions; Financial Services Industry; United States

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Research Summary

Dynamic Demand Estimation in Platform and Two-Sided Markets

This paper develops techniques to structurally estimate consumer demand in general platform-intermediated and two-sided markets. By estimating both sides of the market simultaneously, the methodology presented here is able to (1) endogenize the utility of a platform as... View Details

February 2011 (Revised July 2011)
Supplement

Caterpillar, Inc. (C)

By: David F. Hawkins

IASB proposes new defined benefit plan accounting standard. View Details

Keywords: International Accounting; Governance; Compensation and Benefits; Standards; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry

June 2003 (Revised October 2003)
Case

An Ancient Fable

By: Ashish Nanda

This case presents a thinly disguised account of Andersen's collapse, followed by a tightening of the oversight of audit firms. It raises questions on who lost and who gained, as well as the long-term implications of the changes for the accounting profession and... View Details

Keywords: Accounting Audits; Consulting Industry

13 Mar 2023
Research & Ideas

The Power of Personal Connections: How Shared Experiences Boost Performance

performance builds off that solid foundation.” Look at wider team-building Managers may want to build on the main finding: going through rigorous training together forms bonds that benefit the patient—or the customer—by fostering mutual View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Health

Paul M. Healy

Paul Healy is the James R. Williston Professor at the Harvard Business School. His research covers a broad range of topics, including white collar crime, governance, business ethics, financial analysis, and Wall Street research. He joined the HBS faculty in 1998,... View Details

Keywords: accounting industry; accounting industry; accounting industry

December 1999 (Revised January 2003)
Case

Standard International Inc. (A)

By: David F. Hawkins

The company top management must make a series of accounting decisions that will determine the company's quarterly income. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Financial Statements; Inflation and Deflation; International Finance; Research and Development; Accounting Industry