Publications

Article

Policy Implications of Weak Patent Rights

By: James J. Anton, Hillary Greene and Dennis Yao

Patents vary substantially in the degree of protection provided against unauthorized imitation. In this chapter we explore a range of work addressing the economic and policy implications of "weak" patents—patents that have a significant probability of being overturned... View Details

Keywords: Patents; Motivation and Incentives; Entrepreneurship; Competition; Policy; Innovation and Invention; Rights; Monopoly; Business Startups

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24 May 2021
Op-Ed

Can Fabric Waste Become Fashion’s Resource?

COVID-19 has broken fashion’s supply chain. As a result, an already wasteful industry has become more wasteful. Even before the pandemic, the global apparel industry was producing about 92 million tons of textile waste a year. That’s about one garbage truck’s worth of... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones and Shelly Xu; Fashion

June 2013 (Revised June 2014)
Case

Valero Energy Corporation and Tight Oil

By: Richard H.K. Vietor, Eric Adamson, Aaron Byrd, Ned Chiverton, Mariko Meier and Rob Rain

Valero Energy, an incredibly successful US refiner, needs to make some decisions about tight oil. As production of light tight oil increases—from Eagle Ford, Bakken and elsewhere—Valero considers whether to add topping capacity to handle it, on top of its recent... View Details

Keywords: Petroleum; Oil ＆ Gas; Energy; Environment; Refining; Globalization; Tight Oil; Strategy; Natural Environment; Demand and Consumers; Supply and Industry; Policy; Energy Sources; Energy Industry; United States

2023
Working Paper

Estimating Productivity in the Presence of Spillovers: Firm-Level Evidence from the U.S. Production Network

By: Ebehi Iyoha

This paper examines the extent to which productivity gains are transmitted across U.S. firms through buyer-supplier relationships. Many empirical studies measure firm-to-firm spillovers using firm-level productivity estimates derived from control function approaches.... View Details

Keywords: Supply and Industry; Partners and Partnerships; Production

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November 2002 (Revised March 2003)
Case

Water Policy Priorities Along the U.S.-Mexico Border

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Jose M. M. Porraz

The United States and Mexico face the challenges of managing shared water resources. The supply is limited and demand is growing on both sides of the border as a result of increased irrigated acreage and population growth. View Details

Keywords: Policy; Environmental Sustainability; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Negotiation; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; United States; Mexico

15 May 2007
Working Paper Summaries

I’ll Have the Ice Cream Soon and the Vegetables Later: Decreasing Impatience over Time in Online Grocery Orders

Keywords: by Todd Rogers, Katherine L. Milkman & Max H. Bazerman; Food & Beverage

06 Feb 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas: February 6, 2018

older age. The design of purchased products varies strongly with household characteristics, suggesting the importance of heterogeneity in preferences and financial... View Details

14 Jun 2010
Research & Ideas

The Hard Work of Measuring Social Impact

to accountability demands from a variety of constituents. (These papers are: "The Many Faces of Nonprofit Accountability" [PDF] and "The Limits... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

14 Mar 2019
News

The Merchant of Osaka

overcrowded with flu sufferers and cancer patients alike. Doctors feel the pinch of wave after wave of government-imposed budget constraints, such as the decision to freeze the... View Details

Keywords: Health, Social Assistance

02 Jun 2020
Research & Ideas

Coronavirus Careers: Cloud Kitchens Are Now Serving

started out supplying a service to restaurants; now cloud kitchens are supplying a service to delivery firms. The appearance of cloud kitchens as suppliers for these delivery... View Details

Keywords: by Lena Ye and Geoffrey Jones; Food & Beverage

10 Oct 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, October 10, 2017

Between Economic Planning and Market Competition: U.S. Law and Economics in the 1920s By: Phillips Sawyer, Laura Abstract—The impact of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Jun 2011
News

What’s after Fannie and Freddie?

to what will replace Fannie and Freddie. The administration has outlined three options designed to frame the congressional debate expected to unfold over the months ahead: (1)privatization of the mortgage... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; Credit Intermediation and Related Activities; Credit Intermediation and Related Activities

16 Apr 2012
Research & Ideas

The Inner Workings of Corporate Headquarters

Physicists tell us entropy is the natural state of the world, and that law seems especially true in today's multidivisional company. "When you create organizational... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

January 8, 2010
Other Article

Multinational Firms, Agglomeration, and Global Networks

By: Laura Alfaro and Maggie Chen

Agglomeration effects are important but difficult to measure. This column uses a new database with precise geographical information to investigate the locational interdependence of multinational firms. Knowledge spillovers and capital- and labour-market externalities... View Details

Keywords: Geographic Location; Business Subsidiaries; Industry Clusters; Multinational Firms and Management; Network Effects

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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

March 2019 (Revised June 2019)
Case

Global Sourcing at Nike

By: Nien-hê Hsieh, Michael W. Toffel and Olivia Hull

This case explores the evolution of Nike’s global product sourcing strategy, in particular ongoing efforts to improve working conditions at its suppliers’ factories. When the case opens in July 2018, Vice President of Sourcing Amanda Tucker and her colleagues in Nike’s... View Details

01 Dec 2016
News

Alumni Books of 2016

of realistic, technology-agnostic best practices for supporting hypergrowth in nearly any environment. In this new edition, they add many new examples, plus case studies from many exceptionally demanding... View Details

14 Jan 2019
Op-Ed

These 4 CEOs Created a New Standard of Leadership

leadership roles at Procter & Gamble and Nestlé before becoming CEO of Unilever in 2009. Observing the dangers of global warming, Polman focused on sustainability,... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George; Health; Banking; Food & Beverage; Consumer Products

February 18, 2022
Article

Transparency as a Solution for COVID-19 Related Hospital Capacity Issues

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Richard Boxer

In the initial phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, many U.S. hospitals could not provide an adequate supply of beds to meet demand. Solving the problem of hospital bed capacity is of great importance in the “new normal,” which requires recognizing that SARS-CoV-2 is but... View Details

Keywords: COVID; COVID-19 Pandemic; Health Care; Health Care Demand; Health Care Delivery; Health Care Industry; Health Care Operations; Health Care Policy; Transparency; Hospital; Hospital Management; Hospitals; Health Pandemics; Health Care and Treatment; Service Delivery; Operations; Performance Capacity; Policy; Health Industry