Publications

October 2002 (Revised May 2004)
Case

Starbucks and Conservation International

By: James E. Austin and Cate Reavis

Starbucks, the world's leading specialty coffee company, developed a strategic alliance with Conservation International, a major international environmental nonprofit organization. The purpose of the alliance was to promote coffee-growing practices of small farms that... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Growth and Development Strategy; Markets; Demand and Consumers; Production; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Cooperative Ownership; Performance Efficiency; Alliances; Nonprofit Organizations; Food and Beverage Industry; Mexico

18 Apr 2022
HBS Case

Dick’s Sporting Goods Followed Its Conscience on Guns—and It Paid Off

societal issues, according to two new Harvard Business School case studies. “Increasingly, business leaders are expected to take stands on societal issues—to do societal good. It’s gone beyond ‘do no harm,’” says George A. Riedel, the... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

2013
Case

The COFCO Group

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Zheng Xiaoming and Ziqian Zhao

COFCO was China's sole legitimate window for agricultural foreign trade before 1987. The reform of China's foreign trade system beginning in 1987 cost COFCO its monopoly position. Subsequently, the SOE giant capitalized on its foreign trade expertise to strategically... View Details

Keywords: China; Food; China

06 Aug 2020
News

Interview with Professor Regina Herzlinger on Balancing Entrepreneurship and Corporate Governance with a Prominent Academic Career

January 2022
Supplement

Kornit Digital: The Amazon Warrants (C)

By: Benjamin C. Esty, E. Scott Mayfield and Daniel Fisher

As of 12/31/21, Amazon held $22 billion of equity and warrants in related companies. In fact, it often requests a free grant of warrants when it enters into a new commercial agreement with a supplier. Over the past 20 years, Amazon has gotten warrants almost 20... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Value Creation; Consumer Behavior; Negotiation; Distribution; Ownership; Partners and Partnerships; Business Strategy; Equity; Distribution Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

28 Aug 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Channels of Influence

Keywords: by Lauren Cohen, Umit G. Gurun & Christopher J. Malloy

26 Jun 2012
First Look

First Look: June 26

facilitating social comparison among agents. Overall, the findings demonstrate the power of non-financial rewards to motivate agents in settings where there are limits to the use of financial incentives. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/12-008.pdf... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2013
Teaching Note

The COFCO Group (TN)

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Zheng Xiaoming and Ziqian Zhao

COFCO was China's sole legitimate window for agricultural foreign trade before 1987. The reform of China's foreign trade system beginning in 1987 cost COFCO its monopoly position. Subsequently, the SOE giant capitalized on its foreign trade expertise to strategically... View Details

Keywords: China; Food; China

TeachingInterests

Behavioral Finance (Econ 970, Spring 2015)

Second-year undergraduate course covering recent advances in the field of behavioral finance. The course begins by examining some of the most canonical pricing anomalies, such as claims to identical cashflows trading at different prices in different markets, and... View Details

12 Feb 2015
News

Asking Advice Makes a Good Impression

October 2007
Background Note

Price Formation

By: Joshua D. Coval and Erik Stafford

Investigates how prices are formed in competitive capital markets. Focuses on a single security called AOE. Students compete with computer traders and each other for market making and informed trading profits. Participants receive a variety of public news in the form... View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Price; Profit; Corporate Disclosure; Newsletters; Industry Structures; Business Processes; Competitive Strategy

19 May 2014
Research & Ideas

Why Companies Should Compete for Your Privacy

improve their automated product recommendations. These recommendations are often presented as ''inspired by your browsing history'' or ''recommended for you,'' and help consumers discover new products or holiday packages that match their... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Consumer Products

September 2019 (Revised December 2023)
Case

Accounting Fraud at Tesco Stores (A)

By: Jonas Heese, Suraj Srinivasan and Julia Kelley

This case describes the accounting fraud at Tesco Stores Limited (TSL), which was discovered by a senior accountant in TSL’s finance department. The accountant was concerned about TSL’s handling of commercial income, which, according to the accountant, overstated... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Crime and Corruption; Organizational Culture; Corporate Accountability

June 2006 (Revised September 2006)
Case

Euronext.liffe and the Over-the-Counter Derivatives Market (A)

Euronext.liffe, a derivatives trading exchange, had just finished rolling out three new services targeted at the over-the-counter (OTC) market in 2004. The services offered automated confirmation and clearing for OTC equity derivatives. Yet, developments in the... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Product Positioning; Competition; Financial Markets; Network Effects; Cooperation

07 Oct 2014
News

Asking Advice Makes a Good Impression

March 2021 (Revised August 2024)
Case

Hotwire.com: Navigating Through Turbulence

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Manny de Zarraga and Eric Levine

On September 10, 2001, after speaking at an industry conference at New York’s World Trade Center, Hotwire co-founder Spencer Rascoff boarded a flight from Newark to San Francisco. After returning home, Rascoff awoke the next morning to a phone call informing him that... View Details

Keywords: September 11; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business Growth and Maturation; Disruption; Decisions; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Growth Management; Digital Platforms; Problems and Challenges; Risk and Uncertainty; Expansion; Internet and the Web; Leading Change; Leadership Style; Air Transportation Industry; Tourism Industry; San Francisco

Dante Roscini holds the Professor of Management Practice Chair endowed by the MBA Class of 1952 at Harvard Business School. He joined the faculty in 2008 after a two-decades-long career in finance. He currently teaches the course Business, Government, and the... View Details

February 2024 (Revised May 2024)
Case

Lina Khan at the FTC: Redefining Antitrust in the Age of Big Tech

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr. and Susan Pinckney

In 2023 and 2024, the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice sued Google, Amazon, and Apple claiming antitrust violations. These lawsuits marked a shift in U.S. antitrust enforcement away from the Chicago School and towards the New Brandeis school of... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Government Administration; Lawsuits and Litigation; Monopoly; Technology Industry; United States; European Union; China; India

October 2001 (Revised March 2008)
Case

Anagene, Inc.

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Christina L. Darwall

An entrepreneurial, publicly traded biotech company has begun production and sales of its core product--cartridges that permit DNA samples to be analyzed on a microchip. In the early quarters, sales are difficult to forecast and the company has experienced fluctuating... View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Financial Reporting; Production; Performance Capacity; Risk and Uncertainty; Genetics; Governing and Advisory Boards; Biotechnology Industry; California