Publications

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March 1988 (Revised September 1993)
Case

United Services Automobile Association (USAA)

Under the leadership of Robert F. McDermott, USAA has been transformed from a property and casualty insurance company with $200 million in assets in the late 1960s to a $11 billion financial services empire in 1988. The case illustrates the value of having a CEO drive... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Leadership; Information Technology; Financial Services Industry; Insurance Industry; United States

March 2007 (Revised March 2010)
Case

Rovna Dan: The Flat Tax in Slovakia

By: Laura Alfaro, Rafael M. Di Tella, Ane Damgaard Jensen and Vincent Marie Dessain

Explores the tax policy choices made by Slovakia and the impact of reforms. Set in 2006, looks at the decision facing new Prime Minister Robert Fico as he faces the public's "reform fatigue." Traces the development of tax and fiscal policies since Slovakia's... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Taxation; Labor; Welfare; Slovakia

12 May 2003
Research & Ideas

How Hot is the “Hot Spot” Business?

Internet pioneers looked at everything from Wi-Fi "hot spots" to the future of broadband at a recent telecommunications conference at Harvard Business School. The issues were debated at the Bandwidth Explosion colloquium held April 23-25. Professors View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne & Martha Lagace; Technology; Communications; Telecommunications

Summer 2013
Article

Nuclear Negotiations With Iran

By: Paul R. Pillar, Robert Reardon, James K. Sebenius and Michael K. Singh

Paul Pillar and Robert Reardon challenge the analysis and substantive policy inputs that Sebenius and Singh developed for their article "Is a Nuclear Deal with Iran Possible? An Analytic Framework for the Iran Nuclear Negotiations" (International Security 37, no. 3... View Details

Keywords: Nuclear Proliferation; Zone Of Possible Agreement; ZOPA; International Relations; Negotiation; Iran; United States

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Article

MIT Roundtable on Corporate Risk Management

By: Robert C. Merton

Against the backdrop of financial crisis, a distinguished group of academics and practitioners discusses the contribution of financial management and innovation to corporate growth and value, along with the pitfalls and unintended consequences of such innovation.... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Market Participation; Finance; Innovation and Invention; Growth and Development Strategy; Value; Distribution; Capital Structure; Risk Management; Business Ventures; Business Model; Strategy

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October 2003 (Revised November 2003)
Case

Foremostco, Inc. (A)

Describes the rocky transition from an outdated, nonintegrated information system to a new customized system built by programmers in a small, IT-dependent foliage company that distributes plant material. The old system has increasingly become a "burning platform," but... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Information Technology; Crisis Management; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

06 Nov 2000
Research & Ideas

The Determinants of Corporate Venture Capital Success

them—potentially, at least—a strategic edge that private funds lack. These differences—good and bad—are illustrated by the case of Xerox Technology Ventures (XTV). The case, write Gompers and Lerner, "highlights the fact... View Details

Keywords: by Paul Gompers & Josh Lerner

17 Jan 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: January 17

in goods, services, investments, and ideas led by multinational firms. Extensive research has sought to understand the geographic patterns of foreign direct investment (FDI). This chapter reviews existing theories and evidence... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 2011 (Revised January 2012)
Supplement

OPOWER: Increasing Energy Efficiency through Normative Influence (B)

By: Maarten W. Bos, Amy J.C. Cuddy and Kyle Todd Doherty

The case profiles OPOWER, an energy efficiency software company that applies Cialdini's principles of social influence to successfully encourage consumers to reduce their energy usage. OPOWER was co-founded in 2008 by two young Harvard graduates, Dan Yates and Alex... View Details

Keywords: Energy Conservation

24 Jan 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: January 24, 2017

January 2017 Review of Financial Studies Being Surprised by the Unsurprising: Earnings Seasonality and Stock Returns By: Chang, Tom Y., Samuel M. Hartzmark, David H. Solomon, and Eugene F. Soltes Abstract—We present evidence consistent... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

12 Mar 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, March 12, 2019

emergent machine of the sovereign state. Yet such strategic interaction rarely yielded a decisive victory for either the secular state or for religion. By tracing how state-builders engaged religious institutions, elites, and attachments,... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

November 1994 (Revised May 2002)
Case

K-III: A Leveraged Build-Up

By: George P. Baker III, Nicola Bamford and Nicolas Greenspan

Explores the strategy, financing, and governance of a new type of organizational form, dubbed the Leveraged Build-Up by its inventor, Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co. The company makes leveraged acquisitions of small publishing companies, managing them in a very... View Details

Keywords: Debt Securities; Financial Management; Leveraged Buyouts; Cash Flow; Organizational Structure; Mergers and Acquisitions; Corporate Governance; Financial Strategy; Corporate Finance; Publishing Industry