Publications

08 Jan 2008
First Look

First Look: January 8, 2008

Financing Constraints, and Entrepreneurship Authors:William R. Kerr and Ramana Nanda Abstract We study how US branch-banking deregulations affected the entry and exit of firms in the non-financial sector using establishment-level data... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

30 May 2018
Research & Ideas

Should Retailers Match Their Own Prices Online and in Stores?

brick-and-mortars, including Best Buy, Target, Staples, and Sears, will gladly match their online prices in-store if a customer asks for them. However, others, like Home Depot, Bloomingdale’s, and Macy’s, are usually quite firm about... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Retail

October 2014
Article

Putting Sales at the Center of Strategy

By: Frank Cespedes

Research indicates that relatively few firms execute their strategies effectively, and, on average, companies deliver just 50% to 60% of the financial performance that their strategies promise. One reason is a disconnect between strategic goals and field implementation... View Details

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2010
Simulation

Change Management Simulation: Power and Influence

By: Linda A. Hill and William Q. Judge

In this single-player simulation, students play one of two roles at a sunglass manufacturing firm and face the challenges associated with implementing an organization-wide environmental sustainability initiative. The initiative seeks to change raw material inputs in... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Power and Influence; Problems and Challenges; Environmental Sustainability; Production; Wastes and Waste Processing; Adoption

01 Jan 2005
News

08 Jan 2008
News

Why so many companies fail at succession

Research Summary

Market Triads: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis of Market Intermediation (Journal for the Theory of Social Behavior, June 2002)

By: Rakesh Khurana

This paper examines the role of executive search firms in CEO search. The paper argues that the numerical shift from two party market transactions (e.g. buyers and sellers) to three party transactions (e.g. buyers, sellers, and third party) transforms market exchanges... View Details

20 Dec 2017
Lessons from the Classroom

How to Design a Better Customer Experience

(The accompanying teaching note is available to instructors to help them run the exercise.) Thomke, who has worked with global firms on upping their customer experience game, has taught the class in the HBS View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Health; Entertainment & Recreation

January 2006
Article

Are Perks Purely Managerial Excess?

By: Raghuram G. Rajan and Julie Wulf

A widespread view is that executive perks exemplify agency problems--they are a route through which managers misappropriate a firm's surplus. Accordingly, firms with high free cash flow, operating in industries with limited investment prospects, should offer more... View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Cash Flow; Business or Company Management; Situation or Environment; Performance Productivity; Investment; Executive Compensation

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Read Now

Ryan W. Buell is a Professor of Business Administration in the Technology and Operations Management Unit at Harvard Business School. He teaches View Details

Keywords: banking; e-commerce industry; fast food; financial services; high technology; hotels ＆ motels; insurance industry; restaurant; retailing; service industry; transportation

Felix Oberholzer-Gee

Felix Oberholzer-Gee is the Andreas Andresen Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. An award-winning instructor, his academic work and consulting are focused on competitive strategy and the effects of digital technology on corporate... View Details

Keywords: media; professional services; manufacturing; advertising

Sunil Gupta

Co-Chair, Driving Digital Strategy

Sunil Gupta is the Edward W. Carter Professor of Business Administration and co-chair of the executive program on Driving... View Details

Keywords: advertising; communications; consumer products; credit card; education industry; financial services; high technology; marketing industry; telecommunications

August 2006 (Revised May 2016)
Case

Cluster Mobilization in Mitteldeutschland

By: Jeffrey Fear, Christian H.M. Ketels and Claudia Linsenmeier

As part of the privatization in Eastern Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Dow Chemical made a major investment in the Halle-Leipzig region, one of the largest chemical industry sites in Europe. The executive in charge of Dow's operations in the region, Bart... View Details

Keywords: Industry Clusters; Development Economics; Privatization; Chemicals; Foreign Direct Investment; Management Teams; Private Sector; Competitive Strategy; Brands and Branding; Market Participation; Chemical Industry; Germany

December 2014 (Revised June 2016)
Case

Cameron Trebbi at Taylor Lowell, LLP

By: Karthik Ramanna

Cameron Trebbi is a senior executive overseeing accounting policy at a large global auditing firm. His role is to lobby the firm's position with various accounting rule-making bodies worldwide. The firm is close to acquiring as new audit clients a consortium of Chinese... View Details

Keywords: Lobbying; Thin Political Markets; Accounting; Business and Government Relations; Accounting Industry; China; United States

November 2012 (Revised March 2013)
Case

Talking Strategy at Greighton Partners

By: Boris Groysberg and Kerry Herman

Since its inception, London-based private equity firm Greighton Partners had managed over $15 billion in investor capital. The firm employed about 150 professionals around the globe and had completed over 175 company acquisitions since its founding. Started with a... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Business Growth and Maturation; Growth and Development Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Asia; Europe

January 2024
Article

Investing with the Government: A Field Experiment in China

By: Emanuele Colonnelli, Bo Li and Ernest Liu

We study the demand for government participation in China’s venture capital and private equity market. We conduct a large-scale, non-deceptive field experiment in collaboration with the leading industry service provider, through which we survey both capital investors... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Private Equity; Business and Government Relations; Entrepreneurship; China

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August 2021 (Revised April 2022)
Case

KKR

By: Jo Tango and Alys Ferragamo

In June of 2021, KKR’s executive team convened to prepare for an upcoming board meeting. From a small, three-person partnership that started in 1976 and invested only in U.S. LBOs, the firm 45 years later was a public company that employed over 1,600 people and managed... View Details

Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Public Equity; Globalized Markets and Industries; Growth and Development Strategy; Profit; Strategy; Finance; Private Equity; United States

June 18, 2019
Article

Research: Investors Reward Companies That Talk Up Their Digital Initiatives

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Wilbur Chen

A study of how companies disclose their digital initiatives on earnings calls and written communications finds that more firms are using these technologies, that financial markets reward companies that disclose such initiatives, but that financial performance... View Details

Keywords: Digital Technologies; Disclosure; Investment; Performance Improvement