Publications

15 Nov 2011
First Look

First Look: November 15

billion additional urban dwellers. Second, shared resources like clean water, clean air, energy, and places to put solid waste are already scarce and constrained. Urbanization will only exacerbate these pressures. Third, almost no local... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

April 2012
Article

Share Issuance and Factor Timing

By: Robin Greenwood and Samuel G. Hanson

We show that characteristics of stock issuers can be used to forecast important common factors in stocks' returns such as those associated with book-to-market, size, and industry. Specifically, we use differences between the attributes of stock issuers and repurchasers... View Details

Keywords: Investment Portfolio; Stock Shares; Forecasting and Prediction; Investment Return; Policy; Profit

Read Now

25 Jul 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas: July 25, 2017

all) available seats. Boston’s school choice system, for example, reserved half of each school’s seats for local neighborhood applicants while leaving the other half for open competition. This paper shows that in the presence of reserves,... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

September 2010
Teaching Note

China Mobile's Rural Communications Strategy (TN)

By: William C. Kirby and F. Warren McFarlan

Teaching Note for 309034. View Details

Keywords: Rural Scope; Investment; Communication Strategy; Information Management; Government and Politics; Governance Controls; China

28 Jan 2015
Research & Ideas

Ground Game, Air Wars, and Other Marketing Lessons From Presidential Elections

have not only advertised more on TV and in other media, but also upped the ante on personal selling efforts with an increased number of local field operation offices as a way to reach out to voters. But which strategy was more effective... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

Web

IFC: Japan; Exploring Japan's Innovation Ecosystem - Course Catalog

environment by talking to customers, suppliers, government officials, and related organizations, as needed. Project teams will develop a set of recommendations before the last day of the immersion. Deliverables: Student teams will present... View Details

November 2019 (Revised April 2021)
Case

United Technologies: Are the Parts Worth More Than the Whole?

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher

After spending more than 50 years creating a diversified industrial conglomerate that Fortune magazine described as “arguably the most profitable conglomerate in America” in 2014, UTC’s CEO Greg Hayes was under pressure from activist investors (Dan Loeb and Bill... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Business Conglomerates; Financial Management; Corporate Governance; Organizational Structure; Investment Funds; Value Creation; Aerospace Industry; Electronics Industry; Industrial Products Industry; United States

Article

Do We Spend Too Much on Health Care?

By: Katherine Baicker and Amitabh Chandra

Health system reforms—such as changes in insurance design, patient cost sharing, payment reform, or price regulation—should be judged by whether they move us toward higher-value use of resources, rather than by whether they reduce spending. View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Cost; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Value Creation

Register to Read

Web

How One Coffee Shop Is Brewing Change for Business and Society | Working Knowledge

Professor of Corporate Finance, Emeritus, developed the case with Robin Greenwood, the George Gund Professor of Finance and Banking, as well as HBS executive fellow Joe Higgins, HBS multimedia producer Matt Preble, and HBS creative... View Details

31 Mar 2009
First Look

First Look: March 31, 2009

and local governments should invest in it. But the idea of investing in ECD for economic development was new and had never been tested on a large scale, particularly in the way that Rolnick and Grunewald... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

December 2014
Article

Market Competition, Earnings Management, and Persistence in Accounting Profitability Around the World

By: Paul M. Healy, George Serafeim, Suraj Srinivasan and Gwen Yu

We examine how cross-country differences in product, capital, and labor market competition, and earnings management affect mean reversion in accounting return on assets. Using a sample of 48,465 unique firms from 49 countries, we find that accounting returns mean... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Performance; Valuation; Equity Valuation; Persistence; Competitive Advantage; Institutions; Earnings Management; Labor Market; Capital Markets; Competition; Profit; Performance; Supply and Industry; Financial Statements; Government and Politics; Globalized Markets and Industries

SSRN

2009
Comment

Testimony on 'The World Bank's Disclosure Policy Review, and the Role of Democratic Participatory Processes in Achieving Successful Development Outcomes'

By: Alnoor Ebrahim

Keywords: Banks and Banking; Policy; Success; Growth and Development; Outcome or Result

Read Now

June 2007 (Revised November 2007)
Case

Italy: If not now, when?

By: Richard H.K. Vietor and Julia Galef

Describes Italy's main macroeconomic problems: low productivity growth, stagnant GDP growth, and high public debt. As of early 2007, the country's global competitiveness has plummeted and its debt remains well above the level allowed by the EU's Maastricht treaty.... View Details

Keywords: Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Macroeconomics; Borrowing and Debt; International Relations; Competition; Italy

June 2024 (Revised December 2024)
Case

Lana Ghanem: Pushing the Boundaries of Health Care through Venture Capital

By: Joshua D. Margolis and Ahmed Dahawy

Lana Ghanem, managing director of Hikma Ventures, the corporate venture arm of larger pharmaceutical group Hikma, is considering how to grow the venture arm as well as progress her own career. Over the past few years Hikma's executive team had been pressuring the... View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Investment; Corporate Governance; Health Care and Treatment; Leadership Development; Business or Company Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; Venture Capital; Personal Development and Career; Health Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Jordan

30 Nov 2020
Working Paper Summaries

Short-Termism, Shareholder Payouts, and Investment in the EU

Keywords: by Jesse M. Fried and Charles C.Y. Wang

January 2009 (Revised February 2010)
Case

Necessity and Invention: Monetary Policy Innovation and the Subprime Crisis

By: Aldo Musacchio and Dante Roscini

This case describes the efforts of Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, to improve liquidity in money markets during the subprime crisis. The case explains the four main new tools for monetary policy (or quantitative easing) the Federal Reserve has used... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Money; Financial Liquidity; Central Banking; Policy; Business and Government Relations