Publications

01 Sep 2008
News

Negative Ad Power

Political candidates are often said to be marketed just like consumer products. But there’s a big difference. Consumer marketers such as Coke and Pepsi or Toyota and Ford focus on building up their brand, not on tearing down their opponent. Negative advertising and... View Details

Keywords: John A. Quelch;Katherine E. Jocz; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

01 Feb 2016
News

Building a Better Boston

Video Embed Watch alumni discuss innovation inside City Hall View Details

01 Sep 2009
News

Once a Fulbright…

Ruth Owades (MBA ’75), founder and former CEO of Calyx & Corolla, the pathbreaking online flower company, was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Medal from the Fulbright Association in May. Her Fulbright year in France, where she studied with the late playwright Eugène... View Details

Keywords: awards; Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations; Personal Services

December 2004 (Revised October 2005)
Case

Innovation Corrupted: The Rise and Fall of Enron (B)

By: Malcolm S. Salter

Presents a brief historical overview of Enron's rise, its strategic successes and failures, the evolution of its business model, and the organizational processes relied upon by Enron's management to drive and monitor the business. A rewritten version of an earlier... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Risk Management; Management Practices and Processes; Success; Business Model; Strategy; Business History; Governance Controls; Innovation and Management; Failure; Business Processes; Energy Industry; United States

01 Sep 2013
News

Noted & Quoted

“I showed it to [Putin], and he put it on and he goes, 'I can kill someone with this ring.' He put it in his pocket, and three KGB guys got around him and walked out.” —New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft (MBA 1965), on the 2005 disappearance of his $25,000 Super... View Details

Keywords: Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Arts, Entertainment

2017
Working Paper

The Benefits of Selective Disclosure: Evidence from Private Firms

By: Joan Farre-Mensa

Private firms’ ability to communicate confidentially with selected investors implies that valuation disagreements between firms and investors are larger at public firms than at private ones. Consistent with the notion that misvaluation concerns lead public firms to... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Equity; Private Companies; Corporate Cash; Precautionary Motives; Share Issuance; IPOs; Selective Disclosure; Private Ownership; Cash; Market Timing; Corporate Finance; Public Ownership; Corporate Disclosure; United States

SSRN

September 2008 (Revised October 2008)
Case

Shareholder Activists at Friendly Ice Cream (A1)

By: Fabrizio Ferri, V.G. Narayanan and James Weber

Two activist investors, one a founder and one a hedge fund manager, seek to improve board oversight at a chain restaurant company. Prestley Blake founded Friendly Ice Cream in 1935 with his brother, and the two created a chain of full-service restaurants. In 1979, they... View Details

Keywords: Investment Activism; Governing and Advisory Boards; Lawsuits and Litigation; Business or Company Management; Business and Shareholder Relations; Conflict of Interests; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

April 2008 (Revised September 2008)
Case

Shareholder Activists at Friendly Ice Cream (A)

By: Fabrizio Ferri, V.G. Narayanan and James Weber

Two activist investors, one a founder and one a hedge-fund manager, seek to improve board oversight at a chain restaurant company. Prestley Blake founded Friendly Ice Cream in 1935 with his brother, and the two created a chain of full-service restaurants. In 1979 they... View Details

Keywords: Investment Activism; Governing and Advisory Boards; Lawsuits and Litigation; Business or Company Management; Business and Shareholder Relations; Conflict of Interests; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

02 Jun 2011
News

Serious Fun

moderate-income consumers, D2D develops and supports innovative new products and policies that make it easier for people to save. Among its many initiatives, D2D offers individuals and organizations (private employers, the military, community colleges, nonprofits,... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Arts, Entertainment; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

01 Feb 2013
News

Growth Strategy Has Double Bottom Line

philanthropy or government funding," Hourdequin explains. "What the public is getting back is the assurance that the property won't be converted to some other use, the assurance that the forest will be managed sustainably in perpetuity,... View Details

Keywords: Louisa Rigali; Forestry and Logging; Agriculture; Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles; Finance

17 Jul 2012
First Look

First Look: July 17

institutional theory, managers, and policymakers. What Good Are Shareholders? Authors:Justin Fox and Jay W. Lorsch Publication:Harvard Business Review 90, nos. 7-8 (July-August 2012) Abstract The article looks at the role outside shareholders play in corporate View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

December 2004 (Revised August 2006)
Case

Brcko and the Arizona Market

By: Bruce R. Scott and Edward Murphy

Explores the role of the U.S. military in facilitating the establishment of a spectacularly successful free trade area in one of the most devastated areas of Bosnia. NATO's imposition of law and order, plus protection from local political protection rackets, led to... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Trade; Economic Growth; Industry Growth; Government Legislation; Emerging Markets; Bosnia and Hercegovina; United States

21 May 2019
Blog Post

Asian Pacific American Heritage Month at HBS

narrowly. My childhood was full of stories about my mom’s perilous refugee journey from Vietnam to the United States and navigating the welfare and public education systems as a recent immigrant. I took countless trips to Malaysia to... View Details

December 2009 (Revised March 2013)
Case

Woolf Farming and Processing

By: David E. Bell, Laura Winig and Mary Louise Shelman

Woolf Farming Company, a privately owned family farming business in California's Central Valley, found its business threatened by a lack of water, brought on by a combination of drought, poor quality well water and unavailability of surface water due to federally... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Resource Allocation; Quality; Business and Government Relations; Decision Choices and Conditions; Infrastructure; Investment; Growth and Development Strategy; Climate Change; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; California