Publications

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June 2021 (Revised November 2024)
Case

MicroStrategy: Accounting for Cryptocurrency

By: Jonas Heese and Annelena Lobb

On February 15, 2021, Alina Moss, an analyst who covered the technology company MicroStrategy, pondered a rise in MicroStrategy’s share price. Moss had dialed into the company earnings call. When it ended, Moss had more questions than answers. MicroStrategy had... View Details

Keywords: Cryptocurrency; Share Price; Electronic Commerce; Intangible Assets; Assets; Accounting; Financial Statements; Financial Management; Financial Reporting; Analytics and Data Science; E-commerce

2024
Working Paper

The Retail Habitat

By: Toomas Laarits and Marco Sammon

Retail investors trade hard-to-value stocks. Controlling for size, stocks with a high share of retail-initiated trades are composed of more intangible capital, have longer duration cash-flows and a higher likelihood of being mispriced. Consistent with retail-heavy... View Details

Keywords: Retail; Retail Trade; Intangible Capital; Mispricing; Investment; Valuation; Business Earnings

SSRN

2022
Working Paper

The Stock Market Value of Human Capital Creation

By: Matthias Regier and Ethan Rouen

We develop a measure of firm-year-specific human capital investment from publicly disclosed personnel expenses (PE) and examine the stock market valuation of this investment. Measuring the future value of PE (PEFV) based on the relation between lagged... View Details

Keywords: Intangibles; Market Valuation; Human Capital; Stocks; Financial Markets; Valuation

SSRN

October 2008
Teaching Note

The Talbots, Inc., and Subsidiaries: Accounting for Goodwill (Brief Case)

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

Teaching Note for [3254] View Details

Keywords: FASB; Intangible Assets; Goodwill Accounting

Research Summary

Overview

The research activity of Stefano Denicolai regards the management of innovation and technology. His recent works investigate if and how the investment in intangible assets (IA) - especially knowledge assets, such as patents or copyright - impacts on the firm... View Details

November 2017
Article

Overcoming Institutional Voids: A Reputation-Based View of Long Run Survival

By: Cheng Gao, Tiona Zuzul, Geoffrey Jones and Tarun Khanna

Emerging markets are characterized by underdeveloped institutions and frequent environmental shifts. Yet they also contain many firms that have survived over generations. How are firms in weak institutional environments able to persist over time? Motivated by 69... View Details

Keywords: Institutional Voids; Intangible Resources; Emerging Markets; Reputation; Business History

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2016
Working Paper

Overcoming Institutional Voids: A Reputation-Based View of Long Run Survival

By: Cheng Gao, Tiona Zuzul, Geoffrey Jones and Tarun Khanna

Emerging markets are characterized by underdeveloped institutions and frequent environmental shifts. Yet they also contain many firms that have survived over generations. How are firms in weak institutional environments able to persist over time? Motivated by 69... View Details

Keywords: Institutional Voids; Intangible Resources; Business Ventures; Business or Company Management; Business History; Reputation; Emerging Markets

SSRN

April 2019 (Revised October 2020)
Case

Kraft Heinz: The $8 Billion Brand Write-Down

By: Jill Avery

On Friday, February 22, 2019, following an unexpected and disappointing earnings report, The Kraft Heinz Company’s stock price fell 27%, wiping out $16 billion in market value. CEO Bernardo Hees had announced that the company had taken a $15.4 billion asset write-down,... View Details

2010
Working Paper

Conceptual Foundations of the Balanced Scorecard

By: Robert S. Kaplan

David Norton and I introduced the Balanced Scorecard in a 1992 Harvard Business Review article (Kaplan & Norton, 1992). The article was based on a multi-company research project to study performance measurement in companies whose intangible assets played a central role... View Details

Keywords: Asset Management; Balanced Scorecard; Management Systems; Performance Improvement; Strategy

November 2009
Case

Cisco Acquires Linksys

By: David F. Hawkins

Students must suggest ways to value intangible assets, including trademarks, acquired by Cisco in the Linksys acquisition. View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Mergers and Acquisitions; Trademarks; Brands and Branding; Information Technology; Valuation; Telecommunications Industry

03 Nov 2020
Working Paper Summaries

The Stock Market Value of Human Capital Creation

Keywords: by Matthias Regier and Ethan Rouen

Research Summary

New Venture Growth

Young and no Money? Never Mind: Strategies for New Venture Growth. Being revised (R&R) for Organization Science.

Mukti's dissertation, "Great Oaks from Little Acorns Grow: Strategies for New Venture Growth," explored how intangible resources such... View Details

December 2007 (Revised July 2008)
Supplement

MINI USA: Finding a New Advertising Agency (B)

Selling an intangible like advertising services is a difficult task. The first step is to understand how brands buy these services. What are they looking for? What do they need to learn? How do they go about assessing things like creativity, trust, and loyalty? This... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Acquisition; Service Operations; Sales; Strategy; Advertising Industry

14 Nov 2005
Research & Ideas

How Can Start Ups Grow?

those one-out-of-ten firms grow into successful, sustained enterprises? Assistant professor Mukti Khaire believes that small companies can grow by developing intangible social resources such as legitimacy, status, and reputation. In an... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Advertising

News

How Sports Impacts The Lives Of Girls And Women Long After Their Playing Days Are Done

May 2021
Article

Private and Social Returns to R&D: Drug Development and Demographics

By: Efraim Benmelech, Janice Eberly, Dimitris Papanikolaou and Joshua Krieger

Investment in intangible capital such as R&D has increased dramatically since the 1990s. However, productivity growth remains sluggish in recent years. One potential reason is that a significant share of the increase in intangible investment is geared toward consumer... View Details

Keywords: Drug Development; Research and Development; Investment Return; Demographics; Pharmaceutical Industry

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May 2007
Case

Westin Hotels and Resorts: Operations of a Lifestyle Experience

By: Frances X. Frei, Chekitan S. Dev and Laure Mougeot Stroock

Westin Hotels and Resorts adopted a new "lifestyle" brand strategy which provided guests with a new service experience. The dilemma Westin faced was how to operationally build a brand that delivered consistent service on intangible values. View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Decision Choices and Conditions; Growth Management; Brands and Branding; Service Operations; Value Creation; Tourism Industry

November 2002 (Revised March 2007)
Case

Keane's Acquisition of Metro Information Services (A)

By: Francisco de Asis Martinez-Jerez

On August 21, 2001, Keane, Inc. announced the acquisition of Metro Information Services, Inc. This case analyzes the challenges facing firms and examines transactions whose major source of value creation hinges on intangible assets (e.g., people or knowledge). View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Value Creation; Goodwill Accounting; Problems and Challenges; Information Technology Industry; Consulting Industry

December 2007 (Revised July 2008)
Case

MINI USA: Finding a New Advertising Agency (A)

Selling an intangible like advertising services is a difficult task. The first step is to understand how brands buy these services. What are they looking for? What do they need to learn? How do they go about assessing things like creativity, trust, and loyalty? This... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Advertising; Sales; Advertising Industry