Publications
Publications
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(2,068)
- Faculty Publications (396)
- January 2024
- Teaching Note
Frank Cornelissen: The Great Sulfite Debate (A) & (B)
By: Tiona Zuzul
Teaching Note for HBS Case Nos. 724-391 and 724-398. In 2018, artisanal Italian vineyard Frank Cornelissen was one of the world’s leading natural wine vineyards. Its founder, Frank Cornelissen, faced weather related conditions that forced him to have to decide between... View Details
Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Business Earnings; Agribusiness; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Family Business; For-Profit Firms; Small Business; Change Management; Transition; Communication Strategy; Decision Making; Cost vs Benefits; Financial Management; Financial Strategy; Profit; Revenue; Spending; Globalization; Global Strategy; Goods and Commodities; Innovation Strategy; Crisis Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth Management; Success; Strategic Planning; Problems and Challenges; Risk and Uncertainty; Cognition and Thinking; Reputation; Strategy; Adaptation; Expansion; Mission and Purpose; Values and Beliefs; Food and Beverage Industry; Europe; Italy
- January 2024
- Supplement
Frank Cornelissen: The Great Sulfite Debate (B)
By: Tiona Zuzul and Susan Pinckney
In 2018, artisanal Italian vineyard Frank Cornelissen was one of the world’s leading natural wine vineyards. Its founder, Frank Cornelissen, faced weather related conditions that forced him to have to decide between staying true to the tenets of the natural wine... View Details
Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Business Earnings; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Business Startups; Family Business; For-Profit Firms; Small Business; Change Management; Transition; Communication; Cost vs Benefits; Decisions; Entrepreneurship; Environmental Sustainability; Values and Beliefs; Financial Management; Financial Strategy; Profit; Revenue; Spending; Global Strategy; Goods and Commodities; Innovation Strategy; Crisis Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth Management; Success; Strategic Planning; Problems and Challenges; Risk and Uncertainty; Cognition and Thinking; Reputation; Adoption; Expansion; Weather; Mission and Purpose; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Europe; Italy
- January 2024
- Case
Post-Wirecard: BaFin under Mark Branson
By: Jonas Heese, Carlota Moniz and Daniela Beyersdorfer
In November 2023, Mark Branson, the head of Germany's Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), reflected on the efficacy of the reforms initiated since the Wirecard scandal. BaFin had been discredited after Wirecard’s downfall in 2020. The press had derided it... View Details
- January 2024 (Revised May 2024)
- Case
Generation Investment Management: Sustainable Investing in a Warming World
By: Vikram S. Gandhi, Michael Norris and David Allen
In September 2021, the sustainable investment firm Generation Investment Management (Generation) considered whether to add Schneider Electric to the focus list of companies in which it was prepared to invest. Dedicated to promoting a sustainable world through its... View Details
Keywords: Sustainable Investing; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Governance; Private Equity; Public Equity; Financial Markets; Investment Return; Investment Activism; Investment Funds; Investment Portfolio; Institutional Investing; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Financial Services Industry; United Kingdom; England; London
- January 2024 (Revised August 2024)
- Case
Silicon Valley Bank: Gone in 36 Hours
This case examines factors contributing to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) in March 2023, an event as unpredicted as it was quick. SVB funded nearly half of all U.S. venture-backed startups and at the end of 2022 held $173 billion in deposits, largely... View Details
Keywords: Accounting Standards; Bank Runs; Financial Accounting; Financial Reporting; Social Media; Banks and Banking; Financing and Loans; Investment Portfolio; Interest Rates; Debt Securities; Risk and Uncertainty; Financial Statements; Risk Management; Failure; Fair Value Accounting; Credit; Corporate Governance; Financial Services Industry; Banking Industry; United States
- January 2024
- Supplement
Accounting Red Flags or Red Herrings at Catalent? (B)
By: Joseph Pacelli, ZeSean Ali and Tom Quinn
GlassHouse Research identified accounting red flags at Catalent. Fiat Lux Partners countered most of GlassHouse’s claims. Who was right? This update explores the aftermath of the short seller duel. View Details
Keywords: Accounting Audits; Acquisition; Budgets and Budgeting; Business Earnings; Earnings Management; Cost Accounting; Fair Value Accounting; Financial Reporting; Revenue Recognition; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Fairness; Moral Sensibility; Values and Beliefs; Government Legislation; Conflict of Interests; Announcements; Blogs; Debates; Lawsuits and Litigation; Stocks; Performance Productivity; Accounting Industry; Accounting Industry; United States
- 2024
- Working Paper
Employer-Based Short-Term Savings Accounts
By: Sarah Holmes Berk, John Beshears, Jay Garg, James J. Choi and David Laibson
We study the introduction of a choice architecture design intended to increase short-term savings among employees at five U.K. firms. Employees were offered the opportunity to opt into a payroll deduction program that auto-deposits funds from each paycheck into a... View Details
- 2023
- Working Paper
Accountability of Corporate Emissions Reduction Targets
By: Xiaoyan Jiang, Shawn Kim and Shirley Lu
Firms are increasingly announcing targets to reduce their carbon emissions, but it is unclear whether firms are held accountable for these targets. In this paper, we examine emissions targets that ended in 2020 to investigate the prevalence of missed targets, how firms... View Details
- November 2023 (Revised October 2024)
- Supplement
Accounting Outages at Plug Power? (C)
By: Jonas Heese, Joseph Pacelli and James Barnett
Set in June 2023, the C case explores Plug Power’s recovery from its financial restatements, how it benefited from government subsidies, and new strategic alliances. View Details
- November 2023 (Revised July 2024)
- Background Note
Corporate Climate Targets
By: Willy C. Shih, Michael W. Toffel and Kelsey Carter
Companies that are addressing climate change by mitigating their greenhouse gas emissions often set reduction targets. This note describes several types of widely used carbon reduction targets, including carbon neutral, science based, net zero, real zero, and carbon... View Details
- November 2023 (Revised May 2024)
- Case
Kickstarter: Crowdfunding for the Arts
By: Rohit Deshpandé and Alexis Lefort
Kickstarter was a virtual crowdfunding platform and community that allowed creators of all kinds to raise funding for creative projects. The executive team was wrestling with a tension in its business model: the organization earned the majority of its revenue from... View Details
- October 2023
- Case
Prime Coalition: Estimating Climate Impact
A case on CRANE, a tool to help investors and green technology companies estimate the future climate impact of new technologies and products, called emissions reduction potential (ERP). The case includes material on CRANE’s methodology for estimating future carbon... View Details
- October 2023
- Teaching Note
Timnit Gebru: 'SILENCED No More' on AI Bias and The Harms of Large Language Models
By: Tsedal Neeley and Tim Englehart
Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 422-085. Dr. Timnit Gebru—a leading artificial intelligence (AI) computer scientist and co-lead of Google’s Ethical AI team—was messaging with one of her colleagues when she saw the words: “Did you resign?? Megan sent an email saying that... View Details
- October 2023
- Case
Social Finance: Driving Accountability
By: Robin Greenwood, Richard S. Ruback and Robert Ialenti
Social Finance is a Boston-based nonprofit that works at the intersection of finance and policy. It raises, allocates, and manages capital to fund projects in the areas of education, early childhood development, criminal justice, and health. The case explores how... View Details
- October 2023 (Revised April 2024)
- Case
Accounting Red Flags or Red Herrings at Catalent? (A)
By: Joseph Pacelli, ZeSean Ali and Tom Quinn
Fund manager Janet Curie asked for a recommendation about the pharmaceutical company Catalent. The company seemed like a solid investment. However, a pair of research reports issued over the previous two months complicated this narrative. GlassHouse Research, a short... View Details
Keywords: Accounting Audits; Budgets and Budgeting; Earnings Management; Cost Accounting; Fair Value Accounting; Revenue Recognition; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Fairness; Moral Sensibility; Values and Beliefs; Government Legislation; Conflict of Interests; Announcements; Blogs; Debates; Investment; Trust; Business and Shareholder Relations; Accounting Industry; Accounting Industry; United States
- August 2023 (Revised October 2024)
- Case
Accounting Outages at Plug Power? (A)
By: Jonas Heese, Joseph Pacelli and James Barnett
Set immediately after a December 2019 short-seller attack, the case explores Plug Power’s long challenging history. It then focuses on two key issues raised in the short-seller report related to lease accounting and stock warrants that Plug purportedly used to boost... View Details
- August 2023 (Revised October 2024)
- Supplement
Accounting Outages at Plug Power? (B)
By: Jonas Heese, Joseph Pacelli and James Barnett
The case is set in spring 2021, immediately after Plug Power made financial restatements dating back to 2018. The case describes the restatements, which revealed that Plug was reclassifying expense items to boost gross profits. View Details
- August 2023 (Revised January 2024)
- Supplement
Arla Foods: Data-Driven Decarbonization (B)
By: Michael Parzen, Michael W. Toffel, Susan Pinckney and Amram Migdal
The case describes Arla’s history, in particular its climate change mitigation efforts, and how it implemented a price incentive system to motivate individual farms to implement scope 1 greenhouse gas emissions mitigation measures and receive a higher milk price. The... View Details
Keywords: Dairy Industry; Earnings Management; Environmental Accounting; Animal-Based Agribusiness; Mergers and Acquisitions; Decisions; Voting; Climate Change; Environmental Regulation; Environmental Sustainability; Green Technology; Pollution; Moral Sensibility; Values and Beliefs; Financial Strategy; Price; Profit; Revenue; Food; Geopolitical Units; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Global Strategy; Cooperative Ownership; Performance Efficiency; Performance Evaluation; Problems and Challenges; Natural Environment; Science-Based Business; Business Strategy; Commercial Banking; Cooperation; Corporate Strategy; Motivation and Incentives; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Europe; United Kingdom; European Union; Denmark; Sweden; Luxembourg; Belgium
- 2024
- Working Paper
Second- versus Third-party Audit Quality: Evidence from Global Supply Chain Monitoring
By: Maria R. Ibanez, Ashley Palmarozzo, Jodi L. Short and Michael W. Toffel
Capitalizing on the superior credibility and flexibility and potential lower cost of external assessments, many global buyers are relying less on their own employee (“second-party”) auditors and more on third-party auditors to monitor and prevent environmental and... View Details
- June 2023
- Supplement
Clash of Two Giants Simulation Exercise
By: Feng Zhu and Marco Iansiti
Many markets are organized around platforms that connect consumers with complementary applications and services. These platforms are two-sided because both sides - consumers and those providing applications or services - need access to the same platform to interact. A... View Details