Publications

01 Jul 2008
First Look

First Look: July 1, 2008

alternative collaborative modes should be driven by a number of factors including characteristics of the technology, the capabilities of the firm, and the distribution of competences in the environment. We develop a set of guidelines for... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

01 Dec 2008
Lessons from the Classroom

How Many U.S. Jobs Are ‘Offshorable’?

determined that between 22 and 29 percent (25.2 to 31.8 million) of all U.S. jobs are potentially offshorable. Those cited included high-paying, high-skill jobs such as financial analyst and microbiologist. Rivkin and former research associate View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

February 1997 (Revised April 1997)
Case

Harrington Financial Group

By: Robert C. Merton and Alberto Moel

In early 1997, Harrington Bank, a small Indiana savings and loan (thrift) wondered what its next move should be. Harrington was acquired in 1988 by the principals of Smith Breeden Associates, a money-management and consulting firm specializing in the application of... View Details

Keywords: Banks and Banking; Mergers and Acquisitions; Price; Risk Management; Mortgages; Contracts; Asset Management; Investment; Financial Services Industry

03 Nov 2003
What Do You Think?

Can Investors Have Too Much Accounting Transparency?

it, "We cannot look at investor losses as the only benchmark to evaluate the costs of Sarbanes-Oxley. One must also consider the cost of capital if confidence in the markets does not return…Unfortunately, you cannot legislate morality..." This theme was... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

10 Mar 2011
What Do You Think?

To What Degree Does the Job Make the Person?

new job. In other words, is there a self-selection bias in studies of the effects of job on a person's chemical makeup? As Stephanie Smith put it, "Perhaps it's a case of either the hormones and natural adaptability of the person... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

17 Aug 2011
Research & Ideas

Protecting against the Pirates of Bollywood

middle class, and the fact that India's film industry sold 3.2 billion tickets in 2009. “Movie piracy in India is rampant—you can get one online the day after a release” Harvard Business School Associate Professor Lakshmi Iyer, a native of New Delhi, was intrigued... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard; Motion Pictures & Video

June 2003 (Revised June 2003)
Background Note

M & A Legal Context: Basic Framework for Corporate Governance

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin, Constance E. Bagley and James Quinn

Students are introduced to the basic framework for corporate governance. Begins by describing the complex role of the modern corporation, then proceeds by discussing the fiduciary duties to which a board of trustees is bound (duty of care, duty of loyalty, etc.), and... View Details

Keywords: Framework; Corporate Governance

06 May 2002
Research & Ideas

Profits for Nonprofits: Earning Your Own Way

session was devoted to the topic "Profits for Nonprofits: Challenges of Earning Your Own Way." (Starbuck's CEO Orin Smith addressed a related theme—can for-profit companies integrate non-profit values—in his keynote speech... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

11 Oct 2022
Research & Ideas

Shrinking the Racial Wealth Gap, One Mortgage at a Time

and approved, but when minority loan officers shepherd those applications, approval rates increase significantly, says Adi Sunderam, the Willard Prescott Smith Professor of Corporate Finance at Harvard Business School, in the working... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Financial Services

14 Apr 2014
Research & Ideas

Difficulties for Women Bridging Racial, Generational, and Global Divides

to the participants: What gets in the way of women supporting women? How am I part of the problem? How can I be part of the solution? What perspective am I missing? Raced And Gendered The symposium's keynote speaker was Paula Giddings, E. A. Woodson 1922 Professor of... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

July 2020
Case

King's College Hospital in Crisis

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

On December 11, 2017, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (King’s), one of London’s leading teaching hospital groups, was put into “special measures” by NHS Improvement (NHSI), the financial regulator of England’s National Health Service (NHS). The future of... View Details

Keywords: Hospitals; Financing; Health Care and Treatment; Financial Condition; Crisis Management; Organizational Structure; Transformation; Strategic Planning; United Kingdom

31 May 2017
What Do You Think?

Can Amazon Do What Walmart Couldn’t, Stop the 'Wheel of Retailing'?

In 1997, a young entrepreneur visited a class at Harvard Business School taught by my colleague, Len Schlesinger. The class discussed a case based on the visitor’s fledgling online retailing company that had rapidly expanded sales to $100... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Retail

15 Sep 2003
Lessons from the Classroom

HBS Cases: Developing the Courage to Act

catalog that professors would employ "an analogous method [to the 'case method' used at the Law School], emphasizing classroom discussion, supplemented by lectures and frequent reports, which may be called the problem method."... View Details

Keywords: by David A. Garvin

25 Mar 2001
Research & Ideas

Who Wants to Be an Entrepreneur? [Part II]

relying on $500,000 in financing provided by family members, friends, and "angel" investors, recurred in accounts of what she was trying to accomplish. "This is by far the most challenging... View Details

Keywords: by John S. Rosenberg

27 Feb 2006
Research & Ideas

Take Responsibility for Rising Stars

bench strength. At Starbucks, for example, the board oversees a formalized succession-planning process for 2,500 positions. Its goal is to make sure the company always has the right people with the right values in the right places at the right times. As Orin View Details

Keywords: by Jeffrey M. Cohn, Rakesh Khurana & Laura Reeves

May 2017 (Revised November 2017)
Case

Cotopaxi: Managing Growth for Good

By: Andy Wu and Laura Huang

Cotopaxi, an innovative outdoor gear business targeting millennials, focuses on profit and social impact. This registered benefit corporation was formed by Davis Smith who coalesced his experiences as a Wharton MBA student along with professional knowledge from an... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Social Venture; Benefit Corporation; B-Corp; Retail; Consumer Products; Apparel; Social Impact; Social Entrepreneurship; Business Model; Product Positioning; Social Enterprise; Mission and Purpose; Consumer Products Industry; Retail Industry

December 2002 (Revised June 2003)
Case

Vignette: The Rebar Dilemma

By: G. Felda Hardymon, Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon

Martin Smith, a new associate at an LBO firm, must respond to a problem posed by his boss, based on an historical deal that suddenly came undone. After months of negotiation, his firm's plan to buy a bankrupt competitor of one of its portfolio companies and close it... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Competition; Growth and Development Strategy; Business or Company Management