Publications

SSRN

Teaching Interest

Finance Reporting and Control

Financial Reporting and Control (FRC) is a course about how leaders can design and use performance measurement systems to build more effective organizations. Throughout their careers, business leaders are required to... View Details

Research Summary

Corporate Control and Valuation

By: Richard S. Ruback

Richard S. Ruback's research and course development focus on applied corporate finance-in particular, corporate control transactions and valuation. His research on corporate control has yielded case studies on major transactions, such as the View Details

June 1994 (Revised December 1997)
Case

Safeway, Inc.'s Leveraged Buyout (A)

After years of deteriorating financial performance and eroding market position, Safeway, Inc., the largest public grocery store chain in the United States, found itself the target of a hostile takeover offer. Management decided to take the company private in a $4.3... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Restructuring; Retail Industry; United States

March 2023
Article

Authentic First Impressions Relate to Interpersonal, Social, and Entrepreneurial Success

By: David M. Markowitz, Maryam Kouchaki, Francesca Gino, Jeffrey T. Hancock and Ryan L. Boyd

This paper examines how verbal authenticity influences person perception. Our work combines human judgments and natural language processing to suggest verbal authenticity is a positive predictor of interpersonal interest (Study 1: 294 dyadic conversations), engagement... View Details

Keywords: Authenticity; Impression Formation; Natural Language Processing; First Impressions; Communication; Perception; Success

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2014
Case

Changhong: Journey to Shared Services

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Haiyan Zhang and Guo Jia

Founded in 1958 and headquartered in Mianyang - an emerging inland science and technology city in Sichuan Province, Changhong Electric Co., Ltd., started from the military industry. It then entered the color TV industry and subsequently expanded to a wide range of... View Details

Keywords: China; Appliances; Finance ＆ Insurance; China

October 2015
Teaching Note

Clef Company: Turnover

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Clef Company sells keys and other products to retail outlets, which then sell these products to consumers. The case concerns turnover in Clef's sales force in the context of company strategy, financial performance, and a day in the life of a Clef salesperson. Among... View Details

Keywords: Sales; Marketing; Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Performance Evaluation; Retail Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States

February 2011
Article

Welfare Payments and Crime

By: C. Fritz Foley

Analysis of daily reported incidents of major crimes in twelve U.S. cities reveals an increase in crime over the course of monthly welfare payment cycles. This increase reflects an increase in crimes that are likely to have a direct financial motivation like burglary,... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Motivation and Incentives; Welfare; United States

SSRN

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July 2007 (Revised July 2008)
Case

The Beijing Dream

By: Arthur I Segel, Voon Siang Lee, Jialei Tian and Ying Laura Wang

The purchase of a single-family home is generally the major investment for most young couples in China. Shows in detail the process that a young couple goes through in late April 2007 to find, finance, and close on an apartment in Beijing within what they believe to be... View Details

Keywords: Property; Investment; Cost; Emerging Markets; Financing and Loans; Acquisition; Activity Based Costing and Management; Internet and the Web; Management Practices and Processes; Real Estate Industry; Beijing; United States

June 2004
Case

Nehemiah Strategy, The: Bringing it to Boston

By: Diana Barrett and Arthur I Segel

In 2003, Lee Stuart was working with the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization to implement an affordable housing initiative in Boston. She and her colleagues faced a number of challenges in transferring the strategy, including whether the strategy was appropriate for... View Details

Keywords: Housing; Problems and Challenges; Strategy; Projects; Decisions; Boston

September 2002 (Revised April 2006)
Case

Istituto Clinico Humanitas (A)

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer, Gary P. Pisano and Ning Tang

Istituto Clinico Humanitas is a newly built private hospital, south of Milan, Italy, that has attained unusual profitability while treating public system patients. The hospital was built and is managed by Techosp, a subsidiary of Techint, a global engineering and... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Management Systems; Infrastructure; Managerial Roles; Integration; Performance; Health Industry; Milan

August 2001 (Revised November 2001)
Case

Vicinity Corporation: Turning Web Traffic into Store Traffic

By: Frances X. Frei, David Margalit and Amanda Yelsh

Vicinity uses its Internet and m-commerce technology to help drive traffic into its customers' physical distribution outlets. The company has terrific technology and is seemingly successful in getting more consumers into its customers' stores, yet it is in a precarious... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Consumer Behavior; Mobile and Wireless Technology

February 2005
Article

European Integration and Corporate Restructuring: The Strategy of Unilever c1957-c1990

By: Geoffrey Jones and Peter Miskell

This article examines the role of the large Anglo-Dutch consumer products company in promoting European integration. It shows that Unilever contributed financially to campaigns to support the creation of the European Union, and its subsequent expansion, despite a... View Details

Keywords: Horizontal Integration; Organizations; Policy; Expansion; Market Transactions; Geographic Location; Restructuring; Competition; Brands and Branding; Production; Capital Structure; Value; Consumer Products Industry; European Union; United States

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18 Feb 2009
News

The Bailout Is Robbing the Banks

09 Nov 2016
News

Blindsided by Trump’s Victory? Behavioral Science Explains

Video

A Conversation with HBS Online Professor Mihir Desai

02 Apr 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Monitoring and the Portability of Soft Information

Keywords: by Dennis Campbell & Maria Loumioti; Banking

September 2016
Case

Hotel Vertu: Financing the Venture in the Boutique Hotel Industry

By: Howard H. Stevenson and Michael J. Roberts

Two recent MBA graduates are considering a business opportunity in the boutique hotel industry. Having found a seemingly attractive property in Savannah, Georgia, Yvonne D'Arcy and Elisabeth Whiting face questions about financing, deal structure, and unequal power... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Accommodations Industry

16 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

Restaurant Revolution: How the Industry Is Fighting to Stay Alive

It’s never been easy to make money in the restaurant industry. A highly fragmented sector dominated by 70 percent independent owners and operators, the average restaurant’s annual revenue hovers around $1 million and generates an operating profit of just 4-5 percent. A... View Details

Keywords: by Michael S. Kaufman, Lena G. Goldberg, and Jill Avery; Food & Beverage

November 2016 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Square, Inc. IPO

By: Ramana Nanda, Robert White and Lauren G. Pickle

In November 2015, Square, Inc. launched its initial public offering (IPO). The IPO had an offering price of $9 per share, lower than the $11 to $13 estimate that had been outlined in the preliminary prospectus and 42% below the $15.50 share price in its most recent... View Details

Keywords: Business Finance; Initial Public Offering; Equity; Capital Markets; Public Equity; Stocks; Venture Capital; Financial Services Industry; United States