Publications

18 Mar 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Matching Firms, Managers, and Incentives

Keywords: by Oriana Bandiera, Luigi Guiso, Andrea Prat & Raffaella Sadun

March 2020 (Revised April 2021)
Case

Odebrecht's 'Transformation Journey' (A)

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Lynn S. Paine, Ruth Costas and Mariana Cal

At the center of one of the largest corruption scandals in Latin America, Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht signed a leniency agreement with American, Swiss and Brazilian prosecutors in 2016 admitting to paying bribes in 12 countries. In an effort to regain financial... View Details

2012
Article

Conflict Policy and Advertising Agency-Client Relations: The Problem of Competing Clients Sharing a Common Agency

By: Alvin J. Silk

What restrictions should be placed on advertising agencies with respect to serving accounts or clients that are competitors of one another in order to avoid conflicts of interest? In recent decades, the advertising and marketing services industry has undergone a number... View Details

Keywords: Advertising Agency; Competitors; Marketing Services Industry; Structural Changes; Agency-client Relationships; Hybrid Conflict Policies; Safeguards; Advertising; Advertising Industry; Europe; Latin America; North and Central America

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August 2014
Case

Opening the Valve: From Software to Hardware (A)

By: Ethan Bernstein, Francesca Gino and Bradley Staats

Valve, one of the world's top video game software companies, has also become an iconic example of an organization with virtually no hierarchy. A 400-person organization, Valve's unique organizational form (described in detail in the case and accompanying employee... View Details

Research Summary

Career and Personal Renewal at Mid-Life

Carl S. Sloane has been studying mid- and late-life transitions in careers and life structures. Two central issues identified in his research, and reflected in the instructional materials for the executive education workshop Age of Options, are (1) the relationship... View Details

September 2014
Case

Radiometer, 2003

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

In 2003, Radiometer was the world's leading supplier of blood gas analysis equipment and accessories for critical care patients. Based in Denmark, Radiometer sold through a combination of sales subsidiaries and distributors around the world, and generated sales of over... View Details

Keywords: Medical Devices; Medical Equipment ＆ Devices; Mergers ＆ Acquisitions; Strategic Analysis; Strategic Change; Family Business; Strategy; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Denmark; United States

March 2021 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Scale and Scope at Drake Real Estate Partners

By: Christina R. Wing and David Lane

Realizing in early 2021 that their pending real estate investment fund would likely be oversubscribed, Drake Real Estate Partners co-founders Nicolás Ibáñez and David Cotterman were considering how best to continue to diversify their investor base and how to optimize... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Family Business; Investment; Ownership; Value Creation; Financial Services Industry; Real Estate Industry; United States; Latin America; Chile

Research Summary

Risk, Trust and Escalation Behavior of Owner Managers

By: Cynthia A. Montgomery

Professor Montgomery and Professor Deepak Malhotra (HBS), together with scientists from Harvard's Program on Evolutionary Dynamics, are studying risk-related decision making of owner managers in newly-founded and established companies. This experimental... View Details

November 1997
Supplement

Washington Post Company,The: Conversation Between Katharine and Don Graham (Video)

By: Louis B. Barnes and John A. Davis

Presents a conversation between a mother and son about such issues as family business, going public, the son coming into the business, and succession. View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Family Business; Interpersonal Communication; Management Succession; Going Public; Family and Family Relationships

July 2012 (Revised November 2012)
Case

Dragonfly Corporation

By: Howard H. Stevenson and Jim Sharpe

After 3 years of losses and under legal threats from their landlord, a husband and wife team are faced with shutting the company down, buying time with the landlord or turning to their parents for additional funds. Despite opening a new location and seeing that sales... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurs; Entrepreneurial Management; Turnarounds; Bankruptcy; Bank Loan; Crisis Management; Family Business; Retail Trade; Financial Crisis; Financial Analysis; Entrepreneurship; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Retail Industry; United States

July 2010 (Revised September 2023)
Case

Werner von Siemens and the Electric Telegraph

By: Geoffrey Jones and Bjoern von Siemens

This case describes the nineteenth century founding by Werner Siemens of the Siemens electrical business in Germany. Werner's dual role as inventor and entrepreneur is explored as he created one of the world's first multinational enterprises, whose growth initially... View Details

Keywords: Business Organization; Family Business; Entrepreneurship; Multinational Firms and Management; Business History; Growth and Development Strategy; Electronics Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Germany

29 Oct 2012
Video

The Life and Legacy of Ruth Mulan Chu Chao

Article

Guanxi versus Networking: Distinctive Configurations of Affect- and Cognition-based Trust in the Networks of Chinese and American Managers

By: Roy Y.J. Chua, M.W. Morris and P. Ingram

This research investigates hypotheses about differences between Chinese and American managers in the configuration of trusting relationships within their professional networks. Consistent with hypotheses about Chinese familial collectivism, an egocentric network survey... View Details

Keywords: Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Managerial Roles; Relationships; Cognition and Thinking; Emotions; Social and Collaborative Networks; Trust; China; United States

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August 2014 (Revised August 2015)
Supplement

Opening the Valve: From Software to Hardware (B)

By: Ethan Bernstein, Francesca Gino and Bradley Staats

Valve, one of the world's top video game software companies, has also become an iconic example of an organization with virtually no hierarchy. A 400-person organization, Valve's unique organizational form (described in detail in the case and accompanying employee... View Details

March 2020 (Revised September 2020)
Case

Opportunity Insights: Research and Policy for Social Mobility

By: Scott Duke Kominers, Jeffrey Huizinga and Allison Ciechanover

Opportunity Insights -- a non-profit that researches drivers of economic opportunity and develops policy solutions to help families achieve better life outcomes -- seeks to expand its impact. View Details

Keywords: Economic Opportunity; Social Mobility; Nonprofit Organizations; Social Issues; Housing; Policy; Opportunities