Publications

06 Nov 2007
First Look

First Look: November 6, 2007

Working PapersThe Effects of a Centralized Clearinghouse on Job Placement, Wages, and Hiring Practices Authors:Muriel Niederle and Alvin E. Roth Abstract New gastroenterologists participated in a labor View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

09 Dec 2015
Research Event

How Do You Predict Demand and Set Prices For Products Never Sold Before?

these decisions would be easy to make if I knew what consumer demand will be,” Ferreira said. “The problem is that I have a lot of uncertainty in demand.” Ferreira believes that the trick to tactical... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Retail; Apparel & Accessories

April 2019
Case

Boxed

By: Laura Huang, Andy Wu and Jiayi Bao

Boxed.com (“Boxed”) is an ambitious e-commerce retailer start-up, founded by visionary CEO Chieh Huang in 2013. From starting in Huang’s garage in 2013, to winning Emerging E-Retailer of the Year in 2016, to having 4 operational distribution centers in 2018, Boxed used... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Management; Business Startups; Leadership; Strategy; Success; E-commerce; Retail Industry

20 Dec 2010
Research & Ideas

Panama Canal: Troubled History, Astounding Turnaround

the limits of attempts by outside governments to improve business and political conditions in other countries. Answering them, however, required a long and detailed romp through View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Transportation

December 2006 (Revised February 2009)
Case

China Merchants Bank: Here Just For You

By: F. Warren McFarlan, GuoQing Chen, HengYuan Zhu, Bin Yang, Michael Shih-ta Chen, G.A. Donovan, Waishun Lo and Yan Yang

Founded in 1987, China Merchants Bank (CMB) is a pioneer in the use of technical innovation and IT as a competitive tool in the rapidly evolving Chinese banking sector. With a relatively small branch network when compared to its larger competitors, CMB uses an... View Details

Keywords: Credit Cards; Information Technology; Technological Innovation; Innovation Leadership; Competitive Strategy; Initial Public Offering; Emerging Markets; Opportunities; Banking Industry; China; Hong Kong

January 1987 (Revised June 1989)
Case

Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi-Cola (A)

Focuses on the competitive interaction between Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola specifically and the effect their dominance has on the other industry participants. Coke and Pepsi's competitive strategies are examined in an in-depth analysis; each firm's behavior is used to... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

November 1995 (Revised April 1998)
Case

National Insurance Corporation

The case visits the catastrophe insurance business at an interesting time in the history of the insurance markets. A major reinsurer, National Insurance, is taking a look at the new insurance derivatives being traded on the Chicago Board of Trade with a view to using... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Insurance; Capital Markets; Insurance Industry; United States

10 May 2015
Blog Post

Brand Strategist Turns Entrepreneur

Becoming an entrepreneur wasn’t part of Desiree Stolar’s plan. A brand strategy and market research consultant, Desiree (MBA 2015) expected to hone her skills at HBS and then return to the field she loved.... View Details

October 1987 (Revised November 1994)
Case

Boston Fights Drugs (A): Designing Communications Research

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

Describes in detail the research mounted by five individuals with a $20,000 budget to combat drug abuse among Boston's school-going population. Using the focus group methodology they discover that most of the current anti-drug advertising is useless. They create their... View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Misleading and Fraudulent Advertising; Communication Intention and Meaning; Brands and Branding; Performance Evaluation; Research and Development; Segmentation; Pharmaceutical Industry; Boston

February 2004
Article

Launching a World-Class Joint Venture

By: James Bamford, David Ernst and David G. Fubini

More than 5,000 joint ventures, and many more contractual alliances, have been launched worldwide in the past five years. Companies are realizing that JVs and alliances can be lucrative vehicles for developing new products, moving into new markets, and increasing... View Details

Keywords: Mergers ＆ Acquisitions; Strategic Alliances; Joint Ventures; Alliances; Organizational Structure; Alignment; Mergers and Acquisitions

May 2011
Article

Higher Risk, Lower Returns: What Hedge Fund Investors Really Earn

By: Ilia Dichev and Gwen Yu

The returns of hedge fund investors depend not only on the returns of the hedge funds they hold but also on the timing and magnitude of their capital flows in and out of the funds. We use dollar-weighted returns (a form of IRR) to assess the properties of actual... View Details

Keywords: Investment Funds; Investment Return; Capital Markets; Market Timing; Currency

Find at Harvard

Read Now

16 Jul 2001
Research & Ideas

How to Compete Like a Judo Strategist

nearly sinking CNET by diverting essential resources into Snap!, "Know your limits. Only enter markets where you have a strong competitive advantage. Don't ever risk your core, unless you have to." "Singularity of... View Details

Keywords: by David B. Yoffie & Mary Kwak

20 Jan 2015
First Look

First Look: January 20

hand in a clear manner. It offers recommendations for both those seeking and giving advice to make the process as effective as possible. Publisher's link:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

31 Aug 2009
Research & Ideas

Why Competition May Not Improve Credit Rating Agencies

S&P and Moody's, but has become a peer over the last decade or so. We use the appearance of Fitch as a way to test for the effect of... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Financial Services

Web

Lifelong Learning - Alumni

Programs, HBS Clubs, HBS Initiatives, and other partners. More Resources for Your Life and Career Explore Select a topic below to explore programs, content, and other resources available to HBS alumni throughout your career and life. Use... View Details

Oct 2020
Conference Presentation

Optimal, Truthful, and Private Securities Lending

By: Emily Diana, Michael J. Kearns, Seth Neel and Aaron Leon Roth

We consider a fundamental dynamic allocation problem motivated by the problem of securities lending in financial markets, the mechanism underlying the short selling of stocks. A lender would like to distribute a finite number of identical copies of some scarce resource... View Details

Keywords: Differential Privacy; Mechanism Design; Finance; Mathematical Methods