Publications

September 1995
Case

Richina Capital Partners Limited

By: William A. Sahlman and Jason Green

Richard Yan and Suzanne Foels raise a $52.5 million fund to invest in Chinese companies in concert with major multinational companies. They face all the challenges of starting a business from scratch in addition to the challenges of operating in a cross-cultural... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Venture Capital; Problems and Challenges; Emerging Markets; Multinational Firms and Management; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Governance Compliance; Business Strategy; Expansion; Investment Return; China

Web

RCS Policies - Research Computing Services

Software Software purchased and available for use under the HBS name, whether used on local machines or on the HBS compute grid, is governed by the Vendor's Terms of Service. Typically, copying the software... View Details

12 Mar 2012
Research & Ideas

Crowded at the Top: The Rise of the Functional Manager

managers) and those focused on administrative functions (such as finance managers, HR directors, and legal department managers). Wulf explains that the administrative functional managers were those most directly affected by IT... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

January 2002
Case

Price-Fixing Vignettes

By: Guhan Subramanian and Michelle Kalka

This case escribes the antitrust prosecutions in the United States and abroad of the international bulk vitamins cartel. Both the civil and criminal fines were historically high, and it was the first time the United States prosecuted foreign nationals for U.S. criminal... View Details

Keywords: Price; Lawsuits and Litigation; Governance Compliance; Auctions; Laws and Statutes; Monopoly; Globalized Markets and Industries; Retail Industry; Health Industry; United States

2008
Working Paper

Deterring Online Advertising Fraud Through Optimal Payment in Arrears

By: Benjamin Edelman

Online advertisers face substantial difficulty in selecting and supervising small advertising partners. Fraud can be well-hidden, and limited reputation systems reduce accountability. But partners are not paid until after their work is complete, and advertisers can... View Details

Keywords: Misleading and Fraudulent Advertising; Online Advertising; Profit; Corporate Accountability; Partners and Partnerships; Mathematical Methods

Read Now

15 Jun 2010
First Look

First Look: June 15

at the firm level, we can directly address how the composition of firms raising finance varies through time. We find strong evidence of substitution from bank loans to bonds at times characterized by tight lending standards, high levels... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

16 Oct 2012
First Look

First Look: October 16

(forthcoming) Abstract We identify the impact of local firm concentration on incumbent performance with a quasi-natural experiment. When Germany was divided after World War II, many firms in the machine tool industry fled the Soviet... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

December 2007
Article

Bankers, Industrialists, and Their Cliques: Elite Networks in Mexico and Brazil during Early Industrialization

By: Aldo Musacchio and Ian Read

The historiographies of Mexico and Brazil have implicitly stated that business networks were crucial for the initial industrialization of these two countries. Recently, differing visions on the importance of business networks have arisen. In the case of Mexico, the... View Details

Keywords: Business and Government Relations; Networks; Business History; Market Entry and Exit; Emerging Markets; Entrepreneurship; Financial Markets; Supply and Industry; Banks and Banking; Brazil; Mexico

Read Now

22 Feb 2011
Research & Ideas

The Most Important Management Trends of the (Still Young) Twenty-First Century

environment. Teresa Amabile Over the past decade, nothing has had a more profound impact on business management than information technology. Ten years ago, many of us in business, academia, and government were wondering where it was all... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

10 May 2017
Research & Ideas

Amazon Web Services Changed the Way VCs Fund Startups

less resources into firm governance. For instance, the researchers found that for the group of firms they looked at, VCs were 14 to 21 percent less likely to place an investor on the board of directors in the first round of financing/funding. “It shifts the View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Banking; Financial Services; Information Technology

February 1990 (Revised July 1990)
Case

Internal Revenue Service: Automated Collection System

By: Nitin Nohria

Describes how the IRS's collection operations changed from a largely manual system (COF) to an automated system (ACS). A central aspect of ACS was the electronic scheduling and maintaining of work. While with ACS the IRS accomplished significant improvements in the... View Details

Keywords: Sovereign Finance; Revenue; Information Technology; Taxation; Change Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Design; Human Resources; Public Administration Industry; United States

December 1980 (Revised January 1994)
Case

International Foodstuffs

By: David E. Bell

Describes three fairly routine instances in which considerations of risk exposure in foreign exchange are necessary. The three are a delayed payment for a grain shipment, a foreign subsidiary facing devaluation of its domestic currency, and a foreign acquisition. The... View Details

Keywords: Currency Exchange Rate; Risk and Uncertainty; International Relations; Mergers and Acquisitions; Money; International Finance; Financial Services Industry

26 Apr 2011
First Look

First Look: April 26

opportunity. This is particularly interesting as prior research in the finance literature has shown that firms will overinvest in high quality projects when investors have imperfect information about the quality of the firm's... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

April 2001 (Revised July 2001)
Case

Verge Software (A)

By: Dorothy A. Leonard and Elizabeth Kind

Scott Rozic, CEO of start-up Verge Software, has just told his board that he is taking the company in a totally new direction, moving from enterprise knowledge management software to Internet direct marketing. This case covers the start-up of the business, and Rozic's... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Investment; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business or Company Management; Business Strategy; Technological Innovation; Applications and Software; Management Teams; Governing and Advisory Boards; Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Product Development; Information Technology Industry; United States

Fall 2019
Article

Du « défi américain » à l’expansion européenne: Les relations économiques transatlantiques des années cinquante aux années soixante-dix

By: Grace A. Ballor

Economic histories of post-war transatlantic relations have focused on two predominant narratives: US aid for European reconstruction through the Marshall Plan, and the threat of American business investment in Europe. But little research has linked these two elements.... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Corporations; Economic History; International Relations; Business History; Foreign Direct Investment; Multinational Firms and Management

Read Now

September 1992 (Revised November 1993)
Supplement

Germany in the 1990s: Managing Reunification, Supplement Two

By: George C. Lodge

Designed to be handed out after discussion of Germany in the 1990s: Managing Reunification and its Supplement. View Details

Keywords: Political Elections; Economy; Situation or Environment; Inflation and Deflation; Interest Rates; Central Banking; Integration; Germany; Italy; United Kingdom; Europe

2011
Chapter

How Does Simplified Disclosure Affect Individuals' Mutual Fund Choices?

By: John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson and Brigitte C. Madrian

We use an experiment to estimate the effect of the SEC's Summary Prospectus, which simplifies mutual fund disclosure. Our subjects chose an equity portfolio and a bond portfolio. Subjects received either statutory prospectuses or Summary Prospectuses. We find no... View Details

Keywords: Information; Corporate Disclosure; Decision Choices and Conditions; Consumer Behavior; Retirement; Personal Finance; Investment Funds; Microeconomics

April 1992 (Revised April 1997)
Case

Reconstruction of Zambia

By: Richard H.K. Vietor

Examines the causes of decline--economic, social, and political--of the Zambian economy since 1974. It takes place at the time of the election of Frederick Chiluba, in October 1991. Examines the problems of economic development in Africa, and especially, of structural... View Details

Keywords: Business Cycles; Development Economics; Developing Countries and Economies; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Borrowing and Debt; International Finance; Political Elections; Africa; Zambia