Publications

03 Mar 2009
First Look

First Look: March 3, 2009

merchants petitioned shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune to officially authorize trade in rice futures at the Dojima Exchange, the world's first organized (but unsanctioned) futures market. For many years, the Japanese government had prohibited the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

25 Oct 2004
Research & Ideas

Planning for Surprises

benefit. The area of decision bias has grown as an important lens of analysis in many areas of business, from finance to marketing to negotiations. We also believe that cognitive biases explain why we allow predictable surprises to occur.... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

May 2010 (Revised January 2014)
Case

Water Shortage and Property Investing in Mexico City

By: John D. Macomber, Regina Garcia-Cuellar and Griffin James

A commercial property company evaluates water risks including the government's ability to remedy, the company's operating exposure and mitigation, and whether to relocate because of water risk. A real estate fund manager assesses investment prospects in Mexico City in... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Investment; Risk Management; Infrastructure; Privatization; Business and Government Relations; Partners and Partnerships; Financial Services Industry; Real Estate Industry; Utilities Industry; Mexico City

25 Sep 2007
First Look

First Look: September 25, 2007

were entering India in a more aggressive manner. Some venture firms were purchasing local firms and raising money for dedicated India funds. Others were hiring a team of two or three local investors at one... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Article

U.S. Multinationals in British Manufacturing before 1962

By: G. Jones and Frances Bostock

This article presents a new database on U.S. multinationals active in British manufacturing between 1907 and 1962. Britain was the largest European host economy for U.S. direct investment in manufacturing and the second largest host worldwide. This article identifies... View Details

Keywords: Production; Trade; Foreign Direct Investment; Research and Development; Business Subsidiaries; Policy; Investment; Manufacturing Industry; United States; Great Britain

27 May 2020
Research & Ideas

What South Korea Teaches the World About Fighting COVID

whereas South Korea has 216 cases per million. "South Korea created a vast number of testing sites, which included not only big hospitals but local clinics and public health care facilities." What South Korea teaches us is that proactive... View Details

Keywords: by Doug J. Chung; Health

Article

Immigrant Entrepreneurs in U.S. Financial History, 1775-1914

Throughout its history, the U.S. has been the beneficiary of a worldwide in-migration of entrepreneurial talent. This article surveys finance, one of the many sectors in which immigrants made a conspicuous impact. Part I demonstrates the dominant role of immigrants in... View Details

Keywords: History; Talent and Talent Management; Groups and Teams; Entrepreneurship; Policy; Immigration; Banks and Banking; United States

November 2007 (Revised March 2009)
Case

Clear Channel 2006

By: Richard S. Ruback and Leslie Pierson

The Board of Directors of Clear Channel Communications, a radio broadcasting and outdoor advertising company, has to respond to a revised proposal from two private equity firms to take the company private. In November of 2006, the Board had unanimously approved an... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Private Equity; Governing and Advisory Boards; Negotiation Offer; Privatization; Business and Shareholder Relations

September 1992 (Revised March 1997)
Case

Summit Distributors (A)

By: William J. Bruns Jr. and Amy P. Hutton

Summit Distributors was in danger of violating loan covenants because of slow economic activity and forecasted losses and was faced with a choice. Changing the inventory valuation method from LIFO to FIFO would avoid default but would require higher future income... View Details

Keywords: Taxation; Cost Accounting; Cash Flow; Interest Rates; Economic Systems; Borrowing and Debt; Financial Statements; Valuation; Accounting Audits; Financing and Loans; Accounting Industry; Legal Services Industry

June 2011 (Revised September 2011)
Case

Tough Choices for the Illinois Pension System

By: Robert C. Pozen and Brij S. Khurana

This case describes the precarious fiscal situation of the Illinois public pension system in the spring of 2009 and the accounting of pension plans by non-federal municipalities more generally. In February 2009, in the midst of a recession, recently-appointed Governor... View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Financial Crisis; Financial Liquidity; Annuities; Financial Management; Financing and Loans; Taxation; Strategic Planning; Problems and Challenges; Illinois

01 Jun 1999
News

Conference Brings Global Perspective to Cape Town

South Africa. He noted that his country's aim is to have a stable, democratic government like those found in the United States and Europe, but he presented the tradeoffs that must be made before such a goal can be achieved. For instance,... View Details

Keywords: Susan Young

January 2011
Article

Does Intellectual Property Rights Reform Spur Industrial Development?

By: Lee G. Branstetter, Ray Fisman, C. Fritz Foley and Kamal Saggi

An extensive theoretical literature generates ambiguous predictions concerning the effects of intellectual property rights (IPR) reform on industrial development. The impact depends on whether multinational enterprises (MNEs) expand production in reforming countries... View Details

Keywords: Development Economics; Foreign Direct Investment; Multinational Firms and Management; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Intellectual Property; Rights; Production; Expansion; United States

Read Now

07 May 2018
Research & Ideas

Why Online Retailers Should Hide Their Best Discounts

discounted prices. That has the effect of stratifying consumers by their sensitivity to price, with bargain hunters willing to literally go the extra mile, and less sensitive customers going to the local mall. By making discounted... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Retail

25 Jun 2014
Lessons from the Classroom

FIELD Trip: Conquering the Gap Between Knowing and Doing

of 1949 Adjunct Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. "The team discovered that having access to laptops and finding uses for them wasn't the main problem. A greater problem was financing the purchase and... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Education

06 Nov 2007
First Look

First Look: November 6, 2007

cancellations of interviews they had scheduled. Furthermore, without a match, many programs hired more local fellows, and fewer from other hospitals and cities than they did during the match. Wages, however, seem not to have been... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

April 2006 (Revised June 2008)
Case

Peoplepower, Inc.: The Republic of the Philippines

By: Noel Maurer

In 2006, the Philippines faces a difficult choice. Japan has offered the country a trade agreement that includes access to the Japanese labor market for Philippine nurses and other professionals. The same trade agreement, however, means opening the country's... View Details

Keywords: Diasporas; Developing Countries and Economies; Trade; Foreign Direct Investment; Human Capital; Business and Government Relations; Conflict and Resolution; Japan; Philippines

October 2018 (Revised October 2019)
Case

Rio Tinto vs. the Securities and Exchange Commission

By: Aiyesha Dey, Krishna G. Palepu and Sarah Gulick