Publications

Read Now

22 Jan 2001
Research & Ideas

Control Your Inventory in a World of Lean Retailing

capital and risk. But the trade-off is that the manufacturer frequently runs short on its medium and especially its high-variability items. That means lost sales and maybe a canceled contract with a prized customer. In the third test, the... View Details

Keywords: by Frederick H. Abernathy, John T. Dunlop, Janice H. Hammond & David Weil; Consumer Products

13 Oct 2006
Working Paper Summaries

Pricing Liquidity: The Quantity Structure of Immediacy Prices

Keywords: by George C. Chacko, Jakub W. Jurek & Erik Stafford

May 2010
Supplement

Tim Westergren of Pandora Radio

By: Willy C. Shih and Halle Alicia Tecco

Pandora Radio is at a crossroads. Founder Tim Westergren has just been told by a well known VC to get rid of his unprofitable customers in order to get his costs down, but Westergren is not sure that such actions are consistent with his company's business model.... View Details

Keywords: History; Business Model; Customers; Venture Capital; Internet and the Web; Cost Management; Outcome or Result; Customization and Personalization; Growth and Development Strategy; Music Industry

30 Jun 2009
First Look

First Look: June 30

non-local investments suggests that policy makers in regions without local venture capitalists might want to mitigate costs associated with established venture capitalists investing in their geographies rather than encouraging the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

November 2017 (Revised October 2018)
Case

Brandless: Disrupting Consumer Packaged Goods

By: Jill Avery

Brandless, an online direct-to-consumer seller of upscale private-label consumer packaged goods, offered consumers a limited assortment of values-conscious products delivered directly to their homes with the simplicity of one fixed $3 price point that promised an... View Details

11 Nov 2014
First Look

First Look: November 11

2014 and again in 2015. Publisher's link: http://hbr.org/2014/11/digital-ubiquity-how-connections-sensors-and-data-are-revolutionizing-business/ar/1 November 2014 Harvard Business Review How Not to Cut Health Care Costs By: Kaplan, Robert... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

15 Jul 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Poultry in Motion: A Study of International Trade Finance Practices

Keywords: by Pol Antras & C. Fritz Foley; Agriculture & Agribusiness

1999
Other Unpublished Work

Executive Ownership and Control in Newly Public Firms: The Role of Venture Capitalists

By: Malcolm Baker and Paul Gompers

We study the implications of CEO equity ownership for incentives and control in a sample of 1,011 newly public firms. Before an initial public offering, equity investments by venture capitalists reduce CEO ownership by about half, from an average of 35 percent to 19... View Details

Keywords: Equity; Ownership; Motivation and Incentives; Initial Public Offering; Investment; Venture Capital; Managerial Roles; Cost Management; Governance Controls; Executive Compensation

Read Now

September 1990 (Revised June 1994)
Case

Catawba Industrial Co.

By: Francis Aguilar

A department general manager has to decide whether or not to add a lightweight compressor to the line, what price to charge, and what volume to produce. The analysis requires maximizing contribution in a situation where one factor is constrained. As such, it takes into... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Capital Budgeting; Business Earnings; Cost Accounting; Cost Management; Asset Pricing

03 Apr 2019
Book

Fintech's Game-Changing Opportunities for Small Business

devastating it was when lending froze, and how much of a lifeline it was when we could revitalize the lending marketplace. When I came to Harvard and began to study small-business lending, it was clear there were structural issues. It was not View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Banking; Financial Services

February 1991 (Revised October 1991)
Case

Fenchel Lampshade Co.

By: William A. Sahlman

Describes the proposed purchase of a lampshade manufacturer by Steven and Michele Rogers, recent graduates of the Harvard Business School. Focuses on their plans to raise the capital necessary to buy the company. Among the issues raised are how to structure the deal... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Financing and Loans; Negotiation Deal; Business or Company Management; Cost vs Benefits; Manufacturing Industry

08 May 2017
Working Paper Summaries

Monetary Policy and Global Banking

Keywords: by Falk Bräuning and Victoria Ivashina; Banking

March 2006 (Revised March 2007)
Case

Village Ventures

By: Noam T. Wasserman, G. Felda Hardymon, Christopher Rogers and Ann Leamon

Matt Harris, general partner and founder of Village Ventures, a nationwide umbrella organization for VC firms in secondary cities, is about to negotiate with the general partner of one of the organization's most successful funds. Describes the costs and benefits of the... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Relationships; United States

March 2003 (Revised June 2003)
Case

International Securities Exchange, The: New Ground in Options Markets

This case examines the equity options market and studies the major parties involved and the options trading process. It takes an in-depth look at the path taken by the International Securities Exchange as it entered a mature exchange industry and transformed itself... View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Investment

12 Mar 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, March 12, 2019

available. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=55802 forthcoming Journal of Medical Economics Time-Driven Activity-Based Cost Analysis for Outpatient Anticoagulation Therapy: Direct View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

TeachingInterests

Large-Scale Investment (LSI, MBA Elective Curriculum)

By: Benjamin C. Esty

Large-Scale Investment (LSI) is a case-based course about project finance that is designed for second-year MBA students. Project finance involves the creation of a legally independent project company financed with nonrecourse debt for the purpose of investing in a... View Details

August 2024
Case

Iogen: Decarbonizing Hard-to-Abate Sectors

By: George Serafeim, Charlotte Foody and John Mulliken

Brian Foody, CEO of Iogen Corporation, was an early leader in advanced biofuels, developing a range of technologies to transform agricultural waste into transportation fuel. With $100 million in revenue and 350 patents across various biofuel technologies, Iogen was... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Biofuel; Market Attractiveness; Decarbonization; Technological Innovation; Climate Change; Energy; Environmental Sustainability; Transformation; Market Entry and Exit; Strategy; Energy Industry; United States; United Kingdom

14 Oct 2002
Research & Ideas

The Widening Rift Between Corporations and Society

affairs in our chapter in The Support Economy called "The Transaction Crisis." Cost reduction has continued to be the dominant strategy under managerial capitalism because new sources of wealth... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

October 2006 (Revised March 2008)
Case

2006 Hurricane Risk

By: Andre F. Perold and Erik Stafford

In May 2006, a resident of Key West, Florida had to decide whether to renew his policy to insure against hurricane damage. The policy would cost $13,000 for one year, $5,000 more than what he paid in 2005. At the same time, a wealthy California resident was... View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Cost; Insurance; Price; Risk Management; California; Key West