Publications

01 Mar 2011
First Look

First Look: March 1

channel offers potential benefits in selling to customer segments that value the convenience of online shopping, but it also raises new challenges. These include the higher likelihood of costly product returns when customers' ability to... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

12 Jul 2004
Research & Ideas

Michael Porter’s Prescription For the High Cost of Health Care

Aetna, another covered by Blue Cross, and another self-insured. Payers could negotiate, but price changes would have to benefit all patients, not just their own. The cost of treating a medical condition has... View Details

Keywords: by Michael E. Porter; Health

12 Oct 2011
First Look

First Look: October 12

CEO Compensation at GE: A Decade with Jeff Immelt V.G. Narayanan and Lisa BremHarvard Business School Case 112-003 When ISS, a large shareholder advisory group, recommended a "no" vote on Jeff... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

28 Apr 2009
First Look

First Look: April 28, 2009

is set at the close of the annual meeting in May 2008, when shareholders have voted against all incumbent board members. Steel Partners must act quickly. The case serves as an overview of corporate governance issues in Japan, as well as describing the costs View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

18 Jun 2013
First Look

First Look: June 18

Unlocking Innovation Through Business Experimentation By: Thomke, Stefan Abstract—No abstract available. Publisher's link: http://www.europeanbusinessreview.com/?p=8420 Working Papers Pay Harmony: Peer Comparison and Executive View Details

Keywords: Anna Secino

21 Nov 2005
Research & Ideas

The Geography of Corporate Giving

that contribute to a type of corporate practice—those oriented toward social benefits outside the firm. We define corporate social action as those firm behaviors and practices that extend beyond immediate... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

23 Apr 2020
Research & Ideas

This Crisis Loan Program Preserved Jobs—and Made Money

more stable career path. The firms themselves also grew stronger, and the French government eventually saved more in unemployment benefits than the program cost, according to the study, Employment Effects of... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Financial Services

06 Nov 2000
Research & Ideas

The Determinants of Corporate Venture Capital Success

downfall. They hoped to achieve a return on investment that exceeded both the average returns of the venture capital industry and Xerox's corporate hurdle rate for evaluating new projects. Not only was the level of View Details

Keywords: by Paul Gompers & Josh Lerner

March 2006 (Revised November 2007)
Case

Manchester Bidwell Corporation (A)

By: James L. Heskett

The head of Manchester Bidwell Corp. ponders what it will take to replicate its social services in 100 cities across North America and internationally--an effort that ultimately would cost several hundred million dollars. View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Social Entrepreneurship; Leadership Style; Growth Management; Welfare; North and Central America

May 2010 (Revised January 2012)
Case

Lincoln Financial Meets the Financial Crisis

By: Robert C. Pozen and Peter Goodspeed Spring

In March of 2009, Lincoln Financial Group's CEO Dennis Glass was facing a difficult decision as to how he would replenish his company's capital, which could quickly fall to dangerously low levels as a result of the financial crisis. Though the cost of raising capital... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Financial Crisis; Capital; Private Equity; Crisis Management; Business and Government Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Insurance Industry

winter 2006
Article

Allocating Shareholder Capital to Pension Plans

By: Robert C. Merton

Keywords: Capital; Resource Allocation; Business and Shareholder Relations; Compensation and Benefits

Find at Harvard

April 2025
Case

Giving Up on a Passion: Elizabeth Rowe at the Boston Symphony Orchestra

By: Jon M. Jachimowicz, Maisie Wiltshire-Gordon and Alexis Lefort

For 20 years, Elizabeth Rowe was a world-renowned principal flutist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. But in 2024, Rowe decided to leave her position to pursue a new full-time career as a leadership coach. At 50, Rowe was well under the typical retirement age, and,... View Details

February 1992 (Revised April 1993)
Case

Acid Rain: The Southern Co. (A)

By: Forest L. Reinhardt

The Southern Co., an electric utility, is planning its compliance with the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act. The Act established a system of tradeable permits for sulfur dioxide emissions. The company must decide whether to install pollution control equipment and... View Details

Keywords: Energy Generation; Business Strategy; Environmental Sustainability; Cost vs Benefits; Financial Management; Strategic Planning; Investment Return; Government Legislation; Wastes and Waste Processing; Utilities Industry; Energy Industry; United States

May 2024
Supplement

gWorks (A)

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

In January of 2019, Joe Heieck, CEO of gWorks, was deciding whether to proceed with his acquisition of Data Tech, that was a business roughly the same size as gWorks. gWorks, which provided geospatial software to small city and rural county governments, was acquired by... View Details

May–June 2018
Article

Data Uncertainty in Markov Chains: Application to Cost-Effectiveness Analyses of Medical Innovations

By: Joel Goh, Mohsen Bayati, Stefanos A. Zenios, Sundeep Singh and David Moore

Cost-effectiveness studies of medical innovations often suffer from data inadequacy. When Markov chains are used as a modeling framework for such studies, this data inadequacy can manifest itself as imprecision in the elements of the transition matrix. In this paper,... View Details

Keywords: Markov Chains; Cost Effectiveness; Medical Innovations; Colorectal Cancer; Health Care and Treatment; Cost vs Benefits; Innovation and Invention; Mathematical Methods; Health Industry

Find at Harvard

September 1986 (Revised November 1994)
Case

Lotus Development Corp. Channel Choice: Direct vs. Distribution

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

Lotus Development Corp., the number one microsoftware firm has traditionally sold to its customers through a distributor-retail dealer network. In early 1986, the company is considering the option of selling direct to large corporate customers. Students are expected to... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Marketing Channels; Distribution Channels; Sales; Software; Information Technology Industry; United States

January 2021
Supplement

Aster DM Healthcare: Budget Exercise

By: V.G. Narayanan and Amy Klopfenstein

In April 2020, Alisha Moopen, Deputy Managing Director of Aster DM Healthcare, a network of clinics, hospitals, and pharmacies in the Middle East and India, must create her company’s budget for the 2021 fiscal year in light of the onset of Covid-19. The pandemic had... View Details