Publications

2024
Working Paper

Omnia Juncta in Uno: Foreign Powers and Trademark Protection in Shanghai's Concession Era

By: Laura Alfaro, Cathy Bao, Maggie X. Chen, Junjie Hong and Claudia Steinwender

We investigate how firms and markets adapt to trademark protection, an extensively utilized but under-examined form of IP protection to address asymmetric information, by exploring a historical precedent: China’s 1923 trademark law. Exploiting unique, newly digitized... View Details

Keywords: Trademark; Firm Dynamics; Intermediaries; Intellectual Property Institutions; Trademarks; Intellectual Property; Laws and Statutes; Outcome or Result; Organizational Change and Adaptation; China

SSRN

May 2018
Article

Selection and Market Reallocation: Productivity Gains from Multinational Production

By: Laura Alfaro and Maggie X. Chen

Assessing the productivity gains from multinational production has been a vital topic of economic research and policy debate. Positive aggregate productivity gains are often attributed to within-firm productivity improvement; however, an alternative, less emphasized... View Details

Keywords: Productivity Gains; Multinational Production; Selection; Market Reallocation; And Within-firm Productivity; Multinational Firms and Management; Production; Performance Productivity; Competition; Mathematical Methods

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2017
Working Paper

Patent Trolls and Small Business Employment

By: Ian Appel, Joan Farre-Mensa and Elena Simintzi

We analyze how frivolous patent-infringement claims made by “patent trolls” affect small firms’ ability to create jobs, raise capital, and survive. Our identification strategy exploits the staggered passage of anti-patent-troll laws at the state level. We find that the... View Details

Keywords: Patent Trolls; Patents; Small Business; Employment; Venture Capital

SSRN

This study jointly examines the effects of television advertising and field operations in U.S. presidential elections, with the former referred to as the “air war” and the latter as the “ground game.” Specifically, the study focuses on how different campaign... View Details

01 Sep 2023
News

Bless this Stress

presentation is keeping you awake at night, maybe deep down you’re worried it might derail your career and threaten your hopes of building a great life or sending your kids to college. “Just articulate that,” Akinola advises. Channeling... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services

25 Apr 2023
Op-Ed

How SHEIN and Temu Conquered Fast Fashion—and Forged a New Business Model

reviews gave American shoppers the courage to venture beyond the safe harbors of retail mass merchants. The success of Amazon, Shopify, and social commerce sites such as Instagram convinced consumers to move much of their purchasing power online. More important, these... View Details

Keywords: by John Deighton; Fashion; Retail; Consumer Products

October 2016 (Revised October 2020)
Case

Essent: From a State-Owned Utility to a Commercial Company

By: Ananth Raman and Elena Corsi

Patrick Lammers, Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) for the Dutch energy company Essent NV, once a state-owned company, was pleased with the progress Essent’s consumer (“B2C”) business had made: Earnings Before Income Tax (EBIT) for B2C had gone from a loss of €18 million... View Details

Keywords: Lean Management; Operation Management; Service Management; Commercialization; Operations; Management; Energy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Service Operations; Performance; Energy Industry; Europe

July 2010 (Revised December 2011)
Background Note

Marketing Analysis Toolkit: Pricing and Profitability Analysis

By: Thomas J. Steenburgh and Jill Avery

Pricing is one of the most difficult decisions marketers make and the one with the most direct and immediate impact on the firm's financial position. This toolkit will introduce the fundamental terminology and calculations associated with pricing and profitability... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Price; Profit; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Marketing Strategy; Demand and Consumers; Measurement and Metrics; Strategic Planning; Mathematical Methods; Retail Industry

22 Dec 2006
Research & Ideas

What’s Behind the Private Equity Boom?

Podcast with: Josh Lerner Interviewer: James Aisner Running Time: 15 min., 56 sec. View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner; Financial Services

22 Dec 2013
News

Jesse Willms, the Dark Lord of the Internet

Jill J. Avery

Dr. Jill Avery is a Senior Lecturer of Business Administration and C. Roland Christensen Distinguished Management Educator in the marketing unit at Harvard Business School. She is a respected authority on branding and brand management, customer relationship... View Details

Keywords: consumer products; arts; advertising; automobiles; retailing; fashion; hotels ＆ motels; food; beverage

Program

The Business of Entertainment, Media, and Sports

acquiring and developing creative talent and teams Make optimal business arrangements with talent and talent representatives Respond to advances in digital technology Capitalize on the explosive growth of online distribution channels and... View Details

Keywords: Media & Entertainment; Media & Entertainment

September 2014
Case

FormPrint Ortho500

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Alisa Zalosh

The Senior Vice President of FormPrint's Medical Products business unit is considering issues raised by the upcoming introduction of a new 3D printing system, the Ortho500, which could print custom exoskeletal orthopedic splints, braces, and casts that conformed to a... View Details

Keywords: B2B Marketing; Technological Innovation; Market Entry and Exit; Marketing Strategy; Distribution Channels; Product Development; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

Article

The New Face of Chinese Industrial Policy: Making Sense of Anti-Dumping Cases in the Petrochemical and Steel Industries.

Why have China's petrochemical and steel industries behaved so differently in seeking trade protection through anti-dumping measures, especially given that both industries face the full force of the global economy? We argue that the patterning of anti-dumping actions... View Details

Keywords: Policy; Trade; Economy; Horizontal Integration; Vertical Integration; Motivation and Incentives; Marketing Channels; Industry Structures; System Shocks; Price; Restructuring; Interests; Energy Industry; Steel Industry; China

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Research Summary

Selection and Market Reallocation: Productivity Gains from Multinational Production

By: Laura Alfaro

Assessing the productivity gains from multinational production has been a vital topic of economic research and policy debate. Positive aggregate productivity gains are often attributed to within-firm productivity improvement; however, an alternative, less emphasized... View Details

2017
Working Paper

Economic Uncertainty and Earnings Management

By: Luke C.D. Stein and Charles C.Y. Wang

In the presence of managerial short-termism and asymmetric information about skill and effort provision, firms may opportunistically shift earnings from uncertain to more certain times. We document empirically that when financial markets are less certain about a firm's... View Details

Keywords: Discretionary Accruals; Uncertainty; Implied Volatility; Earnings Response Coefficient; Risk and Uncertainty; Earnings Management; Financial Markets

SSRN

July 2010
Supplement

Marketing Analysis Toolkit: Pricing and Profitability Analysis (CW)

By: Thomas J. Steenburgh and Jill Avery

Pricing is one of the most difficult decisions marketers make and the one with the most direct and immediate impact on the firm's financial position. This toolkit will introduce the fundamental terminology and calculations associated with pricing and profitability... View Details

Keywords: Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Marketing Strategy; Decisions; Strategic Planning; Price; Partners and Partnerships; Cost; Demand and Consumers; Revenue; Profit; Mathematical Methods; Measurement and Metrics

July 2011
Article

The Private Equity Advantage: Leveraged Buyout Firms and Relationship Banking

By: Victoria Ivashina and Anna Kovner

This paper examines the impact of leveraged buyout firms' bank relationships on the terms of their syndicated loans. Using a sample of 1,590 loans financing private equity sponsored leveraged buyouts between 1993 and 2005, we find that bank relationships are an... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Private Equity; Banks and Banking; Financing and Loans; Interest Rates; Investment Return; Relationships; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry

July 2003 (Revised March 2004)
Case

XM Satellite Radio (A)

By: David B. Godes and Elie Ofek

XM Satellite Radio is a radically new way to listen to radio. Management must develop a marketing strategy to launch the firm and the category. A crucial aspect of the strategy is to determine which of two business models the company will pursue. Should it focus... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Business Model; Decision Choices and Conditions; Cost Management; Marketing Channels; Marketing Strategy; Problems and Challenges; Partners and Partnerships; Sales; Competitive Strategy; Communications Industry