Publications

February 2008 (Revised December 2011)
Case

Sealed Air China

By: Regina Abrami, William C. Kirby, F. Warren McFarlan and Tracy Yuen Manty

With a 10-year history of doing business in China, Sealed Air was now betting on the country to help propel its growth as a global company. The company identified China as one of the initial investments in the company's Global Manufacturing Strategy that aimed to... View Details

Keywords: Investment Return; Multinational Firms and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Production; Manufacturing Industry; Shanghai

12 PM – 1 PM EDT, 07 May 2015
Webinars: Trending@HBS

The Low Risk Anomaly: Implications for Investment, Asset Allocation, and Corporate Finance

One of the basic principles of finance is that, in competitive and efficient markets, investors earn higher average returns only by taking greater risks. Asset classes follow this pattern: Stocks have returned more than bonds, and bonds have returned more than cash.... View Details

2014
Working Paper

Non-Adherence in Health Care: A Positive and Normative Analysis

By: Mark Egan and Tomas J. Philipson

Non-adherence in health care results when a patient does not initiate or continue care that a provider has recommended. Previous research identifies non-adherence as a major source of waste in US health care, totaling approximately 2.3% of GDP, and have proposed a... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Behavior; Economics; Analysis; Mathematical Methods

July 2019
Article

Optimal Capital Structure and Bankruptcy Choice: Dynamic Bargaining vs Liquidation

By: Samuel Antill and Steven R. Grenadier

We model a firm’s optimal capital structure decision in a framework in which it may later choose to enter either Chapter 11 reorganization or Chapter 7 liquidation. Creditors anticipate equityholders’ ex-post reorganization incentives and price them into the ex-ante... View Details

Keywords: Default; Dynamic Bargaining; Capital Structure; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Mathematical Methods

September 2018
Article

Aggregation of Consumer Ratings: An Application to Yelp.com

By: Weijia Dai, Ginger Jin, Jungmin Lee and Michael Luca

Because consumer reviews leverage the wisdom of the crowd, the way in which they are aggregated is a central decision faced by platforms. We explore this "rating aggregation problem" and offer a structural approach to solving it, allowing for (1) reviewers to vary in... View Details

Keywords: User Generated Content; Crowdsourcing; Yelp; Social and Collaborative Networks; Information; Internet and the Web; Learning; Mathematical Methods; E-commerce

September 2014 (Revised May 2017)
Case

Fresno's Social Impact Bond for Asthma

By: John A. Quelch and Margaret L. Rodriguez

In 2014, Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) were quickly gaining popularity as an investment vehicle which joined together private investors and nonprofits to tackle social issues. Although numerous SIB projects and proposals had cropped up across the U.S. following the launch... View Details

Keywords: Social Enterprise; Health Care; Marketing; Bonds; Financing; Asthma; Air Pollution; Air Quality; Chronic Disease; Public Health; Health; Health Care and Treatment; Finance; Health Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States

May 1993 (Revised October 1993)
Case

Vanity Fair Mills: Market Response System

Describes the "Quick Response" program developed by Vanity Fair Mills (VFM), a division of the VF Corp. Beginning in 1989, VFM reorganized its manufacturing systems, invested heavily in computer and telecommunications equipment, and formed "partnership" agreements with... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Logistics; Distribution Channels; Manufacturing Industry

01 Dec 2019
News

A united Tufts-Harvard Pilgrim is better for consumers, CEOs say

04 Jan 2018
News

The Changing Landscape of Auditor Litigation and Its Implication for Audit Quality

22 Sep 2016
HBS Seminar

Hunt Allcott, Stanford University

Article

Professionalism, Fiduciary Duty, and Health-Related Business Leadership

By: Joshua D. Margolis

Expanding fiduciary duty to leaders of health-related businesses can help leaders meet the challenges of caring for not only the corporation and shareholders but also the patients and medical professionals. How should leaders of health-related businesses weigh the... View Details

August 2008 (Revised May 2009)
Case

Consumer Payment Systems — Japan

By: Benjamin Edelman and Andrei Hagiu

In 2008, the Japanese consumer payments landscape featured ongoing widespread use of cash, limited use of credit cards and rapid rise of e-money systems based on contactless technology embedded in cards and especially mobile phones. The case details the alliances that... View Details

Keywords: Personal Finance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Digital Platforms; Alliances; Competitive Strategy; Information Infrastructure; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Japan

May 1994
Background Note

Managing Market Complexity: A Three-Ring Circus

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

Proposes models of organization that address the various product-market environments posed by the product life cycle. Frames these changes along the two dimensions of uncertainty and diversity. Offers three sets of organizational characteristics to reflect the three... View Details

Keywords: Business Processes; Growth and Development Strategy; Complexity; Organizational Structure; Organizational Culture; Product Marketing; Markets; Product

20 Feb 2019
News

Operational Transparency

21 Jun 2017
News

Zuckerberg or Gates? Billionaires Try Opposite Paths for Online Education in India

27 Jan 2015
Working Paper Summaries

College Admissions as Non-Price Competition: The Case of South Korea

Keywords: by Christopher Avery, Alvin E. Roth & Soohyung Lee; Education

2021
Working Paper

Deep Learning for Two-Sided Matching

By: Sai Srivatsa Ravindranatha, Zhe Feng, Shira Li, Jonathan Ma, Scott Duke Kominers and David Parkes

We initiate the use of a multi-layer neural network to model two-sided matching and to explore the design space between strategy-proofness and stability. It is well known that both properties cannot be achieved simultaneously but the efficient frontier in this design... View Details

Keywords: Strategy-proofness; Deep Learning; Two-Sided Platforms; Marketplace Matching; Balance and Stability

Summer 2016
Article

Motivated Bayesians: Feeling Moral While Acting Egoistically

By: Francesca Gino, Michael I. Norton and Roberto A. Weber

A growing body of research yields ample evidence that individuals’ behavior often reflects an apparent concern for moral considerations. Using a broad definition of morality—to include varied non-egoistic motivations such as fairness, honesty, and efficiency as... View Details

Keywords: Behavior; Ethics

March 2011 (Revised March 2017)
Case

Red Hen Baking Company

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

In 2007, the Red Hen Baking Company was deciding whether to move from its cramped and inefficient facility to a new facility. It had been in business about 8 years, and 2006 was the first year RHB realized a profit that was over $50,000. The added annual cost of the... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Capital; Risk Management; Expansion