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19 Oct 2022
Op-Ed

Cofounder Courtship: How to Find the Right Mate—for Your Startup

partnership. Just like a personal relationship may result in children, big financial decisions (like buying a house), running a household, etc., a cofounding relationship will force you to commit to how you will nurture employees, manage... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Austin

28 Sep 2011
Research & Ideas

The Profit Power of Corporate Culture

creating effective cultures. A 2010 Conference Board study revealed that only 45 percent of US workers were satisfied with their jobs—the lowest level in the history of the survey. Our Q&A with Heskett begins with that dour figure.... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

09 Jan 2007
First Look

First Look: January 9, 2007

Venture Capital Investment Cycles: The Impact of Public Markets Authors:Paul Gompers, Anna Kovner, Josh Lerner, and David Scharfstein Publication:Journal of Financial Economics (forthcoming). (Earlier version distributed as National... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

24 May 2021
Op-Ed

Can Fabric Waste Become Fashion’s Resource?

COVID-19 has broken fashion’s supply chain. As a result, an already wasteful industry has become more wasteful. Even before the pandemic, the global apparel industry was producing about 92 million tons of textile waste a year. That’s about one garbage truck’s worth of... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones and Shelly Xu; Fashion

08 May 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, May 8, 2018

forthcoming Management Science Evidence of Upcoding in Pay-for-Performance Programs By: Bastani, Hamsa, Joel Goh, and Mohsen Bayati Abstract—Recent Medicare legislation seeks to improve patient care quality by financially penalizing... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

11 Mar 2001
Research & Ideas

Merchants to Multinationals: British Trading Companies in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

manufacturing and financial activities around the globe prior to WWI. The British trading companies played a significant role in opening new markets and developing new sources of supply in resources in the emerging global economy.... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones

31 Jan 2023
Op-Ed

Can Insurance Technology Solve the Uninsured Driver Problem?

Despite mandates requiring motorists to carry car insurance, 13 percent of US drivers operate vehicles without any coverage—a problem that exposes uninsured drivers to catastrophic financial risks and leads to higher premiums for insured... View Details

Keywords: by Ray Kluender; Insurance

October 2016
Case

The Quiet Ascension of LA Fitness

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

In 2016, LA Fitness was the largest chain of non-franchised fitness clubs in North America, operating 676 clubs, serving 4.9 million members, and generating revenues of over $1.9 billion. Founded by Chinyol Yi, Louis Welch, and Paul Norris in 1984, the privately held... View Details

Keywords: LA Fitness; Health Clubs; Fitness; Gyms; Chain; Exercise; Personal Training; Retention; Bally Total Fitness; 24 Hour Fitness; Planet Fitness; Buildings and Facilities; Acquisition; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Customers; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Demographics; Age; Gender; Income; Residency; Borrowing and Debt; Capital; Capital Structure; Cash; Cash Flow; Cost; Private Equity; Financial Condition; Financial Liquidity; Financing and Loans; Investment Return; Price; Profit; Revenue; Geographic Location; Geographic Scope; Multinational Firms and Management; Business History; Employees; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Human Capital; Contracts; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Operations; Service Operations; Leasing; Private Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Sales; Salesforce Management; Situation or Environment; Opportunities; Sports; Strategy; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Segmentation; Information Technology; Mobile Technology; Technology Platform; Health Industry; United States; California; Los Angeles

January 2009 (Revised November 2010)
Case

The Dojima Rice Market and the Origins of Futures Trading

By: David A. Moss and Eugene Kintgen

In 1730, Japanese 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 trade of... View Details

Keywords: Futures and Commodity Futures; Price; Food; Business History; Market Transactions; Business and Government Relations; Japan

2019
Chapter

From Coast to Hinterland: Fiscal State Formation in British and French West Africa, c. 1880–1960

By: Ewout Frankema and Marlous van Waijenburg

This chapter contrasts and compares the ways different colonial states in West Africa developed local fiscal capacity. We show that per capita revenues were higher in the more commercialised coastal export economies than in remote parts of the interior. We argue that... View Details

Keywords: Fiscal Capacity; Public Debt; French West Africa; British West Africa; Geography; History; Africa

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January 2017 (Revised December 2017)
Case

Carmichael Roberts: To Create a Private Equity Firm?

By: Steven Rogers and Kenneth J. Cooper

Carmichael Roberts, a rare African-American venture capitalist, considered leaving his general partnership in a private equity firm near Boston and setting up his own in 2015. He weighed whether the timing was right, with the economy still not fully recovered from the... View Details

2009
Working Paper

The End of Chimerica

By: Niall Ferguson and Moritz Schularick

For the better part of the past decade, the world economy has been dominated by a world economic order that combined Chinese export-led development with US over-consumption. The financial crisis of 2007-2009 likely marks the beginning of the end of the Chimerican... View Details

Keywords: History; Globalized Economies and Regions; Currency Exchange Rate; Economic Growth; Trade; Financial Crisis; China; United States

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Bibliography | Baker Library | Bloomberg Center | Harvard Business School

Lehman Brothers Timeline Sept-Oct 2008 Video-Coverage of the Financial Crisis Download the Exhibition Catalog (PDF) Lehman Brothers Archives Lehman Brothers Deal Books Search Exhibition Lehman Brothers - Introduction 1840s – 1880s General... View Details

July 2008 (Revised July 2019)
Case

Amazon: The Brink of Bankruptcy

By: Lynda M. Applegate

Enables a thorough analysis of the Amazon.com business model and its evolution from 1994 to 2001. The case ends with the company poised on the brink of bankruptcy and enables discussion of how to turnaround the company and leverage proprietary assets. View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Restructuring; Entrepreneurship; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Business History; Leading Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategy

01 Jun 2011
News

Who Was George F. Baker?

Related Links Where Conservation Means Business In today’s media-saturated business world, it seems almost incomprehensible that a preeminent financier and philanthropist would remain virtually unknown to the public. Yet, near the end of... View Details

Keywords: Finance

January 2008 (Revised July 2009)
Case

Forecasting the Great Depression

By: Walter A. Friedman

What is proper role of professional economic forecasting in financial decision making? The case presents excerpts from three leading economic forecasters on the eve of, and just after, the stock market crash of October 1929. The first set of excerpts is from Roger... View Details

Keywords: History; Mathematical Methods; Personal Development and Career; Forecasting and Prediction; Financial Crisis