Publications

2017
Working Paper

BATNAs in Negotiation: Common Errors and Three Kinds of 'No'

By: James K. Sebenius

The best alternative to a negotiated agreement (“BATNA”) concept in negotiation has proven to be immensely useful. In tandem with its value in practice, BATNA has become a wildly successful acronym (with more than 14 million Google results). But the initial... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; BATNA; Bargaining; Zone Of Possible Agreement; Reservation Price; Reservation Value; Agreements and Arrangements; Negotiation Tactics

SSRN

Read Now

May 2013 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Hubei Lantian (A)

By: David F. Hawkins, Michael Shih-Ta Chen and Nancy Hua Dai

Emily Wang, an analyst with Future Securities, a Shanghai-based investment firm, is given the task of making stock purchase recommendations to her supervisor from a number of Chinese common stocks. One stock in particular, Hubei Lantian Co., Ltd. (Hubei Lantian),... View Details

Keywords: Financial Analysis; Ratio Analysis

April 1998
Case

Jim Lyons and GenRad

Lyons, currently CEO of Harry Gray Associates, a consulting and investment firm, had just been approached by an executive recruiter representing GenRad, a 78-year-old electronics company headquartered in Concord, MA. The company, which manufactured integrated software... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Management Succession; Personal Development and Career; Consulting Industry; Massachusetts

Find at Harvard

Profile

Fatima Albassam

In 2017, when Fatima Albassam was working in her home country of Saudi Arabia as a business development analyst for Saudi Aramco, she began making volunteer service trips to Jordan to support Syrian refugees. “While there,” Fatima says,... View Details

23 Jan 2023
Research & Ideas

After High-Profile Failures, Can Investors Still Trust Credit Ratings?

Credit ratings play an essential role in global finance by assessing whether borrowers can meet their debt obligations. Agency analysts study data from financial statements to make initial assessments about bond issuers, which include... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

February 2019 (Revised September 2019)
Case

Amazon in Fashion

By: John R. Wells, Benjamin Weinstock and Gabriel Ellsworth

According to many analysts and industry observers, in 2018 Amazon became the largest retailer of apparel in the United States and the second largest in the world, behind Alibaba. Much of Amazon’s apparel was made by third-party retailers on its platform, but Amazon had... View Details

2010
Working Paper

Just Say No to Wall Street: Putting A Stop to the Earnings Game

By: Joseph Fuller and Michael C. Jensen

Putting an end to the "earnings game" requires that CEOs reclaim the initiative by avoiding earnings guidance and managing expectations in such a way that their stocks trade reasonably close to their intrinsic value. In place of earnings forecasts, management should... View Details

Keywords: Stocks; Performance Expectations; Goals and Objectives; Risk and Uncertainty; Growth and Development Strategy; Decisions; Risk Management; Budgets and Budgeting; Earnings Management; Value; Projects

SSRN

November 2004 (Revised March 2007)
Case

10 Uncommon Values®: Optimizing the Stock-Selection Process

By: Paul M. Healy and Boris Groysberg

In 2003, Steve Hash, research director at Lehman Brothers, prepared to initiate the firm's "Ten Uncommon Values" stock-picking process for the year. An investment committee had to pick the 10 best stocks from about 100 stock ideas presented by the firm's analysts. The... View Details

Keywords: Stocks; Investment; Financial Strategy; Decision Making; Groups and Teams; Financial Services Industry; United States

This paper investigates how executive employment contracts influence corporate financial policies during the final year of the contract term, using a new, hand-collected data set of CEO employment agreements. On the one hand, the impending... View Details

26 Sep 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Playing Favorites: How Firms Prevent the Revelation of Bad News

Keywords: by Lauren Cohen, Dong Lou & Christopher Malloy; Financial Services

April 2014
Teaching Note

Jiangxi Agribusiness: (TN)

By: David F. Hawkins

[TN for 114-039] Emily Wang, an analyst with Future Securities, a Shanghai-based investment firm, is given the task of making stock purchase recommendations to her supervisor from a number of Chinese common stocks. One stock in particular, Jiangxi Agribusiness... View Details

Keywords: Financial Analysis; Ratio Analysis

08 Aug 2022
HBS Case

Building an 'ARMY' of Fans: Marketing Lessons from K-Pop Sensation BTS

since. Some analysts predicted that the band would do more to grow South Korea’s gross domestic product over 10 years than the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. Underdogs with a strategy The band’s explosion was the result of a carefully... View Details

Keywords: by Shalene Gupta; Media & Broadcasting; Music

30 Apr 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, April 30, 2019

2019 HarperBusiness The Business of Platforms: Strategy in the Age of Digital Competition, Innovation, and Power By: Cusumano, Michael A., Annabelle Gawer, and David B. Yoffie Abstract—The Business of Platforms explores the strategic, economic, and technology... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

Web

California - Global

Jolla-based private equity fund of funds. Prior to her years at HBS, Allison was an Analyst in Goldman Sachs’s Executive Office, and a Researcher for the U.S. Department of Treasury Office of the Assistant Secretary for International... View Details

Research Summary

Current Research

Information Dissemination in Capital Markets

Seeking to bridge economic theory and the role of individuals, Professor Brochet researches the transmission of information in capital markets. He has investigated the effects of information... View Details

2014
Working Paper

The Contract Year Phenomenon in the Corner Office: An Analysis of Firm Behavior During CEO Contract Renewals

By: Ping Liu and Yuhai Xuan

This paper investigates how executive employment contracts influence corporate financial policies during the final year of the contract term, using a new, hand-collected data set of CEO employment agreements. On the one hand, the impending expiration of fixed-term... View Details

Keywords: Management Style; Contracts; Behavior; Employment

Read Now

2013
Working Paper

Inequality and Decision Making: Imagining a New Line of Inquiry

By: David Moss, Anant Thaker and Howard Rudnick

The substantial increase in inequality in the United States over the past three decades has provoked considerable debate, with some analysts characterizing rising inequality as among the greatest threats facing the nation and others dismissing it as little more than a... View Details

Keywords: Equality and Inequality; Income; Decision Making; Government and Politics; Economics; United States