Publications

Brian J. Hall

Brian J. Hall is the Albert H. Gordon Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He served as the Unit Head for the Negotiation, Organizations and Markets (NOM) Unit for 14 years. Previously, he was an assistant professor of economics in the... View Details

Keywords: accounting industry; consulting; consumer products; executive search; financial services; high technology; investment banking industry; management consulting; private equity (LBO funds); restaurant; sports; venture capital industry

2020
Working Paper

Reinventing Retail: The Novel Resurgence of Independent Bookstores

By: Ryan Raffaelli

This study examines how community-based brick-and-mortar retailers can achieve sustained market growth in the face of online and big box retail competition. The appearance of Amazon.com in 1995 led to a significant decline in the number of independent bookstores in the... View Details

Keywords: Bookstores; Competitive Strategy; Business and Community Relations; Customization and Personalization; Growth and Development; Retail Industry; United States

Article

The (Perceived) Meaning of Spontaneous Thoughts

By: Carey K. Morewedge, Colleen Giblin and Michael I. Norton

Spontaneous thoughts, the output of a broad category of uncontrolled and inaccessible higher-order mental processes, arise frequently in everyday life. The seeming randomness by which spontaneous thoughts arise might give people good reason to dismiss them as... View Details

Keywords: Spontaneous Thoughts; Self-Insight; Meaning; Attribution; Judgment And Decision Making; Decision Making; Cognition and Thinking

Linda A. Hill

Linda A. Hill is the Wallace Brett Donham Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School and Faculty Chair of the Leadership Initiative. Hill is regarded as one of the top experts on leadership and innovation. Hill is... View Details

Article

Timing is Everything: The Importance of Finding the Right Moment in Leading Teams

Great team leaders have superb timing. We explore in this article two different types of timing that leaders need to help their teams. First, they understand when teams are naturally open to help, and what kinds of help to give teams at predictable times in... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Groups and Teams; Leadership Style

2015
Working Paper

Entrepreneurship and Urban Growth: An Empirical Assessment with Historical Mines

By: Edward L. Glaeser, Sari Pekkala Kerr and William R. Kerr

We study entrepreneurship and growth through the lens of U.S. cities. Initial entrepreneurship correlates strongly with urban employment growth, but endogeneity bedevils interpretation. Chinitz (1961) hypothesized that coal mines near cities led to specialization in... View Details

Keywords: Industrial Organization; Chinitz; Agglomeration; Clusters; Cities; Mines; Industry Clusters; Entrepreneurship; City; Mining; Mining Industry; Pittsburgh

February 1993 (Revised April 1995)
Case

Sharp Corporation: Technology Strategy

By: David J. Collis and Tomo Noda

Teaches the evolution of the corporate strategy of Sharp Corp., Japan. Sharp Corp., a second-tier assembler of TV sets and home appliances, gradually and consistently improved performance by developing expertise in electronic device technologies such as specialized ICs... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Leadership; Performance Improvement; Corporate Strategy; Diversification; Technology Adoption; Electronics Industry; Japan

April 1996
Case

Silver Lane Apartments

By: William J. Poorvu and John H. Vogel Jr.

Scott Johnson is a successful developer of single-family and multi-family housing who specializes in renovating and turning around poorly performing apartments in good locations. He plans to sell a 506-unit property for portfolio and estate planning purposes. This case... View Details

Keywords: Housing; Mortgages; Property; Negotiation Tactics; Real Estate Industry

11 Jun 2021
Blog Post

Saying “Race” Out Loud: Leading Conversations on Diversity in HBS Classrooms

holds some key Harvard Business School specialized knowledge: Nearly 15 years ago, Creary was an HBS research associate, writing cases for Professor David Thomas (now president of Morehouse College) and working with other faculty around... View Details

William C. Vrattos

Bill Vrattos is a Senior Lecturer at the Harvard Business School, where he teaches Investment Strategies, a course on public market investing in the elective curriculum. He also co-teaches Private Equity Projects and Ecosystems, where he mentors student groups on... View Details

September 2024
Supplement

Revenue Solutions, LLC (A)

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Pre-Abstract: Instructors should consider the timing of making videos available to students, as they may reveal key case details.

Abstract: Ari Wasserman and Nick esayian were both dissatisfied with their future prospects in their current careers. Wasserman,... View Details

Keywords: Personal Development and Career; Partners and Partnerships; Ownership

October 2019
Article

Limited Investment Capital and Credit Spreads

By: Emil N. Siriwardane

Using proprietary credit default swap (CDS) data, I investigate how capital shocks at protection sellers impact pricing in the CDS market. Seller capital shocks—measured as CDS portfolio margin payments—account for 12% of the time-series variation in weekly spread... View Details

Keywords: Credit Risk; Derivatives; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Capital Markets; Credit; Financial Institutions

February 2014
Case

Diageo: Innovating for Africa

By: David E. Bell, Damien P. McLoughlin and Mary L. Shelman

Diageo, the world's leading premium drinks business, had a long history in Africa starting from its beer brand, Guinness, first exported to Sierra Leone in 1827. By 2013, 13% of Diageo's global revenues were from Africa, up from 9% in 2007. Diageo Africa President Nick... View Details

Keywords: Africa; Emerging Market; Innovation; Agribusiness; Beverage Industry; Emerging Markets; Innovation Strategy; Marketing; Food and Beverage Industry; Africa

John D. Dionne

John D. Dionne has been a Senior Lecturer of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School since 2014 and is a recently retired Senior Managing Director and Senior Advisor to Blackstone. He is also Managing Partner of Franconia Capital, a... View Details

22 Jul 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Banks as Patient Fixed-Income Investors

Keywords: by Samuel G. Hanson, Andrei Shleifer, Jeremy C. Stein & Robert W. Vishny; Banking

May 2016 (Revised September 2016)
Case

Hillside Beach Club: Delivering the Ultimate Family Vacation in the Mediterranean

By: Rajiv Lal and Gamze Yucaoglu

In 2015, Edip Ilkbahar, HBC’s founder and CEO, was looking over the plans for a new branch in Cyprus. Since the inception of the company by the Alarko Group of companies in 1994, Ilkbahar’s company had enjoyed high occupancy, high guest satisfaction, and high... View Details

Article

The Cost of Capital for Alternative Investments

By: Jakub W. Jurek and Erik Stafford

Traditional risk factor models indicate that hedge funds capture pre-fee alphas of 6% to 10% per annum over the period from 1996 to 2012. At the same time, the hedge fund return series is not reliably distinguishable from the returns of mechanical S&P 500 put-writing... View Details

Keywords: Hedge Funds; Required Returns; Downside Risk; Index Options; Investment Funds; Cost of Capital; Investment Return; Risk and Uncertainty; Financial Services Industry

Article

Entrepreneurship and Urban Growth: An Empirical Assessment with Historical Mines

By: Edward L. Glaeser, Sari Pekkala Kerr and William R. Kerr

Keywords: Industrial Organization; Chinitz; Agglomeration; Clusters; Cities; Mines; Industry Clusters; Urban Development; Entrepreneurship; City; Mining; Mining Industry; United States

September 2012
Case

Castronics, LLC

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Patrick Dickinson (HBS '09) and Michael Weiner (MIT's Sloan '07) acquired Castronics, a firm that specialized in threading pipe used in the oil and natural gas industry, at the end of 2009. The partners overcame significant hurdles during the first two years of... View Details

Keywords: Small Business; Search Funds; Corporate Finance; Entrepreneurship; Financial Management; Energy Industry; Western United States