Publications

17 Mar 2015
First Look

First Look: March 17

Projects By: MacCormack, Alan, and Anant Mishra Abstract—Formal contracts represent an important governance instrument with which firms exercise control of and compensate... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2004 (Revised April 2004)
Case

Financial Reporting in the Catholic Church

The Catholic Church is a large and complex international organization with several layers of management spread across a diverse range of services and geographical areas. Creating a coherent and manageable communication strategy for is a challenging task that requires... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Disclosure; Religion; Financial Reporting; Organizational Culture; Communication Strategy

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March 2022
Case

The Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Program: 2009-2021

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger and Julia Kelley

In December 2021, more than a decade after its founding, Goldman Sachs’s 10,000 Small Businesses program was still going strong — and the firm now needed to evaluate potential program modifications to reach a wider group of small business owners. Launched in the... View Details

06 Nov 2013
What Do You Think?

Is Top-Down Resource Allocation on the Rise?

is a limit to the scope of top management intervention. What do you think? To Read More: Michael Birshan, Marja Engel, and Olivier Siboney, Avoiding the quicksand: Ten techniques for more agile corporate... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

03 Mar 2009
First Look

First Look: March 3, 2009

businesses, the financial reporting problems, and governance breakdowns inside and outside the firm. The case offers students an opportunity to explore why Enron failed View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

August 2007 (Revised January 2009)
Case

Stryker Corporation: Capital Budgeting

By: Timothy A. Luehrman

Examines some parts of Stryker Corporation's systems and procedures for approving and authorizing capital spending of many different types, including buildings, machinery, and working capital for existing businesses, as well as transactions with third parties such as... View Details

Keywords: Working Capital; System; Organizational Culture; Policy; Capital Budgeting

02 Feb 2010
First Look

First Look: Feb. 2

and Finance (forthcoming). (Also Harvard Business School Working Paper No. 05-053 and NBER Working Paper No. 13131.) Abstract The main arguments in favor of View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

02 Nov 2010
First Look

First Look: November 2, 2010

of how the topics of nonfinancial information, sustainable development, corporate disclosure, and integrated reporting, among others, overlap. Purchase this... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

21 Nov 2024
Blog Post

Thoughts on the JD/MBA From a Recent Grad

the program. For instance, when I took the seminar, my classmates presented: start-up ideas; academic research about legal doctrines; novel investment theses; case studies about companies they planned to work at; and various social,... View Details

February 1997 (Revised December 1997)
Case

Arbor Health Care Company

By: Myra M. Hart and Stephanie Dodson

A venture-funded start-up runs into trouble when health care reimbursement policies change radically. With the help of its board, the company develops a new strategy, becomes profitable, and makes a public offering. The second wave of changes introduced by Clinton... View Details

Keywords: Industry Structures; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Succession; Business Startups; Transformation; Strategy; Venture Capital; Policy; Initial Public Offering; Health Industry

October 2000 (Revised March 2001)
Case

Firestone/Ford Tire Controversy, The (A)

By: V.G. Narayanan and Roger Orosman Nieves

Examines the high-profile Firestone/Ford product recall/investigation that took place in the summer of 2000. Focuses on the management of supplier relationships and incentives. View Details

Keywords: Knowledge Sharing; Supply Chain Management; Motivation and Incentives; Crisis Management; Corporate Accountability; Product; Service Operations; Auto Industry

29 Apr 2002
Research & Ideas

Star Power! How to Win in Professional Services

to question, debate, and even oppose initiatives with which they disagree—and often do so. Corporate CEOs also tend to deal with their shareholders periodically and at a... View Details

Keywords: by Jay W. Lorsch & Thomas J. Tierney

01 Mar 2013
News

Breyer Elected to Harvard Board

Jim Breyer (MBA 1987), a leading venture capitalist known for his expertise in innovative technology and media, has been elected to join the President and the Harvard View Details

Keywords: Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles; Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles

February 2000 (Revised April 2001)
Case

CNET 2000

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Pauline M Fischer

CNET's managers explain the strategic analysis that led to their decision to increase their annual marketing budget from $1 million to $100 million. CNET is an online information intermediary that helps consumers make purchase decisions about PC hardware and software,... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Corporate Strategy; Budgets and Budgeting; Financial Strategy; Decisions; Growth and Development; Customer Focus and Relationships; Business Divisions; Marketing Strategy; Distribution Channels; Consumer Behavior; Online Technology; Information Technology Industry

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November 2003 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Dow Chemical's Bid for the Privatization of PBB in Argentina

By: Mihir A. Desai and Alexandra de Royere

What price should Dow Chemical bid for PBB, a petrochemical complex that is being privatized by the Argentine government? To answer this question, students are forced to consider the role of country risk, the underlying currency exposure of the business, and how to... View Details

Keywords: Bids and Bidding; Privatization; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Cash Flow; Emerging Markets; Valuation; Business and Government Relations; Multinational Firms and Management; Risk and Uncertainty; Energy Industry; Argentina

06 Mar 2007
First Look

First Look: March 6, 2007

Self-Policing in the Shadow of the Regulator Authors:Jodi L. Short and Michael W. Toffel Abstract As part of a recent trend toward more cooperative relations between regulators and industry, novel View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

12 Aug 2014
First Look

First Look: August 12

the type of organizational form surrounding innovation and influence when innovation is more likely to occur. These factors not only govern how much experimentation is undertaken in the economy, but also the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 1996 (Revised November 1996)
Background Note

Economic Gains from Trade: Comparative Advantage

By: Robert E. Kennedy and Nancy F. Koehn

How nations trade and whether they benefit from it are two of the oldest and most important questions in political economy. In the 170 years since David Ricardo formally developed the theory of comparative advantage, it has become one of the principles most widely... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Microeconomics; Trade; Cost Management; Business and Government Relations