Publications

2003
Conference Paper

Follow the Money: What Really Drives Technology Innovation in Construction

By: John D. Macomber

Technology enthusiasts, academics, and software companies remain concerned about the slow pace of innovation in the construction industry. Tools are widely available that seem to provide eminently sensible and clearly apparent improvement to the process of design and... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Technological Innovation; Construction; Design; Performance Improvement; Motivation and Incentives; Knowledge Management; Adoption; Business Model; Capital Structure; Supply Chain

October 2002 (Revised May 2003)
Background Note

Why Study Large Projects?

By: Benjamin C. Esty

Explains why project companies in general and large projects in particular represent an interesting and managerially relevant subset of total capital investment and why they merit academic research and instruction. Serves as an introductory note for the Large-scale... View Details

Keywords: Management; Project Finance; Investment; Projects; Capital

October 1999 (Revised February 2000)
Case

Steinway & Sons: Buying a Legend (A)

By: John T. Gourville and Joseph B. Lassiter III

It is 1995 and Steinway & Sons has just been purchased by two young entrepreneurs. For 140 years, Steinway has held the reputation for making the finest quality grand pianos in the world. The past 25 years have proven to be a challenge, however. First, the company has... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Decisions; Entrepreneurship; Globalization; Crisis Management; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Quality; Competitive Strategy; Manufacturing Industry; Japan; New York (state, US)

March 1998
Case

Bumper Acquisition (A2), A: Confidential Information for Medallion Capital, Inc.

By: James K. Sebenius and David T. Kotchen

Located in Mundelein, IL, Thermo-Impact, Inc. is a rapidly growing, private firm that manufactures automotive bumpers. In 1995, a number of large automotive supply companies and a private equity investment firm offer to buy Thermo-Impact. The cases in this series focus... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Valuation; Negotiation Participants; Decision Making; Negotiation Process; Entrepreneurship; Negotiation Offer; Acquisition; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry; Illinois

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January 1987
Article

Posterior Implementability in a Two-person Decision Problem

By: Jerry R. Green and Jean-Jacques Laffont

When a decision rule is implemented using a Bayesian incentive compatible mechanism in which the messages are publicly observable, the players' information is augmented by their observation of each others' strategies. In this paper we study the set of Bayesian... View Details

Keywords: Incentives; Commitment; Mechanism Design; Decision Making; Information

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October 1976 (Revised May 1985)
Case

Raytheon Co.: Diversification

By: Michael E. Porter

Centers on the question of whether Raytheon should enter the electronic component distribution industry in the context of its broad diversification approach and acquisition criteria. This industry represents a vertical integration area for Raytheon, so the analytical... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Policy; Market Entry and Exit; Distribution; Diversification; Vertical Integration; Distribution Industry; Electronics Industry