Publications

August 2017
Article

Catering to Investors Through Security Design: Headline Rate and Complexity

By: Claire Célérier and Boris Vallée

This paper investigates the rationale for issuing complex securities to retail investors. We focus on a large market of investment products targeted exclusively at households: retail-structured products in Europe. We hypothesize that banks strategically use product... View Details

Keywords: Financial Complexity; Catering; Shrouding; Reaching For Yield; Investment

September 2006 (Revised October 2007)
Module Note

Platform-Mediated Networks: Definitions and Core Concepts

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann

Defines platform-mediated networks and introduces concepts central to their study. First, it defines networks and network effects; explains how network effects influence users' willingness-to-pay for network access; describes factors that determine the strength of... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Behavior; Network Effects; Digital Platforms; Information Technology; Information Infrastructure; Digital Platforms

16 May 2000
Research & Ideas

Getting the Message: How the Internet is Changing Advertising

entertainment all on one device." Structural Evolution The path to the future that Law envisions will in fact be paved with many of the same advertising structures that have traditionally been integral... View Details

Keywords: by Susan Young

Julie Battilana

Julie Battilana is the Joseph C. Wilson Professor of Business Administration in the Organizational Behavior unit at Harvard Business School and the Alan L. Gleitsman Professor of Social Innovation at Harvard Kennedy School, where she is also the founder and faculty... View Details

October 2002 (Revised November 2002)
Case

The EU's 13th Directive on Takeover Bids: Unlucky for Some?

By: Huw Pill and Ingrid Vogel

In the late 1990s, the United States boomed in the context of the so-called New Economy. The countries of the European Union--despite their progress with integration in the form of the Single Market 1992 program and the adoption of a single currency in January... View Details

Keywords: Horizontal Integration; Corporate Governance; Germany; European Union

2023
Article

A Review of Commercialisation Mechanisms for Carbon Dioxide Removal

By: Conor Hickey, Sam Fankhauser, Stephen Smith and Myles Allen

The deployment of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) needs to be scaled up to achieve net zero emission pledges. In this paper we survey the policy mechanisms currently in place globally to incentivise CDR, together with an estimate of what different mechanisms are paying... View Details

Keywords: Carbon Dioxide Removal; Climate Change; Markets; Cost; Policy; Environmental Regulation

Read Now

15 Feb 2018
Working Paper Summaries

Can Financial Innovation Solve Household Reluctance to Take Risk?

Keywords: by Laurent Calvet, Claire Celerier, Paolo Sodini, and Boris Vallée; Financial Services; Computer

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

30 Oct 2018
Working Paper Summaries

Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 14 Introducing Open Platforms and Business Ecosystems

Keywords: by Carliss Y. Baldwin

17 Nov 2015
HBS Seminar

Kevin Boudreau, Harvard Business School, London Business School

April 2025
Article

The Fed and the Secular Decline in Interest Rates

By: Sebastian Hillenbrand

In this paper I document a striking fact: a narrow window around Fed meetings fully captures the secular decline in U.S. Treasury yields since 1980. By contrast, yield movements outside this window are transitory and wash out over time. This is surprising because the... View Details

Keywords: United States Treasury; Monetary Policy; Yield Curve

SSRN

November 1997
Case

National Pork Producers Council

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Tom Clay

Al Tank, CEO of the National Pork Products Council, is facing an environmental and structural crisis in the U.S. pork industry. Can he resolve the environmental and image problems of his industry in time? Can he receive the support of both his growers and the... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Situation or Environment; Crisis Management; Environmental Sustainability; Business and Community Relations; Animal-Based Agribusiness; Industry Structures; Reputation; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; United States

Research Summary

The Evolution of Corporate Structure, Internal Governance, and Leadership

My research documents the evolution of the internal governance of senior management in large US firms over a 20-year period and explores, via multiple methods, the causes and consequences of these changes. My findings suggest that... View Details

February 2014
Case

Arcos Dorados: How to Lead and From Where

By: Krishna Palepu and Gustavo Herrero

Acros Dorados, an Argentina-based multinational, is facing new organizational challenges as it seeks to build on its recent turnaround, and grow in Brazil and Mexico. Woods Staton and his management team have to make some hard decisions on how to structure and lead the... View Details

Keywords: Execution; Restaurant; Consumer; Emerging Markets; Strategy; Latin America

19 Mar 2007
Research & Ideas

Handicapping the Best Countries for Business

important and what are the keys to analyzing and understanding a country's near-term direction? A: Any business person is interested only in the future—in where markets and countries are heading. The only way to understand the near-term... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

February 1997
Case

Advent of Venture Capital in Latin America, The

By: Debora L. Spar

Widely regarded as the leader in international private equity, Advent International is considering the establishment of a private equity fund in Latin America in 1996. Typically, Advent entered new private equity markets through the creation of multicountry regional... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Joint Ventures; Market Entry and Exit; Globalized Markets and Industries; Financial Services Industry; Boston; Latin America

January 1989
Case

Benetton S.p.A.

By: Howard H. Stevenson

Focuses on the strategic/organizational development of Benetton. Examines the organizational structure which has allowed the company to expand into a world scale company from its small entrepreneurial base. Examines the functional strategies which have allowed a huge... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Organizational Structure; Growth and Development; Business Strategy; Performance Effectiveness; Fashion Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry

August 2019 (Revised February 2020)
Case

New Hope Liuhe: Building an Integrated Agri-Food Business

By: Forest L. Reinhardt, Shu Lin, Natalie Kindred and Nancy Hua Dai

In October 2018, LIU Chang (Angela), chairman of Beijing-based New Hope Liuhe (NHL), was considering the strategy of the firm. With $9 billion in sales and a presence in nearly 20 countries, NHL was China’s largest animal feed producer and a major pork and poultry... View Details