Publications

Article

MIT Roundtable on Corporate Risk Management

By: Robert C. Merton

Against the backdrop of financial crisis, a distinguished group of academics and practitioners discusses the contribution of financial management and innovation to corporate growth and value, along with the pitfalls and unintended consequences of such innovation.... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Market Participation; Finance; Innovation and Invention; Growth and Development Strategy; Value; Distribution; Capital Structure; Risk Management; Business Ventures; Business Model; Strategy

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March 1989 (Revised April 1990)
Case

Merton Truck Co.

Introduces some of the key concepts in linear programming--problem formulation, relevant costs, shadow prices, and reduced costs. The setting, while artificial, is quite typical: a company manufactures two models of trucks in four manufacturing departments; it must... View Details

Keywords: Production; Decision Making; Business Strategy; Manufacturing Industry

September 2019 (Revised January 2021)
Case

Vispera: Visual Intelligence for Retail

By: Yael Grushka-Cockayne and Gamze Yucaoglu

The case opens in 2019 as Aytul Ercil, co-founder and CEO of Vispera, computer vision technology provider for retail, is contemplating the company’s agenda trying to decide how to prioritize the impeding options. The case chronicles the founding of Vispera, the... View Details

Keywords: Computer Vision Technology; Visual Analysis; Retail; Information Technology; Business Model; Operations; Performance Efficiency; Competitive Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Global Strategy; Technology Industry; Retail Industry; Turkey

February 2024 (Revised July 2024)
Case

Taffi: Entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia

By: Paul A. Gompers and Fares Khrais

Taffi was a tech-enabled fashion styling startup founded by Shahad Geoffrey in Saudi Arabia in 2020. Within three years of operating, Geoffrey had pivoted the business multiple times. In 2023, Geoffrey was attempting the business’s most ambitious pivot yet, shifting... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Disruption; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Investment; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; AI and Machine Learning; Fashion Industry; Technology Industry; Saudi Arabia; Arabian Peninsula

2014
Case

Meizhou Dongpo Restaurant: Entrepreneurship, Leadership and Culture

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Weiku Wu and Jia Guo

Meizhou Dongpo is a large catering group in China. On June 6, 1996, the first Meizhou Dongpo Restaurant was opened in Beijing. The enterprise entered the stage of rapid development in 2000, and set up Beijing Meizhou Restaurant Management Co., Ltd. In June 2003 the... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Leadership; National Culture; China; Restaurants; China

08 Nov 2016
First Look

November 8, 2016

forthcoming European Competition Journal Android and Competition Law: Exploring and Assessing Google's Practices in Mobile By: Edelman, Benjamin, and Damien Geradin Abstract—Since its launch in 2007, Android has become the dominant mobile device View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2018 (Revised August 2020)
Case

Alaska Airlines: Empowering Frontline Workers to Make It Right

By: Ranjay Gulati, Andrew O'Connell and Caroline de Lacvivier

This case documents the ongoing efforts by Alaska Airlines to enhance its efforts to become more customer centric by empowering its employees using a service framework. It explores how the airline starts with a completely hands-off approach to empowerment in which... View Details

Keywords: Employee Empowerment; Customer Focus and Relationships; Employees; Service Delivery; Organizational Culture; Integration; Air Transportation Industry

06 Dec 2017
Working Paper Summaries

Trials and Terminations: Learning from Competitors' R&D Failures

Keywords: by Joshua Lev Krieger

30 May 2000
Research & Ideas

Market Makers Bid for Success

6 I got to work in my basement on starting FreeMarkets. The first thing we did was raise some money, and then we built some software. We found some pilot clients and started to develop market-making skills, a supplier database, rules for the market, and a call center... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Web Services; Technology

28 Nov 2011
Research & Ideas

Rethinking the Fairness of Organ Transplants

Vivek F. Farias, both of MIT's Sloan School—can help policy designers create the most equitable point system based on their chosen constraints and criteria. They detail the proposed model in a new paper, Fairness, Efficiency and... View Details

Keywords: by Dennis Fisher; Health

April 2013
Teaching Note

Konys, Inc. (TN)

By: Deishin Lee and Tunay Tunca

This case describes the sourcing policy for a consumer electronics company. The company must decide how to structure contracts with their supplier—using a purchase contract, an option contract, or combination of the two. The company can also buy from the spot market.... View Details

Keywords: Contracts; Option Contract; Uncertainty; Sourcing; Supplier Relationship; Supply Chain

26 Jun 2017
Working Paper Summaries

Inventory Management for Mobile Money Agents in the Developing World

Keywords: by Karthik Balasubramanian, David F. Drake, and Douglas Fearing; Financial Services; Banking

Program

Family Office Wealth Management—Virtual

reflect the family's priorities and principles Find solutions to your wealth management challenges Develop an action plan for initiating an intergenerational transfer Implement best practices for separating operating assets and family... View Details

2024
Working Paper

Voting Rules, Turnout, and Economic Policies

By: Enrico Cantoni, Vincent Pons and Jérôme Schäfer

In recent years, voter ID laws and convenience voting have generated heated partisan debates. To shed light on these policy issues, we survey the recent evidence on the institutional determinants and effects of voter turnout and broaden the perspective beyond the most... View Details

Keywords: Voting; Political Elections; Policy

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May 2023
Article

Decarbonizing Health Care: Engaging Leaders in Change

By: Vivian S. Lee, Kathy Gerwig, Emily Hough, Kedar Mate, Robert Biggio and Robert S. Kaplan

Health care leaders are often surprised to learn that their operations contribute significantly to a warming climate. In addition to their roles as responders to and victims of extreme weather events, health care organizations have an obligation to reduce... View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Decarbonization; Carbon Emissions; Net-zero Emissions; Climate Change; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry

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Program

Private Equity and Venture Capital

portfolio companies and choose appropriate exit strategies Scale your firm by managing deals and integrating operations across multiple locations Expand your personal and professional network Extend your network by living and working with... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Finance

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

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2014
Teaching Note

Meizhou Dongpo Restaurant: Entrepreneurship, Leadership and Culture (TN)

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Weiku Wu and Jia Guo

Meizhou Dongpo is a large catering group in China. On June 6, 1996, the first Meizhou Dongpo Restaurant was opened in Beijing. The enterprise entered the stage of rapid development in 2000, and set up Beijing Meizhou Restaurant Management Co., Ltd. In June 2003 the... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Leadership; National Culture; China; Restaurants; China

March 2012
Article

Enriching the Ecosystem

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter

To remain a leader in innovation, the United States needs the support of foundational institutions that help seed, grow, and renew enterprises. Historically, these institutions-such as universities, venture creators, labor markets, and job-training programs-have tended... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Organizations; Research and Development; Social and Collaborative Networks; Growth and Development Strategy; United States