Publications

October 2022
Case

Spaceport America, Public Sector Risk-taking, and Political Accountability (A)

By: Matthew Weinzierl, Dava Newman, Rebecca Browder and Angela Acocella

Sitting quietly in the heart of the New Mexico desert in the summer of 2014, Spaceport America (SA) housed little of the activity its supporters anticipated when opening its hangar doors in 2011. Despite $1 million in annual rent from Virgin Galactic, British... View Details

Keywords: Funding Sources; Risk and Uncertainty; Public Sector; Business and Government Relations; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Aerospace Industry; New Mexico

15 Dec 2016
HBS Seminar

John-Paul Ferguson, Stanford Graduate School of Business

2006
Working Paper

The Value of a 'Free' Customer

By: Sunil Gupta, Carl F. Mela and Jose M. Vidal-Sanz

Central to a firm's growth and marketing policy is the revenus and profit potential of its customer assets. As a result, there has been a recent proliferation of work regarding customer lifetime value. However, extant research in this area is silent regarding how to... View Details

Keywords: Customer Value and Value Chain; Auctions; Network Effects; Business Strategy

29 Jul 2015
News

Ailing infrastructure

January 2025
Case

Blue Frontier: Disrupting Air Conditioning

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jacob A. Small

Serial entrepreneur Daniel Betts founded Blue Frontier in South Florida to offer a climate-friendly solution to increase air conditioning efficiency and dehumidify using new technology he developed. Backed by significant venture capital, Blue Frontier had to choose... View Details

February 1997 (Revised July 2004)
Case

Walden Woods

By: William J. Poorvu and Arthur I Segel

In 1984, Mortimer Zuckerman and Ed Linde, through their firm, Boston Properties (BP), acquired land in Concord, MA to build a 147,000-square-foot, first-class suburban office building. BP proceeded to go through the permitting and approval process with the town and was... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Decision Choices and Conditions; Entrepreneurship; Property; Environmental Sustainability; Conflict and Resolution; Real Estate Industry; Massachusetts

27 Feb 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, February 27, 2018

platforms have the potential to improve our understanding of gentrification and enable new measures of how neighborhoods change in close to real time. Combining data on businesses from Yelp with data on gentrification from the Census, Federal View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

20 Mar 2007
First Look

First Look: March 20, 2007

Working PapersIncorporating Price and Inventory Endogeneity in Firm-Level Sales Forecasting Authors:Saravanan Kesavan, Vishal Gaur, and Ananth Raman Abstract As numerous papers have argued, sales, inventory, and gross margin for a retailer are interrelated. We... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

December 2023
Article

Brokerage Relationships and Analyst Forecasts: Evidence from the Protocol for Broker Recruiting

By: Braiden Coleman, Michael Drake, Joseph Pacelli and Brady Twedt

In this study, we offer novel evidence on how the nature of brokerage-client relationships can influence the quality of equity research. We exploit a unique setting provided by the Protocol for Broker Recruiting to examine whether relaxed broker non-compete agreement... View Details

Keywords: Brokers; Analysts; Forecasts; Bias; Protocol; Investment; Research; Forecasting and Prediction

Find at Harvard

2013
Working Paper

Competing by Restricting Choice: The Case of Search Platforms

By: Hanna Halaburda and Mikolaj Jan Piskorski

Seminal papers recommend that platforms in two-sided markets increase the number of complements available. We show that a two-sided platform can successfully compete by limiting the choice of potential matches it offers to its customers while charging higher prices... View Details

Keywords: Matching Platform; Indirect Network Effects; Limits To Network Effects; Decision Choices and Conditions; Network Effects; Two-Sided Platforms; Marketplace Matching; Competitive Strategy

SSRN

March 2003
Case

Insurer of Last Resort? The Federal Financial Response to September 11

By: David A. Moss and Sarah A. Brennan

Examines the federal financial response to September 11, 2001: the airline bailout, the victim compensation fund, emergency aid to New York and Washington, and terrorism reinsurance. Less than two weeks after the attacks, the government had committed almost $40 billion... View Details

Keywords: Business and Government Relations; Insurance; Risk Management; United States

March 2023
Case

Azenta Life Sciences: The Road to Transformation

By: Gary P. Pisano and Catherine Piner

When the Board brought Steve Schwartz in as President of Brooks Automation in 2010, they gave him a clear mission: strengthen the company’s core semiconductor equipment business and find a new industry to enter. Over the course of the next decade, Schwartz and the... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Business and Shareholder Relations; Market Entry and Exit; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Segmentation; Technology Industry

March 2017 (Revised July 2019)
Case

Interline Brands: Don't Stop Believing

By: Nori Gerardo Lietz and Ricardo Andrade

Interline Brands, a leading distributor of residential housing maintenance and repair parts and equipment in the U.S., had just held its November 2014 board meeting. The meeting had been productive but not without some soul searching for both the company’s management... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity Exit; Consumer Goods; IPO; Private Equity; Initial Public Offering; Decision Choices and Conditions

Research Summary

Accountability in the World Bank

This research, now complete, examines the roles of civil society actors in advocating for greater accountability at the World Bank at three levels of decision-making: (1) the project level, (2) the policy level, and (3) the board governance level. The research finds... View Details

December 1996
Supplement

Cleveland Turnaround: Leadership in Action

By: James E. Austin, Jaan Elias and Andrea L Strimling

Consists of three separate parts. Part 1, The Cleveland Turnaround, describes Cleveland's decline until its bankruptcy in 1978. This is followed by the remedial actions taken by community leaders, starting with the election of a new mayor, the formation of new... View Details

Keywords: Leading Change; Business Cycles; Development Economics; Urban Development; Social Issues; Business and Community Relations; Cleveland

25 Aug 2009
First Look

First Look: August 25

Working PapersAnger and Regulation Authors:Rafael Di Tella and Juan DubraNBER Working Paper Series, No. 15201, August 2009 Abstract We propose a model where voters experience an emotional cost when they observe a firm that has displayed insufficient concern for other... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

October 2024 (Revised December 2024)
Case

Kering Eyewear

By: Rohit Deshpandé, Dante Roscini and Elena Corsi

In June 2024, Roberto Vedovotto, CEO of Kering Eyewear, prepared to discuss the future of the recently acquired brands LINDBERG, a Danish optical eyewear brand, and Maui Jim, an American sunglasses brand. Vedovotto founded Kering Eyewear in 2014, convincing... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Brands and Branding; Product Marketing; Fashion Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Italy; Europe

2017
Article

Refugees Misdirected: How Information, Misinformation and Rumors Shape Refugees’ Access to Fundamental Rights

By: Melissa Carlson, Laura Jakli and Katerina Linos

The global refugee regime represents one of the few generous commitments governments offer to outsiders. Indeed, few persons fleeing armed conflict actually claim international protection upon first arriving in Europe, even though the benefits of legal protection are... View Details

Keywords: Refugees; Knowledge Dissemination; Trust; Risk and Uncertainty; Rights; Europe

May 2011
Article

Underdog Branding: Why Underdogs Win in Recessions

By: Neeru Paharia, Anat Keinan and Jill Avery

Underdog stories about overcoming great odds through passion and determination are particularly resonant during difficult times as they inspire us and give us hope when the outlook we face is bleak. They promise that success is still possible, a much needed message in... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Brand Building; Brand Management; Brand Positioning; Competitive Positioning; Brands and Branding; Economics; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Advertising Campaigns; Advertising Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Fashion Industry; Food and Beverage Industry