Publications

Article

Do Citizens’ Preferences Matter? Shaping Legislator Attitudes Towards Peace Agreements

By: Miguel García-Sánchez, Aila M. Matanock and Natalia Garbiras-Díaz

To what extent are legislators, responsible for the implementation of many peace agreements, responsive to citizens’ preferences? Examining the 2016 Colombian peace agreement, we embed an experiment in the 2019 wave of a survey of all the members of Congress. We inform... View Details

Keywords: Legislation; Legislators; Peace Process; Agreements; Govenment; Voters' Interests; Governance; Government and Politics; Voting; Policy; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Latin America; Colombia

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March 2002 (Revised March 2008)
Case

Saudi Arabia: Getting the House in Order

By: Richard H.K. Vietor and Rebecca Evans

Provides a vehicle to explore Islamic development and political issues within BGIE (business, government, and international economy). Set in early 2002, the case focuses on Crown Prince Abdullah's efforts to liberalize a failing rentier state, that had been dependent... View Details

Keywords: Disruption; Development Economics; Non-Renewable Energy; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; International Relations; Leading Change; Saudi Arabia; Middle East

August 2024
Case

Zipline: Expanding the World's Largest Autonomous Drone Delivery Network

By: Tarun Khanna and George Gonzalez

Zipline initially established the world's largest logistics network in Rwanda and Ghana by delivering medical supplies to hospitals via automated drones from a centralized hub. The company is now looking to expand to the U.S. home delivery market and designed a... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Growth and Development Strategy; Logistics; Expansion; Air Transportation; Business Model; Rwanda; Ghana; United States

June 2001
Case

GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (A)

By: Michael A. Wheeler and Gillian Morris

GE's chief litigation counsel sought to rationalize litigation flow by viewing it as a manufacturing process. By applying the principles of Six Sigma, P.D. Villareal created an Early Dispute Resolution (EDR) system that enabled both lawyers and managers to work... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Lawsuits and Litigation; Six Sigma; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Problems and Challenges; Conflict and Resolution; Energy Industry; Technology Industry; United States

April 2011
Teaching Note

Consumer Lending in Japan: Citi CFJ (TN) (A) & (B)

By: J. Gunnar Trumbull

Teaching Note for 709017 and 710018. View Details

Keywords: Profit; Saving; Situation or Environment; Mergers and Acquisitions; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Japan

2010
Case

HeidelbergCement: Technology Choice Under Carbon Regulation

By: David F. Drake, Paul R. Kleindorfer and Luk N. Van Wassenhove

Keywords: Technology; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Industrial Products Industry; Construction Industry

January 2009 (Revised February 2009)
Case

Sydney IVF: Stem Cell Research

By: Robert L. Simons, Kathryn Rosenberg and Natalie Kindred

This case examines the strategy implementation and risk management decisions at Sydney IVF, a research-based in vitro fertilization and stem cell company based in Australia. Drs. Robert Jansen and Jock Anderson, who co-founded Sydney IVF in 1986, developed novel... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Innovation and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Risk Management; Genetics; Commercialization; Health Industry; Australia

February 2024
Teaching Note

Fusion Industry Association: Igniting the Future of Clean Energy

By: Kyle Myers, Joshua Lev Krieger, Walter Frick and Jim Matheson

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 624-064. This Teaching Note explores the Fusion Industry Association's efforts to advance commercial fusion energy, highlighting challenges in innovation, regulation, market structure, and financing within the emerging technology sector... View Details

Keywords: Financing and Loans; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Technological Innovation; Industry Growth; Energy Industry

August 2010 (Revised December 2010)
Case

Malcolm Life Enhances Its Variable Annuities

By: Robert C. Pozen and David J. Pearlman

The case involves an insurance CEO choosing between different designs for a variable annuity product in light of hedging, marketing, and pricing issues. The case provides students with background on the economics and regulation of life insurance and variable annuities.... View Details

Keywords: Annuities; Insurance; Investment Return; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Product Design; Insurance Industry; United States

May 2022
Article

Coins for Bombs: The Predictive Ability of On-Chain Transfers for Terrorist Attacks

By: Dan Amiram, Evgeny Lyandres and Daniel Rabetti

This study examines whether we can learn from the behavior of blockchain-based transfers to predict the financing of terrorist attacks. We exploit blockchain transaction transparency to map millions of transfers for hundreds of large on-chain service providers. The... View Details

Keywords: Blockchain; Bitcoin; Accounting; AI and Machine Learning; National Security; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

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12 Apr 2018
Op-Ed

Op-Ed: The Trouble with Tariffs

trade—taxes, tariffs, comparative costs, workforce capabilities—all of which go into their location choices and supply chain designs. When governments change the rules, as the... View Details

Keywords: by Willy C. Shih; Manufacturing; Auto; Steel; Air Transportation; Technology; Telecommunications

July 2021
Case

Amazon HQ2

By: James K. Sebenius and Ben Cook

Amazon’s failed bid for a second headquarters location (“HQ2”) in Long Island City, New York offers many lessons for negotiators looking to avoid similar high-profile defeats in strategically important deals. The company’s project – which promised to bring billions of... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Negotiation; Public Opinion; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Problems and Challenges

June 2023
Article

Regulatory Limits to Risk Management

By: Ishita Sen

Variable annuities, the largest liability of U.S. life insurers, are investment products containing long-dated minimum return guarantees. I show that guarantees with similar economic risks are treated differently by regulation and these differences impact insurers’... View Details

Keywords: Interest Rate Risk; Variable Annuities; Capital Regulation; Reinsurance; Derivatives; Risk Management; Interest Rates; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

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June 2020 (Revised February 2021)
Case

Accounting for Leases at American Airlines (A)

By: Jonas Heese, Gerardo Pérez Cavazos and Julia Kelley

In March 2020, as coronavirus reduced demand for air travel, an analyst was forecasting American Airlines’ (American’s) first quarter financial results. To develop a forecast, she needed to familiarize herself with Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2016-02, “Leases... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Financial Reporting; Financial Statements; Finance; Governance; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Governance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Governing and Advisory Boards; Leasing; Accounting Industry; Air Transportation Industry; North and Central America; United States

December 1997
Case

California: The American Future?

By: Bruce R. Scott and Kevin Price

California has long been a lead state in terms of population growth, income, and societal norms. In the 1990s, California voters approved referenda to restrict benefits to immigrants and to prohibit affirmative action. Is this likely to be another leading indicator for... View Details

Keywords: Fairness; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Laws and Statutes; Civil Society or Community; Public Opinion; California

03 Apr 2019
Book

Fintech's Game-Changing Opportunities for Small Business

Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and big data will transform financial services and small-business lending long before they impact driverless cars, predicts Harvard Business School Senior Fellow... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Banking; Financial Services

April 2011 (Revised June 2014)
Case

Securities Lending After the Financial Crisis

By: Robert C. Pozen and Gayle Hameister

In April 2009, Wendy Jefferson had just returned to her office following a whirlwind day of meetings with her newest client, Star Advisor. Jefferson, a financial services consultant, was eager to dig into the information provided to her and her team about the Star... View Details

Keywords: Business Earnings; Debt Securities; Financing and Loans; Investment Funds; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Information

February 2010 (Revised July 2010)
Case

Barclays Wealth: Reignite WAR or Launch AlphaStream?

By: Lena G. Goldberg and Elisa Farri

In late January 2009, Thomas Fekete, managing director at Barclays Wealth in London, redeemed the most illiquid positions in the so-called Wealth Absolute Return Fund (WAR), one of Barclays Wealth's most promising offshore funds of hedge funds, and halted the Fund's... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Financial Liquidity; International Finance; Investment Funds; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Strategy; Financial Services Industry; London

December 1992 (Revised November 1993)
Exercise

Negotiation Exercise on Tradeable Pollution Allowances: Group C, Utility #3

By: Willis M. Emmons III

Describes the position of Utility #3 in negotiating Group C with respect to 1) its SO emissions reduction requirements; 2) the costs of its alternative compliance strategies; and 3) the nature of its state regulatory environment. View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Participants; Negotiation Process; Pollutants; Laws and Statutes; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Governance Compliance; Utilities Industry; United States