Publications

March 2000
Exercise

Developing Products on Internet Time: A Process Design Exercise

By: Stefan H. Thomke

This team exercise allows students to experience some of the dynamics of developing products in the fast-paced Internet environment and was inspired by the browser war between Netscape and Microsoft. Designed to be taught in a single class session, the exercise... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Internet and the Web; Problems and Challenges; Risk and Uncertainty; Design; Decisions; Management Practices and Processes; Integration; Organizations; Competition

January 1998 (Revised June 1999)
Case

German Hyperinflation of 1923, The

By: David A. Moss and Julio J. Rotemberg

Presents a compilation of primary and secondary sources as well as a set of data exhibits on the German hyperinflation of 1923. The hyperinflation represented a defining moment in German history and certainly one of the two or three most important economic events of... View Details

Keywords: History; Price; Production; Money; Inflation and Deflation; Policy; Economy; Government and Politics; Germany

04 Apr 2019
News

Why We Don’t Ask for More Time on Deadlines (But Probably Should)

18 Apr 2013
HBS Seminar

Robin Hanson, George Mason University

November 2011 (Revised June 2013)
Case

Natura Cosméticos, S.A.

Rodolfo Guttilla, Director of Corporate Affairs for Natura Cosméticos S.A. (Natura), prepared for a meeting with key stakeholders to discuss the future of integrated reporting at Natura. A cosmetics company with a strong brand, robust growth in international and... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Decision Making; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Brazil

Research Summary

Financial Risk Management

By: Richard F. Meyer

Richard F. Meyer is exploring the theory and practice of financial risk management in corporations worldwide. Three primary objectives of his research are: to understand the underlying sources of risk and corporations' exposure to them; to identify appropriate,... View Details

December 2007 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Vegpro Group: Growing in Harmony

By: David E. Bell, Brian Milder and Mary Shelman

Vegpro, a horticulture company, is Kenya's largest exporter of fresh vegetables and flowers to top supermarkets in the U.K. and Europe. In 2007, Vegpro's business is threatened by growing consumer concern about the environmental impact of food production and transport,... View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Developing Countries and Economies; Ethics; Food; Growth and Development Strategy; Operations; Environmental Sustainability; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Kenya; Europe; United Kingdom

2008
Working Paper

Workplace Peers and Entrepreneurship

By: Ramana Nanda and Jesper B. Sorensen

We examine whether the likelihood of entrepreneurial activity is related to the prior career experiences of an individual's co-workers, using a unique matched employer-employee panel dataset. We argue that coworkers can increase the likelihood that an individual... View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Entrepreneurship; Personal Development and Career; Power and Influence

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December 2003 (Revised April 2005)
Course Overview Note

Corporate Strategy: Course Note for Instructors

By: Bharat N. Anand

Introduces students to the concerns that impact a firm's choice of strategy, scope, and organization and assists in three central tasks that comprise the typical decision problem: diagnosing the sources of corporate advantage, evaluating the limits to such advantage,... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy

April 1996 (Revised June 1996)
Case

City Year Enterprise

City Year, a national, nonprofit, youth-service corps, decided to diversify its funding base by seeking opportunities to gain "earned income." In 1995, the initiative, dubbed "City Year Enterprise," had already launched its first project, a collaboration with the... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Partners and Partnerships; Joint Ventures; Social Entrepreneurship; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States

Program

Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management

Summary Today's nonprofit organizations are faced with shifting demands for services, resource constraints, and diverse operational challenges. They must also learn to navigate the advent of new technology and new sources of funding. To... View Details

June 2009 (Revised June 2009)
Case

VidaGas: VillageReach - The Mozambican Foundation for Community Development Joint Venture

This case describes the evolution of a liquid petroleum gas (LPG) distributor start-up, incubated by two not-for-profit NGOs to help improve the vaccine cold chain in Northern Mozambique. These NGOs must face the decision whether and how to sell their participation in... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Supply Chain; Health Care and Treatment; Investment; Non-Governmental Organizations; Energy Sources; Energy Industry; Health Industry; Mozambique

TeachingInterests

MBA Elective Curriculum Business-to-Business Marketing

Business markets differ from consumer markets in important ways. Typically, the buying process is more complex, the buying units and purchase criteria differ, and marketing decisions are more closely interrelated with firm-wide strategic choices. In addition,... View Details

Research Summary

US-China Relations

By: Meg Rithmire

Economic interdependence between the US and China was imagined years ago to be a source of security and prosperity for both countries, but is now the site of concerns about risk and national security on both sides. My work has examined how that shift has come about,... View Details

2023
Working Paper

Labor Reactions to Credit Deterioration: Evidence from LinkedIn Activity

We provide the first analysis of workers’ on-the-job networking activity following their firm’s credit deterioration. Using high-frequency networking on LinkedIn, we show that workers initiate more connections immediately following adverse credit shocks. We propose a... View Details

2024
Article

Political Polarization and Finance

By: Elisabeth Kempf and Margarita Tsoutsoura

We review an empirical literature that studies how political polarization affects financial decisions. We first discuss the degree of partisan segregation in finance and corporate America, the mechanisms through which partisanship may influence financial decisions, and... View Details

Keywords: Government and Politics; Investment Portfolio; Decisions; Governance

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September 2019
Article

Bankruptcy Spillovers

By: Shai Bernstein, Emanuele Colonnelli, Xavier Giroud and Benjamin Iverson

How do different bankruptcy approaches affect the local economy? Using U.S. Census microdata, we explore the spillover effects of reorganization and liquidation on geographically proximate firms. We exploit the random assignment of bankruptcy judges as a source of... View Details

Keywords: Agglomeration; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Economy; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

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2011
Article

Fundamental Freedom or Fringe Benefit?: Rice University and the Evolution of Academic Tenure, 1935-1963

In 1935, fewer than half of a sample of seventy-eight prominent universities employed formal tenure policies, but by 1973 almost 100 percent had instituted tenure. The intervening years generated many of the policies that still govern practices at American... View Details

Keywords: Higher Education; Compensation and Benefits; Education Industry

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September 2011 (Revised December 2011)
Case

CARD Group: Mutually Reinforcing Institutions

By: Cynthia A. Montgomery, Michael Shih-Ta Chen and Dawn Lau

CARD (Center for Agricultural and Rural Development) is a Philippines-based microfinance organization that began as an NGO and has since expanded into eight related entities providing services to the poor. Under Founding Director Dr. Aristotle Alip's leadership, CARD... View Details

Keywords: Microfinance; Partners and Partnerships; Non-Governmental Organizations; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Philippines