Publications

11 Jun 2013
First Look

First Look: June 11

Publications 2006 Journal of International Business Studies Firm Rivalry, Knowledge Accumulation, and MNE Location Choices By: Alcácer, Juan, Cristian Deszo, and Minyuan Zhao Abstract—The international business (IB) literature has... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

February 2014
Background Note

Raising Startup Capital

By: Jeffrey Bussgang

Entrepreneurs typically focus their full energies on business-building. But raising capital is a core part of building a valuable business. Developing expertise in raising capital is more than a necessary evil, it is a competitive weapon. Master it and you will be in a... View Details

Article

Audit Quality and Auditor Reputation: Evidence from Japan

By: Douglas Skinner and Suraj Srinivasan

We study events surrounding ChuoAoyama's failed audit of Kanebo, a large Japanese cosmetics company whose management engaged in a massive accounting fraud. ChuoAoyama was PwC's Japanese affiliate and one of Japan's largest audit firms. In May 2006, the Japanese... View Details

Keywords: Audit Quality; Auditor Reputation; Japan; Accounting Audits; Crime and Corruption; Reputation; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Japan

SSRN

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26 Mar 2025
Blog Post

How to Approach Your Equity Compensation

that person didn’t exist. So Josh launched Presidio Advisors, a financial planning firm dedicated to helping millennials gain clarity and confidence around their equity compensation. For those looking to take a more strategic approach to... View Details

13 Mar 2012
First Look

First Look: March 13

Publication:MIS Quarterly Executive 11, no. 1 (March 2012) Abstract The Chinese management software and IT services industry has grown dramatically over the past two decades and today is about the size of the Indian industry a decade ago.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 2008
Case

Hrad Technika

Examines a struggling IT outsourcing project from the perspective of the IT services provider-Hrad Technika. When used in conjunction with "Tegan c.c.c." (9-609-038), it provides an opportunity to see both sides of the issue. When Hrad enters into a contract to create... View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Globalized Firms and Management; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Projects; Information Technology; Wales

December 2005 (Revised May 2007)
Case

Cynthia Fisher and the Rearing of ViaCell

By: Robert F. Higgins, Richard G. Hamermesh and Ingrid Vargas

Describes the start up of Viacord, a Boston-based medical services firm founded by Cynthia Fisher (HBS MBA) in 1993. Told from Fisher's perspective, the entrepreneur details the conceptualization and launch of the business and the many obstacles and expenses faced in... View Details

Keywords: Managerial Roles; Business Growth and Maturation; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Service Industry; Service Industry; Boston

18 Nov 2022
HBS Case

What Does It Take to Safeguard a Legacy in Asset Management?

professionals with an existing track record.” New employees relocate to Baltimore, where the firm is based. Investment teams are composed of generalists, not specialists, which maximizes knowledge sharing.... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Financial Services

August 2016 (Revised June 2017)
Case

Oversight Systems

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Amram Migdal

The case, set in May 2016, discusses sales strategy and managing sales and service at Oversight Systems, an Atlanta, Georgia–based software firm that developed analytics for organizations to monitor their data for errors, fraud, and operational inefficiencies. Included... View Details

Keywords: Sales; Sales Strategy; Entrepreneurial Sales; Entrepreneurial Sales And Marketing; Software Sales; Marketing; Marketing Management; Pricing; Salesforce Management; Distribution Channels; Marketing Strategy; Technology Industry; North America; United States; Atlanta; Georgia (state, US)

November 2018
Case

frog design

By: Srikant M. Datar and Caitlin N. Bowler

The case follows the genesis and development of Palo, a radical urban communications hub designed to replace payphone booths on Manhattan’s city streets, through a joint venture between frog design and a venture-backed firm LQD WiFi. The case explores the complexity of... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Prototyping; User Experience Design; Design Heuristics; Telecommunications; Urban Systems; Communication Technology; Urban Scope; Innovation and Invention; Design; Product Development

Article

Landing the First Job: The Value of Intermediaries in Online Hiring

By: Christopher Stanton and Catherine Thomas

Online markets for remote labor services allow workers and firms to contract with each other directly. Despite this, intermediaries—called outsourcing agencies—have emerged in these markets. This paper shows that agencies signal to employers that inexperienced workers... View Details

Keywords: Marketplace Matching; Agency Theory

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November 2002 (Revised August 2003)
Case

MedSource Technologies

By: Robert S. Huckman

Considers the issues facing Richard Effress, MedSource's chairman and CEO, as the firm approaches the Precision Cut project--the first test of MedSource's capabilities as an integrated, contract manufacturer in the medical device industry. MedSource Technologies was... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Production; Mergers and Acquisitions; Product Design; Supply Chain Management; Management Teams; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States

June 2024
Module Note

Value Creation Potential of New Business Models

By: David J. Collis

A business model is composed of three elements. These describe a generic way of creating value and identify the maximum potential value of that model for customers. The elements of a business model are the “job to be done” for the customer, the asset configuration, or... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Corporate Strategy; Mission and Purpose; Competitive Strategy; Value Creation

October 2009
Supplement

Merger of Equals: The Integration of Mellon Financial and The Bank of New York (C)

By: Ryan D. Taliaferro, Clayton S. Rose and David Lane

[Continuation of "A" and "B" cases.] Less than a month after the close of the merger between The Bank of New York and Mellon Financial, managers at the two firms realized that plans for combining their asset servicing businesses – and realizing the $180 million of... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Horizontal Integration; Financial Institutions; Business Processes; Risk Management; Strategy; Market Transactions; Assets; System; Saving; Banking Industry; New York (state, US)

2025
Working Paper

Bank Financing of Global Supply Chains

By: Laura Alfaro, Mariya Brussevich, Camelia Minoiu and Andrea Presbitero

Finding new international suppliers is costly, so most importers source inputs from a single country. We examine the role of banks in mitigating trade search costs during the 2018–2019 U.S.-China trade tensions. We match data on shipments to U.S. ports with the U.S.... View Details

Keywords: Financial Institutions; International Finance; Trade; Credit; United States; Asia

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Research Summary

Corporate Lobbying Strategy and Foreign MNEs

“U.S. Defense Contracts and the Lobbying Strategies of Foreign MNEs: The Liability of Foreignness and Make-or-Buy Decisions about Political Goods”

Many firms engage in lobbying with the expectation that their lobbying efforts will... View Details

Keywords: Non-market Strategy; Political Strategy; Lobbying; Make V. Buy; Multinational Enterprise; Global Strategy; United States

August 2008 (Revised September 2009)
Case

Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n Roll: The MTV Approach to Tackling HIV/AIDS

By: Tarun Khanna, Sonali R. Bloom and David E. Bloom

This case explores the role that MTV, with its heavy diet of music and general youth-oriented media content, plays in spreading public-service messaging to contain the scourge of HIV/AIDS worldwide. There is a focus especially on its efforts in several emerging... View Details

Keywords: For-Profit Firms; Developing Countries and Economies; Multinational Firms and Management; Health Care and Treatment; Emerging Markets; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Corporate Strategy; Health Industry; Africa