Publications

January 1989 (Revised September 1995)
Case

MSDI-Alcala de Henares, Spain

By: Timothy A. Luehrman

Merck & Co., Inc. is evaluating a proposed cost-saving investment by its Spanish subsidiary. The case introduces techniques of discounted cash flow valuation analysis in a multicurrency setting. Can be used to teach basic international parity conditions as they relate... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Cash Flow; Cost Management; Currency; Investment; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Valuation; Spain

20 Jan 2003
Research & Ideas

Fixing Corporate Governance: A Roundtable Discussion at Harvard Business School

inadequate disclosure rules were cracks in the financial infrastructure, options were the rocket fuel that blew the cracks wide open, with some disastrous results. I think all the attention being paid to the current problems—particularly by business itself—will help... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons

01 Mar 2013
News

Leveraging Female Talent

the United States to see what courses are being offered in the field of women and leadership. And whenever I taught the Managing Human Capital course, I surveyed my female students to ask: If I taught a... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management of Companies and Enterprises

October 2000 (Revised November 2000)
Case

New Economy Ethics: YouKnowIt.com

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr. and Kim Slack

Entrepreneur Janice Schwartz is hoping to grow her start-up company by creating a technical advisory board and compensating members with discounted company stock. Schwartz is considering six candidates that can help her online education company in a variety of ways: as... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Crime and Corruption; Customers; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Governing and Advisory Boards; Media; Networks; Internet

November 2007 (Revised February 2011)
Case

The Ice King

By: Tom Nicholas and Sandra Nicholas

Provides an opportunity to examine the risk-reward tradeoff and the travails of entrepreneurial venturing in the nascent U.S. economy. Traces the origins and development of Frederic Tudor's Ice Company, a business which developed during the 19th century to hack chunks... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Cost vs Benefits; Entrepreneurship; Globalization; Business History; Operations; Risk and Uncertainty; United States

27 Jul 2023
Blog Post

Recruiting International Students is Easy and Beneficial for Employers

the potential cost of sponsorship. But understanding the value of the candidates and the ease of the visa process allows employers to make... View Details

15 Sep 2009
First Look

First Look: September 15

find the evidence to be most consistent with a model of endogenous technology adoption where the cost of adopting new technologies declines sufficiently with the current level... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

29 Aug 2024
News

A Kick Start for Latin American Startups

According to Forbes, the region’s annual loss in food supplies represents 6 percent of the global total. Diferente rescues organic food seen as "imperfect" by the traditional market and sells food baskets at a fraction View Details

24 Jan 2012
First Look

First Look: Jan. 24

create net benefits for society but would also involve costs frequently lack the necessary support to be enacted because losses loom larger than gains psychologically. To reduce the harmful consequence of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

23 Aug 2011
First Look

First Look: August 23

measured by the maximum Sharpe ratio achievable. We propose a model in which menu setters differ in their ability to preselect the menu. We show that when the cost of increasing the menu size is sufficiently... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 2022
Teaching Plan

GreenLight Fund

By: Brian Trelstad and Mel Martin

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 320-053. As Tara Noland, the Executive Director (ED) of GreenLight Cincinnati, reflected on her first few years on the job. Noland had delivered on what she had been hired to do in the city: work with leading philanthropists and nonprofit... View Details

Keywords: Philanthropy; Venture Philanthropy; Replication; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Venture Capital; Social Issues; Decision Making; Cincinnati

June 1990 (Revised January 1993)
Case

Dynatronics, Inc. (Abridged)

By: Thomas R. Piper

Provides an opportunity to evaluate an investment in a new product line in strategic, competitive, organizational, and economic terms. The economic analysis involves an estimation of the relevant cash flows and discounting them at an appropriate hurdle rate. View Details

Keywords: Product; Forecasting and Prediction; Investment; Capital Budgeting

Profile

Lara Hodgson

It seemed patently inefficient; the small businesses with a high cost of capital essentially funding the big players with all the cash. While many entrepreneurs might have been... View Details

February 1995 (Revised September 1995)
Case

The Bourland Companies

By: William J. Poorvu and John H. Vogel Jr.

Michael Bourland, the president of the Bourland Companies, needs to refinance two properties, an office building in southern New Hampshire and a retail property in Massachusetts. He is considering three alternatives: a renewal of a bank mini-perm, a 15-year mortgage... View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Property; Mortgages; Family Business; Financial Management; Family Ownership; Real Estate Industry; Massachusetts; North and Central America