Publications

To all who declare that American democracy is broken—riven by partisanship, undermined by extremism, and corrupted by wealth—history offers hope. In nearly every generation since the nation’s founding, critics have made similar declarations, and yet the nation is... View Details

February 2017 (Revised June 2017)
Case

ExxonMobil: Business as Usual? (A)

By: George Serafeim, Shiva Rajgopal and David Freiberg

Climate change was becoming an important societal and business issue as more governments were introducing climate change related regulations and investors became increasibly worried about stranded assets within oil and gas firms. In September 2016, the U.S. Securities... View Details

Keywords: Oil ＆ Gas; Oil Prices; Oil Companies; Asset Impairment; Predictive Analytics; Sustainability; Environmental Impact; Innovation; Disclosure; Accounting; Valuation; Climate Change; Renewable Energy; Environmental Sustainability; Financial Reporting; Energy Industry

21 Dec 2009
Research & Ideas

Good Banks, Bad Banks, and Government’s Role as Fixer

funds, Pozen writes with authority and unusual clarity about complex issues in Too Big to Save? How to Fix the U.S. Financial System (John Wiley & Sons). Roger Thompson: How does the government figure out which financial institutions... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson; Banking; Financial Services

July 2009 (Revised June 2010)
Supplement

Executive Pay and the Credit Crisis of 2008 (B)

By: V.G. Narayanan and Lisa Brem

As the recession lingered on into 2009, the U.S. government sought to limit executive pay and excessive risk. The debate raged over what constituted excessive risk and how best to mitigate it. This case describes the government restrictions on executive pay for TARP... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Government Legislation; Executive Compensation; Risk Management; Business and Government Relations; Motivation and Incentives; United States

Debora Spar is the Jaime and Josefina Chua Tiampo Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and Senior Associate Dean for Business and Global Society. Her current research focuses on issues of gender and technology, and the interplay between... View Details

Keywords: federal government; federal government; federal government; federal government; federal government; federal government; federal government; federal government; federal government; federal government

June 1995 (Revised October 1996)
Case

Lexus and the USTR

By: John A. Quelch

Lexus executives and dealers in the United States are debating how to respond to the U.S. Trade Representative's announcement of 100% tariffs on 13 models of Japanese luxury imported cars. View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Taxation; Luxury; Trade; Auto Industry; Japan; United States

February 2024 (Revised July 2024)
Case

Korea Venture Investment Corporation

By: Paul A. Gompers and Billy Chan

Financial service sector Korea Venture Investment Corporation (KVIC) is the venture capital arm of the Korean government with a founding mission to build a domestic startup ecosystem that would be as competitive as Silicon Valley. KVIC manages a basket of... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Society; Investment; Venture Capital; Mission and Purpose; State Ownership; Financial Services Industry; Asia; South Korea

JAMES K. (“Jim”) SEBENIUS, is the Gordon Donaldson Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, where he founded the Negotiation unit and teaches advanced... View Details

19 Nov 2012
Research & Ideas

LEED-ing by Example

In the debate over whether to increase or decrease the stringency of environmental regulations, the possibility that government agencies might use purchasing to stimulate market demand for "green" products and services is often... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Construction; Real Estate; Energy; Utilities

October 2015 (Revised July 2017)
Case

OMV Petrom: Investment as Partnership—When It Takes Three to Tango

By: Dante Roscini, Emer Maloney and Daniela Beyersdorfer

Petrom was privatized by the Romanian state in 2004 and acquired by Austrian oil company OMV, with the state retaining a 20.6% stake in the company. The situation was particularly challenging for the foreign investor since the sector in which the company operated was... View Details

Keywords: Partners and Partnerships; Privatization; Acquisition; Foreign Direct Investment; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Business and Government Relations; Energy Industry; Austria; Romania

2025
White Paper

Governors Reshaping Workforce Development: Turning WIOA Challenges into Workforce Solutions

By: Joseph B. Fuller, Kerry McKittrick, Nathalie Gazzaneo, Ariel Higuchi, Justine Gluck, Zoe Butler, Jack Porter and Malena Dailey

The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) grants Governors significant authority to shape their state workforce systems. Yet, little research explores how they use those powers to strengthen their economies and expand access to employment and training.... View Details

Keywords: Government Administration; Policy; Training; Employment

Read Now

January 1998 (Revised August 2010)
Background Note

Limited Liability Companies

By: Henry B. Reiling

As of early 1998, virtually all U.S. states had adopted legislation permitting the organization of limited liability companies. This note describes this new type of entity and the reason why it has become so popular. View Details

Keywords: Business Organization; Government Legislation; Taxation; United States

September 2010
Case

Angola and the Resource Curse

By: Aldo Musacchio, Eric D. Werker and Jonathan Schlefer

Since emerging from decades of conflict in 2002, Angola has been growing at a scorching double-digit rate, led by its oil industry. But the nation remains beset with seemingly intractable problems: immense inequality, low life expectancy, a non-diversified economy, and... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Developing Countries and Economies; Financial Crisis; Borrowing and Debt; Financial Institutions; Globalized Economies and Regions; Policy; Government Administration; Emerging Markets; Natural Environment; Angola

04 Mar 2016
Research & Ideas

Is E-commerce at Risk in Apple's Security Dispute with the FBI?

the front end and the back end, to accomplish something and then completely undo it. Another way to look at it is this: the U.S. government used Blackberrys for a long time because they were secure. The View Details

Keywords: Re: Sunil Gupta; Technology

25 Mar 2014
Research & Ideas

China’s Economic System has Difficult Road Overcoming its Political System

Kirby. "Why does the state dominate the wine industry? Because it is ludicrously profitable. Institutionally, you have these bottlenecks." Oftentimes it is not the central government that is the biggest... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

March 2013 (Revised March 2013)
Case

Rough Justice: Stuart Eizenstat and Holocaust-era Asset Restitution (A)

By: James K. Sebenius and Laurence A. Green

Beginning in 1994, a series of articles and public disclosures indicated that Swiss banks may have retained assets belonging to victims of the Holocaust, and also may have engaged in long term attempts to block survivors' ability to recover those assets after World War... View Details

Keywords: Banking; Banking And Insurance; U.s. History; Germany; Europe; Governance; History; Negotiation; Business and Government Relations; Banking Industry; Insurance Industry; Germany; United States; Switzerland

December 2005 (Revised January 2007)
Case

Ben & Jerry's: Preserving Mission & Brand within Unilever

By: James E. Austin and James Quinn

In the months after Ben & Jerry's was acquired by Unilever, Ben & Jerry's head social mission faces challenges and opportunities unique in the company's history, including: how to manage employee morale; whether to include synthetic ingredients to meet consumer... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Problems and Challenges; Mergers and Acquisitions; Mission and Purpose; Social Enterprise; Management Teams; Governing and Advisory Boards; Value Creation; Corporate Governance; Employee Relationship Management; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Retail Industry; United States

October 2003
Article

Capture by Threat

By: Ernesto Dal Bo and Rafael Di Tella

We analyze a simple stochastic environment in which policy makers can be threatened by “nasty” interest groups. In the absence of these groups, the policy maker’s desire for reelection guarantees that good policies are implemented for every realization of the shock.... View Details

Keywords: Political Parties; Politicians; Nash Equilibrium; Political Elections