Publications

October 1994
Background Note

Note on Crude Oil and Crude Oil Derivatives Markets

By: Andre F. Perold, Wai Lee and Kuljot Singh

Briefly describes the crude oil markets and common derivatives contracts written on oil. The contracts are oil forward and futures contracts, and over-the-counter oil price swaps. View Details

Keywords: Non-Renewable Energy; Futures and Commodity Futures; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Contracts; Energy Industry

November 2019 (Revised February 2020)
Case

Hormel Foods

By: David E. Bell and Natalie Kindred

In 2019, CEO Jim Snee is weighing how to shape the image of Hormel Foods, one of the largest U.S. meat and food companies, at a time when the industry faces unprecedented scrutiny. Based in the small town of Austin, Minnesota, the nearly 130-year-old firm is best known... View Details

Keywords: Brand Portfolio Strategy; Brands and Branding; Product; Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Risk Management; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States; China

2008
Working Paper

An Investigation of Earnings Management through Marketing Actions

By: Craig James Chapman and Thomas J. Steenburgh

Prior research hypothesizes managers use "real actions," including the reduction of discretionary expenditures, to manage earnings to meet or beat key benchmarks. This paper examines this hypothesis by testing how different types of marketing expenditures are used... View Details

Keywords: Performance Expectations; Earnings Management; Marketing Strategy; Financial Reporting; Brands and Branding; Food and Beverage Industry

SSRN

Read Now

16 Jul 2008
Op-Ed

What Should Employers Do about Health Care?

and value. But health care has been treated as a commodity and cost reduction has been the dominant approach. Employers have gone to their vendors, health plans, or third-party administrators in the case of self insured plans, and tried... View Details

Keywords: by Michael E. Porter, Elizabeth O. Teisberg & Scott Wallace; Health

September 2019 (Revised May 2020)
Supplement

Keroche (C): The Excise Tax Increase

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Pippa Tubman Armerding

This case discusses the Kenyan government’s decision to increase excise taxes on wines in 2007. The tax increase would cause an average increase in price of 367% on Keroche’s fortified wines. Meanwhile, Keroche’s competitor EABL had effectively lobbied the government... View Details

12 Mar 2024
HBS Case

How Used Products Can Unlock New Markets: Lessons from Apple's Refurbished iPhones

Some of Apple’s most loyal customers think nothing of upgrading to the latest iPhone every time one comes out. But what about consumers who can’t splurge on a $1,000 iPhone 15 Pro? And what about the electronic waste that would accrue if people threw away functional... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Electronics; Information Technology

29 Sep 2014
Research & Ideas

Why Do Outlet Stores Exist?

of a particular item's design. Ngwe found an almost perfect inverse correlation between the two attributes. In other words, the more likely a customer was willing to pay a premium price for the newest fashions, the less likely were he or... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Apparel & Accessories; Fashion; Retail

20 Aug 2013
First Look

First Look: August 20

Waves in Ship Prices and Investment By: Greenwood, Robin, and Samuel Hanson Abstract—We study the returns to owning dry bulk cargo ships. Ship earnings exhibit a high degree of mean reversion, driven by industry participants' competitive... View Details

Keywords: Anna Secino

12 Feb 2008
First Look

First Look: February 12, 2007

pricing power from the manufacturer to the retailer, (2) the infiltration of more private-label products into the market, and (3) the rise in commodity costs as a result of inflation (for example, the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

September 2023 (Revised March 2024)
Case

ReMo Energy: Sizing Up Investors

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Tom Quinn

In 2023, executives with ReMo Energy (founded 2020) were deciding which size ammonia plant to build as their first project. Their innovative model produced ammonia—useful for making fertilizer and for energy storage—from renewable energy, and they had received funding... View Details

07 Jul 2008
Research & Ideas

Innovation Corrupted: How Managers Can Avoid Another Enron

officer Ken Lay made him president of Enron's new trading operations. In 2001, Skilling was named CEO. Before 1997, Enron was an innovative and profitable player in the newly deregulated natural gas industry. Skilling's big idea was to create fluid and transparent... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Energy; Utilities

04 Sep 2001
Research & Ideas

Is Government Just Stupid? How Bad Decisions Are Made

These resources are vast and diverse, ranging from tax dollars and the time of government bureaucrats and officials to national resources such as forests and mineral deposits. All these commodities are finite, and all have been squandered... View Details

Keywords: by Max H. Bazerman, Jonathan Baron & Katherine Shonk

January 2025
Case

Negotiating a Legacy at Sustainable Harvest (A)

By: Jillian Jordan, Julian Zlatev, Alicia Dadlani and Martha Hostetter

The specialty coffee importer Sustainable Harvest was the first certified B Corp in the coffee industry due to its investments in building coffee farmers’ capacity and livelihood. But in 2022, after coffee prices plummeted and the company’s bank declined to extend its... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Mergers and Acquisitions; Trust; Ethics; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Volatility; Futures and Commodity Futures; Social Enterprise; Valuation; Business Model; Credit; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Food and Beverage Industry; United States; Europe

21 Mar 2019
HBS Case

The Ferrari Way

made Ferrari a hot commodity among high-net-worth buyers. At the same time that competitors have increased production, Ferrari has intentionally limited production to create scarcity, something Thomke calls “deprivation marketing.” The... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Auto

02 Oct 2017
What Do You Think?

Do Bitcoin and Digital Currency Have a Future?

first Wall Street firm to do so. For me, the jury is still out. Here’s why. Back in the 1960s, I partnered with a commodities broker at the then-existent Hayden, Stone brokerage firm to form the Comsec Fund, a mutual fund that could trade... View Details

Keywords: by James L. Heskett; Financial Services

January 2025
Supplement

Negotiating a Legacy at Sustainable Harvest (B)

By: Jillian Jordan, Julian Zlatev, Alicia Dadlani and Martha Hostetter

The specialty coffee importer Sustainable Harvest was the first certified B Corp in the coffee industry due to its investments in building coffee farmers’ capacity and livelihood. But in 2022, after coffee prices plummeted and the company’s bank declined to extend its... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Mergers and Acquisitions; Trust; Ethics; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Volatility; Futures and Commodity Futures; Social Enterprise; Valuation; Business Model; Credit; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Food and Beverage Industry; United States; Europe