Publications

March 1996 (Revised July 1996)
Case

Service Corporation International

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Craig F Schreiber

The CFO of a high-growth company in the low-growth and fragmented funeral services industry must decide how to optimize capital structure and earnings growth while maximizing the company's market value. View Details

Keywords: Financial Management; Value Creation; Business Growth and Maturation; Consolidation; Industry Growth; Capital Structure; Expansion; Service Industry; United States; North and Central America

12 Nov 2001
Research & Ideas

The Three Components of Family Governance

of statement. The rare family in business may have a more elaborate family governance structure, with a separate meeting for family-owner-managers or a separate council for family shareholders or periodic meetings between shareholders,... View Details

March 2006
Module Note

International Regulatory Regimes

By: Mihir A. Desai and Kathleen Luchs

Describes the seventh module in the International Finance course at Harvard Business School. The module focuses on how national and international regulatory regimes influence financial decisions. The module explores how national regulatory regimes interact, the... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Markets and Industries; International Finance; Decisions; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business Ventures; Teaching; International Relations; Education Industry

2010
Article

Corporate Governance at the World Bank and the Dilemma of Global Governance

By: Ashwin Kaja and Eric Werker

Most major decisions at the World Bank are made by its Board of Executive Directors. While some countries enjoy the opportunity to serve on this powerful body, most countries rarely, if ever, get that chance. This gives rise to the question: does board membership lead... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Decisions; Governing and Advisory Boards; Banks and Banking; Financing and Loans; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Voting; Globalized Economies and Regions

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November 2009 (Revised January 2011)
Case

International AIDS Vaccine Initiative

By: Allen S. Grossman and Cathy Ross

Dedicated to accelerating the development of a safe, effective, accessible, preventive HIV vaccine, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) pioneered ways of addressing the inadequate incentive structures that prevented progress toward vaccines for AIDS and... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Globalized Firms and Management; Health Care and Treatment; Health Disorders; Business and Government Relations; Partners and Partnerships; Research and Development; Social Enterprise; Health Industry

August 1982 (Revised September 1991)
Case

Rockwell International (A)

By: Michael E. Porter

Describes the competitive situation facing Rockwell International, the market leader in the U.S. water meter industry. The industry is undergoing structural change, and competitor activity is intensifying. Rockwell must decide what, if any, actions are necessary to... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Decisions; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Markets; Industry Structures; Business Strategy; Competition; Manufacturing Industry; United States

Research Summary

Governance and Accountability in Social Sector Organizations

This research examines governance in two types of organizations: international NGOs and socioeconomic hybrids.

First, over the past decade, many of the world's most prominent international nongovernmental organizations and networks (INGOs) ... View Details

2013
Working Paper

International Health Economics

By: Mark Egan and Tomas J. Philipson

Perhaps because health care is a local service sector, health economists have paid little attention to international linkages between domestic health care economies. However, the growth in domestic health care sectors is often attributed to medical innovations whose... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Innovation and Invention; Global Range; Economics

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Article

Organizational Innovation in the Multinational Enterprise: Internalization Theory and Business History

By: Teresa da Silva Lopes, Mark Casson and Geoffrey Jones

This article engages in a methodological experiment by using historical evidence to challenge a common misperception about internalization theory. The theory has often been criticized for maintaining that it assumes a hierarchically organized MNE based on knowledge... View Details

Keywords: Internalization; Multinational Strategy; Business History; Organization And Management Theory; Globalization; Entrepreneurship; Governance; History; Organizations; Theory; Africa; Asia; Europe; Latin America; North and Central America

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March 2006
Course Overview Note

International Finance: A Course Overview Note

By: Mihir A. Desai

Describes the International Finance course at Harvard Business School, which argues that the forces of globalization have fundamentally changed the scope and activities of firms, thereby altering the practice of finance within these firms. As a consequence of an... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Business Ventures; Integration; Change Management; Decision Choices and Conditions; Investment; Risk Management; Competitive Advantage; Motivation and Incentives; International Finance; Capital Markets

January 1990 (Revised June 1995)
Case

Colliers International Property Consultants

By: Nitin Nohria

Describes the origins, organizational structure, management practices, and use of information technology (IT) in Colliers, a real estate network. Colliers provides local firms with a way to maintain local autonomy while gaining national and international coverage.... View Details

Keywords: Property; Organizational Structure; Information Technology; Management Practices and Processes; Partners and Partnerships; Business Model; Mission and Purpose; Business Growth and Maturation; Conflict and Resolution; Quality; Real Estate Industry

May 1993
Background Note

Managing International Alliances: Conceptual Framework

Provides an overview of key issues on management of international alliances, including: 1) the logic of collaboration; 2) selecting partners; 3) structuring alliances; 4) alliance networks; 5) alliance dynamics; 6) limits to alliances; and 7) the role of governments. View Details

Keywords: Management; Alliances; Globalization

November 2005
Background Note

Deal Structure and Deal Terms

By: Michael J. Roberts and Howard H. Stevenson

Describes the general principles of crafting financial deals around the provision of capital to entrepreneurial ventures. Discusses in more detail some of the specific aspects of venture capital term sheets. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Governance Compliance; Negotiation Deal

March 2014
Case

Babcock International Plc

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

In 2013, Babcock International Plc (Babcock) was the largest engineering services provider in the UK with sales of over £3 billion. Under the leadership of CEO Peter Rogers, Babcock had grown revenues and profits nearly tenfold over the previous decade as it benefited... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Change; Strategy And Leadership; Diversification; United Kingdom; Military; Nuclear Power; Nuclear; Engineering And Construction; Conglomerates; Strategic Planning; Competitive Strategy; Global Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Construction Industry; Energy Industry; United Kingdom

July 1989 (Revised August 1990)
Background Note

New Theories of International Trade

By: David B. Yoffie and Heather A. Hazard

Explores the "new" theories of international trade--also called strategic trade policy--which were developed in the 1980s. Examines why economists and policy makers thought new approaches were necessary to explain international trade, the contributions of industrial... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Theory; Policy; Trade

February 2023
Article

National Models of Climate Governance Among Major Emitters

By: Johnathan Guy, Esther Shears and Jonas Meckling

National climate institutions structure the process of climate mitigation policymaking and shape climate policy ambition and performance. Countries have, for example, been building science bodies, passing climate laws and creating new agencies. Here we provide the... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Regulation; Policy; Analytics and Data Science; Climate Change

Article

Collaboration Networks, Structural Holes, and Innovation: A Longitudinal Study

By: Gautam Ahuja

To assess the effects of a firm's network of relations on innovation, this paper elaborates a theoretical framework that relates three aspects of a firm's ego network-direct ties, indirect ties, and structural holes (disconnections between a firm's partners)—to the... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Social and Collaborative Networks; Innovation and Invention; Chemical Industry