Publications

January 2011 (Revised January 2015)
Case

Matrix Capital Management (A)

By: Malcolm P. Baker and David Lane

Ben Balbale, a partner at hedge fund Matrix Capital, must decide whether to exit their investment in Rovi Corporation, a company with a diverse portfolio of patents used primarily for digital interactive guides. Rovi's shares are up over 50% from the time Balbale... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Asset Management; Cash Flow; Stock Shares; Financial Markets; Investment Funds; Measurement and Metrics; Mathematical Methods; Strategy; Valuation; Financial Services Industry

Educators

January 2011
Supplement

Matrix Capital Management (B)

By: Malcolm P. Baker and David Lane

Ben Balbale, a partner at hedge fund Matrix Capital, must decide whether to exit their investment in Rovi Corporation, a company with a diverse portfolio of patents used primarily for digital interactive guides. Rovi's shares are up over 50% from the time Balbale... View Details

Keywords: Public Ownership; Cash Flow; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Investment Funds; Financial Strategy; Valuation; Partners and Partnerships; Markets; Performance Efficiency; Patents; Stock Shares; Decisions; Financial Services Industry

October, 2023
Article

Cleaning Up the Great Lakes: Housing Market Impacts of Removing Legacy Pollutants

By: Alecia Cassidy, Robyn C. Meeks and Michale R. Moore

The Great Lakes and their tributaries make up the largest freshwater system on the planet, providing drinking water and recreational value to millions of people. Yet manufacturing plants left a legacy of toxic pollutants in the region, tarnishing it as part of the... View Details

Keywords: Valuation Of Environmental Effects; Housing Demand; Water Pollution; Water Quality; Infrastructure; Pollution; Consumer Behavior

Read Now

January–February 1993
Article

Crisis Prevention: How to Gear Up Your Board

By: W. J. Salmon

Keywords: Crisis Management

12 Jan 2015
Research & Ideas

Regulators Ease Up on Companies Generating Political Benefits

because of what they did, but because of what they are? That's the question that intrigued Jonas Heese, who recently joined Harvard Business School as an assistant professor in the Accounting and Management unit. While earning his PhD in... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

June 2001 (Revised May 2002)
Case

Spir-It, Inc. (B): Managing People

When Jack Sindler founded Spir-it, Inc. in 1934, he was the company's sole employee. By 1999, Sindler's firm more than survived its first 55 years. Employment was up to nearly 200, with facilities in two states and work done in three shifts. The product line--which had... View Details

Keywords: Growth Management; Production; Business Growth and Maturation; Interpersonal Communication; Logistics; Human Resources; Diversity Characteristics; Manufacturing Industry

Educators

09 Mar 2020
Research & Ideas

Warring Algorithms Could Be Driving Up Consumer Prices

The widespread use of pricing algorithms is reshaping the nature of competition in online markets and potentially driving up the prices of retail goods, according to recent research. These automated, price-adjusting software programs may... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Retail

2012
Working Paper

Energy Efficiency: Picking up the Twenty Dollar Bill

By: Chonnikarn Fern Jira and Deishin Lee

Keywords: Sustainability; Energy Efficiency; Energy; Environmental Sustainability; Capital Budgeting

February 2007 (Revised March 2007)
Case

UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action?

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee, Forest L. Reinhardt and Elizabeth Raabe

Marco Suter, Executive Vice-Chairman, UBS Board of Directors, carefully studied the chart on his desk. It showed the public commitment of major financial institutions to help mitigate global warming. Evidently, UBS lagged behind its competitors. The graph was part of a... View Details

Keywords: Climate Change; Energy Conservation; Cost vs Benefits; Law; Financial Institutions; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Accountability; Financial Services Industry

Educators

06 Jan 2011
What Do You Think?

How Should Management Deal With “Anonymous”?

real questions about the implications of criminal or terrorist use of cyber weapons to destroy business assets. Should management be concerned about them? What, if anything, can or should be done about it at the organizational level? And... View Details

Keywords: by James L. Heskett

December 2005
Article

Up to Code: Does Your Company's Conduct Meet World-Class Standards?

By: Lynn Paine, Rohit Deshpandé, Joshua D. Margolis and Kim Eric Bettcher

Codes of conduct have long been a feature of corporate life. Today, they are arguably a legal necessity—at least for public companies with a presence in the United States. But the issue goes beyond U.S. legal and regulatory requirements. Sparked by corruption and... View Details

Keywords: Business Ethics; Standards Of Conduct; Globalized Firms and Management; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Values and Beliefs; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Governance

08 Oct 2007
Research & Ideas

Management Education’s Unanswered Questions

100 years. The situation may be due in large part to the role of university-based business education from the founding of the Wharton School in 1881 and continuing right up to the present. According to Khurana, the schools first... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Education

05 Jun 2013
Op-Ed

Corporate Leaders Need to Step Up on Climate Change

Green initiatives are ubiquitous these days, implemented with zeal at companies like Dupont, IBM, Walmart, and Walt Disney. The programs being rolled out—lighting retrofits, zero-waste factories, and carpool incentives—save money and provide a green glow. Most large... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Toffel & Auden Schendler

30 May 2005
Research & Ideas

Germany’s Pioneering Corporate Managers

actually have a lot to learn from one another, rather than setting one country's management practices up as a standard to which others should conform—or else they do not measure View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

05 Dec 2012
What Do You Think?

Should Managers Bother Listening to Predictions?

Summing Up Can Managers Afford to Ignore Predictions in Planning? There is a healthy skepticism when it comes to the reliability of predictions as a basis for planning. Donald Kortalon, commenting on this... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

02 Apr 2007
Lessons from the Classroom

Making the Move to General Manager

jobs, who are 'the general manager in the middle' who have the incredibly difficult job of managing up, down, and across the organization. "The cases are designed to get smart people to see different... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

July – August 2010
Article

Are You Ignoring Trends That Could Shake Up Your Business?

By: Elie Ofek and Luc Wathieu

Virtually all managers in consumer businesses recognize major social, economic, and technological trends. But many do not consider the profound ways in which trends--especially those that seem unrelated to their core markets--influence consumers' aspirations,... View Details

Keywords: Trends; Innovation and Invention; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Product Development