Publications

Find at Harvard

May 2007
Article

Corporate Financing Decisions When Investors Take the Path of Least Resistance

By: Malcolm Baker, Joshua Coval and Jeremy Stein

We explore the consequences for corporate financial policy that arise when investors exhibit inertial behavior. One implication of investor inertia is that, all else equal, a firm pursuing a strategy of equity-financed growth will prefer a stock-for-stock merger to... View Details

Keywords: Behavior; Investment; Policy; Corporate Finance

Find at Harvard

2005
Other Unpublished Work

Corporate Financing Decisions When Investors Take the Path of Least Resistance

By: Malcolm Baker, Joshua Coval and Jeremy Stein

We explore the consequences for corporate financial policy that arise when investors exhibit inertial behavior. One implication of investor inertia is that, all else equal, a firm pursuing a strategy of equity-financed growth will prefer a stock-for-stock merger to... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Behavior; Stocks; Mergers and Acquisitions; Policy; Investment; Financial Institutions; Equity; Corporate Finance

08 Dec 2021
Blog Post

The Drive to Succeed: Silvio Memme (MBA 2020) and the Transition to Venture Capital

never-take-no-for-an-answer attitude resonated with me.” As it turned out, Memme would hear a lot of “no” along the way, so the personality traits he shared with Leone would play a major role in his success. Changing Gears Amid a Pandemic... View Details

November 2011 (Revised June 2013)
Case

Natura Cosméticos, S.A.

Rodolfo Guttilla, Director of Corporate Affairs for Natura Cosméticos S.A. (Natura), prepared for a meeting with key stakeholders to discuss the future of integrated reporting at Natura. A cosmetics company with a strong brand, robust growth in international and... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Decision Making; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Brazil

Educators

Research Summary

Compensatory Transfers in Collective Decision Making

By: Jerry R. Green

Jerry R. Green is studying mechanisms that can be employed to promote efficient collective decisions while providing justifiable compensation to participants who favor different, less efficient alternatives. This type of decision problem is pervasive in business,... View Details

December 2005 (Revised November 2006)
Case

Corning, 2002

By: Malcolm P. Baker and James Quinn

Corning, with large investments in fiber optic technology, was hit particularly hard by the collapse of the telecommunications industry in 2001. With over $4 billion in debt, the firm's survival appears to rest on raising additional equity capital. The protagonist is... View Details

Keywords: Financial Strategy; Financial Condition; Financial Instruments; Valuation; Capital; Public Equity; Stock Shares; Business or Company Management; Strategy; Manufacturing Industry; Industrial Products Industry

Educators

2025
Working Paper

Global Evidence on Gender Gaps and Generative AI

By: Nicholas G. Otis, Solène Delecourt, Katelynn Cranney and Rembrand Koning

Generative AI has the potential to transform productivity and reduce inequality, but only if adopted broadly. In this paper, we show that recently identified gender gaps in generative AI use are nearly universal. Synthesizing data from 18 studies covering more than... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Gender; Equality and Inequality; Technology Adoption; Behavior

March 2025
Article

Boomerasking: Answering Your Own Questions

By: Alison Wood Brooks and Michael Yeomans

Humans spend much of their lives in conversation, where they tend to hold many simultaneous motives. We examine two fundamental desires: to be responsive to a partner and to disclose about oneself. We introduce one pervasive way people attempt to reconcile these... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Motivation and Incentives; Perception; Behavior

15 Jun 2007
Research & Ideas

Remembering Alfred Chandler

in the School's Business History Group to reflect on Chandler's legacy and to share personal memories. To listen to this interview with professor Richard Tedlow, click on the triangular play button below. The Macromedia Flash plug-in is... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

30 Nov 2009
Research & Ideas

Tracks of My Tears: Reconstructing Digital Music

preference to quality over quantity and designing smaller, more consistent bundles may be beneficial. In general terms, the same probably applies to other industries where digital channels could lead to an unbundling of products, such as... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Music

07 Jul 2009
Research Event

Business Summit: Historical Roots of Globalization

this breakout session, panelists shared insights, informed by history, of the convergence that globalization promotes. Each focused on convergence from a different reference point: institutional convergence (in financial systems), policy... View Details

Keywords: Re: Multiple Faculty

2010
Working Paper

Substitution Patterns of the Random Coefficients Logit

By: Thomas J. Steenburgh and Andrew Ainslie

Previous research suggests that the random coefficients logit is a highly flexible model that overcomes the problems of the homogeneous logit by allowing for differences in tastes across individuals. The purpose of this paper is to show that this is not true. We prove... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Mathematical Methods; Behavior; Prejudice and Bias

SSRN

September 2006
Supplement

Medco Energi Internasional (CW)

In late 2004, Hilmi Panigoro, CEO of the publicly traded Indonesian oil company Medco Energi Internasional, is striving to regain majority control of the company his brother Arifin founded in 1980. The Asian financial crisis of 1999 led to a major restructuring that... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Restructuring; Family Business; Financing and Loans; Ownership Stake; Business and Shareholder Relations; Energy Industry; Indonesia; Singapore

21 Feb 2013
HBS Seminar

Rodrigo Wagner, Tufts University

13 Mar 2018
First Look

March 13, 2018

February 2018 Management Science Laboratory Evidence on the Effects of Sponsorship on the Competitive Preferences of Men and Women By: Baldiga, Nancy R., and Katherine Baldiga Coffman Abstract—Sponsorship programs have been proposed as... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2024
Working Paper

Trade Policy in the Shadow of Conflict: The Case of Dual-use Goods

By: Maxim Alekseev and Xinyue Lin

Policymakers increasingly use trade instruments to address national security concerns. This paper studies optimal policy for dual-use goods, items with both military and civilian applications. We begin by documenting that regulation and trade flows of dual-use goods... View Details

Keywords: Policy; National Security; Trade; Taxation; Financial Instruments; Macroeconomics

August 2006 (Revised February 2009)
Case

Medco Energi Internasional

In late 2004, Hilmi Panigoro, CEO of the publicly traded Indonesian oil company Medco Energi Internasional, is striving to regain majority control of the company his brother Arifin founded in 1980. The Asian financial crisis of 1999 led to a major restructuring that... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Family Business; Restructuring; Financing and Loans; Ownership Stake; Business and Shareholder Relations; Indonesia; Singapore

Educators