Publications

November 1995 (Revised November 1999)
Case

National Power and the Privatization of the British Power Generation Industry

By: Willis M. Emmons III and Ed Simnett

The British government privatized the nation's electric utility sector in 1991 through a complex process involving the restructuring of the industry as well as the creation of a new regulatory oversight body. National Power plc, the largest of the privatized power... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Trade; Energy Generation; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Markets; Monopoly; Privatization; Opportunities; Diversification; Expansion; Energy Industry; Utilities Industry

Find at Harvard

Research Summary

Capitalism as a System of Governance

My research interest is in further exploration of the analytic utility of an original conception of capitalism as an indirect, three level system of governance for the economic relationships within political entities, and mostly within nation states. This three level... View Details

25 Jul 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Bias in Official Fiscal Forecasts: Can Private Forecasts Help?

Keywords: by Jeffrey A. Frankel and Jesse Schreger

2015
Working Paper

What Do Private Equity Firms Say They Do?

By: Paul A. Gompers, Steven N. Kaplan and Vladimir Mukharlyamov

We survey 79 private equity investors with combined assets under management (AUM) of over $750 billion about their practices in firm valuation, capital structure, governance, and value creation. Investors rely primarily on internal rate of return (IRR) and multiples to... View Details

Keywords: Governance; Value Creation; Private Equity; Capital Structure; Valuation; Management Practices and Processes

SSRN

Read Now

November 2007
Article

If Private Equity Sized Up Your Business

By: Robert C. Pozen

This article includes a one-page preview that quickly summarizes the key ideas and provides an overview of how the concepts work in practice along with suggestions for further reading. As the dust settles on the recent frenzy of private equity deals (including... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Capital Structure; Private Equity; Investment Return; Governing and Advisory Boards; Executive Compensation; Business and Shareholder Relations; Value Creation; Financial Services Industry

Find at Harvard

24 Jun 2010
Working Paper Summaries

“An Unfair Advantage”? Combining Banking with Private Equity Investing

Keywords: by Lily Fang, Victoria Ivashina & Josh Lerner; Banking

20 Feb 2019
Research & Ideas

Rocket-tunity: Can Private Firms Turn a Profit in Space?

to launch the first private mission to land on the moon, using a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The mission will use a lander to study the moon’s magnetic field. “One could imagine a trip like this becoming not exactly a rite of passage, but a... View Details

Keywords: by Scott Wallask; Aerospace; Tourism; Transportation

04 Sep 2001
Research & Ideas

Is Government Just Stupid? How Bad Decisions Are Made

its stance on specific issues. Why do we judge government by one standard and the private sector by another? In this book, we argue that the way citizens and government... View Details

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

June 2005 (Revised May 2006)
Background Note

Reminders for Owner-Managers Regarding the Board of Directors of Private Companies

By: John A. Davis

Presents a consolidated list of corporate governance best practices for owner-managers of private companies, including family businesses. View Details

Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Family Business

16 Jan 2012
Research & Ideas

Private Meetings of Public Companies Thwart Disclosure Rules

senior management at public firms still spends a lot of time in private powwows with hedge fund managers at corporate headquarters, road shows, or conferences—an average of 17 to 26 days per year for each executive, according to a 2010... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Financial Services

January 2009 (Revised October 2009)
Case

GLOBALGAP: Food Safety and Private Standards

By: David E. Bell and Mary Louise Shelman

In response to new laws governing liability and several food safety scares in the 1990s, European retailers drove the creation of a universal production standard based on Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) for fresh fruit and vegetables and a third-party certification... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Food; Governance Compliance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business and Government Relations; Safety; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Europe

June 1988 (Revised August 1988)
Case

Air Canada: The Privatization Option

By: Malcolm S. Salter

Keywords: Competition; Corporate Governance; Privatization; Air Transportation Industry; Canada

Find at Harvard

16 Nov 2010
Lessons from the Classroom

Data.gov: Matching Government Data with Rapid Innovation

two-fold, Lakhani added. It means fulfilling the public mission of an informed citizenry as well as also the private mission of enabling innovation. In terms of building government IT infrastructure,... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Technology

2024
Working Paper

Private Regulation, Institutional Entrepreneurship and Climate Change: A Business History Perspective

By: Ann-Kristin Bergquist and Geoffrey Jones

Private regulatory systems, including voluntary efforts by firms to restrain their own behavior are the primary form of global climate change governance. However, when environmental challenges first rose up on the scientific and political agendas during the 1970s, the... View Details

Keywords: Certification; Climate Change; Environmental Regulation; Business History; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy

Read Now

01 Aug 2007
Op-Ed

Company Town: Fixing Corrupt Governments

and graft means that citizens are cheated out of a fair government that operates efficiently and in the public interest. It's time to consider a radical idea: Corporations and nonprofit groups, in addition to individuals, should be... View Details

Keywords: by Eric Werker

December 2008 (Revised October 2012)
Case

Special Economic Zones in India: Public Purpose and Private Property (A)

By: Laura Alfaro and Lakshmi Iyer

In 2005, the government of India enacted the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) Act in order to attract investment, generate export revenues, and create manufacturing jobs. However, several planned projects faced difficulties in acquiring land for setting up the SEZ. In... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Development Economics; Economic Growth; Policy; Government Legislation; Property; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; India

2007
Working Paper

Testing Limits to Policy Reversal: Evidence from Indian Privatizations

By: Siddhartha G. Dastidar, Raymond Fisman and Tarun Khanna

We examine the effect of regime change on privatization using the 2004 election surprise in India. The pro-reform BJP was unexpectedly defeated by a less reformist coalition. Stock prices of government-controlled companies that had been slated for definite... View Details

Keywords: Political Elections; Privatization; State Ownership; Policy; India