Publications

November 2003 (Revised June 2004)
Case

Samsung and Daewoo: Two Tales of One City

By fiscal year 2000, Samsung had pulled far ahead of other "chaebols," Korean conglomerates. For example, the market value of Samsung affiliates listed on the Korea Stock Exchange exceeded the sum of the market value of listed affiliates of second, third, and fourth... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Business Conglomerates; Corporate Strategy; Emerging Markets; Crisis Management; Electronics Industry; South Korea

Teaching Interest

Overview

By: Benjamin C. Esty

I created and teach a course called Strategies for Value Creation (SVC). It is designed to be a capstone course in the Elective Curriculum (EC or second year of the MBA program) that integrates and further develops concepts developed in several Required Curriculum (RC... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Corporate Finance; Value Creation; Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Financial Management

January 2017
Case

The Six CEOs of Tyco International Ltd.

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

In September 2016, Johnson Controls, Inc. completed the acquisition of Tyco International PLC, a $9.9 billion business with operating profits of $884 million. The purchase consideration was $14.4 billion. Although the deal was billed as a merger, Ireland-based Tyco... View Details

Keywords: Tyco; Dennis Kozlowski; Edward Breen; Fire Safety; Fire Protection; Security; Packaging; Securities And Exchange Commission; Fraud; Accounting; Accounting Audits; Earnings Management; Financial Statements; Goodwill Accounting; Acquisition; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Conglomerates; Business Divisions; Business Exit or Shutdown; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Headquarters; Business Model; Business Organization; For-Profit Firms; Restructuring; Crime and Corruption; Engineering; Applied Optics; Chemicals; Construction; Metals and Minerals; Ethics; Finance; Cash Flow; Public Equity; Stock Options; Financing and Loans; Initial Public Offering; Profit; Revenue; Geographic Location; Geographic Scope; Global Range; Globalized Firms and Management; Multinational Firms and Management; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Disclosure; Health Care and Treatment; Business History; Executive Compensation; Selection and Staffing; Courts and Trials; Lawfulness; Lawsuits and Litigation; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Public Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Strategy; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Consolidation; Corporate Strategy; Diversification; Expansion; Horizontal Integration; Value; Chemical Industry; Construction Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Electronics Industry; Energy Industry; Industrial Products Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Mining Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Semiconductor Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Utilities Industry; Republic of Ireland; Switzerland; Bermuda; United States; New Hampshire

01 May 2006
Research & Ideas

What Companies Lose from Forced Disclosure

are motivated to work harder to make all observable information more favorable, whether it is contractible or not (and whether it is valued by the firm or not). Firms anticipate this extra effort and reduce current explicit incentives to... View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen; Financial Services

Web

Faculty & Advisors | MBA

capital fund that has been building an in-house AI platform for the past decade with $2B+ AUM. Prior to SignalFire, she was a product leader at CVS Health, where she launched nationwide prescription delivery and virtual care products, and Devoted Health, currently... View Details

April 1999 (Revised September 2001)
Case

Penelope's Personal Pocket Phones

By: Paul A. Gompers

Provides students with an opportunity to use simple real options analysis to value a startup. Penelope Phillips is deciding whether to start a company to make wireless phones. Students get experience using traditional discounted cash flow valuation and a real options... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Capital Budgeting; Corporate Finance; Manufacturing Industry; Electronics Industry

Nitin Nohria served as the tenth dean of Harvard Business School from 2010-2020. He previously served as co-chair of the Leadership Initiative, Senior Associate Dean of Faculty Development, and Head of the Organizational Behavior unit.

As Dean, building on... View Details

03 Mar 2020
Video

Jorge Gerdau

Jorge Gerdau, Chair of Brazil-based Grupo Gerdau, which is one of the largest steel producers in Latin America, explains the importance of open communication among the different branches of his firm and the... View Details

April 2020 (Revised May 2020)
Case

NTT DOCOMO's Race to 5G

By: Juan Alcácer, Horst Melcher and Akiko Kanno

The case, based on extensive interviews with NTT DOCOMO’s technology leaders, focuses on the opportunities and challenges that NTT DOCOMO faces with the launch of infrastructure and services for 5G wireless telecommunication technology. With higher data rates and... View Details

Keywords: 5G; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Product Launch; Strategic Planning; Decision Making; Strategy; Telecommunications Industry; Technology Industry

21 Feb 2012
Research & Ideas

Leadership Program for Women Targets Subtle Promotion Biases

For the last quarter century, many fought hard to overcome gender discrimination in the workplace by raising awareness, strengthening antidiscrimination policies, and encouraging more women to enter the corporate world. At first blush,... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish

January 2014 (Revised April 2025)
Supplement

The PGA Tour (D)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Cole Magrath

In 1994, the PGA Tour (the "Tour"), the dominant incumbent professional golf circuit, had created tremendous value for its players. In the 1974 season, players competed for $8 million in prize money; by the 1994 season, the total prize purse had increased to $56... View Details

Keywords: PGA Tour; Tim Finchem; Deane Beman; Golf; Professional Golf; Business Model; Value Creation; Adaptation; Sports; Business Strategy; Sports Industry; United States

August 2007 (Revised January 2009)
Exercise

Real Options Exercises

By: Timothy A. Luehrman

Introduces students to simple forms and solution techniques for real options found in corporate settings. Revised versions of problems appearing in an older problem set (293-095). The basic differences are that the new set is shorter, but also a bit more demanding. View Details

Keywords: Capital Budgeting; Valuation

Robert Simons is a Baker Foundation Professor at Harvard Business School. For over 35 years, Simons has taught accounting, management control, and strategy execution courses in both the Harvard MBA and Executive Education Programs. For 2024/25, he is teaching a... View Details

14 Dec 2009
Research & Ideas

Can Entrepreneurs Drive People Movers to Success?

Imagine you've arrived for a meeting at a corporate campus. But now you discover that the conference room is in another building a quarter mile away. Sure, you could walk there but in the rain? Up purrs an automated people mover, a... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Transportation

18 Jun 2001
Research & Ideas

When In-House Research Isn’t Enough

For many decades, corporate research and development has been pretty much an "inside job." The road to innovative new products and services began and ended with a company's internal R&D. But according to HBS assistant... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner

2007
Text Book

Business Analysis and Valuation: Using Financial Statements

By: Paul M. Healy and Krishna G. Palepu

Financial statements are the basis for a wide range of business analysis. Managers, securities analysts, bankers, and consultants all use them to make business decisions. There is strong demand among business students for course materials that provide a framework for... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Framework; Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Statements