Publications

March 2008 (Revised March 2010)
Module Note

Global Capital and National Institutions: Crisis and Choice in the International Financial Architecture

By: Laura Alfaro

This module note presents a series of case studies taught in the Harvard Business School course Institutions, Macroeconomics, and the Global Economy (IMaGE). The course addresses the opportunities created by the emergence of a global economy and proposes strategies for... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; International Finance; Globalized Economies and Regions; Macroeconomics

17 Sep 2024
Research & Ideas

Advice for the New CEO: Talk to Your Employees Early and Often

million emails and 80 million meeting invitations. Shortly after a new CEO takes over, uncertainty among employees dampens communication within a company. However, after about five months, internal chatter... View Details

Keywords: by Ami Albernaz

24 Apr 2020
Op-Ed

Lessons from the NFL: Virtual Hiring, Leadership, Building Teams and COVID-19

determining how the player will perform going forward and in new circumstances (e.g., a new team) is a greater challenge. Given that QBs depend on their teammates—receivers, running backs and offensive... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Abbott , Boris Groysberg, Tali Groysberg, and Abhijit Naik; Sports

September 2006
Article

Decomposing Trust and Trustworthiness

By: Nava Ashraf, Iris Bohnet and Nikita Piankov

What motivates people to trust and be trustworthy? Is trust solely "calculative," based on the expectation of trustworthiness, and trustworthiness only reciprocity? Employing a within-subject design, we run investment and dictator game experiments in Russia, South... View Details

Keywords: Trust; Change

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22 Aug 2010
News

Income Inequality and Financial Crises

2020
Working Paper

EMEs and COVID-19: Shutting Down in a World of Informal and Tiny Firms

By: Laura Alfaro, Oscar Becerra and Marcela Eslava

Emerging economies are characterized by an extremely high prevalence of informality, small-firm employment and jobs not fit for working from home. These features factor into how the COVID-19 crisis has affected the economy. We develop a framework that, based on... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Emerging Economies; Informality; Firm-size Distribution; Health Pandemics; Developing Countries and Economies; Economy; System Shocks; Latin America

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March 2012 (Revised October 2012)
Case

Gary Hirshberg and Stonyfield Farm

By: Nancy F. Koehn, Nora N. Khan and Elizabeth W. Legris

Gary Hirshberg and Stonyfield Farm is the story of one entrepreneur's vision and journey to create a market-leading, environmentally responsible business founded on the principles of product quality, organizational alignment, and sustainability. A former environmental... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurs; Values; Development Stage Enterprises; Innovation; Management By Objective; Experimentation; Emerging Technologies; Mission and Purpose; Management Style; Values and Beliefs; Social Issues; Organizational Culture; Environmental Sustainability; Business Growth and Maturation; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Innovation and Invention; Food and Beverage Industry; New Hampshire

November 2023 (Revised February 2025)
Background Note

Corporate Climate Targets

By: Willy C. Shih, Michael W. Toffel and Kelsey Carter

Companies that are addressing climate change by mitigating their greenhouse gas emissions often set reduction targets. This note describes several types of widely used carbon reduction targets, including carbon neutral, science based, net zero, real zero, and carbon... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Sustainability; Environmental Strategy; Climate Risk; Target-setting; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Accountability; Policy; Measurement and Metrics; Strategic Planning; Social Issues; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact

March 2003 (Revised March 2011)
Background Note

A Note on Antitrust and Competitive Tactics

By: Dennis A. Yao

Provides an overview of antitrust law as it relates to competitive strategy. Discusses the problem of managing antitrust risk and provides a guide to business actions that pose antitrust risk. View Details

Keywords: Laws and Statutes; Risk Management; Monopoly; Business and Government Relations; Competitive Strategy

February 2021 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Bairong and the Promise of Big Data

By: Lauren Cohen, Xiaoyan Zhang and Spencer C.N. Hagist

Bairong CEO Felix Zhang, in launching his credit scoring start-up that incorporates 74,000 variables per individual, found strong initial success. However, the shifting regulatory environment, growing breadth of competitors, difficulties in retaining top talent, and... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; Big Data; Artificial Intelligence; Credit Scoring; Finance; Credit; Business Startups; AI and Machine Learning; Analytics and Data Science; China

November 2012 (Revised November 2013)
Case

Persephone's Pomegranate: Crédit Agricole and Emporiki

By: Dante Roscini, Daniela Beyersdorfer and Jerome Lenhardt

In 2006 the French bank Crédit Agricole bought the Greek Emporiki bank, for €2.8 billion, at the peak of a bull market for bank takeovers. Six years, a major financial crisis, and €5.2 billion of losses later, in a context of great uncertainty in the European banking... View Details

Keywords: Business and Government Relations; Currency; Development Economics; International Finance; International Relations; Banking Industry; Greece

Research Summary

Risk, Trust and Escalation Behavior of Owner Managers

By: Cynthia A. Montgomery

Professor Montgomery and Professor Deepak Malhotra (HBS), together with scientists from Harvard's Program on Evolutionary Dynamics, are studying risk-related decision making of owner managers in newly-founded and established companies. This experimental... View Details

04 Dec 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, December 4, 2018

firm disclosures. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=55303 November 2018 Australian Economic History Review Business, Governments and Political Risk in South Asia View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

24 May 2016
News

The EU Has Trust Issues, and It’s Taking Down Greece’s Economy

November 1998 (Revised May 1999)
Case

Collateralized Loan Obligations and the Bistro Trust

By: Kenneth A. Froot and Ivan G. Farman

This case examines a large bank trying to protect itself from the risks and capital requirement created by its loan portfolio. Considers a variety of ways available to the firm to offload the risks. View Details

Keywords: Banking; Loan Evaluation; Financing Strategy; Credit; Risk Management; Banks and Banking; Financing and Loans; Financial Strategy; Banking Industry

August 2017
Article

Tort Reform and Innovation

By: Alberto Galasso and Hong Luo

Current academic and policy debates focus on the impact of tort reforms on physicians’ behavior and medical costs. This paper examines whether these reforms also affect incentives to develop new technologies. We develop a theoretical model that predicts that the impact... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Health Care and Treatment; Technological Innovation; Legal Liability; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

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February 2001 (Revised March 2001)
Case

Apax Partners and Dialog Semiconductor: March 1998

By: G. Felda Hardymon, Josh Lerner, Antonio Alvarez-Cano and Borja Martinez

Apax Partners is considering a complex buyout of a semiconductor manufacturer. The firms must assess in a compressed timeframe the complex technological, financial, and operational risks that the proposed transaction poses. View Details

Keywords: Market Transactions; Leveraged Buyouts; Restructuring; Time Management; Production; Risk Management; Financial Services Industry; Semiconductor Industry