Publications

SSRN

Find at Harvard

July 2005
Article

Price Improvement in Dealership Markets

By: Matthew Rhodes-Kropf

Price improvement refers to the practice whereby dealers order executions that improve on quoted prices. Why are these improvements given? Standard thinking is that competition causes dealers to give better prices to customers with less information. This paper... View Details

Keywords: Price; Markets; Competition; Information; Customers; Negotiation; Mission and Purpose; Practice; Theory; Performance Improvement; Bids and Bidding; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

Find at Harvard

October 2001 (Revised March 2008)
Case

Anagene, Inc.

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Christina L. Darwall

An entrepreneurial, publicly traded biotech company has begun production and sales of its core product--cartridges that permit DNA samples to be analyzed on a microchip. In the early quarters, sales are difficult to forecast and the company has experienced fluctuating... View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Financial Reporting; Production; Performance Capacity; Risk and Uncertainty; Genetics; Governing and Advisory Boards; Biotechnology Industry; California

12 May 2011
Research & Ideas

The Difficult Transition from For-Profit to Nonprofit Boards

similarities and differences between the different types of boards and what newcomers to nonprofit governance can expect. Comparing Nonprofits And For-profits There are a number of important similarities and differences between the... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

March 2016 (Revised September 2021)
Case

South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow?

By: Richard H.K. Vietor and Haviland Sheldahl-Thomason

Twenty years after the end of Apartheid, South Africa's democracy persists, albeit with problems. A tripartite coalition — the African National Congress, the labor unions, and the Communist Party — still controls the political system but with diminishing economic... View Details

Keywords: Politics; Development; Productivity; Labor; Labor Unions; Infrastructure; Government and Politics; Economic Growth; Performance Productivity; Economy; Social Issues; South Africa

13 Aug 2024
Research & Ideas

Why Companies Shouldn't Delay Software Updates—Even After CrowdStrike's Flaw

issued and new fixes made available. Then again, roughly half of firms were “way back from the frontier,” says Greenstein, not performing updates for long periods of time, such as two years, if ever, following Apache alerts about software... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald; Technology; Information Technology; Computer; Web Services

July 2001 (Revised March 2002)
Case

Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc., The

By: Andre F. Perold and Austin K Scee

NASDAQ's mission "to facilitate capital formation" is threatened by the emergence of Electronic Communication Networks, which are not as heavily regulated by the SEC. This case reviews the development of NASDAQ and its evolution from a loose network of broker-dealers... View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Stocks; Financial Markets; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Innovation Strategy; Performance Efficiency; Perspective

12 Sep 2016
Research & Ideas

What Brands Can Do to Monitor Factory Conditions of Suppliers

working conditions occur in the United States or Europe, usually there is a cry for more regulatory enforcement—along with an ensuing debate about how much government is enough (or too much). When such incidents happen overseas, however,... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

30 Jun 2009
First Look

First Look: June 30

government bond yields, stabilized until the fall of 2008, when they showed dramatic declines. The paper asks to what extent short-term real interest rates, bond risks, and liquidity explain the trends before 2008 and the unusual... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

18 Mar 2014
First Look

First Look: March 18

matter? Examining firms with standard long-run measures of corporate governance as they are shocked by plausible misvaluation, we provide consistent evidence that firm performance is impacted by View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2016 (Revised August 2020)
Case

Improving Access at VA

By: Ryan W. Buell, Robert S. Huckman and Sam Travers

In 2015, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) ran the largest healthcare system in the United States, with over 1,700 sites of care that served nearly 9 million veterans. One year earlier, a scandal had erupted over a cover-up of the excessive wait times veterans... View Details

Keywords: Service Operations; Service Delivery; Social Issues; Health Care and Treatment; Government Administration; Performance Improvement; Public Administration Industry; Health Industry; United States

August 2006 (Revised August 2007)
Case

Revenue Recognition Problems in the Communications Equipment Industry

By: Paul M. Healy and Arjuna J Costa

Designed to explore recognition issues in the context of a potential market downturn. In late 2000, Lucent Technologies reports multiple revisions to its recent financial results due to revenue recognition problems, leading to a dramatic decline in its stock price.... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Disclosure; Revenue Recognition; Policy; Supply and Industry; Performance; Communications Industry

June 1997
Case

Massachusetts General Hospital: CABG Surgery (B)

By: Steven C. Wheelwright and Mikelle Eastley

Once the CABG care path is implemented and other care paths begun, hospital staff and administration examine the resulting data. Further methods of improving care and reducing cost are presented for analysis. View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Policy; Retention; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Operations; Performance Improvement; Health Industry

2011
Article

Bias in Search Results?: Diagnosis and Response

By: Benjamin Edelman

I explore allegations of search engine bias, including understanding a search engine's incentives to bias results, identifying possible forms of bias, and evaluating methods of verifying whether bias in fact occurs. I then consider possible legal and policy responses,... View Details

Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; Motivation and Incentives; Outcome or Result; Markets; Legal Liability; Policy; Search Technology; Performance Evaluation; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

Read Now

25 Nov 2014
First Look

First Look: November 25

Sweden, Canada, and the U.S. obtain the highest management scores closely followed by Germany, with a gap to Italy, Brazil, and then finally India. We also show that autonomous government schools (i.e., View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

September 2011
Case

The Wen Group

By: John A. Davis and Matthew G. Pillar

Three brothers that own and lead a second-generation family business in Hong Kong, encounter problems of nepotism and governance, and endure considerable conflict. The case asks how to resolve these family and business issues. View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Performance Effectiveness; Crisis Management; Business or Company Management; Conflict Management; Corporate Governance; Leadership Development; Hong Kong

10 Oct 2005
Research & Ideas

Corporate Responsibility and the Environment: What is the Right Thing To Do?

Responsibility (CSR) and Corporate Social Performance (CSP)? A: Corporate Social Performance is a term used to describe "strategic" behavior by a firm. When a firm engages in environmental or other... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls

26 Mar 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, March 26, 2019

record health worker attendance and patient adherence to protocol, and they automatically prompt follow-up treatment. We combine data from surveys, independent field visits, and government registers to identify impacts on TB-control... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

September 1976 (Revised January 1977)
Case

Del Norte Paper Co. (C)

By: William A. Sahlman

Designed to serve two roles: first, it provides a reasonably comprehensive description of an ongoing capital budgeting system for the international operations of a large American company. Second, it allows the student to focus upon and critically analyze a series of... View Details

Keywords: Capital Budgeting; International Relations; Globalized Markets and Industries; Goals and Objectives; Service Delivery; Business Subsidiaries; Performance Evaluation; Performance Expectations; Financial Services Industry; Pulp and Paper Industry

August 2012 (Revised March 2015)
Case

Egypt: Turbulence, and Transition?

By: Diego Comin, Mohamed Heikal and Adam Said

The case goes over the evolution of politics and institutions in Egypt over the last 50 years. The case provides new insights on the reasons for violent political transitions and also explores the effects of political instability on productivity and competitiveness. View Details

Keywords: Institutional Change; Military; Competitiveness; Democracy; Revolution; Productivity; History; Transition; Economic Systems; Competition; War; Performance Productivity; Organizations; Government and Politics; Volatility; Egypt