Publications

2020
Working Paper

Is Accounting Useful for Forecasting GDP Growth? A Machine Learning Perspective

By: Srikant Datar, Apurv Jain, Charles C.Y. Wang and Siyu Zhang

We provide a comprehensive examination of whether, to what extent, and which accounting variables are useful for improving the predictive accuracy of GDP growth forecasts. We leverage statistical models that accommodate a broad set of (341) variables—outnumbering the... View Details

Keywords: Big Data; Elastic Net; GDP Growth; Machine Learning; Macro Forecasting; Short Fat Data; Accounting; Economic Growth; Forecasting and Prediction; Analytics and Data Science

SSRN

Aug 21 2017
Testimonial

Learn with Peers Who Are Smart and Experienced

February 1998 (Revised October 2002)
Case

Uganda and the Washington Consensus

By: Huw Pill and Courtenay Sprague

Under the direction of President Museveni, much of the world has heaped praise on Uganda for transforming its economy from devastation to growth and managing the ethnic and racial strife that has divided the country in the past. Following a decade of reforms, Uganda is... View Details

Keywords: Macroeconomics; Economy; Policy; Analysis; Development Economics; Borrowing and Debt; Management; Developing Countries and Economies; Uganda

June 2011 (Revised May 2012)
Case

Nestlé SA: Nutrition, Health and Wellness Strategy

By: Rebecca M. Henderson and Ryan Johnson

In 1997 Nestlé committed to a strategic vision of becoming the leading nutrition, health and wellness (NHW) company in the world. Over the next 13 years, the NHW strategy guided strategic decisions and choices at Nestlé including merger and acquisition choices,... View Details

Keywords: Nutrition; Health; Growth and Development Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Goals and Objectives; Value Creation; Food and Beverage Industry

October 1991 (Revised July 1993)
Case

Bill Gates and the Management of Microsoft

In July 1991, Microsoft has achieved record growth and profitability in the PC software industry. The case focuses on Microsoft's founder and CEO, Bill Gates, and his top management team, as they seek to retain the innovation and spirit of a small company in a rapidly... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Growth Management; Organizational Culture; Personal Development and Career; Information Technology Industry; United States

July 2022
Article

Private Equity and COVID-19

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

We survey more than 200 private equity (PE) managers from firms with $1.9 trillion of assets under management (AUM) about their portfolio performance, decisionmaking and activities during the Covid-19 pandemic. Given that PE managers have significant incentives to... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Health Pandemics; Private Equity; Management; Investment Portfolio; Performance; Decision Making; Value Creation

February 2013
Teaching Note

Transforming AMFAM (TN)

By: Rakesh Khurana and Rajiv Lal

Keywords: Customer Focus; General Management; Managing Growth; Customer Focus and Relationships; Insurance Industry; United States

August 2005 (Revised January 2012)
Case

McKinsey and the Globalization of Consultancy

By: Geoffrey G. Jones and Alexis Lefort

Considers McKinsey's strategy during the first stage of the globalization of the management consultancy industry between the 1950s and 1973. Briefly reviews the history of management consulting before considering the factors that led McKinsey to open its first... View Details

Keywords: History; Demand and Consumers; Strategy; Globalized Firms and Management; Service Operations; Consulting Industry

March 2016 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Hello Alfred: Come Home Happy

By: Joseph B. Fuller and Carin-Isabel Knoop

On a mission to "automate the on-demand economy," Harvard Business School classmates Marcela Sapone and Jessica Beck launched Hello Alfred in 2013 to provide subscribers with an "Alfred" to complete various chores for a monthly fee. In early 2016, the company has built... View Details

Keywords: On-demand Economy; Sharing Economy; Technology Startup; Technology; Growth Strategy; Business Startups; Business Growth and Maturation; Entrepreneurship; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Strategic Planning; Service Industry; United States; Boston; Cambridge; New York (city, NY); California

June 2010
Article

Quality Management and Job Quality: How the ISO 9001 Standard for Quality Management Systems Affects Employees and Employers

By: David I. Levine and Michael W. Toffel

Several studies have examined how the ISO 9001 Quality Management System standard predicts changes in organizational outcomes such as profits. This is the first large-scale study to explore how employee outcomes such as employment, earnings, and health and safety... View Details

Keywords: Quality; Management; Standards; Employees; Wages; Organizations; Profit; Safety; Health; Policy

June 2024
Teaching Note

Beamery: Using Skills and AI to Modernize HR

By: Boris Groysberg, David Lane, Susan Pinckney and Alexis Lefort

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 424-004. Unicorn human relationships startup Beamery evaluates it growth versus depth strategy as its strategic partners and customers could become future competitors in a quickly changing AI based human resources and talent management... View Details

October 2014
Article

Sovereigns, Upstream Capital Flows and Global Imbalances

By: Laura Alfaro, Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan and Vadym Volosovych

We construct measures of net private and public capital flows for a large cross-section of developing countries considering both creditor and debtor side of the international debt transactions. Using these measures, we demonstrate that sovereign-to-sovereign... View Details

Keywords: Current Account; Aid/government Debt; Reserves; Puzzles; Productivity; Sovereign Finance; Developing Countries and Economies; Macroeconomics

2011
Chapter

Regional Trade Integration and Multinational Firm Strategies

By: Pol Antras and C. Fritz Foley

This paper analyzes the effects of the formation of a regional trade agreement on the level and nature of multinational firm activity. We examine aggregate data that captures the response of U.S. multinational firms to the formation of the ASEAN free trade agreement.... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Trade; Foreign Direct Investment; Multinational Firms and Management; Globalized Markets and Industries; Analytics and Data Science; Agreements and Arrangements; United States

July 2023 (Revised May 2024)
Case

Vytal: Packaging-as-a-Service

By: George Serafeim, Michael W. Toffel, Lena Duchene and Daniela Beyersdorfer

The Germany-based startup Vytal operated the largest digital-native reusable packaging-as-a-service network globally, having raised nearly €15 million, established a large network of restaurant partners, and prevented the use of millions of single-use take-out food... View Details

10 Mar 2010
Working Paper Summaries

A Reexamination of Tunneling and Business Groups: New Data and New Methods

Keywords: by Jordan I. Siegel & Prithwiraj Choudhury

January 2020 (Revised October 2021)
Case

Zara: An Integrated Store and Online Model (A)

By: Antonio Moreno

In 2010, amidst the growth of ecommerce and the emergence of new, purely online, fashion players, Zara launched its first online store, Zara.com. Since then, Zara’s online business had grown at a fast pace. By 2018, 12% of Inditex Group’s total sales came from the... View Details

Keywords: Stores; Integration; Operations; Business Model; Strategy; E-commerce; Retail Industry; Fashion Industry; Europe

2007
Working Paper

Plant-Size Distribution and Cross-Country Income Differences

By: Laura Alfaro, Andrew Charlton and Fabio Kanzcuk

We investigate, using plant-level data for 79 developed and developing countries, whether differences in the allocation of resources across heterogeneous plants are a significant determinant of cross-country differences in income per worker. For this purpose, we use a... View Details

Keywords: Heterogeneous Plants; Productivity; Policy Distortions; Wages; Equality and Inequality; Resource Allocation; Macroeconomics