Publications

March 2007 (Revised March 2008)
Case

Chiaphua Group Vietnam

By: Nicolas P. Retsinas and Michael Shih-ta Chen

As part of its expansion and diversification strategy, the Chiaphua Group explored real estate investments in emerging markets. The Group was one of the largest privately held company groups based in Hong Kong, with international investments in a variety of... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Laws and Statutes; Emerging Markets; Market Entry and Exit; Business and Government Relations; Diversification; Hong Kong

2009
Working Paper

Patent Policy, Patent Pools, and the Accumulation of Claims in Sequential Innovation

By: Gaston Llanes and Stefano Trento

We present a dynamic model where the accumulation of patents generates an increasing number of claims on sequential innovation. We study the equilibrium innovation activity under three regimes: patents, no-patents and patent pools. Patent pools increase the probability... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Patents; Rights; Mathematical Methods

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07 Aug 2015
News

Boston Mayor Appoints ‘Chief of Streets’ to Oversee Transportation, Public Works

Keywords: Government

2017
Chapter

Empirical Evidence on the Behavior and Impact of Patent Trolls: A Survey

By: Lauren Cohen, Umit Gurun and Scott Duke Kominers

We survey the empirical literature on non-practicing entity (NPE) litigation behavior and its consequences. We document both aggregate trends and cross-sectional differences amongst various types of NPEs. Survey evidence illustrates a number of ways in which NPEs can... View Details

Keywords: Patent Trolls; NPEs; PAEs; Innovation; Patents; Lawsuits and Litigation; Innovation and Invention

Article

A Theory of Predation Based on Agency Problems in Financial Contracting

By: David S. Scharfstein and Patrick Bolton

Keywords: Theory; Problems and Challenges; Finance; Contracts

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July 2003 (Revised February 2004)
Background Note

M&A Legal Context: Standards Related to the Sale or Purchase of a Company

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin, Constance E. Bagley and James Quinn

Introduces students to the legal standards affecting officers and directors when selling or purchasing a company. Provides a practical understanding of the Revlon Standard, the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, Rule 10b-5, and the legal criteria for a cause of... View Details

Keywords: Laws and Statutes; Law Enforcement; Government Legislation; Acquisition; Business Exit or Shutdown; Corporate Governance; Going Public; Courts and Trials

October 2006 (Revised January 2007)
Teaching Note

Meinhard v. Salmon (Abridged) and Mall of America (TN) (A) and (B)

By: Henry B. Reiling and Aldo Sesia

Keywords: Lawsuits and Litigation; Retail Industry

27 Oct 2020
News

The Role of American Business Leaders in a Challenging Election Season

January 2003 (Revised April 2004)
Case

Cat is out of the Bag, The: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A)

By: Leslie A. Perlow and David Ager

Vicki Amon-Higa, vice president of KANA, a publicly traded, midsize development company, was working with Bryan Kettle, KANA's CFO, to plan a layoff in which KANA would reduce the size of its workforce by nearly 40%. Despite the best of intentions, news of the layoff... View Details

Keywords: Crisis Management; Employees; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Problems and Challenges; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Conflict Management

May 2009
Article

The Empirical Impact of Intellectual Property Rights on Innovation: Puzzles and Clues

By: Josh Lerner

Economists have long seen the patent system as a crucial lever through which policymakers affect the speed and nature of innovation in the economy. It is not surprising, then, that the profound changes which have roiled the global patent system over the past 20 years... View Details

Keywords: Economy; Policy; Innovation and Invention; Intellectual Property; Rights; Business and Government Relations

Ashish Nanda is Senior Lecturer and C. Roland Christensen Distinguished Management Educator at Harvard Business School. From 2018 to 2021, he was course head for the MBA Required Curriculum course in Strategy. Beginning in 2022, he is teaching an MBA Elective... View Details

spring 1990
Article

Testing the Optimality of a Performance Evaluation Measure for a Gainsharing Contract

By: S. Datar, R. Banker and M. Mazur

Keywords: Performance; Measurement and Metrics; Contracts

19 Nov 2019
Video

Zia Mody

Zia Mody, founder of AZB & Partners, a leading corporate law firm in India, describes changes in the gender balance in the field of law in India since the 1980s. She reports that AZB now has about 50... View Details

21 Apr 2014
News

Giving back is part of the social contract for any business

Ravi Venkatesan (MBA 1992), former chairman of Microsoft India, discusses how a company should be aligned with the objectives of its host community or country. (Published April 2014) View Details

2009
Article

Compelled to Help: Effects of Direct and Indirect Exchange on Perceived Obligation in Professional Networks

By: Roy Y.J. Chua, Billian Sullivan and Michael W. Morris

This research examines felt obligation to help others in employees' and managers' professional networks using a social exchange perspective. We hypothesize that obligation toward others would follow the norms of both direct and indirect reciprocity. Direct reciprocity... View Details

Keywords: Perspective; Conflict of Interests; Research; Surveys; Networks; Forecasting and Prediction; Social Issues

September 2016
Background Note

A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement

By: Steven Rogers and Mercer Cook

This historically focused background note highlights the role of African American Labor Leaders in both the Labor Movement and the Civil Rights Movement. In doing so, it attempts to both highlight these noteworthy individuals and demonstrate the innate connection... View Details

Keywords: Wages; Working Conditions; Political History; Social History; Economic History; Business History; Fairness; Moral Sensibility; Labor And Management Relations; Social Issues; Culture; Equality And Inequality; Rights; Leading Change; Race; Civil Society or Community; Labor Unions

Web

Modern Capitalism: Mergers and Syndicates - Railroads and the Transformation of Capitalism | Harvard Business School

railroad network fanned out across the United States and connected with lines in Canada and Mexico, smaller railroad companies consolidated as a way to ensure the regular flow of traffic, reduce competition, and avoid price wars.... View Details

2014
Book

Great Power, Peace, and American Primacy: The Origins of a New International Order

By: Josh Baron

This book explains the period of great power peace in the last fifty years and outlines the path to perpetuating it. Drawing on the Realist tradition and challenging conventional wisdom about the causes of American primacy, Baron explores contributions to peace made by... View Details

Keywords: Globalization; International Relations; Power and Influence; Conflict and Resolution; United States

March 1996 (Revised January 2001)
Case

Incidents in Trade Policy

By: Louis T. Wells Jr. and Courtenay Sprague

Discusses a series of incidents of conflict between the United States and foreign governments on trade. View Details

Keywords: Trade; Policy; Agreements and Arrangements; Conflict and Resolution; Globalization; Government and Politics; United States