Publications

16 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

Making the Most of Government Upheaval

markets, trade tariffs, and taxation virtually overnight in 1991, sending shock waves throughout its economy. For YPF, at the time heavily diversified in cinemas, airlines, hotels, and restaurants in addition to energy, the first order... View Details

Keywords: by Nancy O. Perry

November 1994 (Revised March 1995)
Background Note

Capital Projects as Real Options: An Introduction

By: Timothy A. Luehrman

Introduces a framework for evaluating corporate investment projects as call options. Presumes readers are familiar with basic option pricing and basic capital budgeting rules. Explains the motivation for viewing projects as options; presents a mapping between a capital... View Details

Keywords: Financial Instruments; Capital Budgeting; Corporate Finance

21 Nov 2011
Lessons from the Classroom

The New Challenge of Leading Financial Firms

leading any other kind of institution," says Groysberg. "If you become a leader in a manufacturing company, for example, all you're basically going to have to do is manage. When you become a leader... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Financial Services

December 2004 (Revised April 2006)
Case

Nestle and Alcon--The Value of a Listing

By: Mihir A. Desai, Vincent Dessain and Anders Sjoman

In response to a perceived undervaluation by the capital markets, Nestle is considering divesting a part of its ophthalmology subsidiary, Alcon, and must decide on a listing location. In the process, students are challenged to wrestle with the valuation of a... View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; International Finance; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Markets; Taxation; Business Subsidiaries; Valuation; Food and Beverage Industry; Health Industry; Europe; United States

24 Mar 2002
Research & Ideas

The Trick of Balancing Business and Government

Moyo,International Finance Corporation Yet over the course of the hour-and-a-half long panel session, the conversation kept circling back to the question of true ownership: Who... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

20 Oct 2003
Research & Ideas

Gaps in the Historical Record: Development of the Electronics Industry

about the move of the core companies into the client server (RISC chips and UNIX operating systems) technology that permitted them to mount a major challenge to the United States in the early 1990s, when the marriage View Details

Keywords: by Alfred D. Chandler Jr.; Consumer Products

02 Oct 2000
Research & Ideas

Networked Incubators: Hothouses of the New Economy

Business incubators are a booming industry. Offering office space, funding, and basic services to start-ups, these organizations have become the hottest way to nurture and grow fledgling businesses. But are incubators a fleeting... View Details

Keywords: by Morten T. Hansen, Henry W. Chesbrough, Nitin Nohria & Donald N. Sull

2009
Working Paper

Watch What I Do, Not What I Say: The Unintended Consequences of the Homeland Investment Act

By: Dhammika Dharmapala, C. Fritz Foley and Kristin J. Forbes

This paper analyzes the impact on firm behavior of the Homeland Investment Act of 2004, which provided a one-time tax holiday for the repatriation of foreign earnings by U.S. multinationals. The analysis controls for endogeneity and omitted variable bias by using... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Multinational Firms and Management; Government Legislation; Taxation; Business and Shareholder Relations; Behavior; United States

December 1998 (Revised November 2005)
Background Note

Contribution to Capital

By: Henry B. Reiling and Mark Pollard

Distinguishes and explains the basic rules associated with two types of contributions to capital: (1) transfers of property by a government to a company to entice it to take some action such as relocate a plant, and (2) transfers of property to a corporation by... View Details

Keywords: Capital; Property; Taxation; Public Administration 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

October 1976 (Revised June 2008)
Case

Chemalite, Inc.

A chemical engineer who has set up a company to manufacture and market one of his inventions is trying to prepare his state of the corporation report. This case is designed to serve as a vehicle to introduce students to basic bookkeeping and accounting functions. View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Financial Statements; Business Startups; Valuation; Chemical Industry

24 Nov 2008
Research & Ideas

Harvard Business School Discusses Future of the MBA

you need to think critically about what you are doing every 100 years or so, whether you need to or not," Dean Jay Light wryly observed in opening remarks to an unprecedented campus gathering last March of business school deans,... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson & HBS Bulletin; Education

31 Aug 2020
What Do You Think?

Why Don’t More Organizations Understand the Power of Diversity and Inclusion?

performance, according to the researchers. Differentiating between diversity and inclusion I differentiate between diversity and inclusion by thinking of progress in diversity as depending primarily on successful recruiting View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

02 Sep 2002
Research & Ideas

The Role of Government When All Else Fails

which makes the policies themselves a whole lot easier to figure out. This is basically what I've tried to do in my book. Q: You point out that American risk management policy has passed through three phases. Can you give the major... View Details

Keywords: by Laura Linard

August 1996 (Revised January 1999)
Background Note

Achieving and Sustaining Superior Profits

A basic premise of strategy is that superior profits occur when a corporation secures favorable positions in attractive industries, and pursues economies of scope across business units. This note draws on research that documents the importance of industry, positioning,... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Profit

March 1994 (Revised June 1999)
Background Note

Real Options: Valuing Managerial Flexibility

Provides a basic understanding of real options in corporate finance. Traditional discounted cash flow techniques (NPV) do not deal well with managerial flexibility or future response to uncertainty. The value of this flexibility can be significant and is handled well... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Capital Budgeting; Corporate Finance