Publications

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2014
Chapter

Business History and the Impact of MNEs on Host Economies

By: Geoffrey Jones

Business history has long been recognized as providing an important dimension in international business studies. Much of this historical work has focused on mapping historical growth patterns of multinationals and exploring the determinants of their growth. However,... View Details

Keywords: Multinational; International Business; Business History; Culture; Globalization; History; Africa; Asia; Europe; Latin America; North and Central America

Find at Harvard

24 Jan 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: January 24, 2017

long-run growth dynamics. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=52130 Short-Termism and Shareholder Payouts: Getting Corporate Capital Flows Right By: Fried, Jesse M., and Charles C.Y. Wang Abstract—During... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

02 Apr 2014
What Do You Think?

Has the Post-Capitalist Economy Finally Arrived?

Summing Up What Will Capitalism Require of Us in the Future? If one were to sum up the ideas in response to this month's column, it could be: Capitalism as we know it is here to stay; the question is about... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Service

19 Jul 2004
Research & Ideas

Why Innovations Sit on the Shelf

Several managers praised this as an excellent idea, but it was never implemented. It was apparent that conflicts between the sales department and the distribution department were to blame—but no one was willing to confront the conflicts... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Beer, Russell Eisenstat & Derek Schrader

03 May 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Pay Now or Pay Later? The Economics within the Private Equity Partnership

Keywords: by Victoria Ivashina and Josh Lerner; Banking; Financial Services

14 May 2008
Research & Ideas

Getting Down to the Business of Creativity

narrowly defined product space," Tripsas says. "Suppliers, complementary producers, distribution channels, and consumers must often develop new capabilities, beliefs, and behaviors for the product to succeed, creating a... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail; Apparel & Accessories; Fashion; Entertainment & Recreation

19 Sep 2011
Research & Ideas

Doomsday Coming for Catastrophic Risk Insurers?

he's seen improvements in the way reinsurers distribute risk over the last two decades, he still questions whether reinsurers in their current form can survive a major catastrophic event. "Reinsurers assume the risk of, and hold the... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish; Financial Services

2011
Teaching Note

Juner New Materials: On the Road to IPO (TN)

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Donglin Xia, Ning Jia and Ziqian Zhao

Juner New Materials (Juner) is a private China-based company that develops, produces, and distributes modified plastic compounds. Founded in 1995 by female serial entrepreneur Xiaomin Chen, Juner has exhibited strong performance and growth potential in the past fifteen... View Details

Keywords: Emerging Markets; Entrepreneurship; Financial Statements; IPO; Valuation; Women Executives; China; Plastics; China

March 2025 (Revised March 2025)
Case

Good for the Seller, Good for the Buyer and Good for Society: Sampo-yoshi, Sustainability and Trust at ITOCHU

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Bethelehem Y Araya

In 2024, ITOCHU CEO Masahiro Okafuji was at a crossroads. As the thirteenth CEO since ITOCHU’s founding in 1858, he had fueled the company’s growth since 2011 by bringing ITOCHU’s founding philosophy of Sampo-yoshi (good for the seller, good for the buyer and... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Trust; Profit; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Mission and Purpose; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Japan

January 2017 (Revised April 2019)
Case

The Olmos Project: Value Creation and Value Capture

By: John Macomber, Fernanda Miguel, Laura Urdapilleta and Valeria Moy

Private investment in public infrastructure can be encouraged when there are multiple avenues to capture and to share the value created by such a project. Gains in the market value of land adjacent to projects are not customarily channeled back into defraying the... View Details

Keywords: Value Capture; Infrastructure; Decision Making; Agribusiness; Value Creation; South America; Peru

29 Apr 2008
First Look

First Look: April 29, 2008

strategy, and sales management by exploring the link between a shift in the firm's overall strategy (customer intimacy), the structural implementation of this strategy in the form of the creation of a new distribution company and,... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

14 Oct 2002
Research & Ideas

The Widening Rift Between Corporations and Society

In today's world, we are each on our own. We must each be vigilant to protect our right to privacy. We have to worry about protecting ourselves from the people who sell us things as well as those who employ us. But in the world of View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

12 Sep 2006
First Look

First Look: September 12, 2006

requires upfront capital investments. The more developed the local financial markets, the easier it is for credit constrained entrepreneurs to start their own firms. The increase in the number of varieties of intermediate goods leads to... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 2005 (Revised August 2010)
Case

Distrobot Systems, Inc.

By: William A. Sahlman

Distrobot is a start-up that has developed a new system for warehouse automation. The company is trying to raise money to finance the launch of the product. The founder must decide how much capital to raise, from whom, and on what terms. View Details

Keywords: Financing and Loans; Product Launch; Business Startups; Business Strategy; Distribution Industry; Distribution Industry

May 2023
Teaching Note

Away: Scaling a DTC Travel Brand

By: Joseph B. Fuller and Jill Avery

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 520-051. Away, a direct-to-consumer, digital native e-commerce seller of travel luggage, is debating how to invest its latest round of venture funding. How quickly could and should Away scale and what were the most promising growth... View Details

Keywords: Distribution; Growth and Development Strategy; E-commerce; Segmentation; Venture Capital; Consumer Products Industry

Forthcoming
Article

Catching Outliers: Committee Voting and the Limits of Consensus When Financing Innovation

By: Andrey Malenko, Ramana Nanda, Matthew Rhodes-Kropf and Savitar Sundaresan

We document that investment committees of major VCs use a voting rule where one partner `championing' an early-stage investment is sufficient to invest. Their stated reason for this rule is to `catch outliers'. The same VCs use a more conventional `majority' rule for... View Details

Keywords: Optimal Voting Rules; Innovation and Invention; Venture Capital; Investment; Decision Making; Voting

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25 Jun 2013
First Look

First Look: June 25

Publications 2006 pub Leviathan Evolving: New Varieties of State Capitalism in Brazil and Beyond By: Musacchio, Aldo, and Sergio G. Lazzarini Abstract—In this book we describe the transformation of state View Details

Keywords: Anna Secino

November 2016 (Revised March 2018)
Case

Deutsche Bank: Structured Retail Products

By: Boris Vallée and Jérôme Lenhardt

Describes how Deutsche Bank, a leading European bank, is deciding whether or not to launch a new structured retail product in Germany: an autocallable note. Will this product find a market and how does it fit into the bank’s product portfolio? The case investigates how... View Details

February 1985 (Revised August 2008)
Case

Arrow Electronics

Arrow Electronics is the fastest growing distributor of electronic components in North America and the second largest. Its capital structure policy of heavy reliance on debt financing contrasts sharply with that of its leading competitor, Arnet. Students are asked to... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Capital Structure; Financial Management; Risk Management; Distribution; Competition; Hardware; Electronics Industry; United States