Publications

November 2003 (Revised April 2004)
Case

Internal Governance and Control at Goldman Sachs: Block Trading

By: Malcolm S. Salter and Ratna Sarkar

Although the explicit problem presented in the case concerns pricing a block trade, the real issue involves the decision-making and oversight processes used to arrive at a price that is appropriate for both the client and Goldman Sachs. Asks students in assignment... View Details

Keywords: Price; Governance Controls; Trust; Organizational Culture; Decision Making; Financial Services Industry

2018
Article

Threat of Platform-Owner Entry and Complementor Responses: Evidence from the Mobile App Market

By: Wen Wen and Feng Zhu

We examine how app developers on the Android mobile platform adjust their innovation efforts (rate and direction) and value-capture strategies in response to Google’s entry threat and actual entry into their markets. We find that, after Google’s entry threat increases,... View Details

Keywords: Platform-owner Entry; Entry Threat; Innovation; Complementors; Mobile App Industry; Digital Platforms; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Market Entry and Exit; Price; Innovation and Invention; Applications and Software

June 2025
Article

Collusion in Brokered Markets

By: John William Hatfield, Scott Duke Kominers and Richard Lowery

High commissions in the U.S. residential real estate agency market present a puzzle for economic theory because brokerage is not a concentrated industry. We model brokered markets as a game in which agents post prices for customers and then choose which other agents to... View Details

SSRN

September 2016 (Revised October 2016)
Technical Note

Internet Data Capping Note

By: Shane Greenstein, Lisa Cox and Christine Snively

In April 2016, U.S. federal regulators approved Charter Communications’ acquisition of Time Warner Cable (TWC). The Department of Justice (DoJ) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC), however, stipulated that the new company could not apply data caps or introduce... View Details

Keywords: Internet Service Provider; Data Caps; Compression; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; United States

Article

Copyright Infringement in the Market for Digital Images

By: Hong Luo and Julie Holland Mortimer

Digital technologies for sharing creative goods create new opportunities for copyright infringement and challenge established enforcement methods. We establish several important facts about the nature of copyright infringement and efforts to settle past infringing use... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Creativity; Copyright

Read Now

17 May 2021
News

Key Inflation Gauge Overstating Prices, Harvard’s Cavallo Says

How Is Foreign Aid Spent?

We use oil price fluctuations to test the impact of transfers from wealthy OPEC nations to their poorer Muslim allies. The instrument identifies plausibly exogenous variation in foreign aid. We investigate how aid is spent by tracking its short-run effect on... View Details

March 2020
Article

Estimating the Value of Electricity Storage in PJM: Arbitrage and Some Welfare Effects

By: Ramteen Sioshansi, Paul Denholm, Thomas Jenkin and Jurgen Weiss

Significant increases in prices and price volatility of natural gas and electricity have raised interest in the potential economic opportunities for electricity storage. The paper analyzes the arbitrage value of a price-taking storage device in PJM during the six-year... View Details

Keywords: Energy Storage; Arbitrage; Energy; Energy Industry

December 2011 (Revised September 2017)
Case

Domino's Pizza

By: David E. Bell, Phillip Andrews and Mary Shelman

Domino's Pizza is the world's second-largest pizza company with 9,436 stores globally, 95% of which are franchised. Domino's franchisees in the U.S. market were able to purchase fresh dough, cheese, pizza toppings, and other menu ingredients and store supplies directly... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Market Entry and Exit; Supply Chain Management; Global Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry

May 2016
Case

The Inexorable Rise of Walmart? 1988—2016

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

In October 2015, Walmart surprised investors by announcing that it expected flat sales growth for 2015 and growth of only 3% to 4% over the coming three years. Profits would also fall due to significant investments in people and technology. The company’s stock price... View Details

Keywords: Asda; Costco; David Glass; Convenience Stores; Discount Retailing; Dollar Stores; Doug McMillon; E-commerce; Online Retail; General Merchandise; Grocery; Lee Scott; Mike Duke; Multichannel Retailing; Omnichannel; Neighborhood Market; Sam Walton; Sam's Club; Store Formats; Supercenter; Supermarket; Warehouse Clubs; Merchandising; Walmart; Wal-Mart; Globalized Firms and Management; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Units; Business Divisions; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Business Organization; For-Profit Firms; Film Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Banks and Banking; Price; Profit; Revenue; Food; Global Range; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Global Strategy; Business History; Compensation and Benefits; Employees; Human Capital; Labor Unions; Wages; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Management Succession; Brands and Branding; Product Positioning; Distribution; Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Public Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Labor and Management Relations; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Advantage; Diversification; Expansion; Segmentation; Information Technology; Internet; Mobile Technology; Online Technology; Web; Web Sites; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Distribution Industry; Banking Industry; United States; Arkansas; Bentonville

June 2024
Article

Counterparty Risk and Counterparty Choice in the Credit Default Swap Market

By: Wenxin Du, Salil Gadgil, Michael Gordy and Clara Vega

We investigate how market participants price and manage counterparty credit risk using confidential trade repository data on single-name credit default swap (CDS) transactions. We find that counterparty risk has a modest impact on the pricing of CDS contracts but a... View Details

Keywords: Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Market Participation; Risk and Uncertainty; Price; Financial Markets; Credit

18 Feb 2009
First Look

First Look: February 18, 2009

who need them most, but unrestricted transfers might threaten the Internet's routing system. I suggest policies to create an IP address "market" while avoiding major negative externalities—mitigating the worst effects of v4 scarcity, while obtaining View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

September 2019 (Revised July 2021)
Case

Gap, Inc., 2019

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

In 2000, The Gap, Inc. (Gap) was the world’s largest player in specialty fashion retailing, and companies such as Inditex of Spain, H&M of Sweden, and Fast Retailing of Japan were less than a quarter of Gap’s size. But after two decades of growth, Gap’s progress... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Change; Fashion; Multinational; Brands; Fast Fashion; Competition; Multinational Firms and Management; Performance Improvement; Management Teams; Brands and Branding; Change Management; Strategy; Retail Industry; Fashion Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Sweden; Spain; United States

20 Dec 2004
Research & Ideas

The U.S. Patent Game: How to Change It

When lawyers fare better than inventors and entrepreneurs where U.S. patents are concerned, you know injustice is being done. The current system makes patents easier to acquire, sure, but renders them less prestigious as well, and less likely to attract valuable... View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen

March 2022
Case

Tensions at SearchLight Cures

By: Laura Huang and Sarah Mehta

This general experience case tells the story of SearchLight Cures, a fictional biotechnology startup. Having discovered a new therapy for a rare disease, the company’s co-founders find themselves at an impasse over a pricing disagreement. View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Startups; Communication; Interpersonal Communication; Values and Beliefs; Management; Negotiation; Relationships; Partners and Partnerships; Science; Biotechnology Industry; United States; California; San Francisco

Article

Do We Spend Too Much on Health Care?

By: Katherine Baicker and Amitabh Chandra

Health system reforms—such as changes in insurance design, patient cost sharing, payment reform, or price regulation—should be judged by whether they move us toward higher-value use of resources, rather than by whether they reduce spending. View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Cost; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Value Creation