Publications

February 2018 (Revised June 2021)
Case

New Constructs: Disrupting Fundamental Analysis with Robo-Analysts

By: Charles C.Y. Wang and Kyle Thomas

This case highlights the business challenges associated with a financial technology firm, New Constructs, that created a technology that can quickly parse complicated public firm financials to paint a clearer economic picture of firms, remove accounting distortions,... View Details

Keywords: Fundamental Analysis; Machine Learning; Robo-analysts; Financial Statements; Financial Reporting; Analysis; Information Technology; Accounting Industry; Financial Services Industry; Information Technology Industry; North America; Tennessee

08 Oct 2014
Working Paper Summaries

The Federal Reserve’s Abandonment of Its 1923 Principles

Keywords: by Julio J. Rotemberg; Banking; Legal Services

May 2010 (Revised June 2010)
Supplement

Pfizer: Letter from the Chairman (B)

By: Robert L. Simons and Kathryn Rosenberg

This case continues the story begun in "Pfizer: A Letter from the Chairman" (HBS No. 110-003), revealing the letter Chairman and CEO Jeff Kindler wrote for the 2008 Annual Report. View Details

Keywords: Corporate Accountability; Corporate Governance; Business and Shareholder Relations; Value Creation; Decision Choices and Conditions; Annual Reports; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States

23 May 2011
Research & Ideas

Corporate Sustainability Reporting: It’s Effective

greater, he predicts, if countries followed the example of South Africa and France, which recently expanded their mandatory reporting laws to require that companies report their financial and ESG performance... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

September 2013
Article

Trends in Hip Arthroscopy Utilization in the United States.

By: K J Bozic, V. Chan, F. H. Valone, B. T. Feeley and T. P. Vail

INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the changing incidence of hip arthroscopy procedures among newly trained surgeons in the United States, the indications for hip arthroscopy, and the reported rate of post-operative... View Details

Find at Harvard

Research Summary

Individual Credit Constraints in Rural India (w/ Sendhil Mullainathan)

Credit access for the poor has recently been given center stage in the international policy arena. A plethora of reports and case studies have emphasized the enormous returns that micro-businesses face: the Year of Microcredit website notes that studies conducted in... View Details

July 2009 (Revised May 2010)
Case

Pfizer: Letter from the Chairman (A)

By: Robert L. Simons and Natalie Kindred

This case explores maximizing shareholder value as a goal in executive decision making. Over a period of nine years, three different Pfizer CEOs make critical decisions intended to increase shareholder value. But the results are disappointing. To allow students to... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Governance; Annual Reports; Business and Shareholder Relations; Value Creation; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States

13 Apr 2016
Research Event

What Does 'Diversity' Really Mean?

Mensah recently at Harvard Business School’s fourth annual Gender & Work Symposium. “Men talk to me all the time about wanting to be more effective (with women) in certain settings,” said Mensah, an adjunct faculty member at Baruch... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

Article

Using Internet Data for Economic Research

By: Benjamin Edelman

The data used by economists can be broadly divided into two categories. First, structured datasets arise when a government agency, trade association, or company can justify the expense of assembling records. The Internet has transformed how economists interact with... View Details

Keywords: Data and Data Sets; Research; Internet; Cost Management; Information Management; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Reports; Archives; Surveys; Economics

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04 Aug 2023
Blog Post

Aaron Sabin (MS/MBA 2023): Engineering a Climate Change Solution by Cutting the Cost of Carbon Capture

“Humanity is on thin ice,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said during a video message in March 2023. “And that ice is melting fast." Guterres was responding to the AR6 Synthesis Report from the United Nations Intergovernmental... View Details

October 2018
Case

The Proxy Fight at ADP

By: Robin Greenwood and E. Scott Mayfield

In July 2017, shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (ADP) surged 12% following a report that the activist investor Bill Ackman had acquired a sizable stake in the company and planned to nominate his own slate of directors at the company’s annual meeting in... View Details

June 2015
Supplement

Generating Higher Value at IBM (A): EPS Forecasting Model

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Scott Mayfield

This case analyzes IBM's financial performance and its capital allocation decisions over a 10-year period from 2004-2013, during which IBM returned more than $140B to shareholders through a combination of dividends and share repurchases. During this time, CEO Sam... View Details

Keywords: Dividends; Share Repurchases; Earnings Guidance; Financial Statement Analysis; Financial Ratios; Payout Policy; Earnings Per Share (EPS); Earnings Management; Change Management; Leadership; Transformation; Financial Strategy

19 Nov 2018
Working Paper Summaries

Lazy Prices

Keywords: by Lauren Cohen, Christopher J. Malloy, and Quoc Nguyen; Financial Services

Generating Higher Value at IBM

This case analyzes IBM's financial performance and its capital allocation decisions over a 10-year period from 2004-2013, during which IBM returned more than $140B to shareholders through a combination of dividends and share repurchases. During this time, CEO Sam... View Details

June 2015 (Revised September 2017)
Supplement

Generating Higher Value at IBM

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Scott Mayfield

This case analyzes IBM's financial performance and its capital allocation decisions over a 10-year period from 2004-2013, during which IBM returned more than $140B to shareholders through a combination of dividends and share repurchases. During this time, CEO Sam... View Details

Keywords: Dividends; Share Repurchases; Earnings Guidance; Financial Statement Analysis; Financial Ratios; Payout Policy; Earnings Per Share (EPS); Earnings Management; Change Management; Leadership; Transformation; Financial Strategy

November 2011 (Revised February 2012)
Case

Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul: Building on a Diversified Base

By: William W. George

Since the 1970s, the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan region (MSP) had outpaced the nation in job creation and income per capita. MSP's diversified base of industry clusters had enabled the region to adapt to economic downturns and an exodus of major corporate... View Details

Keywords: Industry Clusters; Employment; Organizations; Transformation; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Minneapolis; Saint Paul

January 2004 (Revised February 2005)
Case

Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged Version)

By: James E. Austin and James Quinn

When Jeffrey Swartz became the third generation in his family to lead the Timberland Co., he made community involvement an integral part of the company's strategy. Under Swartz's leadership, Timberland formed a close partnership with City Year, the national corps of... View Details

Keywords: Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Business and Community Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Corporate Strategy; Manufacturing Industry