Publications

October 2005 (Revised January 2009)
Background Note

Corporate Valuation and Market Multiples

By: Timothy A. Luehrman

Provides a basic introduction to the use of market multiples for business valuation. Explains the method's reliance on the Law of One Price, sets forth the basic steps for using the method, and reviews some practical issues arising in its application. View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Price; Market Transactions; Mathematical Methods; Valuation

Francesca Gino is an award-winning researcher who focuses on why people make the decisions they do at work, and how leaders and employees have more productive, creative and fulfilling lives. She is the best-selling author, most recently, of “View Details

Keywords: electronics; entertainment; fashion; manufacturing; motorcycles; pharmaceuticals

08 Jan 2001
What Do You Think?

Have We Extended the Boundaries of the Firm Too Far?

latest manifestation of a lecture given 68 years ago by Ronald Coase, now professor emeritus at the University of Chicago Law School. Prof. Coase set forth a theory designed to... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

Elie Ofek

Elie Ofek is a Professor in the Marketing unit at the Harvard Business School. Professor Ofek's research focuses on new product strategies in technology-driven business environments as well as in consumer-oriented companies in general. He explores interactions... View Details

Keywords: internet; media; high technology; consumer products

05 Aug 2002
What Do You Think?

Is Platform Leadership Old Hat or the Wave of the Future?

Summing Up Platform leadership, the process by which base technologies are developed and on which innovations created by many entrepreneurs can be based, may be characteristic of the knowledge economy. But... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

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 View Details

20 Jul 2022
News

Might Elon Musk Be Forced to Buy Twitter?

July 2005 (Revised August 2006)
Background Note

Bribery in Business: A Legal Perspective

By: Lynn S. Paine and Christopher Bruner

Provides a brief overview of the concept of bribery and the principal rationales prompting restrictions on such conduct. Also, reviews some of the most important U.S. and international laws prohibiting various forms of bribery. View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Lawfulness

2012
Case

Robert Whelan and the Student Loan Crisis (A)

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Olivia Leskinen

Robert Whelan and the Student Loan Crisis (A) 2009 AL Fellow Bob Whelan developed an idea with partners that was a seed before his fellowship year and seemed to address a significant national challenge - college financing - with a creative concept and experience from... View Details

23 Jan 2011
News

Air Products ruling will set takeover benchmark

January 2016 (Revised February 2016)
Case

Citizens United and Corporate Speech

By: David Moss and Marc Campasano

The story of Citizens United began in late 2007, as leading members of the Republican and Democratic parties were preparing for the 2008 presidential primaries. Democrats expected a three-way contest in their party between Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, Senator (and... View Details

Keywords: Rights; Internet and the Web; Political Elections; Lawsuits and Litigation; Business and Government Relations

08 Aug 2023
Research & Ideas

The Rise of Employee Analytics: Productivity Dream or Micromanagement Nightmare?

spread of epidemics, reducing congestion on highways, or finding ways to detect fraudulent transactions.The trend toward people analytics, Polzer says, is a logical extension View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

17 Jun 2015
Lessons from the Classroom

Excellence Comes From Saying No

student made a Choose Your Own Adventure computer game about making the right choices in a workplace environment. (When Frei played the game, "I ended up getting fired.") One of the most moving... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

March 2001 (Revised August 2003)
Case

Wilkerson Company

By: Robert S. Kaplan

The president of Wilkerson, faced with declining profits, is struggling to understand why the company is encountering severe price competition on one product line while able to raise prices without competitive response on another product line. The controller proposes... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Competition; Profit; Product; Consumer Products Industry

Alberto Cavallo is the Thomas S. Murphy Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, where he teaches in the Business, Government, and the International Economy (BGIE) unit, a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a... View Details

Louis E. Caldera

Louis Caldera is a Senior Lecturer of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He teaches Leadership and Corporate Accountability, a required first-year course in the MBA program. He has previously taught law school courses on corporate... View Details

November 2018 (Revised January 2019)
Module Note

Responsibilities to Investors (Abridged)

By: Lena G. Goldberg and Joseph L. Badaracco

This note focuses on managers’ responsibilities—economic, legal, and ethical—to investors. In capitalist and some socialist economies, these responsibilities traditionally have been grounded in fiduciary duties and are typically part of the common law or statutory law... View Details

Keywords: Responsibilities To Investors; Investors; Responsibility; Business and Shareholder Relations; Management; Ethics