Publications

11 Apr 2011
Lessons from the Classroom

Teaching a ‘Lean Startup’ Strategy

spend years burning through venture capital while they figured out their strategy. These are the days of the lean startup. "Most startups fail not because they can't build the product they set out to build, but because they build the... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Technology; Computer

December 2010 (Revised March 2013)
Case

Asian Agri and the Future of Palm Oil

By: David E. Bell and Natalie Kindred

For Asian Agri and other Indonesian palm oil producers, the future promised rising demand from fast-growing Asian populations, but also intensifying criticism from environmental groups. With the highest yield and lowest production cost of any edible oil, palm oil... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Social Marketing; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business Strategy; Supply Chain Management; Natural Environment; Marketing Strategy; Environmental Sustainability; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Indonesia; Malaysia

25 Jan 2010
Research & Ideas

A Macroeconomic View of the Current Economy

What exactly does it mean that the real interest rate has moved, or the real exchange rate has moved this way or that? There are different types of productivity—labor productivity, capital productivity, and total factor productivity.... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

April 2011 (Revised June 2011)
Case

Internet Securities, Inc.: Path to Sustainability

By: Lynda M. Applegate, William R. Kerr and Ryan Johnson

Founded in 1994 when the Internet was still a "toy for techies," the case is set in 1998 when Internet IPOs were red-hot. Internet Securities provides hard-to-find financial, business, economic, and political information on emerging markets. Information from over 600... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Business Model; Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Venture Capital; Cash Flow; Initial Public Offering; Analytics and Data Science; Growth and Development Strategy; Valuation

22 May 2017
Lessons from the Classroom

A Luxury Industry Veteran Teaches the Importance of Aesthetics to Budding Business Leaders

Pauline Brown joined the HBS faculty following a tenure as Chairman of North America at the French luxury goods conglomerate, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. (Photo credit: Albert Cheung) To future CEOs who want to succeed in the business of making and View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Beauty & Cosmetics; Apparel & Accessories; Auto; Tourism

21 Aug 2000
Research & Ideas

From Emerging Economies to the Global Market: The Case of Embraer

participants. Questions they considered: What key elements of strategy and competitiveness will help a firm from an emerging market suceed internationally? How can a government assist a company without smothering it? Another point of... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Manufacturing

09 Aug 2016
First Look

August 9, 2016

economic activity? This paper exploits the federal preemption of national banks in 2004 from local laws against predatory lending to gauge the effect of the supply of credit on the real economy. Specifically, we exploit the heterogeneity in the View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

26 Jun 2007
First Look

First Look: June 26, 2007

Vineet Nayar became president of HCL Technologies, a global IT services business, in April 2005, he knew the company needed drastic change. Since its founding as a hardware company in the 1970s, HCL had grown into an enterprise with $3.7 billion in revenues and a View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

21 May 2013
First Look

First Look: May 21

sample period; a calibration suggests that a 10 percentage-point increase in Tier 1 capital to risk-weighted assets may have increased this to between 100 and 130 basis points per year. In summary, the low risk anomaly in the stock View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

21 Oct 2015
Research & Ideas

How to Predict if a New Business Idea is Any Good

and pharmaceuticals. However, in non-R&D-intensive sectors, such as mobile apps and software, the ability to predict success was no better than random. Perhaps that is because it is easier to evaluate technology that has a well-defined set of potential View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Accommodations; Financial Services

20 Oct 2010
Op-Ed

Export Competitiveness: Reversing the Logic

of externalities became additional features of the debate. The introduction of market imperfection arguments actually introduced significant complications: specialization in the "wrong" activities, i.e. those with lower levels... View Details

Keywords: by Christian Ketels

26 Jan 2009
Research & Ideas

Where is Home for the Global Firm?

example, the fragmentation of production around the world, distribution outlets worldwide, and research and development facilities that capitalize on local talent pools. But we still basically think that firms belong to some home country... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

16 Jun 2015
First Look

First Look: June 16, 2015

senior executives emphasize in their communications. We find that our measure of disclosure time horizon is associated with capital market pressures and executives' short-term monetary incentives. Consistent... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2018
Working Paper

Global Portfolio Diversification for Long-Horizon Investors

By: Luis M. Viceira and Zixuan (Kevin) Wang

This paper conducts a theoretical and empirical investigation of global portfolio diversification for long-horizon investors in the presence of permanent cash flow shocks and transitory discount rate shocks to asset prices and returns. An increase in the cross-country... View Details

Keywords: Investment Portfolio; Risk and Uncertainty; Diversification; Capital Markets; Global Range

Read Now

January 2005 (Revised March 2008)
Case

Kohler Co. (A)

Kohler Co., best known for its plumbing fixtures, is a large, private family firm. As part of a recapitalization aimed at preserving family ownership of Kohler Co., nonfamily shareholders, who held 4% of common stock, were required to sell their shares to the company.... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Capital Structure; Cash Flow; Stocks; Price; Family Ownership; Business and Shareholder Relations; Valuation

October 2019 (Revised August 2022)
Case

Nehemiah Mfg. Co.: Providing a Second Chance

By: Michael Chu, Brian Trelstad and John Masko

In 2009, Dan Meyer and Richard Palmer, two veterans of the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry, founded Nehemiah Manufacturing to build FMCG brands while providing jobs to Cincinnati, Ohio’s beleaguered urban core. Two years later, the pair made their first... View Details

Keywords: Fast Moving Consumer Goods; Social Entrepreneurship; Retention; Selection and Staffing; Employment; Human Capital; Growth Management; Brands and Branding; Social Marketing; Mission and Purpose; Prejudice and Bias; City; Urban Scope; Consumer Products Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Ohio; United States