Publications

01 Nov 2016
First Look

First Look - November 1, 2016

it comes not from mimicking competitors' best practices, but from seeing functional connections—choices that are part of a connected whole. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=51850 October 11, 2016 Proceedings of the National Academy of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

14 Dec 2010
Op-Ed

Tax US Companies to Spur Spending

individuals who incorporate for business purposes. Implementing such a tax would require measures to prevent some unintended consequences. A large fraction of corporations' excess cash--as much as two-thirds, according to some estimates--is held outside of the United... View Details

Keywords: by Mihir A. Desai

01 Apr 2002
News

Back in Business

affected by the attack (see sidebar). "I wanted to fight back in the best way I could." And Mayor Giuliani's successor, Michael R. Bloomberg (MBA '66), voiced the sentiments of many city residents when he said in his January State of the... View Details

Keywords: 9/11; NYC; New York City; Government

06 Nov 2012
Op-Ed

Stop Talking About the Weather and Do Something: Three Ways to Finance Sustainable Cities

The wrath of Hurricane Sandy has illuminated a fundamental question: How do we ensure that our cities are resilient in the face of inevitable future disasters? A destroyed city is not a sustainable city. I'm making the case that it's time to stop complaining about... View Details

Keywords: by John Macomber; Construction; Real Estate; Energy; Utilities

July 2012 (Revised June 2018)
Case

MC Tool

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Two partners acquired MC Tool in October 2007 for $5 million. The company was a machine shop that manufactured parts for a wide variety of applications in the energy, automotive, and industrial equipment industries. In their first year of ownership, the partners... View Details

Keywords: Capital Budgeting; Risk Management; Risk and Uncertainty; Problems and Challenges; Transformation; Production; Business Strategy; Manufacturing Industry; United States

01 Sep 2016
News

Offshore Learning

back to the mainland. “Our classroom is a 204-acre island with two salt marshes, a fresh water marsh, an inner tidal zone, meadows, and forests.” Since 2005, Pearson has spearheaded an $8.3 million capital campaign to fund infrastructure... View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg; Outward Bound; Educational Support Services; Educational Services

01 Jun 2015
News

Alumni Take Action to Improve US Competitiveness

company Long-Stanton and a 2013 Advanced Leadership Fellow at Harvard, has been promoting competitiveness-based ideas to improve the regional economy. During the past 18 months, he’s given dozens of talks about US competitiveness to state... View Details

Keywords: Erin Peterson; Walmart; Health, Social Assistance; Retail Trade

29 Sep 2008
Research & Ideas

Financial Crisis Caution Urged by Faculty Panel

professor and Dean of the Faculty, provided a brief outline of the landscape as well as thoughts on how to view the proposed bailout. Lecturer Nicolas P. Retsinas, Director of Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies, then gave a brief history of housing... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Financial Services

01 Apr 1996
News

Wake-Up Call: Farewell to the American Dream?

too long to the mass-production model. Unable to halt declining returns and market share, it lost confidence in itself. That confusion contributed to a serious falloff in capital spending that further undermined productivity. Yet aren't... View Details

September 2006 (Revised February 2011)
Case

Empemex

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Regina Garcia-Cuellar

Studies an entrepreneurial venture in Mexico City. The protagonists, two MBAs from HBS, started a pawn shop chain funded from their private equity office after finishing business school. This is timed at a point where the protagonists have to decide how to grow the... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Investment; Growth and Development Strategy; Mexico City; United States

30 Jan 2017
Research & Ideas

Vanguard, Trian And The Problem With 'Passive' Index Funds

corporate governance. “When you think of the factors that have made capitalism such a successful model for economic growth, the separation between management and ownership, with the ability to disperse ownership and risk over many... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

January 2011 (Revised July 2019)
Case

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah L. Abbott

One of the leading publishers of textbooks and other educational materials for the U.S. K-12 educational instruction market has suffered a dramatic decline in sales and profits in the wake of the 2008-2009 financial market crisis and economic recession, and is now... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Capital Structure; Financial Crisis; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Publishing Industry; Massachusetts

03 May 2004
Research & Ideas

Business History around the World

professor at Bocconi University in Milan, co-edited Business History around the World (Cambridge University Press 2004), a report on the current state of business history worldwide. Recently Jones took time to explain the importance of... View Details

Keywords: by Cynthia Churchwell

01 Feb 2001
News

Q&A - Dirty Money: Raymond Baker Explores the Free Market's Demimonde

Baker returned to the United States and was involved for many years in a variety of trading activities that took him to some two dozen countries in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Observing further how corruption could subvert markets... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Government

October 2000 (Revised February 2007)
Case

Harvard Management Company and Inflation-Protected Bonds, The

By: Luis M. Viceira

In March 2000, the board of The Harvard Management Co. (HMC) approved significant changes in the policy portfolio determining the long-run allocation policy of the Harvard University endowment. These changes included a sharp reduction of the allocation to U.S. equities... View Details

Keywords: Bonds; Investment Portfolio; Investment Funds; Asset Management; Corporate Governance; Capital Markets; Financial Services Industry; United States