Publications

19 Aug 2008
First Look

First Look: August 19, 2008

blurring by retailers have generally increased both inventory levels and gross profit dollars across retail segments. Download paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/08-078.pdf New Framework for Measuring and Managing Macrofinancial View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

07 Feb 2023
Research & Ideas

Supervisor of Sandwiches? More Companies Inflate Titles to Avoid Extra Pay

wages. For companies, that represents a savings of 14 percent in compensation for each employee they can move up into a phony management position, so to speak, Cohen and his co-authors report. And companies apparently believe that... View Details

Keywords: by Scott Van Voorhis

15 May 2020
News

Five ESG Implications from COVID-19

TeachingInterests

Understanding and Influencing Operations as an Investor

This course is designed to impart to students who plan to become investors an understanding of firms' operations, and to students, including entrepreneurs, planning to operate companies an understanding of how to interface with investors. The course also... View Details

January 2003 (Revised May 2003)
Case

VendQuest (A): The Business Idea

By: Dwight B. Crane and David Foster

A potential founder of a company is considering whether to start up a new enterprise that would link parts distributors with customers in the construction industries via the Internet. This case describes the industry and the potential advantages to distributors and... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Corporate Strategy; Business Model; Distribution; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Internet and the Web; Business Plan; Customer Relationship Management; Business Ventures; Construction Industry

February 1994 (Revised August 1994)
Background Note

Note on Contingent Environmental Liabilities

By: Richard H.K. Vietor and Forest L. Reinhardt

Addresses contingent environmental liabilities that are the result of unforeseen environmental risks where the dollar amount of such liabilities is unknown and depends on future events. In contrast, fines for violating environmental laws are liabilities, but are not... View Details

Keywords: Legal Liability; Risk Management; Natural Environment; Laws and Statutes; Pollutants; Governance Compliance; United States

Benjamin Esty is the Roy and Elizabeth Simmons Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Over the years, he has taught a variety of courses ranging from advanced corporate finance and project finance to competitive strategy and leadership. He... View Details

Keywords: asset management; asset management; asset management; asset management; asset management; asset management; asset management

Profile

Cynthia Samanian

several alumni who have offered mentorship and career advice. How has your overall HBS experience shaped your goals & career path? To my surprise, the HBS experience has pushed me to take more risks than I would have ever imagined.... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Technology

Research Summary

Precautionary Bidding in Auctions

Joint work with Peter Esö, MEDS Department, Kellogg School of Management

We analyze bidding behavior in auctions when risk-averse bidders bid for an object whose value is risky. We show... View Details

08 Sep 2016
News

Monitoring global supply chains

December 2012
Case

Delwarca Software Remote Support Unit

By: Roy D. Shapiro and Paul E. Morrison

Delwarca Software provides business software to large corporate clients around the world. The firm serves customers who prefer to assemble corporate solutions using a combination of software programs from various suppliers rather than implementing a single enterprise... View Details

Keywords: Service Operations; Service Delivery; Mathematical Methods; Applications and Software; Problems and Challenges; Customer Satisfaction; Information Technology Industry

May 2010 (Revised January 2014)
Case

Water Shortage and Property Investing in Mexico City

By: John D. Macomber, Regina Garcia-Cuellar and Griffin James

A commercial property company evaluates water risks including the government's ability to remedy, the company's operating exposure and mitigation, and whether to relocate because of water risk. A real estate fund manager assesses investment prospects in Mexico City in... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Investment; Risk Management; Infrastructure; Privatization; Business and Government Relations; Partners and Partnerships; Financial Services Industry; Real Estate Industry; Utilities Industry; Mexico City

February 2009
Article

Goals Gone Wild: The Systematic Side Effects of Over-Prescribing Goal Setting

By: Lisa D. Ordonez, Maurice E. Schweitzer, Adam D. Galinsky and Max H. Bazerman

Goal setting is one of the most replicated and influential paradigms in the management literature. Hundreds of studies conducted in numerous countries and contexts have consistently demonstrated that setting specific, challenging goals can powerfully drive behavior and... View Details

Keywords: Goals and Objectives; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Culture; Performance Improvement; Behavior; Motivation and Incentives

Joshua Margolis is James Dinan and Elizabeth Miller Professor of Business Administration and the Unit Head for the Organizational Behavior unit. He is also Faculty Chair of the Program for Leadership Development. His research and teaching revolve around leadership... View Details

Keywords: furniture; health care; insurance industry; nonprofit industry; pharmaceuticals

Article

Well Said: Why Articulating Your Strategy Can Set You Apart

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Senior finance managers now operate in an altered c-suite landscape. The executives reporting to the CEO have doubled in the past 30 years, mostly an increase in functional specialists, not general managers responsible for cross-functional integration. Three decades... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Sales

May 2011
Article

The Hollow Science

By: Robert S. Kaplan

The financial meltdown made clear that the executives of many major financial institutions were operating with inadequate or distorted information about the values and risks of their firms' assets. It's fair to say that business scholars bear some... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Financial Crisis; Financial Management; Information; Knowledge Acquisition; Risk Management; Practice

April 2021 (Revised May 2021)
Case

Kitopi: The Brave New World of Cloud Kitchens

By: Antonio Moreno and Gamze Yucaoglu

The case opens in February 2021 as Mohamad Ballout, co-founder and CEO of Kitopi, a Dubai-based managed cloud kitchen platform, is looking over the company’s 2020 results. Propelled by the COVID-19 pandemic, delivery orders had been on the rise globally and dine-in... View Details

Keywords: Cloud Kitchens; Food; Operations; Growth and Development Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Food and Beverage Industry; Middle East; North Africa

January–March 2025
Article

Transitioning from Responsible and Reactive to Deeply Responsible and Proactive International Business

By: Geoffrey G. Jones, Teresa da Silva Lopes, Pavida Pananond, Rob van Tulder, Noemi Sinkovics and Rudolf R. Sinkovics

This article aims to explore the role of multinational enterprises in addressing grand societal challenges, emphasizing the need for integrating environmental and social aspects into business models. It offers an analysis of how principles and values can guide engaged... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business Model; Multinational Firms and Management