Publications

October 1999 (Revised January 2000)
Case

W. R. Hambrecht & Co: OpenIPO

By: Andre F. Perold and Gunjan D. Bhow

OpenIPO is a new mechanism for pricing and distributing initial public offerings. The system, which is based on a Dutch auction, represents an attempt by the investment bank W.R. Hambrecht + Co. to change the manner in which IPOs are underwritten. The case provides a... View Details

Keywords: Investment Banking; Debt Securities; Stocks; Initial Public Offering; Price; Information; Auctions; Agreements and Arrangements; Distribution; Internet; Netherlands

06 Jul 2011
Research & Ideas

Are You a Level-Six Leader?

of the modern world's greatest Opportunists. Also of this genre, although somewhat lesser known, is Jeffrey Skilling, the Enron CEO who sold off tens of millions of dollars of stock just before Enron filed for bankruptcy, claiming he had... View Details

Keywords: by Mitch Maidique

January 2022 (Revised November 2023)
Supplement

Uber in China (C): The Cost of Success for Didi

By: William C. Kirby and Noah B. Truwit

On June 30, 2021, ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing (Didi) raised $4.4 billion in its initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the largest IPO of a Chinese company listed on an American exchange since Alibaba raised $25 billion in 2014.... View Details

Keywords: Uber; Didi Chuxing; Start-up Growth; Regulation; Ride-sharing; Transportation; Business Startups; Business and Government Relations; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Growth and Development; Policy; Competition; Laws and Statutes; Transportation Industry; Technology Industry; China

15 Oct 2007
Research & Ideas

Businesses Beware: The World Is Not Flat

expansion," Ghemawat argues. While identifying similarities from one place to the next is essential, effective cross-border strategies will take careful stock of differences as well. An expert on global strategy, Ghemawat lays out an... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

January 2010 (Revised April 2010)
Case

Greenbriar Growth Partners and Microsurgery Devices

Greenbriar Growth Partners (GGP), a venture capital (VC) firm, has been an investor in Microsurgery Devices (MSD) for four-plus years and has come into conflict with the company's founder. Should the Board's nominating committee re-nominate the VC investor, and should... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Initial Public Offering; Governing and Advisory Boards; Conflict of Interests; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States

April 2006 (Revised October 2006)
Case

Best Buy Co., Inc.: Customer-Centricity

By: Rajiv Lal, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Irina Tarsis

With FY2005 sales of $27.3 billion, Richfield, Minn.-based Best Buy Co., Inc. was the leading retailer of consumer electronics, home-office products, and related services in North America. Its operations included the distinct store formats Best Buy, Future Shop in... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Service Operations; Business Earnings; Financial Crisis; Failure; Business Model; Leadership; Segmentation; Value Creation; Electronics Industry; United States; Canada; Mongolia

07 Nov 2007
Op-Ed

How Marketing Hype Hurt Boeing and Apple

Editor's Note: Harvard Business School professor John Quelch writes a blog on marketing issues, called Marketing Know: How, for Harvard Business Online. It is reprinted on HBS Working Knowledge. Last month, Boeing stock went wobbly on... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Aerospace; Consumer Products

February 1986 (Revised November 1992)
Case

Novo Industri A/S--1981

By: W. Carl Kester and Glynn Ferguson

This small but rapidly growing Danish biochemical company must choose among several financing opportunities that include a convertible Eurobond, a rights offering in Denmark and an issue of new common shares in the United States. The case involves a broad range of... View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Cost of Capital; Bonds; Stock Shares; Financing and Loans; Globalization; Biotechnology Industry; Chemical Industry; Denmark; United States

22 May 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, May 22, 2018

However, high purpose firms come in two forms: firms that are characterized by high camaraderie between workers and firms that are characterized by high clarity from management. We document that firms exhibiting both high purpose and clarity have systematically higher... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

07 Aug 2000
Research & Ideas

The Business of Biotech

With the sequencing of the human genome running ahead of schedule, the American Stock Exchange's "BTK" biotech index registered an annual increase of 232 percent in February, prompting exuberant headlines ("Move Over,... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Biotechnology; Health; Technology

06 Mar 2018
First Look

First Look at Research and Ideas, March 6, 2018

while full integration into stock valuation and engagement are considered more beneficial, but they are all practiced with equal frequency. Current practices of different ESG styles, especially screening, are driven by product and ethical... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

21 Jan 2020
Research & Ideas

Lessons for Retailers from the Rebirth of Indie Bookstores

As big box bookstores Barnes & Noble and Borders spread across the landscape in the 1990s, retail observers sounded the death knell for small, independent booksellers. But they had no idea of the onslaught that was coming. Amazon.com launched in 1995, View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Entertainment & Recreation

17 Jul 2023
Research & Ideas

Money Isn’t Everything: The Dos and Don’ts of Motivating Employees

false promises. Many companies have offered stock options to upper level employees. But “options are fragile in a way most people don’t understand,” Hall says, “and over half of the time they fall... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

02 Jul 2013
First Look

First Look: July 2

an array of implications that can be tested with our data. Our contribution is twofold. We disentangle the role of risk aversion and talent in determining how firms select and motivate managers. In particular, risk-averse managers are matched with firms that View Details

Keywords: Anna Secino

11 Jun 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Gender in Job Negotiations: A Two-Level Game

Keywords: by Hannah Riley Bowles & Kathleen L. McGinn

05 Dec 2012
What Do You Think?

Should Managers Bother Listening to Predictions?

they too often are based on the wrong things, what he calls the "noise" (short-term stock market action) rather than the "signal" embedded in the noise (long-term secular trends in the market). In his view, the problem... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

12 May 2017
Working Paper Summaries

Equality and Equity in Compensation

Keywords: by Jiayi Bao and Andy Wu

06 Sep 2017
What Do You Think?

Summing Up: What Are the Limits of CEO Activism?

violence against your company if you are not willing to voice support for their cause there are rarely any solutions that would satisfy everyone. CEO’s facing this kind of circumstance have my respect and sympathy.” Peter Fanning offered... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

2017
Working Paper

Inventory Management for Mobile Money Agents in the Developing World

By: Karthik Balasubramanian, David F. Drake and Douglas Fearing

Mobile money systems, platforms built and managed by mobile network operators to allow money to be stored as digital currency, have burgeoned in the developing world as a mechanism to transfer money electronically. Mobile money agents exchange cash for electronic value... View Details

Keywords: Currency; Mobile Technology; Market Platforms; Developing Countries and Economies