Publications

March 2011
Article

Do Sell-Side Stock Analysts Exhibit Escalation of Commitment?

By: John Beshears and Katherine L. Milkman

This paper presents evidence that when an analyst makes an out-of-consensus forecast of a company's quarterly earnings that turns out to be incorrect, she escalates her commitment to maintaining an out-of-consensus view on the company. Relative to an analyst who was... View Details

Keywords: Escalation Of Commitment; Stock Market; Updating; Behavioral Economics; Motivation and Incentives; Behavior; Consumer Behavior; Financial Markets; Forecasting and Prediction

Read Now

November 2003 (Revised November 2004)
Case

Ottawa Devices, Inc. (B)

By: Henry B. Reiling and Harry Clegg Midgley IV

The Rollins family assembly was meeting to discuss and decide which one or combination from among an estate freeze, installment sale of stock, ESOP (employee stock ownership plan), leveraged capitalization, annual gifts of stock, one-time outright gift of stock, or... View Details

Keywords: Employee Stock Ownership Plan; Property; Mergers and Acquisitions; Decision Choices and Conditions; Stocks; Business Exit or Shutdown; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Family Business; Human Needs; Financial Strategy; Manufacturing Industry

27 Jul 2010
First Look

First Look: July 27

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=972044 Corporate Governance at the World Bank and the Dilemma of Global Governance Authors:Ashwin Kaja and Eric Werker Publication:The World Bank Economic Review, 2010 Abstract Most major View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

07 May 2013
First Look

First Look: May 7

during peaks of the private equity market, when the parent banks arrange more debt financing for in-house transactions yet have the lowest exposure to debt. Using financing terms and ex-post performance, we... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

September 2009
Teaching Note

HubSpot: Inbound Marketing and Web 2.0 (TN)

By: Thomas J. Steenburgh and Jill Avery

Teaching Note for 509-049. View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Technology Adoption; Internet and the Web; Blogs; Media; Markets; Segmentation; Price; Decision Choices and Conditions; Marketing Strategy; Information Technology Industry

fall 1995
Article

Standard Setting Consortia, Antitrust, and High-Technology Industries

By: James J. Anton and Dennis A. Yao

Examines the antitrust treatment of private-sector standard setting in the U.S. Applicability of law and decision-making issues in high technology industries; Examination of cost-based facilitating theory; Approach to evaluate the reasonableness of a standard. View Details

Keywords: Private Sector; Information Technology; Law; Decision Making; Cost; Theory; Performance Evaluation; Standards; United States

April 2022 (Revised April 2023)
Case

Highland Park Wood Co. (Abridged)

By: David E. Bell

A major home builder wishes to purchase lumber (Southern pine). The builder wants delivery in six months but prefers to lock-in the price near current rates. The lumber wholesaler must decide on a pricing and sourcing strategy. Examples include: 1) buy & hold, 2) wait... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Goods and Commodities; Futures and Commodity Futures; Price; Forest Products Industry; Construction Industry

12 Aug 2014
First Look

First Look: August 12

arises from behavioral biases and misperceptions of probability distributions. Finally, nonpecuniary taste-based factors may be important in motivating both the decisions to enter into and to persist in entrepreneurship. Publisher's link:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

26 Jan 2010
First Look

First Look: Jan. 26

The Irrational Economist: Making Decisions in a Dangerous World, edited by Erwann Michel-Kerjan and Paul Slovic, 151-160. New York: Public Affairs Books, 2010 Abstract Particularly since the 1960s, the federal government has played a... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

September 2010
Supplement

Compass Maritime Services, LLC: Valuing Ships (CW)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Albert W. Sheen

Tom Roberts, a founding partner of Compass Maritime Services, a New Jersey-based shipping research and consulting firm, has been asked by a new potential customer in May 2008 for advice on purchasing a capesize bulk carrier. After identifying a suitable ship with his... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Decisions; Microeconomics; Finance; Price; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Market Transactions; Partners and Partnerships; Mathematical Methods; Valuation; Consulting Industry; New Jersey

01 May 2000
What Do You Think?

Can You Hard-Wire Performance?

idea was that maybe it was alright for GE, but could a smaller, less well financed organization employ it? And how safe should an organization play it when employing such a strategy? Several of you offered other examples of performance... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

30 May 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, May 30

company had performed well and was gaining momentum. Interline was a rare asset in terms of the scale it had reached. However, there were still unknowns. Would buyers reward Interline with a high valuation multiple that reflected its acceleration in organic growth?... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

24 Aug 2016
Research & Ideas

Can Obamacare Be Saved?

insurance premiums for the average plan are expected to rise by 9 percent in 2017. Aetna’s decision prompted commentary from both sides of the political spectrum. Republicans see it as proof that the public exchanges simply won’t work,... View Details

Keywords: by John A. Quelch and Emily Boudreau; Insurance; Health

February 2002 (Revised February 2002)
Case

Roundabout Theatre Company, The (A)

Todd Haimes is the artistic director of the Roundabout, a nonprofit theatre. He must decide if he is willing to accept a large sponsorship from American Airlines and, in doing so, allow the airline to the name the Roundabout's new Broadway theatre. In making this... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Nonprofit Organizations; Decision Making; Financing and Loans; Theater Entertainment; Fine Arts Industry

January 2005 (Revised October 2005)
Background Note

Standard & Poor's Sovereign Credit Ratings: Scales and Process

By: Rawi E. Abdelal and Christopher Bruner

Describes Standard & Poor's sovereign credit ratings scales and the credit rating process. In particular, describes the role and function of the rating committee and the analytical categories considered in arriving at a final sovereign credit rating. View Details

Keywords: Financial Markets; Credit; Bonds; Policy; Risk and Uncertainty; Measurement and Metrics; Forecasting and Prediction; Financial Services Industry

August 2008
Article

Economic Links and Predictable Returns

By: Lauren Cohen and Andrea Frazzini

This paper finds evidence of return predictability across economically linked firms. We test the hypothesis that in the presence of investors subject to attention constraints, stock prices do not promptly incorporate news about economically related firms, generating... View Details

Keywords: Economics; Price; Assets; Analytics and Data Science; Customers; Stocks; Equity; Strategy; Investment Return; Forecasting and Prediction

Read Now

10 Oct 2007
First Look

First Look: First Look: October 10

Abstract We study the effect of small windfalls on consumer-spending decisions by examining the purchasing behavior of a sample of online grocery shoppers over the course of a year. We compare the purchases customers make when redeeming a... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

September 2010
Article

Do Inventory and Gross Margin Data Improve Sales Forecasts for U.S. Public Retailers?

By: Saravanan Kesavan, Vishal Gaur and Ananth Raman

Firm-level sales forecasts for retailers can be improved if we incorporate cost of goods sold, inventory, and gross margin (defined here as the ratio of sales to cost of goods sold) as three endogenous variables. We construct a simultaneous equations model, estimated... View Details

Keywords: Sales; Forecasting and Prediction; Distribution; Goods and Commodities; Cost; Public Sector; Profit; Mathematical Methods; Analytics and Data Science; Retail Industry; United States

August 2023 (Revised March 2024)
Case

Arla Foods: Data-Driven Decarbonization (A)

By: Michael Parzen, Michael W. Toffel, Susan Pinckney and Amram Migdal

The case describes Arla’s history, in particular its climate change mitigation efforts, and how it implemented a price incentive system to motivate individual farms to implement scope 1 greenhouse gas emissions mitigation measures and receive a higher milk price. The... View Details