Publications

January 2023
Case

EKI Energy Services: One Billion Carbon Credits

By: George Serafeim

Within nine months from the time of its Initial Public Offering (IPO) in April of 2021, EKI Energy Services (EKI) shares had increased by more than 8,000%. Equally explosive was the growth of the company’s revenues and Earnings Before Interest, Taxes and Depreciation... View Details

Keywords: Carbon Credits; Carbon Emissions; Growth; Business Analysis; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Valuation; Climate Change; Accounting; Valuation; Transition; Renewable Energy; Analysis; Product Positioning; India

July 2023 (Revised February 2024)
Case

Clair

By: Lauren Cohen, Grace Headinger and Marcos Quirno

Clair was founded with a simple mission: to expedite America’s workers access to their hard-earned wages. In the headwinds of the COVID-19 pandemic, the startup had successfully raised a seed round of $4.5 million, and within two years the earned wage access (EWA)... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; Ewa; Lending; Technology; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Social Enterprise; Business Strategy; Business Model; Mission and Purpose; Venture Capital; Profit; Financial Services Industry; United States

Research Summary

Information Intermediation

Christopher F. Noe's research involves examining a variety of issues relating to the process through which firms communicate with external parties. He has shown that trading by corporate officials in their own firms shares of common stock increases in the period... View Details

April 2011 (Revised June 2014)
Case

Securities Lending After the Financial Crisis

By: Robert C. Pozen and Gayle Hameister

In April 2009, Wendy Jefferson had just returned to her office following a whirlwind day of meetings with her newest client, Star Advisor. Jefferson, a financial services consultant, was eager to dig into the information provided to her and her team about the Star... View Details

Keywords: Business Earnings; Debt Securities; Financing and Loans; Investment Funds; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Information

June 2014
Supplement

Financial Policy at Apple, 2013 (B)

By: Mihir Desai and Elizabeth A. Meyer

This case is meant to accompany Financial Policy at Apple, 2013 (A) and details the results of Apple's Q2 2013 earnings call. View Details

Keywords: Apple; Steve Jobs; Forecast; Forecasting; Forecasting And Prediction; Shareholder Activism; Share Repurchase; Dividends; Financial Ratios; Preferred Shares; Cash Distribution; Corporate Finance; Borrowing and Debt; Financial Management; Financial Strategy; Technology Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States; Republic of Ireland

September 2022
Article

The Limits of Inconspicuous Incentives

By: Leslie K. John, Hayley Blunden, Katherine Milkman, Luca Foschini and Bradford Tuckfield

Managers and policymakers regularly rely on incentives to encourage valued behaviors. While incentives are often successful, there are also notable and surprising examples of their ineffectiveness. Why? We propose a contributing factor may be that they are not... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Behavior

Find at Harvard

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18 Aug 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Non-Audit Services and Financial Reporting Quality: Evidence from 1978-1980

Keywords: by Kevin Koh, Shivaram Rajgopal & Suraj Srinivasan; Accounting

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 Risk... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

April 2000 (Revised September 2001)
Case

Peppers and Rogers Group, The

By: John A. Deighton

Can two successful authors build a scalable consulting practice based on their unique view of customer relationship management (CRM)? Should they emphasize strategy or execution? The case describes how Peppers and Rogers grew from two people earning speaker fees to a... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Growth and Development; Information Publishing; Going Public; Strategy; Competition; Internet; Consulting Industry

08 Nov 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Managers' Cultural Background and Disclosure Attributes

Keywords: by Francois Brochet, Gregory S. Miller, Patricia Naranjo, and Gwen Yu

Research Summary

The Role of Financial and Information Intermediaries in the Capital Markets

Hutton's research investigates the role of financial analysts and short sellers in the pricing of equity securities. Recently, Hutton examines (with Patricia Dechow and Richard Sloan) the role of sell-side analysts' earnings forecasts in the pricing of common equity... View Details

January 1998 (Revised February 2006)
Background Note

Creating Competitive Advantage

By: Pankaj Ghemawat and Jan W. Rivkin

A firm such as Schering-Plough that earns superior, long-run financial returns within its industry is said to enjoy a competitive advantage over its rivals. This note examines the logic of how firms create competitive advantage. It emphasizes two themes: First, to... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Management; Business Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Innovation Strategy; Management Practices and Processes; Value Creation; Pharmaceutical Industry

October 2023
Case

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: A Curriculum Provider Puts Itself on the Hook for Student Outcomes

By: John J-H Kim, Derek C. M. van Bever, Michael Norris and Max Hancock

Jack Lynch, CEO of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) since 2017, was leading the company’s transformation from a legacy textbook publisher to a digital-first student outcomes provider, which earned subscription revenue from digital products and curriculum. In 2023, HMH... View Details

Keywords: Edtech; Textbook; Publishing; Leading Change; Change Management; Transformation; Digital Transformation; Expansion; Business Strategy; Publishing Industry; Education Industry; United States

22 Mar 2016
First Look

March 22, 2016

Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=50237 Economic Uncertainty and Earnings Management By: Stein, Luke C.D., and Charles C.Y. Wang Abstract—We document that firms report... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 1996 (Revised April 1996)
Case

State Street Bank and Trust Company: New Product Development

By: Gary P. Pisano and Maryam Golnaraghi

Portrays the dilemma faced by Marsh Carter, CEO and chairman of the board of State Street Bank, in May 1995. For the past decade, the bank earned continually expanding earnings through its rapidly growing custody business. Now, as that business matures and custodial... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Finance; Problems and Challenges; Management Teams; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Strategy; Banking Industry

April 2012 (Revised May 2012)
Case

Merck: Operating Science-Based Business

By: Ananth Raman, Inga Maurer and William Schmidt

Merck is known for its commitment to investing in basic R&D. Are Merck's long-term investments justifiable when the firm faces extreme earnings pressure? View Details

Keywords: Science-Based Business; Management; Research and Development; Business and Shareholder Relations; Operations; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States