Publications

September 2003 (Revised June 2005)
Case

Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Christopher Dede and Susan Saltrick

Explores the success factors leading to one's company's rise to the number three ranking in the aggressively competitive toy industry. LeapFrog has made the strategic decision to exploit its educational model in two industry sectors: consumer toys and educational... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Decisions; Education; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Growth Management; Media; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Research; Value Creation

Educators

January 2020
Article

The Long-Run Dynamics of Electricity Demand: Evidence from Municipal Aggregation

By: Tatyana Deryugina, Alexander MacKay and Julian Reif

We study the dynamics of residential electricity demand by exploiting a natural experiment that produced large and long-lasting price changes in over 250 Illinois communities. Using a flexible difference-in-differences matching approach, we estimate that the price... View Details

Keywords: Electricity Demand; Consumption Dynamics; Energy; Policy; Demand and Consumers; Price; Mathematical Methods

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June 2014
Teaching Note

Intuit Inc.: Project AgriNova

By: Thomas Eisenmann

In late 2008, a team from Intuit's office in Bangalore, India, is evaluating an opportunity to launch a new venture that would use SMS to deliver crop price information to farmers in India. The case describes the structure of Indian agriculture and the problems... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Venturing; Entrepreneurship; Research; Business Ventures; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Information Technology Industry; Bangalore

December 2010 (Revised June 2011)
Case

Boston Properties (A)

By: Ryan D. Taliaferro and Aldo Sesia

Investment manager Eliza Baena confronts an apparent convertible bond arbitrage opportunity when she notices a narrowing spread between two Boston Properties (BXP) bonds, one a convertible bond and the other a straight bond, in the wake of the 2008 Lehman bankruptcy.... View Details

Keywords: Asset Management; Bonds; Investment

Educators

Research Summary

FDI and Economic Growth: The Role of the Local Financial Markets (joint with Areendam Chanda, Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan, Selin Sayek)

By: Laura Alfaro

In this paper, we examine the various links among foreign direct investment (FDI), financial markets, and economic growth. We explore whether countries with better financial systems can exploit FDI more efficiently. Empirical analysis, using cross-country data between... View Details

May 2022
Article

When Does Product Liability Risk Chill Innovation? Evidence from Medical Implants

By: Alberto Galasso and Hong Luo

Liability laws designed to compensate for harms caused by defective products may also affect innovation. We examine this issue by exploiting a major quasi-exogenous increase in liability risk faced by U.S. suppliers of polymers used to manufacture medical implants.... View Details

Keywords: Product Liability; Innovation; Tort; Medical Devices; Vertical Foreclosure; Product; Innovation and Invention; Legal Liability; Laws and Statutes; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

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December 2020
Article

Taking Innovation to the Streets: Micro-geography, Physical Structure and Innovation

By: Maria P. Roche

In this paper, we analyze how the physical layout of cities affects innovation by influencing the organization of knowledge exchange. We exploit a novel data set covering all Census Block Groups in the contiguous United States with information on innovation outcomes,... View Details

Keywords: Microgeography; Innovation; Street Infrastructure; Knowledge Exchange; Interactions; Geography; City; Innovation and Invention; Knowledge Sharing

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02 Nov 2017
HBS Seminar

Florian Ederer, Yale University

Research Summary

Overview

Professor Becker’s research revolves around the way financing supply and financial conditions affect firm behavior, investment, and financing choices. His work on financial contracting has revealed that, in recent years, greater competition has tended to lower rather... View Details

2025
Working Paper

The Political Economy of Firm Networks: CEO Ideology and Global Trade

By: Elisabeth Kempf, Mancy Luo and Margarita Tsoutsoura

We examine how the political ideology of corporate leaders shapes cross-border firm networks. Exploiting changes in ideological alignment between U.S. firm CEOs and foreign governments around close foreign elections, we show that U.S. firms are more likely to... View Details

Keywords: Global Trade; Firm Networks; Political Ideology; Elections; Political Economy; Political Elections; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Trade

SSRN

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September 2023
Article

Consuming Contests: The Effect of Outcome Uncertainty on Spectator Attendance in the Australian Football League

By: Patrick Ferguson and Karim R. Lakhani

Contests that non-contestants consume for entertainment are a fixture of economic, cultural and political life. We exploit injury-induced changes to teams' line-ups in a professional sports setting to examine whether individuals prefer to consume contests that have... View Details

Keywords: Sports; Entertainment; Consumer Behavior

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October 2019
Article

Partial Deregulation and Competition: Effects on Risky Mortgage Origination

By: Marco Di Maggio, Amir Kermani and Sanket Korgaonkar

We exploit the OCC's preemption of national banks from state laws against predatory lending as a quasi-experiment to study the effect of deregulation and its interaction with competition on the supply of complex mortgages. Following the preemption ruling, national... View Details

Keywords: Great Recession; Subprime; Complex Mortgages; Credit Supply; Household Debt; Preemption Rule; Competition; Mortgages; Government Legislation; Credit; Financial Crisis

March 2006 (Revised June 2006)
Case

The Speedway That Won't Slow Down

Dick Berggren, well-known FOXTV announcer for NASCAR races and executive editor of Speedway Illustrated magazine, considers how to grow the business he founded and balance his time, energy, and commitments to his wife. Explores the explosive growth of media businesses... View Details

Keywords: Work-Life Balance; Business Plan; Media; Sports; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States

January 2006 (Revised July 2007)
Case

Juan Trippe and Pan American World Airways

By: Nitin Nohria, Anthony Mayo and Mark Rennella

A fascination with flight and a forceful personality helped to create a market for air travel and shape the modern airline industry. Masterfully wielding his power and influence, Juan Trippe built Pan American Airways by combining bold moves and blind ambition. Across... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Industry Growth; Business and Government Relations; Power and Influence; Air Transportation; Air Transportation Industry; Travel Industry

08 May 2019
HBS Seminar

Mara Lederman, University of Toronto, Rotman School of Management

Web

The Five Forces - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

also affect the path of industry competition. Five Forces analysis is essential to anticipate and exploit industry structural change. Related Resources 01 Jan 2008 Harvard Business Review The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy by... View Details

16 May 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Marketplace or Reseller?

Keywords: by Andrei Hagiu & Julian Wright; Retail

September–October 2021
Article

Frontiers: Can an AI Algorithm Mitigate Racial Economic Inequality? An Analysis in the Context of Airbnb

By: Shunyuan Zhang, Nitin Mehta, Param Singh and Kannan Srinivasan

We study the effect of Airbnb’s smart-pricing algorithm on the racial disparity in the daily revenue earned by Airbnb hosts. Our empirical strategy exploits Airbnb’s introduction of the algorithm and its voluntary adoption by hosts as a quasi-natural experiment. Among... View Details

Keywords: Smart Pricing; Pricing Algorithm; Machine Bias; Discrimination; Racial Disparity; Social Inequality; Airbnb Revenue; Revenue; Race; Equality and Inequality; Prejudice and Bias; Price; Mathematical Methods; Accommodations Industry

SSRN

Summer 2023
Article

Do Policies to Increase Access to Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder Work?

By: Eric Barrette, Leemore S. Dafny and Karen Shen

Even among commercially insured individuals, opioid use disorder is undertreated in the United States: nearly half receive no treatment within six months of a new diagnosis. Using a difference-in-differences specification exploiting the extension of insurance parity... View Details

Keywords: Opioid Treatment; Medication-assisted Treatment; Substance Use Disorder; Private Insurance; Insurance; Health Care and Treatment