Publications

October 2020 (Revised November 2023)
Case

COVID-19 Testing at Everlywell

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Olivia Hull

In March 2020, as COVID-19 spreads rapidly across the U.S., Everlywell founder Julia Cheek considers how to respond as a small start-up specializing in at-home lab testing. After making dramatic budget cuts, she decides to pivot the organization to address the... View Details

05 Apr 2010
News

Harvard Business School's Robert Eccles Makes the Case for Integrated Reporting

November 2010
Article

The Litigation of Financial Innovations

By: Josh Lerner

This paper examines the litigation of patents relating to financial products and services. I show that these grants are being litigated at a rate 27 to 39 times greater than that of patents as a whole. The patents being litigated are disproportionately those issued to... View Details

Keywords: Patents; Lawsuits and Litigation; Finance

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August 2011 (Revised July 2014)
Case

Social Innovation at Salesforce.com

By: Christopher Marquis, Marley C. Kornreich and Bobbi Thomason

Salesforce.com recently implemented an innovative social enterprise business model whereby the Salesforce.com Foundation funds its operations and grant budget by selling discounted salesforce.com software licenses to nonprofits and education clients. The case recounts... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business Model; Information Technology; Leading Change; Problems and Challenges

February 2011 (Revised July 2013)
Case

A123 Systems: Power. Safety. Life.

By: Richard H.K. Vietor

A123 Systems, the largest manufacturer of lithium ion batteries in North America, is producing and selling batteries for electric vehicles in China and electric buses in Europe and America. It just opened two plants in Michigan, partially funded by a grant from... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Diversification; Machinery and Machining; Renewable Energy; Transportation; Management Skills; Corporate Finance; Auto Industry; Battery Industry

2019
Working Paper

The Gift of Global Talent: Innovation Policy and the Economy

By: William R. Kerr

Talent is the most precious resource for today’s knowledge-based economy, and a significant share of the U.S. skilled workforce in technology fields is foreign born. The United States has long held a leading position in attracting global talent, but the gap to other... View Details

Keywords: Global Talent Flows; Talent and Talent Management; Global Range; Immigration; Policy; Economy

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08 Dec 2015
News

Control the Negotiation Before It Begins

February 2022
Teaching Plan

Community Solutions

By: Brian Trelstad and Tom Quinn

Teaching Plan for HBS Case No. 322-021. Community Solutions was an anti-homelessness nonprofit founded in 2011 after protagonist Rosanne Haggerty grew frustrated with the limited impact of traditional housing and outreach strategies. It set an ambitious goal, reached... View Details

Keywords: Homelessness; Social Issues; Housing; Human Needs; Poverty; Welfare; Business and Community Relations; Analytics and Data Science; Business Strategy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving

June 2015
Article

Standard-Essential Patents

By: Josh Lerner and Jean Tirole

A major policy issue in standard setting is that patents that are ex-ante not that important may, by being included into the standard, become standard-essential patents (SEPs). In an attempt to curb the monopoly power that they create, most standard-setting... View Details

Keywords: Patents; Policy; Standards

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December 2013 (Revised March 2024)
Case

Breaking Bad (the Rules): Argentina Defaults, Inflates (and Grows), 1997–2015

By: Rafael Di Tella and Fernanda Miguel

In late October 2011, after losing 1 billion of dollar reserves in one month, the Argentine government began imposing a series of currency controls, limiting the ability to buy foreign currency. As of October 2011, Argentina's tax collection agency AFIP had been... View Details

Keywords: Default; Inflation; Inflation and Deflation; Currency; Governance Controls; Argentina

31 Oct 2020
News

When It’s Time to Pivot, What’s Your Story?

June 2019
Article

Consequences of Debt Forgiveness: Strategic Default Contagion and Lender Learning

By: Gerardo Pérez Cavazos

I use a unique data set of loans to small business owners to examine whether lenders face adverse consequences when they grant debt forgiveness to borrowers. I provide evidence consistent with borrowers communicating their debt forgiveness to other borrowers, who then... View Details

Keywords: Debt Forgiveness; Strategic Default Contagion; Contracting; Borrowing and Debt; Communication; Learning

28 May 2013
News

HBS Announces 2013 HBS Leadership Fellows

June 1993 (Revised April 1998)
Case

COMCO Holding AG (B): COMCO Martech

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter

COMCO Martech was a new breed of joint venture for COMCO Holding, a mid-sized Swiss-German company that had grown over a five-year period through tie-ups with small, start-up companies. Whereas a typical COMCO venture provided services to a large German retailer, was... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Business Startups; Trade; Operations; Environmental Sustainability; Business or Company Management; Multinational Firms and Management; Partners and Partnerships; Switzerland; United States; Europe

May 2017
Article

Distracted Shareholders and Corporate Actions

By: Elisabeth Kempf, Alberto Manconi and Oliver Spalt

Investor attention matters for corporate actions. Our new identification approach constructs firm-level shareholder "distraction" measures, by exploiting exogenous shocks to unrelated parts of institutional shareholders' portfolios. Firms with "distracted" shareholders... View Details

Keywords: Investors; Business and Shareholder Relations; Executive Compensation; Stocks; Mergers and Acquisitions

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Program

Competing in the Age of AI—Virtual

due: 12 SEP 2023 Applications submitted after the due date will be considered on an individual basis and may not be processed in time to grant admission. Read More Answering Your Questions Our Program Advising team can help you at any... View Details

Research Summary

Fixed NAVs and Costly Puts: US Money Market Mutual Funds (with Peter Tufano)

US money market mutual fund investors have been granted an implicit put option that allows them to sell or redeem their shares at a fixed price of $1.00, regardless of the market value of the portfolio. We describe the institutional features that give rise... View Details

2023
Working Paper

Market Exclusivity and Innovation: Evidence From Antibiotics

By: Edward Kong and Olivia Zhao

The US incentivizes drug innovation via patents as well as market exclusivity periods awarded by the US Food and Drug Administration. We estimate the causal effects of extending market exclusivity for an important drug class: antibiotics. Using a... View Details

Keywords: Health Testing and Trials; Innovation and Invention; Motivation and Incentives; Government Administration; Government Legislation; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States

SSRN

May 2010 (Revised January 2012)
Case

The Robin Hood Foundation

By: Alnoor Ebrahim and Cathy Ross

Created by hedge fund and financial managers, the Robin Hood Foundation fights poverty through grants to nonprofit organizations. As the global financial crisis continues to impact the poor disproportionately, the Foundation needs to ensure that its funds are being... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Poverty; Organizational Design; Performance Effectiveness; Financial Crisis; Programs; Measurement and Metrics