Publications

November 2010
Supplement

Magna International, Inc. (B)

By: Timothy A. Luehrman and Yuhai Xuan

Magna International, Inc., a Canadian-based automotive parts manufacturer, is considering whether and how to unwind its dual-class ownership structure. A family trust controlled by the founder owns a 0.65% economic interest in the company but has 66% of the votes via a... View Details

Keywords: Business and Shareholder Relations; Value Creation; Voting; Family Ownership; Cost; Cost vs Benefits; Stock Shares; Governance Controls; Governing and Advisory Boards; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry; Canada

01 Sep 2015
News

Coping With Crucibles

February 2019
Case

Halliday's OASIS

By: Scott Duke Kominers and Nicole Tempest Keller

Wade Watts has won control of the OASIS – a futuristic, immersive virtual reality game world. He must decide on rules, rights, and marketplace design, balancing the founding principles of the OASIS with the platform’s potentially negative externalities. View Details

Keywords: Managing Markets; Corporate Responsibility; Virtual Reality; Digital Platforms; Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Social Media; United States

Research Summary

Conditional Cash Transfers in Brazil

(with Leonardo Bursztyn and Daniel Carvalho)
Conditional Cash Transfer programs are becoming increasingly popular throughout the developing world. Brazil alone spends close to $1Bn every year on such programs. These programs aim to alleviate poverty through two... View Details

August 2023 (Revised February 2024)
Case

DexAI

By: Jo Tango and Christina Wallace

During a challenging fundraising environment, the DexAI founders received two term sheets with nearly identical economic terms but very different legal ones. The entrepreneurs had to navigate: representations and warranties (their personal guarantees that the company's... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital Term Sheet; Term Sheet; Term Sheets; Founders; Legal Aspects Of Business; Seed Financing; Founders' Agreements; Venture Capital; Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Intellectual Property; Entrepreneurial Finance; Contracts; Business Startups; Agreements and Arrangements

September 1983 (Revised July 1998)
Case

Heather Evans

By: Howard H. Stevenson and Michael J. Roberts

Focuses on the efforts of Heather Evans, a second-year MBA student, and her attempts to start her own dress business. Examines the business plan and the process of acquiring control over the financial and human resources necessary to implement the plan. View Details

Keywords: Business Plan; Business Startups; Investment; Human Resources; Strategic Planning; Apparel and Accessories Industry

Profile

Arjun Goyal

Trust Centre for Human Genetics, a new door opened for Arjun. “It was my first exposure to research,” he says. “It fascinated me that the test tube in my hand could hold a new cure or the next new therapy for controlling a disease.”... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Health Care

July–August 2023
Article

Accounting for Carbon Offsets

By: Robert S. Kaplan, Karthik Ramanna and Marc Roston

Markets for carbon trading function poorly, and many traded offsets do not actually perform as promised. Without robust protocols for monitoring offsets and in the absence of proper accounting mechanisms, market-based approaches to reducing atmospheric GHG will be... View Details

Keywords: Climate Change; Environmental Accounting; Environmental Regulation

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08 Nov 2019
HBS Seminar

Galit Eizman (Research Associate, Harvard Kennedy School) (paper joint with Alice Ruichen Wang, Renmin Univ, China), Harvard Kennedy School

June 1990 (Revised August 1990)
Supplement

Sun Microsystems, Inc.--1987 (B)

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

Describes a specific opportunity to seek financing from AT&T as part of a proposed technological joint venture. Students must consider the price paid and control rights attached to a large block of shares and outline a negotiating position for each side. View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Stock Shares; Financing and Loans; Price; Governance Controls; Rights; Negotiation; Opportunities; Computer Industry

September 28, 2023
Article

A Perspective on the Great Reallocation of Global Supply Chains

By: Laura Alfaro and Davin Chor

Previous optimism that cross-border supply chains would improve efficiency for firms and open up growth opportunities for countries has been tempered by concerns that global value chains now expose firms and countries to the risk of disruptions. This column analyses... View Details

Keywords: Supply Chain; Policy; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; United States

Read Now

04 Jun 2018
Research & Ideas

Think of it as Professors in Cars Having Coffee

emerged from bankruptcy. “I did the quick calculation that you could buy and control all the US (gun) capacity for about $2 billion,” he said. His colleague sitting nearby, Felix Oberholzer-Gee, chimed in.... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Education; Entertainment & Recreation

June 1986 (Revised July 1990)
Case

OTISLINE (A)

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Donna B. Stoddard

Describes the company's use of information technology to strengthen its position in the elevator sales and service market. Also demonstrates how information technology can be used to better manage and control a large geographically dispersed service organization. View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Technology Adoption; Sales; Marketing; Rank and Position; Salesforce Management; Service Operations; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Global Range; Accounting; Business Ventures; Industry Growth

February 2002
Case

Strategy of the Firm Under Regulatory Review: The Case of Chilectra

By: Rafael M. Di Tella and Alexander Dyck

Discusses the largest electric distribution company in Chile and one of the five largest private Chilean companies. Introduces the exercise of operating control in order to improve the profitability of the investments, privatization, and international expansions. View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Corporate Accountability; Growth and Development Strategy; Privatization; Emerging Markets; Competitive Strategy; Expansion; Global Strategy; Governance Compliance; Utilities Industry; Chile

April 2017 (Revised November 2017)
Case

BlackRock (D): Organizing for the Future (with video links)

By: Ranjay Gulati, Jan W. Rivkin and Aldo Sesia

By the end of 2015, BlackRock had succeeded beyond any of the early dreams of its founders. The firm remained the world’s largest asset manager, with more than $4.6 trillion under management, and other financial services companies used BlackRock’s Aladdin platform to... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Competition; Information Technology; Asset Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Financial Services Industry; United States

September 2018
Supplement

Advent International: Kroton Investment

By: Victoria Ivashina, Priscilla Zogbi and Ruth Kostas

Keywords: Private Equity; Acquisition; IPO; Valuation; Education; Distance Learning; Turnaround; Growth; Exit; PE; Buyer; Middle-class; Low Income; K-12; Entrepreneur; Family Business; University; College; Consolidation; Fragmentation; Penetration; Value; Shares; Control; Negotiation; Equity; Transaction; Board; Majority; Minority; Post-secondary; Leverage; Campus; Deal; Shareholder; Tag Along

2014
Article

Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting in China: Symbol or Substance?

By: Christopher Marquis and Cuili Qian

This study focuses on how and why firms strategically respond to government signals regarding appropriate corporate activity. We integrate institutional theory and research on corporate political strategy to develop a political dependence model that explains (a) how... View Details

Keywords: Institutional Theory; Political Strategy; Non-market Strategy; China; Corporate Social Responsibility; Corporate Disclosure; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Emerging Markets; Government and Politics; China

2014
Working Paper

The Psycho-Social Benefits of Access to Contraception: Experimental Evidence from Zambia

By: Nava Ashraf, Marric Buessing, Erica Field and Jessica Leight

In a field experiment in Lusaka, Zambia, married couples in the catchment area of a family planning clinic were randomly assigned to either a treatment group (N=503) or a control group (N=768). Those in the treatment group received vouchers guaranteeing free and... View Details

Keywords: Contraceptive Access; Mental Health; Zambia