Publications

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October 2011 (Revised October 2013)
Case

Ensighten

By: Lena G. Goldberg and Michael J. Roberts

Focuses on a small start-up software company engaged in a negotiation over its software licensing agreement with a very large potential client. The entrepreneur must weight legal and business issues vs. his desire to land the key customer. View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Business Plan; Business Startups; Agreements and Arrangements; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Contracts; Information Technology Industry

January 2009 (Revised July 2010)
Case

iZumi

By: Robert F. Higgins, Jacob Ian Broder-Fingert, Eliot Sherman and Sidhartha Palani

Presents the issues faced while building an innovative company in an emerging space with new intellectual property from the perspective of a venture capitalist. Beth Seidenberg, a partner at the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), had helped... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Globalized Markets and Industries; Innovation and Management; Intellectual Property; Rights; Genetics; Financial Services Industry; Health Industry

June 2013
Supplement

Multiasistencia: Redefining the Relationship with its Service Professionals. Spreadsheet Supplement

By: Francisco de Asis Martinez-Jerez

Multiasistencia, a major Spanish BPO of insurance repairs, is changing the relational contract with its service profesionals from a referral model to a guaranteed workload one. View Details

Keywords: Outsourcing; Incentives; Relational Contracts; Business Model; Motivation and Incentives; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Contracts; Insurance Industry; Spain

February 2002 (Revised May 2002)
Background Note

That's a Wrap: The Dynamics of the Video Rental Industry

By: V.G. Narayanan and Lisa Brem

The history, current dynamics, and future trends of the $10 billion home video rental industry provides a platform to discuss revenue-sharing contracts between suppliers of home videocassettes and retailers. View Details

Keywords: Contracts; Motivation and Incentives; Supply Chain Management; Revenue; Financial Strategy; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

June 1994 (Revised June 1995)
Case

Chandler Home Products: European Rationalization

By: Michael Y. Yoshino

Chandler, a large U.S. consumer products firm, is rationalizing its European operations. Tony Pesci, protagonist, is deciding which plants to close for maximum efficiency. The manufacturing/marketing relationship is strained as efficiency is being weighed against... View Details

Keywords: Debates; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Labor; Contracts; Operations; Performance Efficiency; Relationships; Consumer Products Industry; United States

07 May 2013
First Look

First Look: May 7

more likely to dissent, we do not find that academics, accounting, and law professionals are significantly more active in dissenting. We also show that dissent is consequential, to the director and the firm. For directors, dissent... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

10 Feb 2009
First Look

First Look: February 10, 2009

b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=809095 GLOBALGAP: Food Safety and Private Standards Harvard Business School Case 509-004 In response to new laws governing liability and several food safety scares in the 1990s, European retailers drove... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

08 Apr 2008
First Look

First Look: April 8, 2008

hands-off with long-range planning. That exposes corporations and their shareholders to another—perhaps even greater—risk, say professors Lorsch, of Harvard Business School, and Clark, of Harvard Law School. Boards are giving the long... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

06 Feb 2006
Research & Ideas

The Trouble Behind Livedoor

participate in the equity markets unless they had a lot of money. In 2001, however, a law requiring net assets per share to remain above 50,000 yen was repealed, clearing the way for firms to split to lower prices, and thus attract retail... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Financial Services; Technology

07 Dec 2009
Research & Ideas

Government’s Positive Role in Kick-Starting Entrepreneurship

market, then investors, employees, intermediaries such as law firms and data providers, and the wider capital markets are likely to be knowledgeable about the venturing process and the strategies, financing, support, and exit mechanisms... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Technology

26 Oct 2017
Research Event

In an Era of 'Fake News,' What is the Future of Advertising and Publishing?

said. Mele wondered about the implications for public policy if we can no longer think of the US population as a single public. The nation’s founding documents make an explicit assumption that there is a “public” (“We the people,” states the preamble to the US... View Details

Keywords: by Jen Deaderick; Media & Broadcasting; Journalism & News

09 Apr 2012
Research & Ideas

Who Sways the USDA on GMO Approvals?

regulatory agencies serving the public instead end up advancing the interests of the companies they regulate. The main way companies accomplish this, economists theorize, is through lobbying and campaign contributions that convince legislators to pass View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Food & Beverage; Biotechnology; Agriculture & Agribusiness

04 Nov 2014
First Look

First Look: November 4

conclude, after one century of banking crisis this is the best of times for Mexican banking. Publisher's link: http://www.library.hbs.edu/forms/purchaseform/ November 2014 Journal of Competition Law & Economics Leveraging Market Power... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

11 Jul 2012
Research & Ideas

The Future of Boards

intelligently but respectfully. A: Yes, one theme that I hope comes out clearly in the book is the importance of the relationship between the board and top management. Boards are very much a human institution. The law can certainly shape... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

April 2024
Case

Qualcomm, Inc. in 2024

By: David B. Yoffie and Sarah von Bargen

Qualcomm was facing a new era in 2024. After a judge’s adverse anti-trust decision almost destroyed Qualcomm’s business model, the company was victorious on appeal. The new CEO was optimistic about new growth opportunities in technologies such as 5G, AI, and augmented... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Lawsuits and Litigation; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Valuation; Business Strategy; Technology Industry; United States; China

2021
Working Paper

No-fault Default, Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, and Financial Institutions

By: Robert C. Merton and Richard T. Thakor

This paper analyzes the costs and benefits of a no-fault-default debt structure as an alternative to the typical bankruptcy process. We show that the deadweight costs of bankruptcy can be avoided or substantially reduced through no-fault-default debt, which permits a... View Details

Keywords: No-fault Default; Chapter 11; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Borrowing and Debt; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Financial Institutions; Contracts

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December 2011
Article

How Do Acquirers Retain Successful Target CEOs? The Role of Governance

By: Julie Wulf and Harbir Singh

The resource-based view argues that acquisitions can build competitive advantage partially through retention of valuable human capital of the target firm. However, making commitments to retain and motivate successful top managers is a challenge when contracts are not... View Details

Keywords: Capital; Mergers and Acquisitions; Acquisition; Equity; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Contracts; Performance; Governance; Legal Services Industry

Find at Harvard

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February 2009 (Revised October 2012)
Case

Tata Motors in Singur: Public Purpose and Private Property (B)

By: Laura Alfaro, Lakshmi Iyer and Namrata Arora

In October 2008, Tata Motors canceled their car manufacturing plant in West Bengal state, in the face of widespread farmer protests over land acquisition issues. This meant abandoning a project in which the company had invested $300 million and delaying the launch of... View Details

Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Rights; Emerging Markets; Property; Business and Government Relations; Conflict and Resolution; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry; West Bengal