Publications

June 2011 (Revised December 2013)
Case

FIJI Water: Carbon Negative?

By: Francesca Gino, Michael W. Toffel and Stephanie van Sice

Seeking to go beyond global best practices in reducing environmental impacts, FIJI Water, a premium artesian bottled water company in the United States, launched a Carbon Negative campaign that would offset more greenhouse gas emissions than were released by the... View Details

Keywords: Carbon Footprint; Carbon Offsetting; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Brands and Branding; Negotiation Tactics; Business and Government Relations; Corporate Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; United States; Fiji

December 2014
Article

Market Competition, Earnings Management, and Persistence in Accounting Profitability Around the World

By: Paul M. Healy, George Serafeim, Suraj Srinivasan and Gwen Yu

We examine how cross-country differences in product, capital, and labor market competition, and earnings management affect mean reversion in accounting return on assets. Using a sample of 48,465 unique firms from 49 countries, we find that accounting returns mean... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Performance; Valuation; Equity Valuation; Persistence; Competitive Advantage; Institutions; Earnings Management; Labor Market; Capital Markets; Competition; Profit; Performance; Supply and Industry; Financial Statements; Government and Politics; Globalized Markets and Industries

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January 2003 (Revised January 2008)
Case

The British Motorcycle Industry at a Crossroads

By: Jan W. Rivkin

By 1975, the collapse of the British motorcycle industry is nearly complete. Only one British manufacturer, NVT, remains in operation. In this setting, the British government commissions the Boston Consulting Group to identify and evaluate strategic alternatives for... View Details

Keywords: Cost; Industry Structures; Business and Government Relations; Mathematical Methods; Competition; Consulting Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Motorcycle Industry; Great Britain

19 Feb 2020
News

Capitol Ideas to Combat Climate Change

inward at their operations, and then to their supply chain,” Toffel said. “But another key lever is public policy. What are we doing to foster—or undermine—climate policy?” Approximately 100 people gathered for the discussion entitled... View Details

Keywords: April White; photos by Jack Conroy

01 Mar 2019
News

Case Study: Off to a Fine Art

option to her online consignment ceramics offerings, Giridharadas recouped about half of her investment within four months. Now she sees a bigger opportunity: Party supply rentals were a $5 billion industry in the United States in 2017,... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint

21 Nov 2016
Research & Ideas

It Matters That Your CEO Doesn't Know Much About Sales

strategic objectives,” he says. “Selling divorced from the firm’s goals may be good for individual salespeople and their compensation, but it’s not good for the enterprise and its investors.” The value of selling MBA finance courses often... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

2007
Working Paper

Competition in Modular Clusters

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin and C. Jason Woodard

The last twenty years have witnessed the rise of disaggregated "clusters," "networks," or "ecosystems" of firms. In these clusters the activities of R&D, product design, production, distribution, and system integration may be split up among hundreds or even thousands... View Details

Keywords: Price; Profit; Digital Platforms; Industry Clusters; Competition; Horizontal Integration; Vertical Integration

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February 2023 (Revised June 2023)
Supplement

Graphic Packaging: Project Cowboy (C)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and E. Scott Mayfield

Analyzes the company’s decision on Project Cowboy following the events described in the B Case. View Details

Keywords: Capital Budgeting; Growth Management; Demand and Consumers; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Expansion; Value Creation; Supply and Industry; Pulp and Paper Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States; North America

March 1996 (Revised July 1996)
Case

Service Corporation International

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Craig F Schreiber

The CFO of a high-growth company in the low-growth and fragmented funeral services industry must decide how to optimize capital structure and earnings growth while maximizing the company's market value. View Details

Keywords: Financial Management; Value Creation; Business Growth and Maturation; Consolidation; Industry Growth; Capital Structure; Expansion; Service Industry; United States; North and Central America

January 1990 (Revised March 1991)
Case

American Red Cross Blood Services: Northeast Region

By: Robert L. Simons

Recounts the financial difficulties and management changes experienced by American Red Cross Blood Services: Northeast Region (NER) during the 1980s. After summarizing industry-wide changes in the collection, testing, and distribution of blood and blood products, the... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Budgets and Budgeting; Financial Management; Restructuring; Health; SWOT Analysis; Social Enterprise; Marketplace Matching; Management Style; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; North and Central America

02 Sep 2015
Research & Ideas

Explaining China's Crash

a number of commodities, in the process benefiting those countries that could supply them. The issue is that we may be reaching the limits to the outsourcing trend. For example, almost 100 percent of textiles in this country are now... View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese; Financial Services

10 Nov 2008
What Do You Think?

How Much Can You Ask of Your Customers?

And Gerald Nanninga posed the interesting question: "Have we limited our potential by not only mislabeling potential partners as 'customers' but in mislabeling everyone in the entire supply chain?" What do you think? Original... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

11 Aug 2009
First Look

First Look: August 11, 2009

http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/10-006.pdf Banking Deregulations, Financing Constraints and Firm Entry Size Authors:William R. Kerr and Ramana Nanda Abstract We examine the effect of U.S. branch banking deregulations on the entry size of... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

25 Apr 2005
Research & Ideas

New Learning at American Home Products

Coleman, acquired the household goods division of American Home Products for $1.3 billion.27 Proceeds from these sales, supplemented by retained earnings, helped to finance the expansion of the company's healthcare businesses. In 1986... View Details

Keywords: by Alfred D. Chandler Jr.; Chemical; Health; Manufacturing; Pharmaceutical

17 Jul 2012
First Look

First Look: July 17

and the Automotive Microcontroller Supply Chain (A) Willy Shih and Margaret PiersonHarvard Business School Case 612-071 The magnitude 9.0 earthquake that struck Japan in March 2011 caused extensive damage to... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

21 Dec 2022
News

HBS Community Comes Together in Wake of Ukraine Invasion

decreased supply of traditional food exports of wheat and corn from Russia and Ukraine will also result in rising prices, Shih said. "You'll pay more for everything that uses wheat and corn and flour.” Harvard Ukrainian Research... View Details

2017
Working Paper

Firm Selection and Corporate Cash Holdings

By: Juliane Begenau and Berardino Palazzo

Among stock market entrants, more firms over time are R&D intensive with initially lower profitability but higher growth potential. This sample-selection effect determines the secular trend in U.S. public firms’ cash holdings. A stylized firm industry model allows us... View Details

Keywords: Initial Public Offering; Market Entry and Exit; Supply and Industry; Research and Development

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August 2006 (Revised February 2021)
Case

Anthem, Inc.

By: Regina E. Herzlinger

Describes the U.S. Health Care industry and WellPoint's background, market growth strategies, and potential as an investment option. View Details

Keywords: Investment; Growth and Development Strategy; Health; Industry Structures; Organizational Design; Health Industry; United States