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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

June 2006
Teaching Note

Cola Wars Continue: Coke and Pepsi in 2006 (TN)

By: David B. Yoffie

Teaching Note to 706447. View Details

Keywords: Industry Structures; Competitive Strategy; Revenue; Price; Brands and Branding; Emerging Markets; Growth and Development; Profit; Performance; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

2005
Article

The Rise in Firm-Level Volatility: Causes and Consequences

By: Diego Comin and Thomas Philippon

We document that the recent decline in aggregate volatility has been accompanied by a large increase in firm level risk. The negative relationship between firm and aggregate risk seems to be present across industries in the US, and across OECD countries. Firm... View Details

Keywords: Volatility; Risk Management; Relationships; Research and Development; Financing and Loans; Industry Growth; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Economy; Outcome or Result; United States

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April 2009 (Revised May 2010)
Case

Urbi and the City Licensee Managers

By: John D. Macomber and Regina Garcia-Cuellar

A leading low income housing builder in Mexico decides which prospective new local partner best extends its advantages in managing twin production lines of homes and clients. URBI has built substantial competitive advantage in the technology and culture that matches... View Details

Keywords: Mortgages; Government and Politics; Housing; Growth and Development Strategy; Brands and Branding; Market Entry and Exit; Production; Supply Chain; Organizational Culture; Franchise Ownership; Partners and Partnerships; Competitive Advantage; Real Estate Industry; China; India; Mexico; United States

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

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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November 1991 (Revised December 1996)
Case

Pressco, Inc.--1985

By: William E. Fruhan Jr.

A capital budgeting problem is viewed from the context of a marketing representative attempting to make a sale of energy saving heavy industrial equipment. Tax law changes promise to have a significant impact on the customer's decision process. Teaching purpose: To... View Details

Keywords: Capital Budgeting; Machinery and Machining; Valuation; Taxation; Customer Value and Value Chain; Cost vs Benefits; Inflation and Deflation; Cost Management; Product Marketing; North and Central America

October 1990
Case

Manufacturers Hanover Corp.: Customer Profitability Report

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Banking company noting declining profitability from its traditional lending activities has started to measure the total profitability of its lending relationships. A loan pricing model estimates the profit and return-on-equity from commercial loans. Additional work was... View Details

Keywords: Investment Return; Revenue; Commercial Banking; Banks and Banking; Customer Value and Value Chain; Banking Industry

05 Jan 2022
News

Untapped Potential

investments approach. ”It is a niche market,” he says. “It just happens to be one that is well on the way to being a trillion-dollar industry.” Ferguson also believes that the industry—everything from water supply to sewerage to water... View Details

21 Dec 2022
Blog Post

Climate Stories Episode #12: Vehicle to Everything - Claire Broido Johnson (MBA 2002), Chief Operating Officer of Fermata Energy

Co-op is experimenting with a transactive energy rate that will enable members to partner with the co-op, supplying energy from their EV batteries when it is most needed, and charging up when demand — and prices — are low. The technology... View Details

20 Nov 2015
News

Room to Grow

and focus it up the supply chain and let the market forces determine which of the growers, processors, and distributors are going to succeed and be responsive to these market opportunities,” says Kendall.... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley

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

April 1998
Teaching Note

Managing Customers for Profits (TN)

By: Das Narayandas

Teaching Note for (8249) and (8257). View Details

Keywords: Customer Value and Value Chain; Profit; Customer Relationship Management

17 Oct 2019
News

Venturing Away from Venture Capital

Life Science Entrepreneurship in 2015, she worked for several venture capital firms specializing in health care and technology startups.) In order to satisfy the limited partners that supply their capital, Unger explains, venture... View Details

Keywords: Alexander Gelfand

23 Dec 2002
Research & Ideas

Partnering and the Balanced Scorecard

strategy. The strategy map reveals the strategic chain of cause-and-effect relationships that eventually links investment in employee skills to improved financial performance. As the senior executive of a major bank declared: Partnering... View Details

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan & David P. Norton

February 2009 (Revised September 2009)
Case

Investing in Early Learning as Economic Development at the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank

By: Stacey M. Childress and Geoff Eckman Marietta

In his role as Senior Vice President and Director of Research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis (Minneapolis Fed), Art Rolnick and his colleague, Rob Grunewald, had written "Early Childhood Development: Economic Development with a High Public Return." The... View Details

Keywords: Development Economics; Early Childhood Education; Investment Return; Demand and Consumers; Supply and Industry; Performance Effectiveness; Nonprofit Organizations; Minneapolis; Saint Paul