Publications

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

15 Dec 2015
First Look

December 15, 2015

government or to stay away? It had been seven years since Scott Burns joined his friend Zach Stabenow to get a company called GovDocs off the ground. In that time, they had evolved from a provider of government-mandated labor law posters... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

01 May 2007
First Look

First Look: May 1, 2007

(along with personal relations), laws and regulations can evolve to facilitate real estate investments. Purchase this case: http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=207090 The Convention on Biological Diversity:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

December 2020 (Revised February 2021)
Teaching Note

The Tulsa Massacre and the Call for Reparations

By: Mihir A. Desai and Suzanne Antoniou

How should historic social injustices be addressed? Survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Massacre and their descendants, including Representative Regina Goodwin of Tulsa, believe they should be addressed through reparations and have consequently continued to push the government... View Details

12 Jan 2018
Cold Call Podcast

Leadership Lessons from a Young Martin Luther King, Jr.

Kenny: They also encouraged him to continue his education, which was highly unusual at that time, right? George: Well, certainly for a minister as well. I mean, if an African American was fortunate enough to get into medical school or law... View Details

09 Feb 2016
First Look

February 9, 2016

within the FBI and archival analysis of Congressional testimonies from 2001 to 2013, we trace how top management shifted the design and identity of the FBI from those of a law enforcement agency to those of a national security... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

13 Oct 2015
Research & Ideas

Does Business Get Done the Same Way in Emerging and Developed Countries?

markets. Sean Silverthorne: When we think of developing economies or countries, instability is often seen as a negative. Should you build a business in a place where the rule of law is suspect? But Hamdi Akın seemed to have thrived in the... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

13 May 2014
First Look

First Look: May 13

of lawyers in a large North American law firm provide support for our predictions. We call for a new direction in network research that investigates how network-related behaviors associated with building social capital influence... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

26 Sep 2006
First Look

First Look: September 26, 2006

http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=806207 Winning Legally: Using the Law to Create Value, Marshal Resources, and Manage Risk Harvard Business School Note 806-138 Describes the four components of legal... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

14 Jan 2015
Research & Ideas

Thriving in the Turbulence of Emerging Markets

Britain in 1963, Chandaria recalled how the firm experienced many pressures from the government, but survived and flourished through a determination to be seen as good citizens. "Every time there were political pressures from politicians for support, we always remained... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones; Manufacturing; Auto

10 Jan 2005
Research & Ideas

Motivation and the Cross-Sector Alliance

government blames the industrial sector, thus holding manufacturers responsible. The upcoming period of legislative meetings will tackle the new law on containers and packages. There are several proposals, and the last version I have... View Details

Keywords: by James Austin, Ezequiel Reficco & SEKN research team

01 Aug 2007
Op-Ed

Company Town: Fixing Corrupt Governments

kickbacks. A corruption scandal in Lagos could harm KPMG's reputation in New York or Shanghai. Moreover, foreign firms are bound by many laws of their home country and by international laws, notably the antibribery convention of the... View Details

Keywords: by Eric Werker

October 2010
Case

Cherie Blair: Inventing Herself

By: Boris Groysberg, Robin Abrahams and Lindsay Tanne

Cherie Blair was famous, or infamous, in the United Kingdom as first lady from 1997 to 2007. Her marriage to Tony Blair, however, was the result of her own groundbreaking career in law--a career she fought to keep during the 10 years of her husband's tenure as Prime... View Details

Keywords: Work-Life Balance; Success; Lawsuits and Litigation; Government Administration; United Kingdom

March 2010 (Revised January 2012)
Case

Microsoft's IP Ventures

By: Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon

Microsoft's IP Ventures program, through which Microsoft spun out promising but unused technologies into new companies, is a new approach to corporate venture capital. The program provides "IP for equity" and has proven very successful in achieving its main... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Equity; Financing and Loans; Investment; Intellectual Property; Rights; Software; Washington (state, US)

2010
Working Paper

The Role of Institutional Development in the Prevalence and Value of Family Firms

We investigate the role played by institutional development in the prevalence and value of family firms, while controlling for the potential effect of cultural norms. China provides a good research lab since it combines great heterogeneity in institutional development... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Data and Data Sets; Law; Management; Organizational Culture; Research; Value; China

Read Now

October 1988
Case

Agrico, Inc.: A Software Dilemma

By: F. Warren McFarlan

An information systems vice president has one hour to make an ethical decision: should a software program, left inadvertently on the company's computer, be copied and stored? Copying the program would protect clients' assets, but it seems to violate the vendor... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Ethics; Contracts; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Business and Shareholder Relations; Information Technology Industry