Publications

December 1999 (Revised March 2001)
Case

Machinery International (A)

By: David F. Hawkins

A U.S. company must decide how to translate its German subsidiary's DM financial statements into U.S. dollars for public and internal reporting purposes. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details

Keywords: Machinery and Machining; Financial Statements; Financial Reporting; Currency; Money; Accounting; Valuation; Manufacturing Industry; Accounting Industry; United States

January 2011 (Revised April 2011)
Case

CME Group

By: Forest L. Reinhardt and James Weber

The case describes CME Group, the world's largest commodities exchange, futures and options on futures contracts, history, regulation, and the strategic choices the company faced. CME Group was formed from the oldest and most well-known exchanges in the world. Traders... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Stocks; Goods and Commodities; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Risk Management; Market Participation; Market Transactions; Financial Services Industry; United States

05 May 2003
Research & Ideas

What It Takes to Restore Trust in Business

far. The American capital markets are a key element of the economic system, and "when they function well, they are a wonder of the world," he said. But the American capital markets require four qualities from those who... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Financial Services

1998
Book

The Multinational Traders

By: Geoffrey Jones

This book examines the history and theory of multinational trading companies. The essays in this volume demonstrate the importance of trading companies in trade and investment flows in the world economy from the nineteenth century to the present day. The empirical... View Details

Keywords: Company History; Trade; Globalization; Books; Organizational Structure; Perspective; Diversification; Theory; Asia; Europe; United States

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30 Jan 2019
What Do You Think?

Who Will Measure up to These Two Remarkable Leaders?

Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan, whom he cited for his approach of “doing business in a first class way.” Dimon majored in psychology and economics at Tufts University and completed an MBA at the Harvard Business School. Darmody1 added other... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Air Transportation; Financial Services

16 May 2016
HBS Case

Food Safety Economics: The Cost of a Sick Customer

foreign firms. In the United States, government officials have attempted to shift food-safety efforts to prevention with the passage of the Food Safety Modernization Act in 2011. One result: Produce is now subject to preventative... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Food & Beverage

05 Dec 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, December 5, 2017

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=53540 2017 Swedish Economic Forum Report 2017: Svensk konkurrenskraft The Swedish Competitiveness Scorecard 2017 By: Ketels, Christian H.M. Abstract—The Swedish Competitiveness Scorecard... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

15 Oct 2014
Research & Ideas

Apple Pay’s Technology Adoption Problem

side in place, it doesn't matter," Shih says. "The merchants certainly aren't going to be motivated if the economic model is less favorable than today. It's a complicated puzzle." Apple has touted that Apple Pay will be... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Technology; Retail

09 Nov 2010
First Look

First Look: November 9, 2010

both? Might an over-emphasis on long-term restructuring increase the chances that major banks could collapse? And what were the best economic and political strategies in these arenas? As a major developed economy, Japan offers an analog... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

03 Oct 2012
What Do You Think?

Can We Bring Back the “Industrial Commons” for Manufacturing?

doesn't mean the US can follow this model." Yadeed Lobo was more optimistic. As he put it, "The United States is good at achieving turnarounds " But he warned that "the biggest obstacle will be organizational and... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Manufacturing

05 Aug 2002
Research & Ideas

Five questions for Regina E. Herzlinger

undercapitalized, incompetent insurance entrants will be reduced by competition and regulation by state regulatory bodies. Q: In your new article in Harvard Business Review, you write, "The current health insurance system in the View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

March–April 2023
Article

Case Study: Should a Dollar Store Raise Prices to Keep Up with Inflation?

By: Jill Avery and Marco Bertini

How should a dollar store maintain its brand and price position in the marketplace in the face of rising inflation? Is holding a $1.00 price point still viable in today's marketplace? In this fictional case, managers face inflationary pressures and must decide whether... View Details

Keywords: Pricing; Pricing Strategy; Retailing; Discount Retailing; Discount Store; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Brands and Branding; Inflation and Deflation; Retail Industry; United States

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Register to Read

2019
Working Paper

Collusive Investments in Technological Compatibility: Lessons from U.S. Railroads in the Late 19th Century

By: Daniel P. Gross

Collusion is widely condemned for its negative effects on consumer welfare and market efficiency. In this paper, I show that collusion may also in some cases facilitate the creation of unexpected new sources of value. I bring this possibility into focus through the... View Details

Keywords: Collusion; Compatibility; Railroads; Rail Transportation; Standards; Integration; Trade; History; United States

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January 2011 (Revised June 2011)
Case

Fixed Income Arbitrage in a Financial Crisis (A): US Treasuries in November 2008

Investment manager James Franey confronts an apparent arbitrage opportunity during the global financial crisis of 2008 when he notices a wide yield spread between two U.S. Treasury bonds that mature on the same date. Franey must decide if there is an opportunity, how... View Details

Keywords: Bonds; Valuation; Interest Rates; Financial Crisis; Financial Services Industry; United States

September 2017 (Revised January 2019)
Case

Public Entrepreneurs? Picking a Path

By: Mitchell Weiss and Matthew Segneri

Direct entry into government remained an uncommon post-HBS path, with only 1%–2% of recent classes going directly into the public sector. But, for public-minded MBAs, government wasn’t the sole province for public problem-solving. MBAs could join or launch companies... View Details

February 2009 (Revised February 2022)
Case

Fannie Mae: Public or Private?

By: David A. Moss, Cole Bolton and Kimberly Hagan

In 1987, President Ronald Reagan established the President's Commission on Privatization to identify federal government functions that could be shifted to the private sector. One agency that the Commission considered was the Federal National Mortgage Association, or... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Financial Institutions; Mortgages; Government and Politics; Business History; Privatization; Private Sector; Laws and Statutes; United States

27 Nov 2017
Research & Ideas

Beware the Lasting Impression of a 'Temporary' Selfie

the United States of America. “The temporariness induces you to take more risks—to share more risqué or uninhibited content” The paper, titled Temporary Sharing Prompts Unrestrained Disclosures That Leave Lasting Negative Impressions, was... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

14 Aug 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, August 14, 2018

would reduce Shift’s labor per transaction and thereby improve the venture’s unit economics and its scalability, Shift might risk undermining users’ trust by handing off responsibility for critical tasks.... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

March 2025
Case

GiveDirectly: Can Direct Cash Transfers End Extreme Poverty?

By: Natalia Rigol, Benjamin N. Roth, Sarah Mehta and John Schultz

Founded in 2008, GiveDirectly was a nonprofit organization that used direct cash transfers—giving people cash via mobile money—to combat poverty worldwide. By August 2024, the organization had transferred over $800 million to poor people in targeted communities and... View Details

Keywords: Economics; Ethics; Growth and Development; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Research; Nonprofit Organizations; Poverty; Africa; Asia; Latin America; North and Central America; United States