Publications

April–May 2005
Article

Markets for Partially-Contractible Knowledge: Bootstrapping Versus Bundling

By: James J Anton and Dennis A. Yao

We discuss how a seller can appropriate rents when selling knowledge that lacks legal property rights by solving either an expropriation or a valuation problem and then analyze how seller rents increase when a portion of the intellectual property (IP) can be protected.... View Details

Keywords: Knowledge; Markets; Rights; Valuation; Problems and Challenges; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Intellectual Property; Strategy

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August 1989 (Revised October 2003)
Case

Fan Pier

By: William J. Poorvu and Katherine Sweetman

The owner of the Fan Pier site in South Boston has been found legally responsible for blocking the efforts of his development partner in attaining the approval necessary to build the $800 million megaproject they had planned together. It was believed that the owner... View Details

Keywords: Partners and Partnerships; Law; Projects; Design; Organizational Design; Marketing Strategy; Government and Politics; Property; Real Estate Industry; Boston

05 Jul 2006
First Look

First Look: July 5, 2006

"Race-Based Judgments, Race-Neutral Justifications: Experimental Examination of Peremptory Use and the Batson Challenge Procedure." Samuel R. Sommers and Michael I. Norton Law and Human Behavior (in press). The peremptory... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

08 Jan 2001
Research & Ideas

Can Japan Compete? [Part Two]

themselves and new industries will grow. The number-one priority is to change the competition laws and the whole approach to regulating competition. Without competitive pressures, sick industries will never restructure. Until Japan stops... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace & Hilah Geer

08 Jun 2010
First Look

First Look: June 8

to transform the storied Bureau. The FBI had long served as both the chief law enforcement agency and the main domestic intelligence wing of the U.S. government. In practice, though, law enforcement had... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

February 2009 (Revised June 2011)
Background Note

A Note on the Legal and Tax Implications of Founders' Equity Splits

By: Noam T. Wasserman and Lauren Barley

This note summarizes key legal and tax issues that founders should consider as they contemplate an equity split and ownership structure. Specific issues covered include why founders should not delay splitting the equity and whether they should involve an attorney or... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Equity; Taxation; Intellectual Property; Law; Ownership; Partners and Partnerships

March 2008 (Revised June 2012)
Background Note

ADR Choices

By: Michael Wheeler, James Sebenius and Marjorie Aaron

Six different business disputes, all in the shadow of pending litigation, are described. Students are asked to recommend the appropriate method of dispute resolution (mediation, arbitration, mini-trial, etc.) for each one, depending on the circumstances, especially to... View Details

Keywords: Lawsuits and Litigation; Managerial Roles; Negotiation; Agreements and Arrangements; Conflict Management

February 2005 (Revised March 2006)
Case

PCAOB, The (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Kim Bettcher

Members of the Public Co. Accounting Oversight Board--a private-sector, nonprofit body created by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002--must determine the form and content of a new auditing standard on internal control that will fulfill the requirements of Section 404 of the... View Details

Keywords: Law; Financial Reporting; Corporate Governance; Standards; Government Administration; Accounting Audits

February 1990 (Revised March 1990)
Case

Quantum Semiconductor, Inc.

By: Janice H. Hammond and Roy D. Shapiro

Quantum is faced with a difficult ethical dilemma--industry studies provide evidence that chemicals used in semiconductor manufacturing may cause women working in fabrication cleanrooms to suffer a higher likelihood of spontaneous abortions. The possibility of other... View Details

Keywords: Safety; Prejudice and Bias; Law; Equality and Inequality; Cost; Production; Ethics; Health; Gender; Semiconductor Industry

November 2019 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Russia: A Drama In Three Acts

By: Rawi Abdelal, Rafael Di Tella, Galit Goldstein, Sogomon Tarontsi and Lavinia Teodorescu

The collapse of central authority in the Soviet Union in 1991 ushered in a period of revolutionary transformations for the states that emerged in its wake. The leaders of Russia, the USSR's successor, struggled to reestablish central authority while also seeking to... View Details

15 Aug 2007
Op-Ed

3 Steps to Reduce Financial System Risk

derivative-related losses. In a recent Financial Times interview, Lloyd Blankfein, chief executive of Goldman Sachs, sounded a cautionary note based on something that he picked up at Harvard Law School. He remarked that politically... View Details

Keywords: by Mohamed El-Erian; Financial Services; Banking

January 11, 2024
Article

Understanding the Tradeoffs of the Amazon Antitrust Case

By: Chiara Farronato, Andrey Fradkin, Andrei Hagiu and Dionne Lomax

Regulators in the United States and Europe have been taking on Big Tech, challenging what they say are the companies’ anti-competitive and predatory strategies that harm consumers and third-party users of their platforms. This article examines the FTC’s case against... View Details

Keywords: Monopoly; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Market Design; Lawsuits and Litigation

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June 1999 (Revised August 2004)
Case

The National Hockey League's New Television Contract for 2004 and Beyond

By: Stephen A. Greyser and Elizabeth (Lisa) Smyth

The National Hockey League (NHL) has negotiated a new television contract at record rights-fee levels for hockey. The NHL will be shifting its principal television partner from Fox to ESPN/ABC. Students are asked to analyze the current and future contracts in terms of... View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Television Entertainment; Contracts; Marketing Communications; Agreements and Arrangements; Partners and Partnerships; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

January 1995 (Revised November 1996)
Case

Avalon Information Services, Inc.

By: Lynn S. Paine and Wilda White

The Privacy Review Committee of Avalon Information Services must decide how to deal with concerns voiced by its retail supermarket customers about the privacy of consumer data collected through Avalon's point-of-sale data collection program. One customer is proposing... View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Safety; Demand and Consumers; Rights; Analytics and Data Science; Information Technology; Ethics; Information Industry

26 Aug 2008
First Look

First Look: August 26, 2008

Law & Economics: The Case of the Federal Radio Commission in 1927 Authors:David A. Moss, Jonathan B. Lackow Abstract In the study of law and economics, there is a danger that historical inferences from... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

24 Sep 2001
Research & Ideas

Why the Internet Doesn’t Change Everything

before. And anarchy has always yielded back to law and order. In this excerpt from her new book, Ruling the Waves: Cycles of Discovery, Chaos, and Wealth from the Compass to the Internet, Spar looks to history to put the Internet... View Details

Keywords: by Debora L. Spar

February 1998 (Revised December 1998)
Case

Atlantic Energy/Delmarva Power & Light (A)

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Mathew M Millett and Tracy Aronson

Delmarva Power & Light and Atlantic Energy are neighboring electric utilities based in Delaware and New Jersey, respectively. In early 1996, they entered into merger negotiations, but were unable to reach an agreement on price because they could not agree on what... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Negotiation Offer; Government Legislation; Risk and Uncertainty; Mergers and Acquisitions; Contracts; Utilities Industry; Delaware; New Jersey

October 1994
Background Note

Note on Crude Oil and Crude Oil Derivatives Markets

By: Andre F. Perold, Wai Lee and Kuljot Singh

Briefly describes the crude oil markets and common derivatives contracts written on oil. The contracts are oil forward and futures contracts, and over-the-counter oil price swaps. View Details

Keywords: Non-Renewable Energy; Futures and Commodity Futures; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Contracts; Energy Industry

November 2014
Case

Taryn Rose Launches Dresr: Street Marketing a Luxury Brand

By: Lena G. Goldberg, Marcel Saucet and Christine Snively

Serial entrepreneur and shoe designer Taryn Rose, M.D., prepared to launch a new e-commerce platform, Dresr, which would connect shoppers with tastemakers online. Dresr would bring the service element found in brick and mortar luxury stores into the online shopping... View Details

Keywords: E-commerce; Online Platforms; Online Marketing; Footwear; Legal Aspects Of Business; Street Marketing; Entrepreneurship; Internet and the Web; Luxury; Marketing Strategy; Digital Platforms; Legal Liability; Fashion Industry; Technology Industry