Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(11,384)
- Faculty Publications (2,111)
- November 1988 (Revised September 1991)
- Case
Simmons Japan Ltd.
By: W. Carl Kester and Richard P. Melnick
Concerns the first leveraged buyout to occur in Japan. Analytic tasks include a valuation of the company and an assessment of its debt capacity. Also provides opportunities to discuss agency costs associated with alternative capital and equity ownership structures,... View Details
Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Restructuring; Borrowing and Debt; Capital Structure; Cost; Equity; Production; Valuation; Japan; United States
- October 1988
- Case
Harris Seafoods Leveraged Buyout
Describes set of issues confronting Alison Lassiter, who is trying to help Charlie Harris arrange a leveraged buyout of the shrimp company he runs, a division of a publicly traded company, Katy Industries. Lassiter has prepared a memorandum discussing and analyzing the... View Details
- September 1988 (Revised June 1993)
- Case
Ring Medical
Describes the progress of a new product launch (HCS-100, a hospital communication system). Ring Medical has sold only five systems in six months against an annual target of 30. There is a lack of agreement internally on how the new product effort should be organized.... View Details
- May 1988
- Background Note
Roles and Relationships of Business and Government
By: George C. Lodge
Synthesizes a wide range of literature and experience concerning comparative government-business relations, focusing especially on Japan, Europe, and the United States with some references to Brazil and Mexico. Designed for discussion in two consecutive class sessions.... View Details
- January 1988 (Revised May 1988)
- Case
General Motors' Asian Alliances
Describes all of General Motors' major alliances with Asian firms. These include Toyota, Fanuc, Isuzu, Daewoo, Suzuki, Nissan, and Hitachi. Students can discuss the rationale of each alliance, their risks, their management problems, and their likely evolution. Also... View Details
- Article
'Making Book Against Oneself,' the Independence Axiom, and Non-Linear Utility Theory
By: Jerry R. Green
An individual with known preferences over lotteries can be led to accept random wealth distributions different from his initial endowment by a sequential process in which some uncertainty is resolved and he is offered a new lottery in place of the remaining... View Details
- March 1987 (Revised April 1987)
- Background Note
Specialties vs. Commodities: The Battle for Profit Margins
Explains the differences between commodities and specialties and defines four different types of specialty products. The analysis is customer oriented. Special attention is given to the distinctions between functions (product- ) and relationship (vendor-oriented)... View Details
Keywords: Goods and Commodities
- March 1987 (Revised October 1993)
- Case
Au Bon Pain: The French Bakery Cafe, The Partner/Manager Program
By: W. Earl Sasser
In recent years, Au Bon Pain (ABP), a chain of upscale French bakeries/sandwich cafes based in Boston, confronted a set of human resource problems endemic to the fast food industry (i.e., a labor shortage which made it difficult to attract and maintain quality crew... View Details
- October 1986 (Revised November 1988)
- Case
B-W Footwear
By: David B. Yoffie
As import penetration into the American footwear market reached 81% in 1986, B-W Footwear, along with all of its American competitors, was struggling. Supply lines were deteriorating, retailers and importers were gaining power, and the government had rejected two... View Details
- February 1986 (Revised November 1992)
- Case
Novo Industri A/S--1981
By: W. Carl Kester and Glynn Ferguson
This small but rapidly growing Danish biochemical company must choose among several financing opportunities that include a convertible Eurobond, a rights offering in Denmark and an issue of new common shares in the United States. The case involves a broad range of... View Details
- January 1986
- Article
Social Influences on Creativity: The Effects of Contracted-For Reward
By: T. M. Amabile, B. A. Hennessey and B. S. Grossman
Three studies, with 195 5–11 yr olds and 60 female undergraduates, tested the hypothesis that explicitly contracting to do an activity in order to receive a reward would have negative effects on creativity, but receiving no reward or only a noncontracted-for reward... View Details
- March 1985 (Revised November 1988)
- Case
Precision Parts, Inc. (A)
Contains a description of a decision confronting two entrepreneurs in mid-1981. They are considering purchasing a small manufacturer of precision electromechanical parts. Among the issues in the case are the following: 1) Should Taylor and Grayson buy Precision Parts,... View Details
- February 1985 (Revised January 2024)
- Case
Health Stop (A): What Type of Innovation Is It? And Six Factors Alignment
By: Regina E. Herzlinger, Joyce Lallman, Nancy Kane, Jefferson C. Grahling and James Wallace
How can we evaluate if innovative health care ventures can do good—benefit society—and do well—become financially viable? This question is the topic of the first module in the Innovating In Health Care course book.
This note and case series enables readers to conduct... View Details
- February 1985
- Article
Motivation and Creativity: Effects of Motivational Orientation on Creative Writers
By: T. M. Amabile
72 members of the college community who identified themselves as actively involved in creative writing participated in individual laboratory sessions, in which they were asked to write 2 brief poems, to investigate the hypothesis that intrinsic motivation is conducive... View Details
- 1985
- Working Paper
Sequential Innovation and Market Structure
By: Jerry R. Green and Jean-Jacques Laffont
This paper concerns the introduction of a sequence of new, higher-quality durable products in a market in which there already exists a lower-quality substitute. The product has the further attribute that a real resource cost is incurred at the time a higher-quality... View Details
- November 1983 (Revised May 1990)
- Case
Procter & Gamble Co. (B)
By: John A. Quelch
The brand assistant on H-80, a new light duty liquid detergent, has to develop a year-one national promotion plan for the new product. Illustrates one of the important tasks of a Procter & Gamble brand assistant and provides substantial information on different types... View Details
- March 1983 (Revised November 1988)
- Case
Michael Bregman
By: Howard H. Stevenson and Richard O. von Werssowetz
Michael Bregman has successfully opened pilot installations of two different restaurant concepts. He now must develop a strategy for growth, including decisions about fast or slow growth, use of company-owned versus franchised units, and how to use the different... View Details
- December 1982 (Revised September 2015)
- Case
Halloran Metals
By: Roy Shapiro
Two competitors in the Northeast steel service center industry have made very different choices with regards to logistics and operating strategy. One distributes from a large central location; the other operates seven widely scattered warehouses. Students can diagnose... View Details
- 1982
- Article
When Self-Descriptions Contradict Behavior: Actions do Speak Louder than Words
By: T. M. Amabile and L. Kabat
Subjects viewed two videotapes, one depicting a stimulus person's self-description and the other depicting that person's behavior in a conversation, according to a four-way factorial design personality descriptor used in the self-description ("introvert" or... View Details
- December 1980 (Revised February 1998)
- Case
Burger King Corp.
By: W. Earl Sasser and David C. Rikert
Describes the operating system of a Burger King unit. The case does not have a decision focus; it is designed for use with McDonald's Corp. Students are asked to compare the operating systems of these two fast food hamburger chains. Careful analysis will detect the... View Details