Publications

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2017
Report

Dismissed by Degrees: How Degree Inflation Is Undermining U.S. Competitiveness and Hurting America's Middle Class

By: Joseph B. Fuller and Manjari Raman

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19 Mar 2008
Research & Ideas

Finding Success in the Middle of the Market

"middle class values" and "middle America" and that captures a majority of the independents in the middle. The middle may not be as clearcut or exciting as the left or the right. It is a... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Auto; Retail

20 Jul 2016
Research & Ideas

Airplane Design Brings Out the Class Warfare in Us All

and jerk of your carry-on up to the overhead. An inelegant flop into the middle seat completes the journey—until the passenger in front shoves her seat back, removing your kneecaps. But new research shows that—in addition to these... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Air Transportation; Sports; Travel

February 2016 (Revised August 2016)
Case

Chilli Beans: Peace, Love, and Sunglasses

By: José B. Alvarez, Robert Mackalski and Andrew Otazo

This case illustrates how Chilli Beans became the most popular sunglasses retailer in Brazil and the issues it faced when expanding into the United States. View Details

October 2011
Case

Chris and Alison Weston (A)

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Celia Moore

Chris and Alison Weston describe how they, a well-educated middle class couple, ended up committing mail fraud, for which they each served a year and a half in federal prison. The case highlights for students how otherwise upstanding individuals much like themselves... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Moral Sensibility; Values and Beliefs; Conflict of Interests; Value

February 2018 (Revised June 2019)
Case

Jaguar Capital S.A.S., Take the Money and Run?

By: Nori Gerardo Lietz and Sayiddah Fatima McCree

In January 2014, Tomas Uribe and Rodrigo Sanchez-Rios of Jaguar Capital S.A.S. (Jaguar or Jaguar Capital), were considering an offer from White Stone, the world’s largest private equity real estate investor. Jaguar Capital needed capital to fund its investment thesis,... View Details

Keywords: Real Estate; Investing; Private Equity Financing; Deal Structuring; Emerging Market; Emerging Economies; Emerging Market Finance; International Entrepreneurship; Finance; Entrepreneurship; Agreements and Arrangements; Emerging Markets; Real Estate Industry; Retail Industry; Financial Services Industry; Colombia; Latin America; United States

May 2002 (Revised January 2006)
Case

SG Cowen: New Recruits

By: Thomas J. DeLong and Vineeta Vijayaraghavan

Chip Rae, director of recruiting at SG Cowen, must decide which recruits to keep after the final interview process for new outside associate hires. Along with team captains assigned to each school, he reviews the criteria used to make hiring decisions. Their new... View Details

Keywords: Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Decision Making; Management Practices and Processes; Service Industry

September 2023
Article

The Changing Role of Managers

By: Letian Zhang

This study argues that the increase in middle management in recent decades was accompanied by a major shift in managerial roles. Increased task complexity and a new management philosophy have reduced the need for direct supervision but generated a much greater... View Details

Keywords: Managerial Roles; Leadership; Groups and Teams; Change; Organizational Structure

Research Summary

Globalization & Corporate Transformation in India

By: Nitin Nohria

Political and economic reforms in India, which started in 1992, have led to a dramatic transformation of Indian companies. The first decade of this transformation focused on improving operational efficiency to rival world class competitors. Having proved to themselves... View Details

October 2012 (Revised April 2017)
Case

Brazil's Enigma: Sustaining Long-Term Growth

By: Laura Alfaro, Hilary White and Haviland Sheldahl-Thomason

Over the past decade, Brazil's future as a leading world economic power appeared certain. An expanding middle class and commodity boom had fueled economic growth, with GDP growth hitting a peak of 7.5% in 2010. However, the high cost of conducting business in Brazil,... View Details

Keywords: Capital Controls; Inflation; Exchange Rates; Stimulus; Competitiveness; Productivity Growth; Foreign Investment; Infrastructure; Inflation and Deflation; Currency Exchange Rate; Brazil

October 2021 (Revised February 2023)
Case

Ant Group (A)

By: Krishna G. Palepu, Feng Zhu, Susie L. Ma and Kerry Herman

In 2004, Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba created Alipay, an app to facilitate payments on its e-commerce sites. As Alibaba grew, so did Alipay, until Alipay spawned its own ecosystem of financial technology products and services under the name of Ant Group. By 2020,... View Details

Keywords: Payment Systems; Information Technology; Value Creation; Network Effects; Strategy; Disruptive Innovation; Initial Public Offering; Technology Industry; Financial Services Industry; China

June 2013 (Revised June 2013)
Teaching Note

Brazil's Enigma: Sustaining Long-Term Growth & Currency Wars

By: Laura Alfaro and Hilary White

Over the past decade, Brazil's future as a leading world economic power appeared certain. An expanding middle class and commodity boom had fueled economic growth, with GDP growth hitting a peak of 7.5% in 2010. However, the high cost of conducting business in Brazil,... View Details

April 2020 (Revised July 2020)
Case

Amazon in China and India

By: Krishna G. Palepu and Kairavi Dey

Amazon has been unsuccessful in its efforts to develop a business in China. Even though Amazon was an early entrant into China’s e-commerce space, its domestic rivals, especially Alibaba, created innovative business models uniquely suited for the conditions in China. ... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Emerging Markets; Business Strategy; Expansion; Business Model; Retail Industry; China; India; United States

05 Oct 2016
What Do You Think?

Can the US Economy Regain the Growth and Prosperity of the Past?

Whose Job Is It to Rebuild the US Middle Class? Optimism among respondents to this month’s column concerning future United States growth rates hinges on whether the middle View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

March 2016
Teaching Note

MasterCard: Driving Financial Inclusion

By: Sunil Gupta

Since joining MasterCard (MC) in 2010, CEO Ajay Banga had made advancing financial inclusion (FI)—bringing formal financial services to marginalized populations—an important goal for the company. In 2014, MC had entered a number of partnerships with governments and... View Details

Keywords: Financial Inclusion; Banking; Equality and Inequality; Credit Cards; Developing Countries and Economies; Banking Industry; South Africa; Nigeria

Article

Physical and Situational Inequality on Airplanes Predict Air Rage

By: K. A. DeCelles and Michael I. Norton

We posit that the modern airplane is a social microcosm of class-based society, and that the increasing incidence of “air rage” can be understood through the lens of inequality. Research on inequality typically examines the effects of relatively fixed, macrostructural... View Details

Keywords: Physical Inequality; Equality and Inequality; Behavior; Air Transportation; Situation or Environment

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August 2018
Case

Enfoca: Private Equity in Peru

By: Victoria Ivashina and Jeffrey Boyar

This case follows Enfoca, Peru’s largest local private equity firm and its portfolio company Maestro, a leading player in Peru’s hardware retail market. Peru’s GDP growth between 2008 and 2014 was the highest of any Latin American country. Growth of the Peruvian middle... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Emerging Markets; Capital Markets; Transition; Strategy; Peru

September 2012 (Revised September 2015)
Case

Doing Business in India

By: Andy Zelleke, Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Saloni Chaturvedi

The case is set in August 2012—a time when India was undergoing policy stasis as several key reforms were stalled and the government faced allegations of misallocation of coal production licenses. The first part of the case provides a brief background on India's... View Details

Keywords: Emerging Market Finance; Emergent Countries; Business History; Economic History; Fieldwork; Emerging Markets; Business Ventures; Strategy