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Note on Lobbying and the Dodd-Frank Financial Reforms
by Aldo Sesia Clayton RoseThe note provides background on the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, brief background on lobbying, and aspects of the lobbying effort by the financial industry and JP Morgan Chase with regard to Dodd-Frank. It is intended as a companion to "The Tip of the Iceberg: JP Morgan Chase and Bear Stearns (A)," HBS No. 309-001, to facilitate class discussion, and as such provides only an overview of specific aspects of the issues discussed.
Note on Low-Tech Marketing Math
by Robert J. DolanDescribes basic calculations useful in marketing analysis, break-even analysis, and price-volume relationships.
Note on Managed Care Reimbursement of Health Care Providers: Case-Based, Per Diem, and Capitation Payments
by Regina E. Herzlinger Thomas NagleExplains how managed care organizations use capitation as a payment method for providers.
Note on Managing the Growing Venture
by Richard G. Hamermesh Michael J. Roberts James L. HeskettFocuses on the strategic and organizational challenges that confront growing enterprises and the entrepreneurs who lead them. Provides an overview of how a new venture needs to change as it passes from the initial start-up to the growth phase. Explores how a venture's leadership, strategy, and execution need to evolve to deal with rapid growth. A rewritten version of an earlier note.
Note on Maneuvering in War and Negotiation
by Gillian Morris Michael A. WheelerMilitary metaphors are commonplace in business writing about strategy, but they are rarely used in the negotiation literature. This case takes the Marine Corps philosophy of warfighting and compares it with the tactics and techniques of effective negotiators. Some of the characteristics of war--such as friction, imperfect information and communication, fluidity, and disorder--are also parts of negotiations. Likewise, some of the techniques military strategists use, like exploiting gaps in the enemy's lines and using boldness and speed to surprise the enemy, can also work for negotiators. Most critically, however, this case applies the notion of complexity to both warfare and negotiation and introduces students to the ideas of continual adaptation and dynamic responses to changing environments.
Note on Market and Consumer Research
by Scott Ward David J. ReibsteinDiscusses scope of market and consumer research, steps in the research process, and how managers use research in marketing and decision-making.
Note on Market Definition and Segmentation
by Robert D. BuzzellOutlines the problems involved in defining "markets" for purposes of 1) developing competitive strategies, 2) measuring market share, and 3) evaluating the extent of competition. The primary focus is on strategic planning--specifically, the questions of delimiting the served market for a business unit and identifying potential segments within it.
Note on Marketing Arithmetic and Related Marketing Terms
by Stephen H. Star Theodore Levitt James L. HeskettA basic note to be used at the beginning of the introductory marketing course to familiarize students with the arithmetic techniques, concepts, and terms that are typically employed in the analysis of a first year marketing case.
Note on Marketing Strategy
by Robert J. DolanDescribes the major elements of marketing strategy: the decisions to be made and the underlying analysis to support that decision making.
Note on Microeconomics for Strategists
by Jan W. Rivkin Kenneth CortsSummarizes the core ideas about the microeconomics of markets that are most relevant to business strategy. Sections I and II develop two basic building blocks of any market, demand and supply. Section II discusses how demand and supply interact to determine the quantity of goods traded in a market and the price paid for those goods, with special attention to the way that external events influence the quantity traded and the price paid. Section IV presents the important benchmark of "perfect competition," in which equally matched firms compete so vigorously and market entry is so easy that no firm earns more than its cost of capital. Section V explores the ways that real markets depart form perfect competition. These departures lie at the heart of long-run profitability.
Note on Mobile HealthCare
by Margaret Rodriguez John A. QuelchDelivering health care to the global population was a challenge. Health care costs accounted for ten percent of world GDP by 2013. In the U.S., health care costs were expected to top $3.1 trillion in 2014. New technologies, shortages of trained personnel and lengthening life expectancies were accelerating the growth of health care costs. Physicians often failed to engage patients in preventative care, which many believed would help combat the rising costs of treating chronic conditions. Diabetes and hypertension, in particular, afflicted many developed nations and were a growing threat in the developing world. Mobile health (mHealth) used networked devices to distribute or collect medical information from patients and/or medical personnel. Given its low cost and broad reach, many wondered if and how mHealth could help solve the global health care crisis.
Note on Money and Monetary Policy
by Wyatt Wells David A. MossOffers a brief overview of economic thinking about the nature of money and about how the central bank can affect the economy through monetary policy.
A Note on Moral Disengagement
by Sandra J. Sucher Celia MooreMoral disengagement is a process that enables people to engage in negative behaviors, from small misdeeds to great atrocities, without believing that they are causing harm or doing wrong. When Conrad Black, the fallen Canadian mogul convicted of multiple counts of fraud and obstruction of justice, claims that he "would never dream of committing a crime in a thousand years," moral disengagement is what allows him to make that claim and believe it. This note provides an overview of the eight mechanisms of moral disengagement as first described by Albert Bandura, and provides examples of how they operate in our daily lives.
Note on Operating Exposure to Exchange-Rate Changes
by Timothy A. LuehrmanDescribes the effects on operating cash flows of a real change in exchange rates. Describes different elements of operating exposure and includes illustrative examples.
Note on Option Pricing
by Scott P. MasonDevelops a simple option pricing model which provides an insight into the foundations of the Black and Scholes model. The Black and Scholes model is next introduced and its relationship to the simple option pricing model discussed. Last, the problem of pricing debt options is addressed in the appendix and a debt option model is presented. To be read with Introduction to Options.
Note on Option Valuation
by George Chacko Vincent Dessain Anders Sjoman Peter HechtFor every option, a fair price has to be established. But how do you actually price an option? Assuming a basic knowledge of options, this note covers two pricing methods: the binominal tree and the Black-Scholes/Merton formula.
Note on Organization Design
by Jay W. LorschDeals with the organizational designer trying to create a structure, rewards, and a system of measurement that are compatible with the external environment, strategy, tasks, the members of the organization, management style, and the existing culture.
Note on Organizational Structure
by Ethan S. Bernstein Nitin NohriaProvides the reader with a basic understanding of organization structure. The first section provides a brief history of the main ideas pertaining to organization structure. The second section outlines some of the concepts and factors that must be taken into account while designing organization structure. Some of the prototypical forms of organization structure and their strengths and weaknesses are described in the third section. Finally, some emerging trends in how organizations are structured are discussed in the last section.
Note on Pension Guarantee Funds
by Patricia Bissett Higgins Robert C. PozenThe United States and the United Kingdom both had quasi-government agencies that provided back-up insurance for individuals participating in defined benefit ("DB") pension plans. This note compares and contrasts the United Kingdom's Pension Protection Fund ("PPF") with the United States' Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation ("PBGC") to illustrate the implications of poorly designed policy structures (the PBGC) in contrast to those created by well-designed policy (the PPF). Specifically, this note analyzes how differences in governance structure, termination capabilities, funding mechanisms and asset management policies created distinctly different financial outcomes and incentive structures.
Note on Political Risk Analysis
by Jennifer Wang Heidi Deringer Debora L. SparDescribes the emergence and subsequent decline of the political risk analysis industry. Discusses what political risk means for multinational firms and various ways in which firms have tried to analyze and grapple with these risks.
Note on Pre-Money and Post-Money Valuation (A)
by Linda A. CyrA brief introduction to the calculations inherent in pre-money and post-money valuations at multiple stages of financing. Relies on two different examples to illustrate that valuations can be calculated in a variety of ways, depending on the information provided. A rewritten version of an earlier note.
Note on Pre-Money and Post-Money Valuation (A&B)
by Linda A. CyrProvides a brief introduction to calculations inherent in pre-money and post-money evaluations at multiple stages of financing. Relies on three different examples to illustrate how valuations can be calculated depending on the information provided.
Note on Pricing
by E. Raymond CoreyIntended to serve as a comprehensive overview of pricing strategy.
Note on Pricing and Public Policy
by Willis EmmonsSurveys a number of essential issues related to pricing and public policy in market economies. Begins with a brief review of the price-determination process in competitive markets, then examines a range of topics involving pricing and public policy in monopoly and oligopoly markets. Includes a number of graphs that illustrate the relationship between costs, demand, price, efficiency, and profitability under various market conditions.
Note on Private Equity Fundraising
by Josh LernerProvides an overview of raising venture capital and private equity funds.