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- 2021
- Working Paper
Hidden Software and Veiled Value Creation: Illustrations from Server Software Usage
By: Raviv Murciano-Goroff, Ran Zhuo and Shane Greenstein
How do you measure the value of a commodity that transacts at a price of zero from an economic standpoint? This study examines the potential for and extent of omission and misattribution in standard approaches to economic accounting with regards to open source...
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- March 2021
- Article
Targeted Price Controls on Supermarket Products
By: Alberto Cavallo and Diego Aparicio
We study the impact of targeted price controls for supermarket products in Argentina from 2007 to 2015. Using web scraping, we collected daily prices for controlled and non-controlled goods and measured the differential effects on inflation, product availability, and...
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Keywords:
Prices;
Controls;
Price Dispersion;
Economics;
Price;
Cost Management;
Goods and Commodities;
Retail Industry;
Argentina
- August 2020 (Revised May 2021)
- Case
PayPal: The Next Chapter
By: Michael Porter, Mark Kramer and Annelena Lobb
Can a social purpose and stakeholder capitalism confer a powerful competitive advantage in the age of COVID-19? For PayPal, the answer is yes. After spinning off from eBay in a 2015 IPO, the company declared its purpose as "democratizing financial services" by ensuring...
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- July 2020
- Teaching Note
COVID-19: The Global Shutdown
By: Laura Alfaro and Sarah Jeong
In the first months of 2020, a pandemic overwhelmed the world. COVID-19, commonly known as the coronavirus, spread from China and created a severe public health emergency across countries. While an immediate fear of the disease’s impact on human life permeaacted...
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- May 2020 (Revised July 2020)
- Case
COVID-19: The Global Shutdown
By: Laura Alfaro and Sarah Jeong
In the first months of 2020, a pandemic overwhelmed the world. COVID-19, commonly known as the coronavirus, spread from China and created a severe public health emergency across countries. While an immediate fear of the disease’s impact on human life permeated society,...
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- December 2019
- Case
CME Group in 2019
By: José B. Alvarez, Forest Reinhardt and Natalie Kindred
Chicago-based CME Group is the world’s largest futures and options marketplace, with annual trading volume of over 4.8 billion contracts in 2018. This case is set in late 2019, as heightened perceptions of risk stemming from the U.S.-China trade war are driving record...
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- December 2019 (Revised March 2021)
- Case
Carroll Family Farms
By: Forest Reinhardt, Christian Godwin and James Weber
The Carroll Family, U.S. pig and grain farmers, needed to decide what to plant, whether to purchase land, emphasize pigs or grain, or other investments.
Seven family members across three generations owned and operated Carroll Family Farms (CFF). In Illinois,... View Details
Seven family members across three generations owned and operated Carroll Family Farms (CFF). In Illinois,... View Details
- November 2019 (Revised February 2020)
- Case
Hormel Foods
By: David E. Bell and Natalie Kindred
In 2019, CEO Jim Snee is weighing how to shape the image of Hormel Foods, one of the largest U.S. meat and food companies, at a time when the industry faces unprecedented scrutiny. Based in the small town of Austin, Minnesota, the nearly 130-year-old firm is best known...
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- November 2019
- Case
Chile: Unrest in the Copper Nation
By: Laura Alfaro and Sarah Jeong
For decades, Chile was heralded as South America’s pillar of stable economic growth. Chile was the world’s largest producer of copper and enjoyed a long period of over 30 years of world demand for its resources. In 2013, the commodity boom ended and was replaced by a...
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- 2019
- Chapter
From Coast to Hinterland: Fiscal State Formation in British and French West Africa, c. 1880–1960
By: Ewout Frankema and Marlous van Waijenburg
This chapter contrasts and compares the ways different colonial states in West Africa developed local fiscal capacity. We show that per capita revenues were higher in the more commercialised coastal export economies than in remote parts of the interior. We argue that...
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Keywords:
Fiscal Capacity;
Public Debt;
French West Africa;
British West Africa;
Geography;
History;
Africa
- December 2018
- Case
Soybean Production in Argentina: The Duhau Group
By: José B. Alvarez and Mariana Cal
Crop-planning was affected by macroeconomic factors including international disputes, commodity prices, local tax, and agricultural policies, etc. Enrique and Alejandro Duhau, co-owners of the Duhau Group, analyzed these factors, as well as technical and financial...
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Keywords:
Trade Negotiations;
Soybeans;
Production;
Trading;
Agribusiness;
Decision Making;
Plant-Based Agribusiness;
Decision Choices and Conditions;
Decisions;
Economics;
Macroeconomics;
Goods and Commodities;
Government and Politics;
International Relations;
Trade;
Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry;
South America;
Argentina
- February 2018
- Case
Wiikano Orchards
By: Benson P. Shapiro and Katherine B. Hartman
Wiikano Orchards, a family-owned business, faces declining demand in a commodity industry. The president is considering rebranding Wiikano's apple juice, increasing its prices and promotions. If this proposal succeeds, wholesalers and retailers would be more likely to...
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- October 2015
- Case
Clearwater Seafoods
Clearwater sought to market value-added shellfish products in a traditionally commodities based industry, while facing supply uncertainties and regulatory, environmental, and foreign exchange challenges. Clearwater harvested lobsters, clams, scallops, shrimp, and other...
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- October 2015 (Revised August 2018)
- Case
Ozark Feed and Ag Corporation: The ERP Decision
By: Jan Hammond, Paul Kalmbach and Eric Bernstein
This case describes a medium-sized business that manufactures animal feed for commercial and companion animals. The company has been growing rapidly and is considering whether or not to implement an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Ozark currently uses an IT...
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- 2015
- Working Paper
The Wisdom of Crowds in Operations: Forecasting Using Prediction Markets
By: Achal Bassamboo, Ruomeng Cui and Antonio Moreno
Prediction is an important activity in various business processes, but it becomes difficult when historical information is not available, such as forecasting demand of a new product. One approach that can be applied in such situations is to crowdsource opinions from...
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- January 2015
- Case
Cresud and Argentina
By: David E. Bell and Mary Shelman
Argentina-based Cresud managed 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) of land in South America. For 20 years, the publicly traded company's strategy had been to acquire underutilized properties and turn them into productive farmland for cattle and crops. In 2014,...
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- December 2013
- Case
Grupo Beta San Miguel
By: David E. Bell and Natalie Kindred
In November 2013, Dr. Jose Pinto, head of Grupo Beta San Miguel (BSM), Mexico's largest private sugar producer, is weighing the future prospects of the Mexican sugar industry as he considers whether BSM should bid on one of the state-owned sugar mills slated for...
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- July 2013
- Technical Note
Competition Simulator Exercise: Questions
In the Competition Simulator Exercise, students explore through trial and error some important economic foundations of competitive strategy and managerial economics. In particular, the simulator lets students explore horizontal differentiation with and without price...
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- June 2013 (Revised November 2020)
- Exercise
Competition Simulator Exercise
In the Competition Simulator Exercise, students explore through trial and error some important economic foundations of competitive strategy and managerial economics. In particular, the nine simulator exercises let students explore horizontal differentiation with and...
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- September 2012
- Case
Natural Gas
By: Rawi Abdelal and Sogomon Tarontsi
In an overview of natural gas as a fossil fuel and traded commodity, the case describes various regional markets of natural gas, highlighting diversity of price formation mechanisms across and within those markets. Recent changes in the economics of unconventional...
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