Faculty & Research

Facilitating faculty research and case development on an international scale

Our unprecedented network of research centers and regional offices in key areas of the world enable faculty to work with leaders, industry, government, and academia worldwide, and to learn from business challenges and innovations wherever they occur. Through sustained work in the field, faculty are provided the opportunity to immerse themselves in the culture and values – as well as intricacies and nuances – that lead to truly meaningful and insightful global research.

Research Centers & Offices

More than half the faculty are actively involved in international research, developing high-impact cases and course materials on relevant global issues and innovations.

New Research

Forthcoming
Article
Management Science

Playing Favorites: How Firms Prevent the Revelation of Bad News

By: Lauren Cohen, Dong Lou and Christopher J. Malloy

We explore a subtle but important mechanism through which firms can control information flow to the markets. We find that firms that “cast” their conference calls by disproportionately calling on bullish analysts tend to underperform in the future. Firms that call on more favorable analysts experience more negative future earnings surprises and more future earnings restatements. A long-short portfolio that exploits this differential firm behavior earns abnormal returns of up to 149 basis points per month, or almost 18 percent per year. We find similar evidence in an international sample of earnings call transcripts from the UK, Canada, France, and Japan. Firms with higher discretionary accruals, firms that barely meet/exceed earnings expectations, and firms (and their executives) that are about to issue equity, sell shares, and exercise options, are all significantly more likely to cast their earnings calls.

Teaching Interest

Creating Emerging Markets Project (Teaching with Online Video)

By: Tarun Khanna

Professor Tarun Khanna is faculty co-chair of the Creating Emerging Markets (CEM) Project. The project provides a unique research and teaching resource on business leadership in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East over recent decades. At its core are more than 140 interviews with high impact leaders in business and social enterprise across 27 countries. To date, two cases and corresponding teaching plans have been developed using CEM material. “Corruption and Business in Emerging Markets” covers the definition of corruption, how it impacts business, where and why corruption occurs, how it is addressed in both the public and private sectors, and the responsibility of business versus government to address corruption in the broader context. “Innovation and Business in Emerging Markets” addresses the issue of innovation in emerging markets, the nature of innovation, methods of accessing knowhow, and the possibility of technological leapfrogging. The case explores how, and the extent to which, entrepreneurs are able to innovate in the different contextual circumstances that present themselves across a range of emerging markets. Both the cases on corruption and innovation are packaged alongside supplementary video material, which contains interview clips from the CEM project. These video clips contain short excerpts from top entrepreneurs describing their experiences with the issues at hand. For both pre-class and in-class showing, these video clips help faculty deepen students’ comprehension of these issues and energize classroom discussion.

Research Summary

Violence and Forced Migration

By: Kristin E. Fabbe

Professor Fabbe’s second area of research focuses on individual and collective responses to violence and forced migration. Under this research stream, she has implemented large survey projects in Iraq, Turkey, and Morocco. Her work in Turkey tests the notion that violence begets violence by investigating how exposure to barrel bombing affects Syrian refugees’ attitudes toward peace and reconciliation. Her research in Iraq examines how legacies of violence shape combatants’ propensity to exhibit cognitive empathy and humanizing behavioral tendencies toward their enemies. Finally, through a nationally representative survey of Moroccan citizens, Professor Fabbe is examining the determinants of anti-migrant sentiment in the global south.

See all research

Global Colloquium for participant-centered learning

For senior faculty at top business schools in emerging economies who want to be trained in interactive methods of teaching and learning. GloColl comprises a seven-day session held on the HBS campus, followed by a three-day session held in two cities in Asia, Europe, or Latin America each year.

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In the News

- 05 Dec 2019
- MarketWatch
Read This Before You Panic About a Global Coffee Shortage

Re: Alexander MacKay
- 02 Dec 2019
- Washington Post
The World Is Doing Much Better Than the Bad News Makes Us Think

By: Arthur Brooks
- 14 Nov 2019
- Economist
How migration makes the world brainier

Re: William Kerr

05 Dec 2019
MarketWatch

Read This Before You Panic About a Global Coffee Shortage

Re: Alexander MacKay

02 Dec 2019
Washington Post

The World Is Doing Much Better Than the Bad News Makes Us Think

By: Arthur Brooks

14 Nov 2019
Economist

How migration makes the world brainier

Re: William Kerr

→More News