Publications

12 Sep 2021
News

Kominers’s Conundrums: Pick a Number, Any Number at All

February 1986 (Revised March 1989)
Background Note

Note on Foreign Exchange

Describes the operation of foreign exchange markets, including bid-offer spreads, cross rates, reciprocal rates, and forward rates. Provides several examples to demonstrate calculation of outright forward rates using discount and premium points quoted in the London... View Details

Keywords: Currency Exchange Rate; Capital Markets

17 Jun 2014
News

Rebooting Social Science

Asim I. Khwaja

Asim Ijaz Khwaja is the Director of the Center for International Development and the Sumitomo-Foundation for Advanced Studies on International Development Professor of International Finance and Development at the Harvard Kennedy School, and co-founder of the View Details

April 2001 (Revised September 2001)
Case

Merloni Elettrodomestici: Building for a New Century

By: Joseph L. Bower

In 2001 a young new CEO has to develop a strategy to move his company beyond the hyper-competitive conditions of Western Europe. A major acquisition in Russia and a new Web-based service business provide interesting new directions. This case traces the development of... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Multinational Firms and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Structure; Business Strategy; Web; Russia

28 Feb 2021
Working Paper Summaries

Connecting Expected Stock Returns to Accounting Valuation Multiples: A Primer

Keywords: by Akash Chattopadhyay, Matthew R. Lyle, and Charles C.Y. Wang

December 1986 (Revised March 1991)
Supplement

Caterpillar-Komatsu in 1986

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Provides an update to the global competitive interaction between Caterpillar and Komatsu described in companion cases Caterpillar Tractor and Komatsu Ltd. Caterpillar's response to Komatsu's growing market share is outlined, then the impact of rapidly changing... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Currency Exchange Rate; Price; Global Strategy; Policy; Market Participation; Strategy; Manufacturing Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Industrial Products Industry

Career Coach

Lindsay Muller

about international development or evaluating different types of companies in which they can make an impact (experience in social entrepreneurships, public companies, non-profits, and start-ups). Prior to her work in healthcare and... View Details

November 2004 (Revised July 2006)
Case

Patrimonio Hoy

By: Arthur I Segel, Michael Chu and Gustavo Herrero

Patrimonio Hoy is a program targeting the housing needs of the low-income population by CEMEX, a major Mexican company and a leading global cement producer. Originally conceived as a project to understand the customers in the self-construction segment better, a major... View Details

Keywords: Housing; Construction; Product Design; Globalized Firms and Management; Microfinance; Income; Market Entry and Exit; Emerging Markets; Entrepreneurship; Construction Industry; Mexico

Clubs

LatAm Club

27 Oct 2008
Lessons from the Classroom

Achieving Excellence in Nonprofits

actions that are aligned with producing them. Fundamentally, that is the focus of our work in the Social Enterprise Initiative. Board and executive leaders today are confronted by a confusing landscape of... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

10 Apr 2014
Blog Post

HBS FIELD 2 - A good sneak-peek into consulting

One of Harvard’s most interesting experiences during the first year of the MBA is FIELD 2. FIELD 2 is a program where students work in small teams to complete projects for... View Details

Keywords: Consulting

August 2020 (Revised August 2023)
Case

Nubank: Democratizing Financial Services

By: Michael Chu, Carla Larangeira and Pedro Levindo

Nubank, a wholly-digital solution created to disrupt Brazilian banking, with 6 million clients and a $4 billion valuation after five years, must decide whether to expand to Mexico. The company was founded in São Paulo in 2013 by Colombian-born David Vélez to seize what... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; Financial Inclusion; Digital Banking; Credit Cards; Banks and Banking; Disruption; Expansion; Growth and Development Strategy; Financial Services Industry; South America; Brazil; North America; Mexico

November 2018
Case

David Hysong and SHEPHERD Therapeutics

By: Ananth Raman, John Masko and Aldo Sesia

In 2016, David Hysong, at age 27, found out he had a rare, incurable cancer. Rather than wait around to die, Hysong, a recent graduate of Harvard Divinity School, decided to launch a biotechnology company called Shepherd Therapeutics to development treatments for his... View Details

Keywords: Cancer; Therapeutics; Drugs; Health Care and Treatment; Business Startups; Product Development; Financing and Loans; Growth and Development Strategy; Problems and Challenges

Business leaders are being urged to adopt a multistakeholder approach to governance in place of the shareholder-centered approach that has guided their work for several decades. But through hundreds of interviews with directors, executives, investors, governance... View Details

February 1987 (Revised September 1991)
Background Note

Foreign Exchange Market, Background Note and Problem Set, The

By: W. Carl Kester and Richard P. Melnick

Discusses the background of the foreign exchange market. This includes information about the participants and how the market operates. The problem set verses students in the arithmetic in the many common foreign exchange problems such as calculating forward premium and... View Details

Keywords: Financial Markets

07 Jan 2016
News

What the Fed’s Rate Hike Means for America’s Small Businesses

February 1986 (Revised January 1996)
Background Note

Currency Swaps

Describes uses of foreign currency swaps and development of both interest rate and foreign currency swaps market. Emphasis on calculation of all-in costs using foreign currency swaps and conversion of basis points in one currency to basis points in a different... View Details

Keywords: Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Currency Exchange Rate; Capital Markets