Publications

September 2024
Article

Activist Directors: Determinants and Consequences

By: Ian D. Gow, Sa-Pyung Sean Shin and Suraj Srinivasan

This paper examines determinants and consequences of hedge fund activism, focusing on activist directors, i.e., directors appointed in response to activist demands. Using a sample of 3,259 activism events from 2004 to 2016, we identify 1,623 activist directors.... View Details

Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Investment Activism; Business and Shareholder Relations

28 May 2013
First Look

First Look: May 28

fund. Purchase this case: http://hbr.org/search/813157-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 113-120 NovaStar Financial: A Short Seller's Battle The NovaStar case describes the challenges faced by short seller Marc Cohodes of hedge View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2024
Working Paper

The Rise of Alternatives

By: Juliane Begenau, Pauline Liang and Emil Siriwardane

Since the 2000s, U.S. public pensions have shifted their risky investments towards alternative assets like private equity and hedge funds, some more aggressively than others. We explore several explanations for these cross-sectional trends, focusing on those implied by... View Details

Keywords: Investment Funds; Investment Return; Risk and Uncertainty

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September 2022 (Revised January 2023)
Case

York Capital CLOs and WorldStrides International

By: Victoria Ivashina and William Vrattos

The case follows the debt restructuring of WorldStrides International, a travel program provider in the education market, after the onset of COVID-19. The pandemic severely impacted the travel industry, creating challenges for many companies like WorldStrides, which... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Debt Restructuring; CLO; Compliance; Debt Securities; Financing and Loans; Decision Making; Travel Industry; Education Industry

19 Mar 2006
Research & Ideas

Unlocking Your Investment Capital

How can the equity swap help alleviate the common mismatch between pension assets and liabilities that companies often carry? A: If the pension fund holds equities, then these assets have a "risk mismatch" with the corresponding... View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen; Financial Services

September 2019 (Revised May 2021)
Case

pymetrics: Early Days

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

In 2013, CEO Frida Polli was contemplating the next steps for her start-up business, pymetrics. After receiving her PhD in neuropsychology and MBA from HBS, she was determined to put her scientific and academic knowledge to work to build a business solving real world... View Details

Research Summary

Overview

Professor Begenau’s research agenda is directed at better understanding how financial markets work and how they affect the real economy. She uses quantitative analysis to build both prescriptive and descriptive models concerning financial risk in banking, and she also... View Details

05 Mar 2013
First Look

First Look: March 5

NorrisHarvard Business School Case 113-035 In October 2011, noted hedge fund manager David Einhorn of Greenlight Capital delivered a presentation at an investors' conference analyzing the business and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

15 Jun 2016
Research & Ideas

These VC Partners May Make Your Firm Less Innovative

align? For example, when the VC hedges its bet by investing in multiple startups that may be competitors? A startup whose VC also invests in competitors may produce fewer new products for market, according to recent research. Source:... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services; Banking

25 Apr 2014
Research & Ideas

To Pay or Not to Pay: Argentina and the International Debt Market

compared to consensual sovereign bond restructurings. A few holdout investors refused to concede and sued. These so-called "vulture" investors, hedge funds that bought the defaulted loans at deeply... View Details

Keywords: by Laura Alfaro

13 Nov 2012
First Look

First Look: November 13

corporation Brink's Company to spin-off its home security division from the rest of the company. The decision followed intense pressure on the company by three activist hedge funds that felt that Brink's was... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2008
Article

How to Change the World

By: Howard H. Stevenson

Alan Wilson has a decision to make. The CEO of his company, Grepter, wants him to relocate to Zurich, where he can gain valuable experience for a rise to the top. Karl, his best friend, hopes to lure him to a hedge fund that promises big money fast. Shiori, an enticing... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Values and Beliefs; Compensation and Benefits; Personal Development and Career; Power and Influence

Find at Harvard

July 2010 (Revised March 2016)
Case

MacroMarkets LLC

By: Robin Greenwood and Luis M. Viceira

MacroMarkets co-founder and CEO Samuel Masucci III is meeting with a strategic partner for his firm. Co-founded with Yale University Professor Robert Shiller, MacroMarkets' main innovation is the "MacroShare," which allows investors to take long or short, levered or... View Details

Keywords: Macroeconomics; Financial Instruments; Financial Markets; Investment Funds; Investment Portfolio; Innovation and Invention; Risk Management; Product Positioning; Demand and Consumers; Financial Services Industry