Publications

December 2001 (Revised April 2003)
Case

Poland's A2 Motorway

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Michael Kane

Autostrada Wielkopolska S.A. (AWSA) is a consortium of 18 firms that won a concession to build and operate Poland's first private toll road. In June 2000, AWSA's chief financial officer, Wojciech Gebicki, is preparing for a meeting with the projects' lead bankers to... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Cost vs Benefits; Project Finance; Projects; Construction Industry; Transportation Industry; Poland

15 Sep 2014
Research & Ideas

Are the Most Talented Employees the Highest Paid? Yes—If They’re Bankers

to talent in the finance industry. "When rewarding talent, banks tend to focus only on the short-run productivity of bankers, often overlooking long-run risk-taking," Vallée says. "Banks may also neglect tasks that are hard to monitor,... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Banking

May 2011
Article

The Hollow Science

By: Robert S. Kaplan

The financial meltdown made clear that the executives of many major financial institutions were operating with inadequate or distorted information about the values and risks of their firms' assets. It's fair to say that business scholars bear some... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Financial Crisis; Financial Management; Information; Knowledge Acquisition; Risk Management; Practice

Find at Harvard

October 1994 (Revised November 1994)
Case

Alcoma: The Strategic Use of Frozen Concentrated Orange Juice Futures

By: Ray A. Goldberg, Phil Herndon and Katherine L. Morris

Increases in orange tree production led to an orange juice surplus. How does one manage price risk in the orange juice industry under these conditions? View Details

Keywords: Hedging; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Price; Risk Management; Futures and Commodity Futures; Food and Beverage Industry

August 2014
Article

Mortgage Convexity

By: Samuel G. Hanson

Most home mortgages in the United States are fixed-rate loans with an embedded prepayment option. When long-term rates decline, the effective duration of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) falls due to heightened refinancing expectations. I show that these changes in MBS... View Details

Keywords: Mortgages; Interest Rates; Volatility

Find at Harvard

September 2024
Case

Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners: Leading the Energy Transition

By: John Macomber and Maxwell Nii Laryea

A leading global infrastructure fund debates whether and when to become engaged in the electrolysis and distribution of hydrogen, as part of the hydrogen economy and the global transtion to a net zero energy world. The proposed billion dollar project consists of ... View Details

Keywords: Energy; Infrastructure; Energy Generation; Renewable Energy; Project Finance; Energy Industry; Spain

30 Jun 2015
First Look

First Look: June 30, 2015

Robert T. Thakor Abstract—Financial institutions have both investors and customers. Investors, such as those who invest in stocks and bonds or private/public-sector guarantors of institutions, expect an appropriate risk-adjusted return in exchange for the View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

Anywhere Sikochi

Anywhere (Siko) Sikochi is a Berol Corporation Fellow and assistant professor in the Accounting and Management unit, where he teaches the Financial Reporting and Control course in the MBA required curriculum. He is a faculty affiliate to the Gender Initiative at HBS... View Details

August 2001 (Revised April 2002)
Case

Strategic Capital Management, LLC (A)

By: Mark L. Mitchell, Erik Stafford and Todd Pulvino

Strategic Capital Management, LLC, is a hedge fund that is planning to make financial investments in Creative Computers and Ubid. Creative Computers recently sold approximately 20% of its Internet auction subsidiary, Ubid, to the public at $15 per share. Ubid's stock... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Business Subsidiaries; Internet and the Web; Investment Funds; Price; Performance Efficiency; Capital Markets; Auctions; Investment Return; Equity; Planning; Financial Services Industry

15 Feb 2017
Op-Ed

What Africa Can Teach the United States About Funding Infrastructure Projects

the great cities of America. But there will likely be massive arguments about how to raise the money and how to invest it. The solution may lie in finance models that have proven successful in several nations across the Atlantic Ocean—not... View Details

Keywords: by John Macomber; Construction

April 2022
Article

AI Insurance: How Liability Insurance Can Drive the Responsible Adoption of Artificial Intelligence in Health Care

By: Ariel Dora Stern, Avi Goldfarb, Timo Minssen and W. Nicholson Price II

Despite enthusiasm about the potential to apply artificial intelligence (AI) to medicine and health care delivery, adoption remains tepid, even for the most compelling technologies. In this article, the authors focus on one set of challenges to AI adoption: those... View Details

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Medicine; Health Care and Treatment; Legal Liability; Insurance; Technology Adoption; AI and Machine Learning

Find at Harvard

Register to Read

May 2000 (Revised July 2000)
Case

U.S. Export-Import Bank and the Three Gorges Dam (A), The

By: George C. Lodge and Cate Reavis

Describes the dilemma Martin Kamarck faced as president of the Export-Import Bank in whether to provide U.S. companies financing for China's Three Gorges Dam project. View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Risk and Uncertainty; Financing and Loans; International Finance; Construction Industry; Energy Industry; China; United States

November 2010 (Revised December 2011)
Supplement

Oriflame S.A. (C)

By: David F. Hawkins and Karol Misztal

Notes from Oriflame's 2009 annual report relevant to the assessment of the monetary impact of Oriflame's FX risk management actions. View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Financial Statements; International Accounting; Currency Exchange Rate; Annual Reports; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Risk Management; Standards; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry

11 Jun 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Measurement Errors of Expected Returns Proxies and the Implied Cost of Capital

Keywords: by Charles C.Y. Wang

May 2011
Supplement

Dharavi: Developing Asia's Largest Slum (B)

By: Lakshmi Iyer and John Macomber

In July 2009, as investors prepared to submit financial bids for the $3 billion Dharavi slum redevelopment project, considerable economic and political risks remained. View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Private Equity; Social Issues; Investment; Developing Countries and Economies; Business and Government Relations; Financial Services Industry; Real Estate Industry; Mumbai

23 Apr 2008
Op-Ed

The Gap in the U.S. Treasury Recommendations

fundamental change in the regulatory structure is required for managing risk in the financial system. That said, there is still a fundamental gap in the recommended structure because it leaves some financial firms out of "prudential... View Details

Keywords: by Dwight Crane; Banking; Construction; Real Estate; Financial Services

Career Coach

Elizabeth Gelb

Partners Group Infrastructure (internship); Deloitte Consulting (international development/energy reform); Vriens & Partners Myanmar (political risk consulting); Shihezi University; US Federal Government (internship); Hybrid Social... View Details

March 2021
Case

Yale Investments Office: November 2020

By: Josh Lerner, Jo Tango and Alys Ferragamo

David Swensen and the Investments Office staff must decide whether to continue to allocate the bulk of the university's endowment to illiquid investments—hedge funds, private equity, venture capital, real estate, natural resources—given the impact of the COVID-19... View Details

Keywords: University Endowment; Asset Allocation; Real Estate; Equities; Fixed Income; COVID-19; Asset Management; Private Equity; Venture Capital; Natural Resources; Resource Allocation; Investment; Investment Portfolio; Health Pandemics; Financial Crisis; Financial Services Industry; Real Estate Industry; Energy Industry; Connecticut