Publications

12 May 2011
Research & Ideas

The Difficult Transition from For-Profit to Nonprofit Boards

schools and why, appropriately socialized, those with for-profit backgrounds can contribute so much to the nonprofit world. Repeatedly we have seen new trustees and ineffective boards try to wag the mission dog with the financial tail.... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

September 2017
Case

Blackstone's Julia Kahr at the Summit

By: Paul A. Gompers, John D. Dionne and Amram Migdal

In 2009, Blackstone, the New York-based alternative asset and financial services firm, committed to invest up to $750 million into Summit Materials, a new company in the aggregates sector (i.e., construction materials, such as crushed stone, sand, gravel, cement,... View Details

October 2006 (Revised September 2014)
Case

Summit Partners - The FleetCor Investment (A)

By: Michael J. Roberts

Part of a 3-case series in which students get to see the unfolding of due diligence on private equity (buy out) deal. In this, the A case, the deal team has negotiated a letter of intent with FleetCor, a firm that operates a fuel payment network for vehicle fleets.... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Preparation; Private Equity; Leveraged Buyouts; Investment; Negotiation Offer; Service Industry

January 2020
Case

Banorte Móvil: Data-Driven Mobile Growth

By: Ayelet Israeli, Carla Larangeira and Mariana Cal

In mid-2019, Carlos Hank was deliberating over the results for Banorte Móvil—the mobile application for Banorte, Mexico’s most profitable and second-largest financial institution. Hank, who had been appointed as Banorte´s Chairman of the Board in January 2015, had... View Details

Keywords: Data Analytics; Customer Lifetime Value; Financial Institutions; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Growth and Development Strategy; Customers; Technology Adoption; Communication Strategy; Banking Industry; Mexico; Latin America

February 2014
Case

The Fall of the 'Fabulous Fab'

By: Eugene F. Soltes and Nanette Byrnes

Fabrice Tourre, a mid-level trader at Goldman Sachs, seeks to understand how he was one of the only executives of any Wall Street firm held accountable in the aftermath of the financial crises. The case includes commentary from Tourre and jurors that found him guilty... View Details

Keywords: Management; Corporate Accountability; Ethics; Financial Crisis; Finance; Financial Services Industry; United States

September 1998 (Revised July 1999)
Case

Discovery Health (B)

By: Samuel S. Chun and Shaun Matisonn

A South African health insurance company grapples with designing a financially viable coverage solution for a new prescription drug treatment for male impotence. View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Service Delivery; Insurance; Health Care and Treatment; Insurance Industry; South Africa

May 2001
Supplement

Mike Levett, CEO Old Mutual

By: Tarun Khanna

Discusses issues related to the transformation of Old Mutual from a mutual company to a stock corporation, and from a South African insurer to a global financial institution. Emphasis is on understanding effects of South African institutional context. View Details

Keywords: Financial Institutions; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Globalized Firms and Management; Financial Services Industry; South Africa

April 2004 (Revised December 2004)
Case

Jazztel

By: Marc L. Bertoneche, Laurent Jacque, Kenneth Hynes and Jennifer Woolman

Jazztel--an upstart Spanish telecom--is considering an IPO on the NASDAQ (rather than the Madrid Bolsa) for funding its ambitious capital expenditure program estimated at $750 million over the next 10 years. The alternative would be another round of high-yield debt.... View Details

Keywords: History; Initial Public Offering; Valuation; Privatization; Financing and Loans; Financial Strategy; Telecommunications Industry; Spain

Find at Harvard

November 2017
Teaching Note

Tencent

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

Teaching Note for HBS No. 718-426. Tencent had undergone many transformations since it was founded in 1998 as a simple messaging service. In 2017, it was the largest online games provider in China with a wide range of game types, China’s largest social networking... View Details

September 2021 (Revised February 2022)
Case

Sawiris Foundation: Elevating Education in Egypt

By: Brian Trelstad and Alpana Thapar

Founded in 2001 by the Sawiris family, one of the wealthiest families in Egypt, the Sawiris Foundation for Social Development (SFSD) invested in human capital and provision of basic social services for the most marginalized Egyptians. In 2015, Noura Selim’s (MBA 2013)... View Details

Keywords: Sustainable Development; Social Enterprise; Education; Social Issues; Partners and Partnerships; Growth and Development Strategy; Education Industry; Egypt

May 2017
Supplement

Betfair (B)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, John Heilbron and Neil Campbell

Buoyed by success in the market for gambling contracts, Betfair attempts to enter the market for financial products using its exchange model. View Details

Keywords: Betfair; Exchange; Business Model; Betting; Leisure Industry; Market Design; Digital Platforms; Diversification; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; Europe

08 Oct 2014
Working Paper Summaries

The Federal Reserve’s Abandonment of Its 1923 Principles

Keywords: by Julio J. Rotemberg; Legal Services; Legal Services

May 2001
Supplement

Asian Strategies: Ian Buchanan

By: Tarun Khanna

Ian Buchanan, senior VP of Booz-Allen & Hamilton, comments on Sime Darby and the Asian financial crisis. He also discusses the value propositions of different types of business groups in Malaysia. View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Growth and Development Strategy; Industry Structures; Strategy; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Service Industry; Service Industry; Asia; Malaysia

December 2007 (Revised September 2009)
Case

Wall Street's First Panic (A)

By: David A. Moss and Cole Bolton

In the early 1790s, a flood of newly issued public and private securities sparked an investment boom in the nascent United States. In New York, the bustling commercial district along Wall Street emerged as the center of the city's securities trade. One of the many... View Details

Keywords: History; Financial Instruments; Auctions; Financial Crisis; Business and Government Relations; Financial Services Industry

February 2020
Case

Highfields Capital and McDonald's

By: Mark Egan and Robin Greenwood

McDonald’s reported its fifth consecutive quarter of declining same-store sales growth in early 2015. Despite McDonald’s recent poor performance, Jonathon S. Jacobson, the founder and Chief Investment Officer of Boston-based Highfields Capital Management, had initiated... View Details

Keywords: McDonald's; Stocks; Performance Improvement; Operations; Finance; Restructuring; Value Creation; Financial Services Industry

12 Feb 2008
First Look

First Look: February 12, 2007

evidence from two large banking organizations, I argue that systematic variations in ERM practices exist in the financial services industry. The cases illustrate four risk management ideal types and show how... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

February 2003 (Revised November 2003)
Exercise

Accounting for Pensions at General Motors Corporation (B)

By: David F. Hawkins and Jacob Cohen

A potential investor in General Motor's stock reviews the retiree benefit note data included in the company's 2001 financial statements as part of the investment analysis of the company. View Details

Keywords: Investment; Accounting; Compensation and Benefits; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry

November 2023 (Revised April 2024)
Case

Paytm: A Payments Journey in India

By: Álvaro Rodríguez Arregui, Amram Migdal and Kanika Jain

Paytm was an Indian financial technology company. Since its launch in 2010, it had built a dominant payments system in India, comprising mobile wallets, offline payments via QR codes, and a payments bank that offered no-frills banking. However, in 2016, the Indian... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Situation or Environment; Business Ventures; Business Model; Banks and Banking; Business Strategy; Competition; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; Asia; South Asia; India