Publications

05 May 2003
Research & Ideas

How Bank of America Turned Branches into Service-Development Laboratories

primarily on its projected impact on customers but also taking into account its fit with the bank's strategy and goals and its funding requirements. In some cases, focus groups were conducted to provide a rough sense View Details

Keywords: by Stefan Thomke; Banking; Financial Services

January 2018 (Revised April 2021)
Case

Capital Allocation at HCA

By: W. Carl Kester and Emily R. McComb

In early 2017, HCA Holdings, an investor-owned hospital management company, faced a strategically important capital allocation decision. After the exit of its private equity sponsors in 2016, HCA had to determine how best to allocate its substantial annual free cash... View Details

Keywords: Capital Allocation; Cash Distribution Policy; Dividends; Share Repurchases; Growth Strategy And Execution; Growth Investing; Capital Expenditures; Debt Management; Debt Reduction; Debt Policy; Hospital Management; Investor-owned Hospital Chains; Capital Budgeting; Capital Structure; Cash Flow; Corporate Finance; Decision Choices and Conditions; Health Industry; United States

07 Sep 2016
What Do You Think?

How Can the Threat of Networks Be Reduced?

without funding the enforcement of existing laws is pointless.” Greg chose to explore the affect of networks on organization design and function. He challenged us with a... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

02 Jan 2018
Research & Ideas

The Most Popular Stories and Research Papers of 2017

identify characteristics of stocks that an investor who is worried about bad times should buy— a “rainy day” portfolio. Diversity in Innovation Paul A. Gompers and Sophie Q. Wang discuss a systematic and persistent lack View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

January 2017 (Revised August 2017)
Case

Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle

By: Steven Rogers and Greg White

This case follows an African-American entrepreneur through the process of sourcing a potential acquisition, valuing a company, and securing the funding to purchase the company. This entrepreneur must decide if he should close the deal and which financing term sheet to... View Details

2017
Chapter

Innovation Policies

By: Ramana Nanda and Matthew Rhodes-Kropf

Past work has shown that failure tolerance by principals has the potential to stimulate innovation, but has not examined how this affects which projects principals will start. We demonstrate that failure tolerance has an equilibrium price – in terms of an investor’s... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Investing; Abandonment Option; Failure Tolerance; Innovation and Invention; Venture Capital; Attitudes; Investment; Failure

2017
Working Paper

Innovation Policies

By: Ramana Nanda and Matthew Rhodes-Kropf

Past work has shown that failure tolerance by principals has the potential to stimulate innovation, but has not examined how this affects which projects principals will start. We demonstrate that failure tolerance has an equilibrium price ― in terms of an investor's... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Investing; Abandonment Option; Failure Tolerance; Venture Capital; Attitudes; Investment; Failure; Innovation and Invention

SSRN

Read Now

March 2013
Article

Bridging the Gap? Government Subsidized Lending and Access to Capital

By: Josh Lerner and Kristle Romero-Cortes

The consequences of providing public funds to financial institutions remain controversial. We examine the Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Fund's impact on credit union activity, using hitherto little studied U.S. Treasury data. The CDFI Fund grants... View Details

Keywords: Financing and Loans; Credit; Government and Politics; Financial Institutions; United States

Find at Harvard

24 Apr 2014
News

Necessity became the mother of invention for staffing-firm founder

and flexible full-time positions is good business (the company has franchises nationwide and saw revenues of $16.2 million in 2012). O’Kelly has declined venture capital funding to maintain more control over... View Details

05 Sep 2017
News

Will fintech create a small-business-loan utopia?

December 2004 (Revised March 2007)
Case

Cutlass Capital, L.P.

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Brian DeLacey

David Hetz and Jon Osgood are forming a new venture capital fund in 2001 to invest in health care start-ups. Describes their fundraising activities at a time when venture capital investing has reached an all-time high. Although their background skills and experiences... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Negotiation Process; Entrepreneurship; Investment Funds; Health Care and Treatment; Business Startups; Health Industry; United States

Web

Bringing a Taste of Japan to the World - Global Activities 2020

opportunities for me in terms of learning and contacts in Boston,” he shares. Sasago also found support in Boston’s Japanese business community and from fellow ramen enthusiast Masato Nakamura (MBA 2020), who became his business partner.... View Details

July 2024
Case

Gates Ventures: Making Alzheimer's a Forgotten Past

By: Satish Tadikonda, William Marks, Shardule Shah and Calvin Marambo

After a personal journey and interest in Alzheimer's Disease (AD) by Bill Gates, Gates Ventures set out to find the best way to accelerate innovation in the field of AD. In partnership with the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation, Gates Ventures created the... View Details

21 Apr 2011
Research & Ideas

Searching for Better Practices in Social Investing

In order to garner the capital necessary to foot the bill for social change, nonprofits need to think less about traditional grants and more in terms of innovation--and so do the organizations that fund... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Financial Services

06 Sep 2022
Research & Ideas

Curbing an Unlikely Culprit of Rising Drug Prices: Pharmaceutical Donations

fund them. New research from Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School professor Leemore Dafny suggests that many pharmaceutical companies may find it highly profitable to fund these... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Insurance; Health; Pharmaceutical

October 2002 (Revised October 2003)
Case

Aspen Aerogels

By: William A. Sahlman and Taslim Pirmohamed

Describes a newly formed manufacturer of insulation materials. The company has developed and patented a new insulation material that can be used in a wide range of markets. Capital must be raised to finance building a manufacturing facility and fund early market... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Patents; Production; Financing and Loans; Business Startups; Construction Industry; Manufacturing Industry

18 Aug 2011
Lessons from the Classroom

Business Plan Contest: 15 Years of Building Better Entrepreneurs

money, bought out his partner, and relaunched the company with new people, eventually moving over to an advisory role as chairman of the board. Potentia initially accepted small amounts of View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Education

August 2001
Supplement

Teradyne-Managing Discontinuous Change

By: Joseph L. Bower and Sonja Ellingson Hout

Presents the top executives of Teradyne. Alex d'Arbeloff, the CEO who drove the project, Jim Prestridge, the vice chairman (and top engineer), Owen Robbins, vice chairman and CFO, and Ed Rogus, the division head who wouldn't fund Aurora. View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Change Management; Projects; Management Teams