Publications

June 2024
Case

Tremblant Capital: Launching an Active ETF

By: Robin Greenwood, Luis M. Viceira and Robert Ialenti

The case highlights deliberations led by Brett Barakett, CEO and chief investment officer of Tremblant Capital, just months prior to launching an actively managed ETF, Tremblant Global (TOGA). However, his team continued to have reservations around the launch. On the... View Details

Keywords: Asset Management; Investment Funds; Product Launch; Risk and Uncertainty; Financial Services Industry

March 2012 (Revised October 2012)
Case

Against the Grain: Jim Teague in Tanzania (A)

By: Karthik Ramanna

Loan officer Jim Teague discovers his agro-processor client has a serious health-code violation just days before a disbursement is due. Proceeding with the loan could jeopardize the health of thousands of customers and put his employer at serious risk. But withholding... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Financing and Loans; Health; Risk Management; Developing Countries and Economies; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Tanzania

17 Oct 2011
Research & Ideas

How ‘Hybrid’ Nonprofits Can Stay on Mission

with the model is that hybrid organizations run the risk of suffering from so-called mission drift—meaning that they stray from their original goals—usually by focusing on profits to the detriment of the social good, but sometimes vice... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

13 Jun 2017
Research & Ideas

Why Global Investments Are Still a Good Bet

risks of investing abroad.” Home bias is short-sighted In a recently released working paper, however, Viceira argues that such an investment strategy may be unwise for investors in the long run—not to mention damaging to the global... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

Web

Leni Peterson R. (MS/MBA 2023): Solving Big Problems Through Entrepreneurship - MBA

Sciences Partners & Families Peek SVMP Social Enterprise Student Life Student Loans Student Profile Sustainability Video Blog Industries Industries Architecture Construction Consulting Consumer Packaged Goods Education Energy Engineering Entertainment / Media... View Details

01 Mar 2004
News

Reforming Company Boards

structuring and M&A transactions, it was obvious that the focus was not on building shareholder value but on reporting predictable, double-digit earnings growth to achieve temporarily high stock market valuations. The truth has been stretched to exaggerate smooth... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Services

January 1999
Case

Ciba Specialty Chemicals

By: Forest L. Reinhardt

Based on extensive interviews, this case discusses the environmental policies of a successful firm in the specialty chemicals business. Executives at Ciba have differentiated products along environmental lines and have used environmental scrutiny as a tool for cutting... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Business or Company Management; Cost Management; Risk Management; Business Strategy; Globalized Firms and Management; Competitive Advantage; Chemical Industry

Find at Harvard

July 1998
Teaching Note

Hawthorne Plastics, Inc. TN

By: Paul W. Marshall, John S. Hammond and William L Berry

Teaching Note for (9-171-004). View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Production; Cost; Quality; Theory; Management Practices and Processes; Decisions

January 2010 (Revised December 2010)
Supplement

Toward Golden Pond (B)

By: Nicolas P. Retsinas, G.A. Donovan, Nancy Dai and Justin Seth Ginsburgh

Supplements the A case. Provides an additional dilemma for the Rong-D companies with regard to building luxury senior housing in China. View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Age; Investment; Housing; Risk Management; Emerging Markets; Business and Government Relations; Luxury; Chengdu

01 Apr 2019
What Do You Think?

Does Our Bias Against Federal Deficits Need Rethinking?

mechanics of private banking and federal finance correct. Their models are therefore fatally flawed, so their predictions of doom (and inflation) should not be taken seriously.” Is JohnfrmCleveland right? Is modern monetary theory a fancy... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

01 May 2020
In Practice

COVID-19’s Hard Lessons Might Prepare Business for Climate Change

stressed. In the long run, I hope that companies will emerge from the crisis with a renewed appreciation for the importance of paying attention to the potential for catastrophic risks such as climate change, and for the importance of... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

01 Sep 2012
News

High Honors

MBA 1974 STAMPS: At home in Coconut Grove. Roe Stamps took a significant risk when he left a successful career at one of Boston’s leading venture capital firms to launch his own company. Together with a longtime colleague, in 1984 he... View Details

Keywords: Susan Young; Finance; Finance; Finance; Finance; Finance; Finance; Finance; Finance

10 Jul 2000
Research & Ideas

Privatization and the New European Economy

including deficits of 8 to 10 billion Deutsche marks and debts of over 20 billion marks. "Results were not important; markets were not a concern," he said. "Money came in courtesy of the Finance Minister, and the various... View Details

Keywords: by James E. Aisner; Air Transportation; Transportation

25 Oct 2018
News

Bringing the Background into Focus

research in 2014 and has given $500,000 in total to support the exhibition at the Wallach. “This is the way narratives get changed,” Mr. Walker said. “I’m not surprised that the large institutions weren’t interested in this show because often the smaller institutions... View Details

18 Mar 2001
Research & Ideas

Want to Be an Entrepreneur? [Part I]

tasks like perfecting their technology, learning how to manufacture it, and financing the needed investments in research, development, and marketing through a combination of product sales and venture funding. And so emerged several... View Details

Keywords: by John S. Rosenberg

November 2003 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Dow Chemical's Bid for the Privatization of PBB in Argentina

By: Mihir A. Desai and Alexandra de Royere

What price should Dow Chemical bid for PBB, a petrochemical complex that is being privatized by the Argentine government? To answer this question, students are forced to consider the role of country risk, the underlying currency exposure of the business, and how to... View Details

Keywords: Bids and Bidding; Privatization; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Cash Flow; Emerging Markets; Valuation; Business and Government Relations; Multinational Firms and Management; Risk and Uncertainty; Energy Industry; Argentina

December 2007
Case

The Campaign for Bank Insurance in Antebellum New York

By: David A. Moss and Cole Bolton

The New York State Legislature had come to a standstill in 1829 as lawmakers refused to charter any new banks or recharter any existing banks. Four of New York's forty banks had failed since 1825, and many legislatures believed that a significant change in the banking... View Details

Keywords: History; Risk Management; Government Legislation; Insurance; Decision Choices and Conditions; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry

October 2018
Case

Zenefits Board of Directors (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz

In early 2018, the time seemed right for Zenefits investor and director Lars Dalgaard to reflect on whether Zenefits had the right board of directors to shepherd the company through its next stages of growth. For the company whose name combined the words “benefits,”... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Business Model; Corporate Accountability; Governing and Advisory Boards; Corporate Governance; Crisis Management; Entrepreneurship; Human Resources; Leadership; Risk Management; Venture Capital; Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Information Technology Industry; United States; California

September 2011 (Revised January 2012)
Case

Telemonitoring at Visiting Nurse Health System

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Mark Keil and Mala Kaul

The Telemonitoring at Visiting Nurse Health System case presents one home healthcare organization's efforts to use telemonitoring to improve the quality of care provided to at-risk patients who were discharged from hospitals and needed home care. After two years of... View Details

Keywords: Capital Budgeting; Cost vs Benefits; Risk Management; Technology Adoption; Technological Innovation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Competitive Strategy; Health Industry; Technology Industry