Publications

05 Jun 2015
News

How Banking Analysts’ Biases Benefit Everyone Except Investors

February 1999 (Revised March 2004)
Case

QI-TECH: A Chinese Technology Company for Sale

QI-TECH, is a Chinese manufacturer of precision coordinate measurement machines. A foreign investor who holds 50% of QI-TECH must negotiate a sale with its Chinese partner and a potential buyer (a large Western measurement machine company). For this purpose the foreign... View Details

Keywords: Machinery and Machining; Negotiation; Valuation; Joint Ventures; Financing and Loans; Manufacturing Industry; China

02 Aug 2021
What Do You Think?

Can Companies with Remote Management Succeed?

idiosyncratic to one organization? All banks operating in a conventional format? All companies relying heavily on collaborative work? All companies with great cultures? Or is... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

22 Sep 2015
News

Should Bank of America's CEO also be the chairman?

January 1997 (Revised November 1997)
Case

Fojtasek Companies and Heritage Partners, The: March 1995

By: Samuel L. Hayes III and Josh Lerner

The Fojtasek Companies, a family business, faces several financing choices to address generational succession issues. Several buyouts have expressed interest in acquiring the firm outright; an investment bank has proposed a leveraged recapitalization; and a private... View Details

Keywords: Family Ownership; Financing and Loans; Private Equity; Mergers and Acquisitions; Investment Banking; Partners and Partnerships; Management Succession; Capital Structure; Financial Strategy

October 2015
Article

How Smart, Connected Products Are Transforming Companies

By: Michael E. Porter and James E. Heppelmann

The evolution of products into intelligent, connected devices is revolutionizing business. In a November 2014 article, "How Smart, Connected Products Are Transforming Competition," Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter and PTC president and CEO James... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Technological Innovation; Information Technology; Organizational Structure; Operations; Business Strategy

Register to Read

December 2000 (Revised April 2006)
Case

Promise (A): Building a Consumer Finance Company in Japan

Describes Promise, the third-largest consumer finance company in Japan. Promise was created in 1963 by an entrepreneur and has grown rapidly, especially in the 1990s when commercial banks struggled. Promise's core business consists of providing unsecured loans of up to... View Details

Keywords: Capital Structure; Entrepreneurship; Financial Institutions; Financial Services Industry; Japan

2022
Book

Deep Purpose: The Heart and Soul of High-Performance Companies

By: Ranjay Gulati

This book offers a compelling reassessment and defense of purpose as a management ethos, documenting the vast performance gains and social benefits that become possible when firms manage to get purpose right. Few business topics have aroused more skepticism in recent... View Details

Keywords: Purpose; Business And Society; Organizations; Mission and Purpose; Performance Effectiveness; Organizational Culture

20 Feb 2020
News

Investors have doubts about the latest American fintech bank

13 Jan 2023
Research & Ideas

Are Companies Actually Greener—or Are They All Talk?

Most companies now account for social good in their financial reports in some way, but with regulation scattershot and evolving, it’s complicated for investors to assess so-called ESG reports. The disclosures, known as Environmental, Social, and Governance reports,... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

13 Sep 2012
Research & Ideas

Why Public Companies Underinvest in the Future

Financial data on US companies is easy to come by—if they are listed on the stock market. More than 99 percent of them are not, presenting a challenge for researchers intent on studying how privately held firms operate. “It seemed natural... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish

17 Jan 2024
Research & Ideas

Are Companies Getting Away with 'Cheap Talk' on Climate Goals?

Companies regularly set ambitious climate goals, but these plans often end up like many people’s New Year’s resolutions: unmet aspirations that quietly fizzle out. While companies often gain positive media attention by trumpeting plans for reducing greenhouse gas... View Details

Keywords: by Tim Gray

2000
Chapter

Value Creation and Process Management: Evidence from Retail Banking

By: Frances X. Frei and Patrick T. Harker

Keywords: Value Creation; Business Processes; Business or Company Management; Commercial Banking; Banking Industry

November 2001 (Revised December 2003)
Case

Incentive Pay for Portfolio Managers at Harvard Management Company

By: Brian J. Hall and Jonathan Lim

This case describes the compensation system for portfolio managers at Harvard's portfolio management company, including its formulaic and bonus bank features. Harvard Management Co. President Jack Meyer explains the philosophy behind the incentive pay at his company. View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Investment Portfolio; Compensation and Benefits; Financial Services Industry

17 Feb 2022
Book

When Employees Feel a Sense of Purpose, Companies Succeed

skincare group, and the like. And it holds “innovation days” during which employees can pursue their own work-related projects. DEEP PURPOSE. Copyright © 2022 by Ranjay Gulati Reprinted here with permission from Harper Business, an... View Details

Keywords: by Ranjay Gulati

August 2020 (Revised August 2023)
Case

Nubank: Democratizing Financial Services

By: Michael Chu, Carla Larangeira and Pedro Levindo

Nubank, a wholly-digital solution created to disrupt Brazilian banking, with 6 million clients and a $4 billion valuation after five years, must decide whether to expand to Mexico. The company was founded in São Paulo in 2013 by Colombian-born David Vélez to seize what... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; Financial Inclusion; Digital Banking; Credit Cards; Banks and Banking; Disruption; Expansion; Growth and Development Strategy; Financial Services Industry; South America; Brazil; North America; Mexico