Publications

21 Sep 2017
Cold Call Podcast

State Street’s SHE: Investing in Women Leaders

Keywords: Re: Vikram Gandhi; Financial Services

September 2011
Case

AXA Private Equity: The Diana Investment

By: Michael J. Roberts and William A. Sahlman

The case focuses on an investment made by AXA Private Equity, a French manufacturer of food ingredients. The investment is made at the height of the financial markets, and financed with significant debt. Soon thereafter, the financial crisis impacted the company's... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Ethics; Investment; Financial Crisis

October 1999
Case

CIBC Corporate and Investment Banking (B): 1992-1997

By: Joseph L. Bower and Michael Raynor

From 1992 to 1997, CIBC CEO Al Flood and head of investment banking John Hunkin integrate the struggling investment bank, Wood Gundy, with CIBC's corporate bank. The impact and interaction of organization design, compensation schemes, and communication initiatives are... View Details

Keywords: Investment Banking; Banks and Banking; Mergers and Acquisitions; Organizational Design; Business Plan; Communication; Banking Industry

June 2024 (Revised January 2025)
Background Note

Politics Comes to ESG Investing

By: Shawn Cole and Jonah Zahnd

While the past decade has seen a dramatic increase in the incorporation of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) standards into investor practices, this momentum has shifted recently in the United States, as some politicians argued that ESG investing practices... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; United States

Web

The Challenges Ahead in the field of impact investing | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

The Challenges Ahead in the field of impact investing Multiple Alumni Topics Business for Social Impact Impact View Details

21 Jul 2020
News

Risk, Reward, and Impact

02 Nov 2020
Working Paper Summaries

Accounting for Organizational Employment Impact

Keywords: by David Freiberg, Katie Panella, George Serafeim, and T. Robert Zochowski

August 2020
Case

Sangu Delle

By: Leslie Perlow and Matthew Preble

By 2020, Sangu Delle (MBA 2016) has already made significant progress towards his life-long goal of solving Africa’s myriad and diverse challenges. At 33 years old, he is the founder and chairman of the for-profit Golden Palm Investments Corporation, CEO of Africa... View Details

Keywords: Impact; Impact Investing; Mental Health; Social Capitalism; Entrepreneurship; Investment; Health Care and Treatment; Personal Development and Career; Health Industry; Africa

22 Sep 2017
News

State Street’s SHE: Investing in Women Leaders

February 2009 (Revised August 2012)
Background Note

Note on Socially Responsible Investing

By: Sandra J. Sucher, Daniela Beyersdorfer and Ian McKown Cornell

This note describes Socially Responsible Investing, providing a brief history, description of different socially responsible investing approaches, and overview of selected players and institutions involved in the socially responsible investing field. It has been... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Corporate Governance; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability

Keywords: Harvard; alumni; Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments; Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments; Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments; Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments; Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments; Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments

08 Dec 2015
News

Harvard’s Alumni Impact

TeachingInterests

Investing: Risk, Return and Impact (MBA)

By: Shawn A. Cole

This is an investing/finance course, designed to build on skills introduced in the RC finance course, but with an emphasis on how and whether investors should incorporate what have traditionally been considered “non-financial” criteria in their decisions: for... View Details

Web

Reflecting on the Inaugural Investing for Impact Elective Course | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

01 Aug 2019
News

Investing for Good

Tracy P. Palandjian (MBA 1997) is CEO and cofounder of Social Finance, a nonprofit dedicated to mobilizing capital to drive social progress, and a 2019 recipient of the HBS Alumni Achievement Award. In this video, she talks about the organizations mission and the... View Details

Keywords: Finance

March 2018 (Revised March 2018)
Teaching Note

OpenInvest

By: Boris Vallee and Caitlin Reimers Brumme

Founded by a team of hedge fund and NGO alumni, OpenInvest launched its platform in 2015 to enable retail investors to tailor their portfolio to their personal values in an automated way, for instance by screening out weapon manufacturers stocks or overweighting LGBTQ... View Details

Keywords: Socially Responsible Investing; Investing For Impact; Robo-advisors; Investment; Values and Beliefs; Customization and Personalization; Technology; Financial Services Industry

March 2019 (Revised March 2023)
Case

Accion's Fintech Strategy

By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Michael Chu and Tricia Gregg

Accion, an NGO, had been a pioneer in microfinance since its entry into that sector in the early 1970s. Its investments in Banco Compartamos paid off, when the microfinance bank went IPO in 2007, leaving an influx of $138 million for Accion. Under a new CEO, Michael... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; Impact Investing; Financial Inclusion; Technological Innovation; Strategy; Strategic Planning; Performance Effectiveness; Non-Governmental Organizations; Microfinance; Financial Institutions; Business Growth and Maturation; Customer Focus and Relationships; Industry Growth

2012
Working Paper

Payout Taxes and the Allocation of Investment

When corporate payout is taxed, internal equity (retained earnings) is cheaper than external equity (share issues). If there are no perfect substitutes for equity finance, payout taxes may therefore have an effect on the investment of firms. High taxes will favor... View Details

Keywords: Business Earnings; Equity; Financing and Loans; Investment; Taxation; Business and Shareholder Relations; Motivation and Incentives

Read Now

03 Oct 2019
News

At Harvard B-School, lessons for impact investors

April 2015 (Revised April 2015)
Case

Yale University Investments Office: February 2015

By: Josh Lerner

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, real estate—given the impact of the recent market turmoil. The case explores the risks... View Details

Keywords: Asset Management; Resource Allocation; Investment; Venture Capital; Investment Funds; Property; Private Equity