Publications

January 2011
Supplement

Matrix Capital Management (B)

By: Malcolm P. Baker and David Lane

Ben Balbale, a partner at hedge fund Matrix Capital, must decide whether to exit their investment in Rovi Corporation, a company with a diverse portfolio of patents used primarily for digital interactive guides. Rovi's shares are up over 50% from the time Balbale... View Details

Keywords: Public Ownership; Cash Flow; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Investment Funds; Financial Strategy; Valuation; Partners and Partnerships; Markets; Performance Efficiency; Patents; Stock Shares; Decisions; Financial Services Industry

October 2022 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Founders First Capital Partners: An Approach to Capital Access Equity

By: Brian Trelstad, Mel Martin and Amy Klopfenstein

In June 2021, Kim T. Folsom, the founder and CEO of revenue-based financing firm Founders First Capital Partners (FFCP), must decide whether to issue another loan to OnShore Technology Group, an up-and-coming software validation company. FFCP provided revenue-based... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Financial Instruments; Financing and Loans; Interest Rates; Investment Return; Revenue; Capital; Financial Services Industry; North and Central America; United States

2008
Working Paper

How Did Increased Competition Affect Credit Ratings?

The credit rating industry has historically been dominated by just two agencies, Moody's and S&P, leading to longstanding legislative and regulatory calls for increased competition. The material entry of a third rating agency (Fitch) to the competitive landscape offers... View Details

Keywords: Credit; Financial Markets; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Quality; Reputation; Competition; Financial Services Industry

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January 1994 (Revised November 1997)
Case

Aberlyn Capital Management: July 1993

By: Josh Lerner and Peter Tufano

Aberlyn Capital Management, a venture leasing firm specializing in providing capital to biotechnology firms, proposes to introduce a new product. Aberlyn will base a lease on an intangible product: the patent of a biotechnology firm. This poses a series of short and... View Details

Keywords: Financing and Loans; Valuation; Product Launch; Problems and Challenges; Patents; Financial Instruments; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry

2011
Book

The Fund Industry: How Your Money Is Managed

By: Robert Pozen and Theresa Hamacher

The Fund Industry explains to students and investors how to evaluate mutual funds and other collective investment vehicles. It discusses how different types of funds are managed, marketed, and regulated. It also reviews how funds invest and gather assets in countries... View Details

Keywords: Money; Financial Management; International Finance; Investment Funds; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Financial Services Industry

May 2010
Article

Loan Syndication and Credit Cycles

By: Victoria Ivashina and David Scharfstein

Cyclicality in the supply of business credit has been the focus of a considerable amount of research. This cyclicality can stem from shocks to borrowers' collateral, which affect firms' ability to raise capital if agency and information problems are significant (Ben S.... View Details

Keywords: Business Cycles; Capital; Credit; Banks and Banking; Financing and Loans; System Shocks; Financial Services Industry

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2011
Other Unpublished Work

Deference from Low-status Firms: Maintaining Status without Resources

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski and Bharat N. Anand

This paper proposes a set of conditions under which high-status firms retain their positions, even if they lose resources. Firms are considered high status if they obtain ties from other high-status firms. Within the class of high-status firms, we distinguish between... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Venture Capital; Financial Condition; Alliances; Rank and Position; Status and Position; Financial Services Industry; United States

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2013
Working Paper

Combining Banking with Private Equity Investing

By: Lily Fang, Victoria Ivashina and Josh Lerner

Bank-affiliated private equity groups account for 30% of all private equity investments. Their market share is highest during peaks of the private equity market, when the parent banks arrange more debt financing for in-house transactions yet have the lowest exposure to... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Banks and Banking; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry

01 Sep 2011
News

Water for Life

operational underperformance. We transformed it into a service operating according to world-class standards. At the time you took over, 63 percent of Metro Manila’s water was either lost or stolen. Did you have a hard time convincing your... View Details

Keywords: Waste Management and Remediation Services; Waste Management and Remediation Services; Waste Management and Remediation Services; Waste Management and Remediation Services

01 Oct 2000
News

Lumry Chair Supports IT and Entrepreneurship

(FAS) will fund both the Lumry Family Professorship at HBS and the Technology and Entrepreneurship Center in FAS's Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Lumry's gift reflects his professional interests and expertise in technology and business, his longtime... View Details

Keywords: Educational Services

September 2010
Case

Freddie Mac: Managing in Conservatorship

By: Robert Steven Kaplan, Nitin Nohria and Ben Creo

Ed Haldeman has recently become CEO of Freddie Mac, one of three major government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) charged with supporting U.S. residential mortgage finance. The company was placed into conservatorship by the U.S. treasury on September 7, 2008.... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Financial Crisis; Mortgages; Leadership; Organizational Culture; Business and Government Relations; Financial Services Industry; United States

January 2008 (Revised July 2008)
Case

The Allstate Corporation

By: John R. Wells

In 2007, Allstate was the number two property and casualty insurer in the USA and had enjoyed five years of rapid profit improvement. The question facing CEO Thomas J. Wilson was how to maintain the momentum. This case tracks the evolution of Allstate's strategy over... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Financial Institutions; Insurance; Profit; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Financial Services Industry

February 2001
Case

California PERS (B)

By: Jay O. Light, Jay W. Lorsch, James O. Sailer and Katharina Pick

The largest state pension fund continues the evolution of its approach to corporate governance contemplating "relationship investing" and other new approaches. View Details

Keywords: Investment; Corporate Governance; Financial Management; Asset Management; Business and Shareholder Relations; Investment Funds; Financial Services Industry; California

June 2001 (Revised December 2006)
Case

Role of Capital Market Intermediaries in the Dot-Com Crash of 2000, The

By: Krishna G. Palepu and Gillian D Elcock

Set in the context of the rise and fall of the Internet stocks in the United States. View Details

Keywords: Stocks; Price Bubble; Capital Markets; Investment Banking; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States

February 2024 (Revised April 2024)
Case

Uniswap: Fighting a Vampire Attack (A)

By: Shikhar Ghosh, Shweta Bagai and Liang Wu

This is the first of a three-case series that explores the challenges faced by Uniswap, a key player in the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector. Founded by Hayden Adams, the case traces Uniswap's rapid growth from a simple idea inspired by a Reddit post to becoming one... View Details

28 Aug 2017
Research & Ideas

Should Industry Competitors Cooperate More to Solve World Problems?

performance on business-relevant ESG issues based on a firm’s industry membership has a positive association with future financial performance. A company’s efforts to improve its social impact could result in cost savings, increased brand... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Financial Services; Financial Services; Financial Services; Financial Services

April 2022 (Revised August 2022)
Case

Conflicts of Interest at Uptown Bank

By: Jonas Heese

In 2013, two employees debated whether to blow the whistle on their employer, Bell Bank, after completing an internal review that revealed undisclosed conflicts of interest. Bell Bank’s Asset Management business disproportionately invested clients’ money in Bell Bank’s... View Details