Publications

2024
Working Paper

What Do Impact Investors Do Differently?

By: Shawn Cole, Leslie Jeng, Josh Lerner, Natalia Rigol and Benjamin N. Roth

In recent years, impact investors – private investors who seek to generate simultaneously financial and social returns – have attracted intense interest and controversy. We analyze a novel, comprehensive data set of impact and traditional investors to assess how the... View Details

Keywords: ESG; Socially Responsible Investing; Investment Decisions; Public Goods; Impact Investment; Investment; Private Equity; Venture Capital

SSRN

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2010
Other Unpublished Work

God, Government and Outsiders: The Influence of Religious Beliefs on Depositor Behavior in an Emerging Market.

By: Ayesha K. Khan and Tarun Khanna

This paper provides evidence that religious beliefs can have a significant impact on individual financial choices. Using proprietary panel data on the distribution of bank deposits across all commercial banks in Pakistan over a 33-month period, I find that Islamic... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Commercial Banking; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Consumer Behavior; Emerging Markets; Religion; Banking Industry; Pakistan

November 2000 (Revised May 2002)
Case

FleetBoston Financial: Online Banking

By: Frances X. Frei and Hanna Rodriguez-Farrar

As the ninth largest bank holding company in the United States in 2000, FleetBoston Financial Corp. provided a myriad of financial services, including retail banking, loan origination, and brokerage accounts. This case explores how FleetBoston responded to the Internet... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Borrowing and Debt; Cost Management; Banks and Banking; Consumer Behavior; Service Operations; Competition; Online Technology; Banking Industry; United States

December 2024 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Balancing Returns and Responsibilities at Raya Partners

By: Arthur Segel, Ephraim Mernick, Derek C. M. van Bever and Olivia Barba

Raya Partners, a private equity firm, faces a crucial decision regarding Asa Specialty Coatings Company (ASCC). The dilemma involves shifting ASCC's manufacturing operations to Mexico, a move that would boost profitability and reduce emissions but result in significant... View Details

Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Communication Strategy; Private Equity; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Values and Beliefs; Financial Services Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Mexico; Vermont

May 2007
Article

Capital Flows and Capital Goods

By: Laura Alfaro and Eliza Hammel

Studying the relation between equity market liberalization and imports of capital goods, we examine one channel through which international financial integration can promote growth. For the period 1980–1997, we find that after controlling for other policies and... View Details

Keywords: Cash Flow; Equity; Financial Markets; Economy; Distribution Channels; Machinery and Machining; Capital

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February 2020
Case

Highfields Capital and McDonald's

By: Mark Egan and Robin Greenwood

McDonald’s reported its fifth consecutive quarter of declining same-store sales growth in early 2015. Despite McDonald’s recent poor performance, Jonathon S. Jacobson, the founder and Chief Investment Officer of Boston-based Highfields Capital Management, had initiated... View Details

Keywords: McDonald's; Stocks; Performance Improvement; Operations; Finance; Restructuring; Value Creation; Financial Services Industry

09 Jul 2001
Research & Ideas

Does Misery Love Companies? How Social Performance Pays Off

the empirical quest to link a firm's social investments to its financial returns has preoccupied researchers. Our goal in this paper is to reorient debate and research about social initiatives by business. We try to stimulate a fresh... View Details

Keywords: by Joshua D. Margolis & James P. Walsh

21 Aug 2006
Research & Ideas

How Europe Wrote the Rules of Global Finance

The United States has been both credited and criticized for its powerful role in promoting global financial liberalization—the flow of capital across country borders. But research by Harvard Business School Professor Rawi Abdelal has... View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen

July 2003 (Revised April 2005)
Case

Branding Citigroup's Consumer Business

By: Rohit Deshpande and Carin-Isabel Knoop

In Spring 1998, Citicorp and Travelers merged to create a financial powerhouse that united the bank with Travelers' consumer finance and brokerage businesses, including Salomon Smith Barney and Primerica. It was the first U.S. financial services company to combine... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Relationship Management; Decisions; Asset Management; Investment Banking; Management Teams; Brands and Branding; Relationships; Business and Shareholder Relations; Banking Industry; United States

Web

Organizational Behavior - Doctoral

the influence of individuals on organizational change, or the relationship between social missions and financial objectives. Your core disciplinary training will take place in either the psychology or sociology departments, depending on... View Details

November 1999 (Revised November 2000)
Case

International Business Machines Corporation (C)

By: David F. Hawkins

A financial analyst is examining IBM's 1998 tax note to understand better how the company's 1998 tax note was determined. Teaching purpose: Illustrates deferred tax accounting. View Details

Keywords: History; Earnings Management; Taxation; Decision Making; Business Model; Business Earnings; Information Infrastructure; Mathematical Methods; Private Sector; Accounting Audits; Accounting Industry; Computer Industry

14 Apr 2020
Video

COVID-19, Global Markets, and Global Macroeconomic Policy Responses

May 2001
Supplement

Asian Strategies: Ian Buchanan

By: Tarun Khanna

Ian Buchanan, senior VP of Booz-Allen & Hamilton, comments on Sime Darby and the Asian financial crisis. He also discusses the value propositions of different types of business groups in Malaysia. View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Growth and Development Strategy; Industry Structures; Strategy; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Consulting Industry; Service Industry; Asia; Malaysia

27 Aug 2012
News

Incentivizing Calculated Risk-Taking: an Experiment with Commercial Bank Loan Officers

Forthcoming
Article

Measurement and Effects of Bank Exit Policies

By: Daniel Green and Boris Vallée

We study whether exit policies by financial institutions have financial and real consequences on the firms they target, using bank coal exit policies as a laboratory. In contrast to theories assuming high capital substitutability, we find large effects of these... View Details

Keywords: Coal Power; Financing and Loans; Banks and Banking; Policy; Energy Industry

July 1995 (Revised October 1995)
Case

Superior Clamps, Inc.

By: David F. Hawkins

An investor must prepare pro forma financial statements as a basis for a third-party investment in his new company. The investor must make a number of accounting policy decisions. View Details

Keywords: Financing and Loans; Investment; Policy; Financial Statements; Business Startups; Manufacturing Industry