Publications

SSRN

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November 1995 (Revised April 1998)
Case

National Insurance Corporation

The case visits the catastrophe insurance business at an interesting time in the history of the insurance markets. A major reinsurer, National Insurance, is taking a look at the new insurance derivatives being traded on the Chicago Board of Trade with a view to using... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Insurance; Capital Markets; Insurance Industry; United States

01 Oct 2018
News

Advancing Opportunities for Others

was actually spent in capital markets. I love, love, love my capital markets job. And I'd go back to capital View Details

Keywords: Finance

December 2024
Case

Core Innovation Capital: Investing in Fintech for Good

By: Ray Kluender, Natalia Rigol, Benjamin Roth and Nicole Tempest Keller

In 2017, Arjan Schütte, founder of Core Innovation Capital, faced a decision on whether to invest in Hugo Insurance, an auto insurance startup. Core, an early-stage social impact VC firm, focused on “fintech for good,” by investing in financial services for low- to... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; Venture Capital; Social Entrepreneurship; Insurance; Measurement and Metrics; Investment; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Product Positioning; Financial Services Industry; Technology Industry; Insurance Industry; United States

10 Mar 2015
Research & Ideas

The Surprising Winners and Losers in the Retail Revolution

three-part interview with Harvard Business School Marketing professors Rajiv Lal and José B. Alvarez, they discuss who is winning this revolution and which brands appear to be losing ground. Sean Silverthorne: Among the retailers you have... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

Web

Real Property - Course Catalog

select public infrastructure (e.g., power, water, and transit), highlighting how they compare with core Real Estate asset classes in terms of risk, opportunity, and investor interest. Module 3: Capital View Details

12 Nov 2014
Op-Ed

A Challenge to the New Congress: Pass Housing Finance Reform

stronger, more durable system, private capital would take the "first loss" in the event of a housing market downturn. After a multiyear transition period, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should wind... View Details

Keywords: by Nicolas Retsinas & Rob Couch; Construction; Real Estate

December 2013 (Revised August 2015)
Case

Viva Macau (A)

By: Dante Roscini and G. A. Donovan

A fast-growing Macau-based airline backed by private US investors faces a dramatic expropriation in the wake of the first change of head of government since the former Portuguese colony became a Special Administrative Region of China. The case allows students to... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Air Transportation; Ownership; Foreign Direct Investment; Government and Politics; Emerging Markets; Venture Capital; China; Macau

July 1997 (Revised September 1997)
Case

USAA: Catastrophe Risk Financing

By: Kenneth A. Froot and Mark Seasholes

Describes the first major risk financing using catastrophe bonds. Provides a basis for discussing the securitization of insurance risks. View Details

Keywords: Financial Management; Insurance; Capital Markets; Natural Disasters; Risk Management; Bonds; Insurance Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States

Web

Courses by Faculty - Course Catalog

Entrepreneurial Management, General Management, Finance Fall 2025 Q1Q2 3.0 Venture Capital and Private Equity Entrepreneurial Management Fall 2025 Q1Q2 3.0 Jillian Jordan Negotiation Negotiation, Organizations & View Details

September 2005 (Revised June 2006)
Case

WuXi PharmaTech

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Simin Zhou

WuXi Pharmatech has gone from zero to $21 million in sales in three years. The company must decide its growth strategy and how best to finance and organize for rapid growth. View Details

Keywords: Growth Management; Capital Markets; Problems and Challenges; Pharmaceutical Industry; China

18 Oct 2010
Lessons from the Classroom

Venture Capital’s Disconnect with Clean Tech

companies can crank out a marketable prototype in a matter of months, clean-tech companies can take years to develop products—solar panels, batteries, biofuels, and the like. And even when a working prototype is born, it's hard for a... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Energy; Utilities; Financial Services

21 Oct 2013
News

Moving the Needle

investing, also known as impact investing. "I wanted to understand how to use the financial capital markets and for-profit mechanisms to move the dial on the world's most pressing problems." Seegull had a... View Details

Keywords: Jill Radsken; Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments; Finance

01 Jan 2013
News

Thomas A. James, MBA 1966

is a diversified financial services holding company with more than 2,500 offices around the world, 14,000 associates, and a market capitalization of $5.1 billion. James has always had an independent spirit.... View Details

Keywords: Susan Young

08 Jun 2009
Research & Ideas

The Return of the Salesman

seeing its real importance. It didn't help that economists also thought that selling was unimportant in influencing markets and that door-to-door selling declined in the United States in the final decades of the 20th century. But scholars... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

April 2010
Background Note

Securities Trading: Front-, Middle- and Back Office

By: Francois Brochet and Rakeen Mabud

This note explains the basic structure of the trading floor in a typical financial institution and how the front, middle and back offices interact to ensure a functioning trading system. View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Financial Institutions; Financial Services Industry

November 1997 (Revised October 2000)
Case

Interactive Minds (A)

By: William A. Sahlman, Michael J. Roberts and Christina L. Darwall

The efforts of two recent Harvard Business School graduates to start a venture capital/consulting firm focused on opportunities related to the Internet are recounted. Raises the question of what the nature of this opportunity is, how well-positioned the protagonists... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Internet and the Web; Market Entry and Exit; Financing and Loans; Business Startups; Consulting Industry