Publications

January 1994
Background Note

Note on Financial Programming Over Long Horizons

By: Timothy A. Luehrman

Introduces students to financial programming as a way to incorporate concepts and tools from modern corporate finance theory into a framework for managing over long horizons. Particular attention is paid to corporate capital budgeting and investment processes. View Details

Keywords: Framework; Theory; Investment; Business Processes; Capital Budgeting; Corporate Finance

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February 1991
Case

Burlington Northern: The ARES Decision (A)

By: Julie H. Hertenstein and Robert S. Kaplan

Burlington Northern's decision whether to invest in ARES, an automated train control system, is a ($350 million) strategic investment in information technology. Although set in a service industry (railroad) the issues around this decision arise in many organizations... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Rail Transportation; Information Technology; Competitive Strategy; Performance Evaluation; Performance Effectiveness; Cost vs Benefits; Technology Adoption; Technological Innovation; Customers; Quality; Rail Industry

14 Apr 2014
News

U.S. Corporate Tax System Stifling Growth

24 Mar 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Securing Jobs or the New Protectionism? Taxing the Overseas Activities of Multinational Firms

Keywords: by Mihir A. Desai

March 2010 (Revised January 2012)
Case

Microsoft's IP Ventures

By: Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon

Microsoft's IP Ventures program, through which Microsoft spun out promising but unused technologies into new companies, is a new approach to corporate venture capital. The program provides "IP for equity" and has proven very successful in achieving its main... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Equity; Financing and Loans; Investment; Intellectual Property; Rights; Software; Washington (state, US)

2010
Article

Has the Shift to Stronger Intellectual Property Rights Promoted Technology Transfer, FDI, and Industrial Development?

By: Lee Branstetter, C. Fritz Foley and Kamal Saggi

This article reviews recent research conducted by the authors that finds that intellectual property rights reform increases technology transfers, foreign direct investment inflows, and industrial development. It also places the findings of this work in the broader... View Details

Keywords: Intellectual Property; Rights; Information Technology; Body of Literature; Foreign Direct Investment; Industry Growth

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August 2009 (Revised March 2011)
Case

Shenzhen Development Bank

By: Li Jin, Yuhai Xuan and Xiaobing Bai

Weijian Shan, Managing Partner of Newbridge Capital, faces a tough call in regard to his firm's investment in Shenzhen Development Bank, China's fifteenth-largest commercial bank listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. Due to the aggressive lobby of the existing... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Private Equity; Commercial Banking; Investment; Emerging Markets; Business and Government Relations; Banking Industry; China

05 Jul 2004
What Do You Think?

Work-Life: Is Productivity in the Balance?

acknowledge the value of spending time with one's family, but I do not discount the overall advantage a society enjoys when its members are at the peak of their productivity." Clearly, many organizations regard work-life benefits (as a subset of all benefits) as... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

June 2004 (Revised July 2005)
Case

Procter & Gamble: Global Business Services

By: Thomas J. DeLong, Warren Brackin, Alex Cabanas, Phil Shellhammer and David L. Ager

Dave Walker, vice-president of business service opportunities and chairman of the governance team at Procter & Gamble, must decide what to do with P&G's 5,700 employee Global Business Services (GBS) group. GBS brought together internal services such as finance,... View Details

Keywords: Business Units; Change Management; Decision Making; Globalized Firms and Management; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Organizational Design

07 Dec 2009
Research & Ideas

Government’s Positive Role in Kick-Starting Entrepreneurship

struggled to realize good returns from investments since the year 2000. Many traditional investors are questioning whether they should continue to provide capital to these funds. But given the important role that venture capital has had... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Technology

Career Coach

Shub Chhokra

Having worked across all these industries, Shub can provide insight on how these industries recruit, personal brand positioning, cover letter/resume reviews, career visioning/mapping, and interview prep. He enjoys working with students in all parts of their journey -... View Details

September 1992 (Revised September 2004)
Background Note

Accounting for Property, Plant, Equipment and Other Assets

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

An introduction to depreciation accounting and depreciation methods for capital assets. Also covers gains or losses on asset disposal and accounting for other investments and intangibles. View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Assets

September 2018 (Revised January 2019)
Teaching Note

Gemini Investors

By: Richard S. Ruback, Royce Yudkoff and Ahron Rosenfeld

Teaching Note for HBS No. 211-066. Gemini Investors was a private equity firm that targeted equity investments of between $4 million to $6 million per firm. In the period from 2000 to 2015, Gemini had successfully deployed four funds, all licensed as Small Business... View Details

Keywords: Small ＆ Medium-sized Enterprises; Small Business; Private Equity; Investment Funds; Decision Making; Financial Services Industry; United States

August 2018 (Revised September 2018)
Supplement

LendingClub (C): Gradient Boosting & Payoff Matrix

By: Srikant M. Datar and Caitlin N. Bowler

This case builds directly on the LendingClub (A) and (B) cases. In this case students follow Emily Figel as she builds an even more sophisticated model using the gradient boosted tree method to predict, with some probability, whether a borrower would repay or default... View Details

Keywords: Data Analytics; Data Science; Investment; Financing and Loans; Analytics and Data Science; Analysis; Forecasting and Prediction

December 2003 (Revised October 2006)
Case

Globalizing the Cost of Capital and Capital Budgeting at AES

By: Mihir A. Desai and Douglas Kurt Schillinger

With electricity generating businesses around the world, AES Corp. is seeking a methodology for calculating the cost of capital for its various businesses and potential projects. In the past, AES used the same cost of capital for all of its capital budgeting, but the... View Details

Keywords: International Finance; Risk Management; Globalized Firms and Management; Cost of Capital; Valuation; Emerging Markets; Foreign Direct Investment; Capital Budgeting; Energy Industry; South America

October 2011
Case

CSN Stores

By: William A. Sahlman and Neil Tolaney

In March 2011, CSN Stores is a collection of nearly 200 Internet retail websites, including Cookware.com, Strollers.com, and Luggage.com. Co-founders Niraj Shah and Steve Conine were considering making a major investment to build brand equity at the corporate level. View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Distribution Channels; Investment; Brands and Branding; Equity; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Information Technology Industry; Retail Industry

October 1995 (Revised December 1998)
Case

Otis Elevator Company (A): China Strategy

By: Michael Y. Yoshino and Thomas W. Malnight

Examines the evolution of Otis's joint venture in China, from inception to the political crisis in 1989. Raises the question of whether or not the company should make an additional investment in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square incident. View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Decisions; Investment; Globalization; Government Administration; Business and Government Relations; Strategy; China