Publications

January 2024
Case

Sprouts Farmers Market

By: Rajiv Lal, Forest L. Reinhardt and Natalie Kindred

Sprouts Farmers Markets (Sprouts) is a Phoenix, Arizona-based chain of 400-plus natural foods stores in 23 U.S. states and $6.4 billion in sales as of 2022. In its product assortment, brand image, and store environment, Sprouts emphasizes freshness, health, innovation,... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Brands and Branding; Strategic Planning; Sales; Business Strategy; Expansion; Product Positioning; Marketing Strategy; Competition; Retail Industry; United States; Arizona

20 Oct 2020
Blog Post

Changing the Face of Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital at Harlem Capital

investor. The fund now has investments in 23 companies around the U.S. in 12 different industries. The Minority Renaissance in Venture Capital Like most new business ventures, Harlem Capital was created to... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital / Private Equity; Venture Capital / Private Equity

February 2022
Case

NFX Capital and Moov Technologies

By: Scott Duke Kominers and Nicole Tempest Keller

In July 2019, James Currier, a general partner at San Francisco-based NFX Ventures, was considering a seed stage investment of $1.5 million in Moov Technologies, a B2B marketplace for used industrial equipment. NFX was a venture capital firm focused on seed-stage... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Network Effects; Marketplace Matching; Digital Platforms; Market Design; Applications and Software; Semiconductor Industry; Financial Services Industry; San Francisco

2011
Working Paper

The Cost of Capital for Alternative Investments

By: Jakub W. Jurek and Erik Stafford

This paper studies the cost of capital for alternative investments. We document that the risk profile of the aggregate hedge fund universe can be accurately matched by a simple index put option writing strategy that offers monthly liquidity and complete transparency... View Details

Keywords: Cost of Capital; Financial Liquidity; Investment; Investment Return; Mathematical Methods; Risk and Uncertainty

Read Now

October 1998
Case

Farallon Capital Management: Risk Arbitrage (B)

By: Andre F. Perold and Robert Howard

Farallon Capital Management, an investment firm that specializes in risk arbitrage, has taken significant long and short positions in MCI Communications and British Telecommunications, respectively, in the belief that the proposed merger of these firms will be... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Capital Markets; Investment; Risk Management; Strategy; Financial Services Industry

When innovation and entry are high in an industry, is this good or bad news for incumbents? We show that recently the answer has been bad news. Industries with elevated venture capital activity and returns, and with a larger presence of newly listed firms, show a... View Details

May 2014
Article

Investment Incentives in Labor Market Matching

By: John William Hatfield, Fuhito Kojima and Scott Duke Kominers

We provide an illustration of how the design of labor market clearing mechanisms can affect incentives for human capital acquisition. Specifically, we extend the labor market matching model (with discrete transfers) of Kelso and Crawford (1982) to incorporate the... View Details

Keywords: Human Capital; Marketplace Matching

October 1998 (Revised November 1999)
Case

Farallon Capital Management: Risk Arbitrage (A)

By: Andre F. Perold and Robert Howard

Farallon Capital Management, an investment firm that specializes in risk arbitrage, has taken significant long and short positions in MCI Communications and British Telecommunications, respectively, in the belief that the proposed merger of these firms will be... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Capital; Capital Markets; Investment; Management; Risk Management; Strategy; Financial Services Industry

April 1998
Case

Venture Capital in Ireland: Getting Their ACT Together

By: Paul A. Gompers and Catherine M. Conneely

Analyzes the decisions of Niall Carroll, an Irish banker, to start a venture capital fund focused on Ireland. The context of the Irish markets and the nature of Irish opportunities are explored. View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Venture Capital; Markets; Market Entry and Exit; Financial Services Industry; Republic of Ireland

19 Mar 2006
Research & Ideas

Unlocking Your Investment Capital

markets, managers can engineer a company's capital structure so that the only liabilities borne by the company are value-added risks. What are value-added risks and how are they different from passive risks? A: "Value-added"... View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen; Financial Services

05 Feb 2009
Research & Ideas

In Praise of Marketing

Editor's Note: Harvard Business School professor John Quelch writes a blog on marketing issues, called Marketing Know: How, for Harvard Business Online. It is reprinted on HBS Working Knowledge. Many dismiss... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Advertising

February 2002
Background Note

Note on Commercial Real Estate Financial Market

By: Arthur I Segel and Melissa Yin-Yin Lam

Discusses the recent history of the commercial real estate financial market (pre-1990s-2001). Looks at the shift to more conventional capital markets for commercial real estate debt. View Details

Keywords: History; Capital Markets; Financial Markets; Borrowing and Debt; Real Estate Industry

Web

Events - Private Capital Project

Business School) The Changing Secondary Market December 16, 2021 “The Changing Secondary Market” with Paige Brotherton (Coller Capital), Sascha Gruber (LGT Capital Partners), Todd Miller (Jefferies), and... View Details

20 Feb 2018
Working Paper Summaries

Stock Market Returns and Consumption

Keywords: by Marco Di Maggio, Amir Kermani, and Kaveh Majlesi; Financial Services

Fast Answer

Making Markets

Use these resources to analyze broken markets and validate your proposed solutions. Understand the Current Marketplace: Gain a sense of the current landscape, major players, and future trends within an industry or sector in order to... View Details

Summer 1998
Article

A New Approach to Capital Budgeting for Financial Institutions

By: K. A. Froot and J. Stein

Keywords: Catastrophe Risk; Corporate Finance; Cost Of Capital; Banking And Insurance; Asset Pricing; Hedging; Banking; Decision Choice And Uncertainty; Financial Markets; Insurance; Policy; Risk Management; Natural Disasters; Insurance Industry

organized—“Capitalism and the Senses”— was an invaluable experience for me to develop scholarly networks and to revisit my own research, which examines the sensory experience of food marketing in the early twentieth century. I also... View Details

2011
Book

Capitalism at Risk: Rethinking the Role of Business

By: Joseph L. Bower, Herman B. Leonard and Lynn S. Paine

The spread of capitalism worldwide has made people wealthier than ever before. But capitalism's future is far from assured. The global financial meltdown of 2008 nearly triggered another Great Depression, economies in Europe are still teetering, and powerful... View Details

Keywords: Business And Society; Economic Systems; Economic Growth; Leading Change; Business and Community Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Business Strategy