Publications
Publications
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- Faculty Publications (291)
- July 2009 (Revised August 2011)
- Case
What Happened at Citigroup? (A)
By: Clayton S. Rose and Aldo Sesia
What went wrong at Citigroup? In 1998, the Travelers Group and Citicorp merged to create Citigroup Inc., considered the first true global "financial supermarket" and a business model to be envied, feared, and emulated. By year-end 2006 the firm had a market... View Details
- May 2009 (Revised January 2011)
- Case
Enel: Power, Russia, and Global Markets
By: Rawi E. Abdelal, Richard H.K. Vietor and Sogomon Tarontsi
Although the global trend toward liberalization of electric utilities forced Enel, the largest power company in Italy, to give up some of its assets in its home base, it also opened up many opportunities abroad, including in Russia, one of the largest electricity... View Details
- September 2008
- Article
Firm Heterogeneity and Credit Risk Diversification
By: Samuel G. Hanson, M. Hashem Pesaran and Til Schuermann
This paper examines the impact of neglected heterogeneity on credit risk. We show that neglecting heterogeneity in firm returns and/or default thresholds leads to under estimation of expected losses (EL), and its effect on portfolio risk is ambiguous. Once EL is... View Details
- fall 2008
- Article
The Intermediation of Financial Risks: Evolution in the Catastrophe Reinsurance Market
By: Kenneth A. Froot
In this paper, I provide evidence concerning the imperfections in the reinsurance market. I try to get at some of the root causes of these imperfections, e.g., the behavior of ratings firms and the agency problems associated with the corporate form of ownership. I also... View Details
- June 2008 (Revised October 2008)
- Case
International Carbon Finance and EcoSecurities
By: Andre F. Perold, Forest L. Reinhardt and Mikell Hyman
In late 2007, EcoSecurities had to decide whether to undertake a new Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project in China. EcoSecurities was an aggregator of carbon credits and also invested directly in projects that produced carbon credits. Governments and firms... View Details
- November 2007
- Article
A Model of Consumer Learning for Service Quality and Usage
By: Raghuram Iyengar, Asim Ansari and Sunil Gupta
In many services, e.g., the wireless service industry, consumers choose a service plan based on their expected consumption. In such situations, consumers experience two forms of uncertainty. First, consumers may be uncertain about the quality of their service provider... View Details
- November 2007
- Article
Standing Out from the Crowd: The Visibility-Enhancing Effects of IPO-related Signals on Alliance Formation by Entrepreneurial Firms
By: Tim Pollock and Ranjay Gulati
In this study, we explore how multiple signals related to entrepreneurial companies at the time of their initial public offering (IPO) influence the firms' ability to acquire non-financial resources over time. Specifically, the study looks at how signals based on... View Details
- August 2007 (Revised February 2008)
- Case
Pinnacle Ventures
By: Michael J. Roberts, William A. Sahlman and Elizabeth Kind
Describes a prospective "venture debt" loan to a new venture from the perspective of Patrick Lee, a principal at Pinnacle Ventures. Forces students to grapple with the nature of financial risk in the start-up firm and assess the prospective risks and returns to a... View Details
- July 2007 (Revised March 2008)
- Background Note
Staging Two-Sided Platforms
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Andrei Hagiu
Firms that aspire to develop two-sided platforms face a formidable challenge. Prospective users on each side will not invest in the platform until they are confident there will be enough users on the other side. Traditional strategies for dealing with this... View Details
- May 2007 (Revised September 2008)
- Case
Biocon Limited
By: Krishna G. Palepu and Ananth Chepuri
Biocon Limited was facing significant pricing pressure in their cash cow business, that primarily consisted of manufacturing Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs). To combat this commoditization, Biocon's leadership had chosen an innovation-led strategy. This new... View Details
- 2007
- Working Paper
Global Competitors as Next-Door Neighbors: Competition and Geographic Concentration in the Semiconductor Industry
By: Minyuan Zhao and Juan Alcacer
Despite the many advantages offered by technology clusters, firms located in them face the risk of losing valuable knowledge to nearby competitors. In this study, we argue that multi-location firms strategically organize their R&D activities to appropriate the value of... View Details
- January 2007
- Article
Introducing the First Management Control Systems: Evidence from the Retail Sector
By: Tatiana Sandino
Focusing on a sample of US retailers, I study the management control systems (MCS) that firms introduce when they first invest in controls, and identify four categories of initial MCS, which are defined in terms of the purposes these MCS fulfill. The first category,... View Details
- March 2006
- Module Note
Managing Innovation in an Uncertain World
Describes the second module of the 30-session Harvard Business School elective course Managing Innovation in an Uncertain World. The course helps students understand the challenges that uncertainty implies for innovation and how to overcome these challenges. The course... View Details
- March 2006
- Module Note
Exchange Rates and Firms
By: Mihir A. Desai and Kathleen Luchs
Describes a core module in the International Finance course at Harvard Business School. The module focuses on how firms identify, measure, and manage currency exposures. The cases first introduce students to foreign exchange exposures and the tools used to manage... View Details
- March 2006
- Course Overview Note
International Finance: A Course Overview Note
By: Mihir A. Desai
Describes the International Finance course at Harvard Business School, which argues that the forces of globalization have fundamentally changed the scope and activities of firms, thereby altering the practice of finance within these firms. As a consequence of an... View Details
- January 2006 (Revised February 2006)
- Case
E.ON Corporate Strategy
By: Forest L. Reinhardt and Sebastian Frankenberger
Examines the corporate strategy of German energy giant E.ON. The firm is vertically integrated, horizontally diversified across electricity and natural gas, and active in numerous countries in Europe as well as in the United States. Explores the costs and benefits of... View Details
- March 2005 (Revised March 2006)
- Case
Foreign Exchange Hedging Strategies at General Motors: Competitive Exposures
By: Mihir A. Desai and Mark Veblen
How can a multinational firm analyze and manage currency risks that arise from competitive exposures? General Motors has a substantial competitive exposure to the Japanese yen. Although the risks GM faces from the depreciating yen are widely acknowledged, the company's... View Details
- March 2005 (Revised January 2006)
- Case
Foreign Exchange Hedging Strategies at General Motors: Transactional and Translational Exposures
By: Mihir A. Desai and Mark Veblen
How should a multinational firm manage foreign exchange exposures? Examines transactional and translational exposures and alternative responses to these exposures by analyzing two specific hedging decisions by General Motors. Describes General Motors' corporate hedging... View Details
- January 2005 (Revised August 2006)
- Case
Lean Forward Media
By: Teresa M. Amabile and Victoria Winston
Jeff Norton and Michelle Crames, the co-founders of Lean Forward Media, face several options for producing the world's first interactive DVD film for children. Their vision is to build a company whose products simultaneously entertain children, engage them actively in... View Details
- Article
Organizational Beliefs and Managerial Vision
Can managers have an impact on their firm that goes beyond their direct actions and decisions? This article shows that a manager with strong beliefs about the right course of action will attract, through sorting in the labor market, employees with similar beliefs. This... View Details