Publications

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November 1992 (Revised July 1993)
Case

Fischer Francis Trees & Watts

By: Erik R. Sirri

Fisher Francis Trees & Watts is a New York fixed-income investment management firm. A portfolio manager needs to purchase $375 million of 5-year notes at the Treasury auction. Unlike previous auctions, however, this is the first time the Treasury will auction the notes... View Details

Keywords: Asset Management; Auctions; Financial Markets; Financial Services Industry

2024
Working Paper

Priors, Experiments, Learning and Persuasion in (Bayesian) Entrepreneurial Finance

By: Ramana Nanda

At the heart of entrepreneurial finance lies a persuasion challenge: regardless of the strength of an entrepreneur’s belief in the potential of their idea, they typically need to convince investors to provide the financial capital required for its... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Finance; Business Startups; Communication Intention and Meaning; Prejudice and Bias

SSRN

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July 2017
Case

Centerbridge Partners and Great Wolf Resorts: Buying from a Highly Regarded Competitor

By: Josh Lerner, John D. Dionne and Amram Migdal

The case examines the March 2015 Centerbridge Partners investment decision regarding whether to acquire Great Wolf Resorts, a North American family-oriented indoor water parks and hotel operator, from a private equity (PE) competitor, Apollo Global Management. The case... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity Financing; Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities; CMBS; Secondary Buyouts; Business Ventures; Acquisition; Finance; Borrowing and Debt; Cost; Cost of Capital; Equity; Private Equity; Financial Instruments; Debt Securities; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; North and Central America; United States

15 Aug 2024
Blog Post

Learning from Mistakes and Leveraging Personal Experiences: Tiffany Kent (MBA 2001)

I graduated from Harvard Business School at the tail end of the dot-com bubble and was fortunate to join Goldman Sach’s high-tech investment banking group after graduation. However, the bubble burst got me,... View Details

Keywords: All Industries

September 2017 (Revised July 2021)
Case

Asset Allocation at the Cook County Pension Fund

By: Emil Siriwardane, Juliane Begenau and Yuval Gonczarowski

Nickol Hackett, chief investment officer of the Cook County Pension Fund, is responsible for investing the fund’s $9 billion worth of assets on behalf of the employees of Cook County, Illinois. Like many other defined-benefit pensions at the time, the Cook County... View Details

Keywords: Asset Management; Investment Funds; Financial Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions

20 Oct 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Financing Risk and Bubbles of Innovation

Keywords: by Ramana Nanda & Matthew Rhodes-Kropf; Financial Services

Randolph B. Cohen

Randolph B. (Randy) Cohen is the MBA Class of 1975 Senior Lecturer of Entrepreneurial Management in the Finance Unit at Harvard Business School. Cohen’s main research focus has been the identification of top investment managers and the prediction of manager... View Details

Keywords: financial services; financial services

20 Aug 2020
Working Paper Summaries

Best Ideas

Keywords: by Miguel Antón, Randolph B. Cohen, and Christopher Polk; Financial Services

May 2008
Article

Regulation and Bonding: The Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Flow of International Listings

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Joseph Piotroski

In this paper, we examine the economic impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) by analyzing foreign listing behavior onto U.S. and U.K. stock exchanges before and after the enactment of the Act in 2002. Using a sample of all listing events onto U.S. and U.K. exchanges... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Stocks; Government Legislation; Market Transactions; Motivation and Incentives; United Kingdom; United States

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05 Nov 2021
Op-Ed

Is the Business World Finally Ready for the Wisdom of Shibusawa?

Eiichi Shibusawa continues to gain influence in Japan—even though he died almost a century ago. Japan’s government announced earlier this year that the 19th century business leader would be the face on 10,000 yen ($90) bank notes—the highest value denomination in... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones and Rei Morimoto; Financial Services; Retail

20 Oct 2020
Blog Post

Changing the Face of Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital at Harlem Capital

Walking into Harvard Business School as friends, roommates, and colleagues in 2017, Henri Pierre-Jacques (MBA 2019) and Jarrid Tingle (MBA 2019) already knew each other well.... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital / Private Equity

11 Jul 2012
News

A Hedge-Fund Manager With a Low Profile

Keywords: Hedge funds; value investing; Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles; Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles

25 Sep 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, September 25, 2018

219-018 "Oaktree: Pierre Foods Investment This case is a setting to discuss “loan to own” investment strategy that is often pursued by distressed investors. The aftermath of the 2007 View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

January 2005 (Revised December 2005)
Case

KAMCO and the Cross-Border Securitization of Korean Non-Performing Loans

Covers the first international nonperforming loan securitization done in Korea. The CEO of KAMCO is trying to dispose of a portfolio of nonperforming commercial loans that the organization acquired from a number of banks. A group of investment bankers have proposed... View Details

Keywords: Debt Securities; Decision Choices and Conditions; Capital Markets; Financing and Loans; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Financial Services Industry; South Korea

01 Mar 2023
News

Elevator Pitch: Spread the Wealth

a dual purpose. First, to help companies build loyalty with employees and customers and to introduce individuals to share ownership. In addition to receiving share rewards, Upstreet users can buy shares on... View Details

Keywords: entrepreneurship; stock ownership; customer rewards; employee retention; financial literacy; Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments; Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments

19 Feb 2007
Research & Ideas

Inexperienced Investors and Market Bubbles

MacKay observed in 1852, "even chimney-sweeps and old clotheswomen dabbled in tulips." These days it's not just chimney-sweeps who are lured to investment heartbreak. New research suggests that... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Financial Services

30 Jan 2017
Research & Ideas

Vanguard, Trian And The Problem With 'Passive' Index Funds

of individual investors are able to wield great influence on management teams of companies in their investment portfolios. By contrast, index funds almost run on autopilot—with no active investor analyzing companies, rewarding those that... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

15 Nov 2018
Blog Post

Valuing an MBA: Beyond Dollars and “Sense"

transitioning from roles that were more execution-oriented to bigger-picture decision-making. Others come to explore new careers, leveraging the perspectives of professionals across the spectrum of industries View Details

May 2025
Case

The Micro-Family Office: Aamir Rehman

By: Lauren Cohen and Sophia Pan

With a successful career and strong academic credentials, Aamir Rehman sought to design a life grounded in autonomy. For him, this meant serving on boards, continuing his professorship, and ensuring a secure and comfortable life for his family. While he didn’t possess... View Details