Publications

15 Apr 2015
Research & Ideas

Why Americans Voted for an Income Tax

We can be forgiven, especially this time of year, for questioning a decision our predecessors made just over a century ago. In the 1910s, Americans decided to make personal and corporate income taxes a permanent feature of the United View Details

Keywords: by Matthew C. Weinzierl

August 2021
Case

Apax Digital

By: Jo Tango and Alys Ferragamo

The Apax Digital team faced important decisions as they contemplated raising a second fund. Apax Digital Fund I was a $1.1 billion vehicle focused on mid-market growth equity and growth buyouts in the technology sector. The fund had performed well, and the Managing... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Acquisition; Investment Portfolio; Decision Choices and Conditions; Venture Capital; Technology Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States

09 Dec 2002
Research & Ideas

Unilever—A Case Study

States in the twentieth century. After 1945 Unilever's once successful business in the United States began to decline, yet the parent company maintained an arms-length relationship with its U.S. affiliates,... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones; Consumer Products; Entertainment & Recreation; Food & Beverage; Manufacturing; Retail

January 2015 (Revised October 2018)
Case

Dogs of the Dow

By: Malcolm Baker, Samuel G. Hanson and James Weber

This case describes the Dogs of the Dow investment strategy, value investing, and using dividend yields as a means to determine intrinsic value. It also describes exchange traded notes and a particular exchange traded note, known as the Dogs of the Dow, which tracks... View Details

Keywords: Dow Jones; Dow Jones Industrial Average; Exchange Traded Note; Exchange Traded Fund; Value Investing; Benjamin Graham; Investment Strategy; Dividend Yield; Intrinsic Value; Dividend Discount Model; Michael O'Higgins; Financial Instruments; Investment; Strategy; Financial Services Industry; United States

08 May 2023
Research & Ideas

How Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric Crushed Crowdfunding for Minority Entrepreneurs

but that gap triples during periods of high public anxiety over immigration in the United States. “When there is the greatest anxiety, we see this funding shortfall.” Banks have historically rejected loan applications from Black, Asian,... View Details

Keywords: by Scott Van Voorhis

February 2002 (Revised February 2004)
Case

Brazos Partners: the CoMark LBO

By: Josh Lerner, G. Felda Hardymon and Ann Leamon

The partners of a new midmarket buyout fund are working on a buyout of a closely held modular building company. Although originally structured as a stock deal, they have realized that an asset deal would be preferable from their point of view and are trying to... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Negotiation Deal; Valuation

22 Apr 2020
News

Oil Prices to Remain Low, Sen Says

July 2024 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors: Bringing Systematic Investment to Philanthropy

By: Lauren Cohen, Hao Gao, Alexander Bischoff and Sophia Pan

Melissa Berman, CEO of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA), evaluated her client’s philanthropy project and its mediocre performance. RPA was a segment of the Rockefeller Family Office’s Philanthropy Department, becoming an independent charity in 2002. Consistently... View Details

April 1999 (Revised November 1999)
Case

Adams Capital Management: March 1999

By: G. Felda Hardymon and Bill Wasik

On February 24, 1999, the advisory board of Adams Capital Management convened for its quarterly meeting at the firm's headquarters. One point on the agenda: whether or not to proceed with due diligence on an investment in Three Points, a maker of Internet-based team... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Governing and Advisory Boards; Management Systems; Investment; Goals and Objectives; Financial Services Industry

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April 2010 (Revised May 2017)
Case

Tremblant Capital Group

By: Robin Greenwood

Brett Barakett, CEO and founder of Tremblant Capital Group, a New York–based hedge fund, must decide what to do with his fund's position in Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, which has dropped in value by more than 40% in recent months. Tremblant is a hedge fund that... View Details

Keywords: Business Earnings; Behavioral Finance; Stocks; Investment Funds; Consumer Behavior; Competitive Advantage; Financial Services Industry; New York (city, NY)

15 Jan 2019
News

Gillette, Brexit and Molasses

December 2024
Supplement

Core Innovation Capital: Investing in Fintech for Good (B)

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

In 2017, Core Innovation Capital invested $725,000 in Hugo Insurance, a pay-as-you-drive auto insurance startup targeting the non-standard market. Core followed with $300,000 in 2019 during a Seed II round. By 2022, Hugo founder, David Bergendahl, sought $10 million in... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; Venture Capital; Social Entrepreneurship; Insurance; Measurement and Metrics; Investment; Financial Services Industry; Technology Industry; Insurance Industry; United States

27 Oct 2015
News

Pay-For-Success is Working in Utah

May 2014
Article

How to Outsmart Activist Investors

By: Bill George and Jay W. Lorsch

We offer opinions on how management and corporate boards of directors can best manage investor relations with activist stockholders such as hedge funds who are demanding major changes within a corporation to improve stockholder return. Beverage industry firm PepsiCo is... View Details

Keywords: Investment Activism

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Read Now

29 Apr 2010
Working Paper Summaries

The Great Leap Forward: The Political Economy of Education in Brazil, 1889-1930

Keywords: by André Martínez-Fritscher, Aldo Musacchio & Martina Viarengo; Education

15 Dec 2021
News

Some Government Programs Just Don’t Work Out. ‘Abandoned’ Shouldn’t Be a Dirty Word.

05 Mar 2008
News

Harvard Business School Joins 10,000 Women

2012
Working Paper

Can Implicit Regulation Change Financial Market Behavior? Evidence from Spitzer's Attack on Market Timers

By: Charles C.Y. Wang

This paper explores a natural experiment setup from the 2003-2004 mutual fund scandals to evaluate the effectiveness of implicit regulation on financial markets behavior. On average, buy-and-hold investors lost 218 basis points annually from 1998 to 2002 to market... View Details

Keywords: Financial Markets; Market Timing; United States

July 2023 (Revised October 2024)
Case

Revenue Recognition at Stride Funding: Making Sense of Revenues for a Fintech Startup

By: Paul M. Healy and Jung Koo Kang

The case explores the challenges of revenue recognition and financial reporting for Stride Funding (Stride), a fintech startup that has disrupted the student loan market. Stride leveraged proprietary machine learning and financial models to underwrite alternative... View Details

Keywords: Revenue Recognition; Financial Reporting; Entrepreneurial Finance; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Governance Compliance; Accrual Accounting; Financial Services Industry; United States