Publications

July – August 2009
Article

The Descent of Finance

What if the current recession turns out to be like the Great Depression of 1929-1933? Four years from now, the United States might find itself with a still-shrinking economy, half as many banks as in 2009, a third as many hedge funds, and retail banking resembling a... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; International Finance; Globalized Economies and Regions; Business and Government Relations; Financial Services Industry

July 2008 (Revised August 2008)
Teaching Note

Fidelity Investments' Charitable Gift Fund (TN) (A) and (B)

By: Robert C. Pozen

Teaching Note for [309002] and [309003]. View Details

Keywords: Financial Services Industry

May 2008 (Revised March 2009)
Case

SKS Microfinance

By: Shawn A. Cole and Theresa Chen

Vikram Akula, CEO of SKS Microfinance, seeks a venture capital investment to fund his firm. SKS, one of the largest and fastest growing microfinance institutions in India, is a profitable, for-profit institution with a social mission. In what is one of the first... View Details

Keywords: For-Profit Firms; Venture Capital; Microfinance; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Valuation; Financial Services Industry; India

March 2008 (Revised April 2009)
Supplement

Citigroup: Re-Branding in 2007 (B)

By: Rohit Deshpandé and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Follow-up to "Citigroup: Re-Branding in 2007" (A), describing the development of a new brand identity for Citigroup. View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Financial Services Industry

January 2008 (Revised July 2008)
Case

Opportunity Partners

By: Robin Greenwood and James Quinn

Philip Goldstein, the principal in a growing hedge fund and prominent activist investor, has taken a position in a Mexico-based closed-end fund. Following a hard-fought proxy contest in which he advocated for management to eliminate the fund's substantial discount,... View Details

Keywords: Investment Activism; Investment Funds; Business and Shareholder Relations; Value; Financial Services Industry; Mexico

January 2008 (Revised March 2009)
Case

Fortress Investment Group

By: Malcolm Baker, Carlos M. Galvez and James Quinn

CEO Wesley Edens and the five Fortress principals are contemplating a move unprecedented in the industry: becoming the first hedge fund and private equity firm to complete an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). This case examines potential reasons for a leading... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Public Equity; Initial Public Offering; Investment Funds; Going Public; Valuation; Financial Services Industry

September 2007
Teaching Note

Merrill Lynch in 2003: Sunny Skies Ahead? (TN)

By: Paul M. Healy

Keywords: Financial Services Industry

August 2007
Case

The Battle Of Union Square

Union Square Ventures, a Private Equity firm founded in 2003, filed a trademark infringement suit against Union Square Partners, another private equity firm founded in November 2006. Examines the possible impact that public litigation will have on the two firms. The... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Investment; Trademarks; Lawsuits and Litigation; Conflict Management; Reputation; Financial Services Industry

Find at Harvard

March 2007
Teaching Note

Politics and Prudential Supervision: ABN Amro's Bid for Antonveneta (TN) (A) & (B)

By: Rawi E. Abdelal

Teaching note to 706-009, 706-039, and 706-010. View Details

Keywords: Financial Services Industry; European Union; Italy

January 2007 (Revised February 2009)
Case

Austin, Blakeley, & Cambridge, LLC

The founding partners of ABC, LLC, one of the leading private equity firms in the world, are trying to understand why some of the other top firms in the business, such as KKR and Apollo, have been tapping the public equity markets for their own funds, and whether they... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Public Equity; Investment Funds; Going Public; Financial Services Industry

June 2006
Supplement

Cutlass Capital, L.P.: Discussion with David Hetz and Jon Osgood

By: Richard G. Hamermesh

Keywords: Capital; Financial Services Industry

September 2005 (Revised January 2006)
Supplement

Restating Revenues and Earnings at INVESTools, Inc. (B)

By: Michael D. Kimbrough and F. Warren McFarlan

Keywords: Earnings Management; Revenue; Financial Services Industry

September 2005 (Revised January 2006)
Supplement

Restating Revenues and Earnings at INVESTools, Inc. (D)

By: Michael D. Kimbrough and F. Warren McFarlan

Keywords: Earnings Management; Revenue; Financial Services Industry

August 2005 (Revised January 2007)
Supplement

The Board of Directors at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter (B)

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Alexis Chernak

Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Financial Services Industry

December 2004 (Revised May 2006)
Case

Pacific Salmon Company, Inc.

By: Nabil N. El-Hage, Kenneth A. Froot and Christopher Edward James Payton

RRR, a $1 billion private equity fund, is trying to decide how much to bid for Pacific Salmon Inc. and how to finance the acquisition. View Details

Keywords: Food; Bids; Private Equity; Decision Making; Financing and Loans; Bids and Bidding; Acquisition; Corporate Finance; Financial Services Industry

2008
Working Paper

The Small World of Investing: Board Connections and Mutual Fund Returns

By: Lauren Cohen, Andrea Frazzini and Christopher J. Malloy

This paper uses social networks to identify information transfer in security markets. We focus on connections between mutual fund managers and corporate board members via shared education networks. We find that portfolio managers place larger bets on firms they are... View Details

Keywords: Asset Pricing; Investment Portfolio; Governing and Advisory Boards; Knowledge Sharing; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Social and Collaborative Networks; Financial Services Industry