Publications

30 May 2019
News

How to Ensure ESG Investing Isn’t Whitewash

31 Jul 2014
News

A New Approach to Solving Society's Biggest Problems

Keywords: impact investing; social impact bonds; society

03 Apr 2017
What Do You Think?

How About Investing in Human Infrastructure?

$500,000 over just the first 10 years of the remaining working life of the trainee. I suspect there are few infrastructure investments that could produce as good a return as fast as this one. How much impact... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Construction

August 2006
Background Note

Factors that Influence Cross-Border Equity Investment

Introduces students to factors that impact global equity flows, including institutional friction, investor protection, firm visibility, firm understanding, and culture. View Details

Keywords: Investment; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Equity

2010
Working Paper

Investment Taxation and Portfolio Performance

By: Daniel B. Bergstresser and Jeffrey Pontiff

Taxes have a first-order impact on portfolio returns. Most research mistakenly assumes that portfolios command similar tax burdens, or that tax burdens are proportional to dividend yields. Portfolio strategies differ in the pace of capital gains realization. We use the... View Details

Keywords: Financial Strategy; Investment Return; Investment Portfolio; Taxation; Performance Evaluation

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December 2024
Case

Core Innovation Capital: Investing in Fintech for Good

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

In 2017, Arjan Schütte, founder of Core Innovation Capital, faced a decision on whether to invest in Hugo Insurance, an auto insurance startup. Core, an early-stage social impact VC firm, focused on “fintech for good,” by investing in financial services for low- to... View Details

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

05 Mar 2007
Research & Ideas

Risky Business? Protecting Foreign Investments

Foreign investment in developing countries has always involved an element of risk. Just ask Verizon Communications, which could lose hundreds of millions of dollars in Venezuela should President Hugo Chávez follow through with plans... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Energy; Utilities

November 2014 (Revised May 2017)
Teaching Note

Fresno's Social Impact Bond for Asthma

By: John A. Quelch

The case desccribes a social impact bond (SIB) to fund home-based remediation programs designed to reduce asthma attacks among Fresno residents (especially children) and thereby save on health care costs (ambulance callouts, emergency room visits etc.). The case... View Details

Keywords: Programs; Social Issues; Investment Return; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry; California

14 Nov 2021
News

Vikram Gandhi—HBS Professor and Managing Partner at Asha Impact Fund

June 2007 (Revised December 2007)
Case

AFL-CIO: Office of Investment and Home Depot

By: Rakesh Khurana and James Weber

Describes the AFL-CIO: Office of Investments activities in their campaign to improve governance at Home Depot by calling attention to Home Depot CEO Robert Nardelli's compensation package and the company's poor performance. The AFL-CIO Office of Investments advocates... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Executive Compensation; Labor Unions; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business and Shareholder Relations

11 Nov 2018
Interview

Investment in South Africa [eNCA interview]

By: Euvin Naidoo

Partner and MD at Venture University and VU Fund, Euvin Naidoo, discusses the impact innovation can have on the growth of the South African economy. View Details

Keywords: Investment; Innovation and Invention; Economic Growth; South Africa

December 2008
Article

Style Investing and Institutional Investors

By: Kenneth A. Froot and Melvyn Teo

This paper explores institutional investors' trades in stocks grouped by style and the relationship of these trades with equity market returns. It aggregates transactions drawn from a large universe of approximately $6 trillion of institutional funds. To analyze style... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Behavioral Finance; Stocks; Investment Return; Market Transactions; Performance Expectations; Personal Characteristics; Financial Services Industry

Find at Harvard

April 2002 (Revised February 2003)
Background Note

An Economic Framework for Assessing Development Impact

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Frank J. Lysy and Carrie Ferman

Discusses the differences between private and social returns and describes an economic framework for assessing a project's social return [known as the economic rate of return (ERR)]. The framework begins by analyzing the impact of a new project on private financiers... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Microeconomics; Investment Return; Framework; Projects; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Valuation

June 2010 (Revised September 2013)
Case

IDFC India: Infrastructure Investment Intermediaries

By: John D. Macomber and Viraal Balsari

Indian financial intermediary matching international capital to local infrastructure decides how to balance range of services, risk-adjusted return, margin pressure, and nation building. IDFC was chartered with partial ownership from the Indian government to help... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Infrastructure; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; State Ownership; Business and Government Relations; Business and Shareholder Relations; Partners and Partnerships; Financial Services Industry; India

01 Dec 2003
News

A Legacy of Investment

capital campaign. Five historic panels recount the impact of major gifts at critical junctures. The exhibit also recognizes leadership donors to the campaign. Early gifts of confidence from the Boston and New York business communities... View Details

Keywords: Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions; Arts, Entertainment; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

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

September 2022
Case

ROI vs. ROI: The Grupo Baobá Family Office

By: Lauren Cohen, Hao Gao, Jiawei Ye and Grace Headinger

Fernando Scodro, a third-generation member of his family, mulled over the next step in integrating an ESG strategy into his family office’s investment portfolio. While his family office, Grupo Baobá, had made excellent progress in incorporating his family’s values into... View Details

Keywords: Impact Investing; ESG; Green Building; Family; Partnership; Latin America; Brazil; Buildings and Facilities; Green Buildings; Family Business; Family and Family Relationships; Financial Management; Partners and Partnerships; Financial Services Industry; Brazil; Latin America

Web

Climate Impact - Business & Environment

Alumni Climate Impact Alumni Climate Impact Alumni Founders: How is Your Company Accelerating Climate Solutions? Eric Adamson MBA 2013 | Co-Founder & CEO, Tortuga AgTech “At Tortuga AgTech, we’re building... View Details

2019
White Paper

Impact-Weighted Financial Accounts: The Missing Piece for an Impact Economy

By: George Serafeim, T. Robert Zochowski and Jennifer Downing

Reimagining capitalism is an imperative. We need to create a more inclusive and sustainable form of capitalism that works for every person and the planet. Massive environmental damage, growing income and wealth disparity, stress, and depression within developed... View Details

Keywords: Impact-Weighted Accounts; IWAI; Background; Economic Systems; Economy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Measurement and Metrics; Financial Statements