Publications

14 Sep 2023
Blog Post

MBAs Accelerate Their Social Enterprise Ventures

the insights and feedback from their cohort. We talked to a few participants in the Accelerator to hear more about their experience: Teresa Danso-Danquah, Rea Savla, Benjamin Schedl, and Sophy Wang, (all MBA 2024). Tell us about your... View Details

December 1999 (Revised January 2002)
Background Note

Overview of the Project Finance Market, An

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Suzanne I. Harris and Kathleen G. Krueger

This case introduces the field of project finance and supplies a statistical overview of the project finance market as of the mid=to late 1990s. It consists of four sections. The first section defines project finance and contrasts it with other well-known forms of... View Details

Keywords: Markets; Investment; Projects; Project Finance

December 1998
Case

NHL 1998: "The Coolest Game in Nagano"

By: Stephen A. Greyser and Kirk A. Goldman

Explores the National Hockey League's participation in the 1998 Winter Olympics, for which a "winter break" was taken from the regular schedule. The benefits and risks associated with the NHL's Olympic participation are one specific focus. In addition, the case address... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Opportunities; Competitive Strategy; Expansion

June 2019
Article

Debt Redemption and Reserve Accumulation

By: Laura Alfaro and Fabio Kanczuk

In the past decade, foreign participation in local-currency bond markets in emerging countries increased dramatically. We revisit sovereign debt sustainability under the assumptions that countries can accumulate reserves and borrow internationally using their own... View Details

Keywords: Sovereign Debt; Local-currency Bonds; Foreign Reserves; Sovereign Finance; Borrowing and Debt; Bonds; Financial Markets; Developing Countries and Economies

Find at Harvard

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June 2019
Case

ClearLife: From Prospect to Platform

By: Alexander Braun, Lauren Cohen, Mauro Elvedi and Jiahua Xu

ClearLife’s first product was a trading and analytics platform for participants in the U.S. life settlement market, the secondary market for life insurance. ClearLife played a key role in facilitating transactions and devising a common language for expressing value and... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Insurance; Entrepreneurship; Expansion; Diversification; Strategy

Article

Core Earnings: New Data and Evidence

By: Ethan Rouen, Eric C. So and Charles C.Y. Wang

Using a novel dataset, we show that components of firms' GAAP earnings stemming from ancillary business activities or transitory shocks are significant in frequency and magnitude. These components have grown over time and are dispersed across various sections of the... View Details

Keywords: Core Earnings; Transitory Earnings; Non-operating Earnings; Quantitative Disclosures; Equity Valuation; Big Data; Business Earnings; Financial Reporting; Valuation; Analytics and Data Science

Career Coach

Sarah Bua

Sarah (HBS ’98) is an executive coach and career advisor with 15+ years of experience coaching students, alumni and executives at Harvard Business School. She has a diverse business background, having worked across multiple industries and functions, including middle... View Details

Keywords: Consulting; Entrepreneurship; Investment Banking; Financial Services (All); Investment Management; Financial Services (All); Private Equity; Financial Services (All); Venture Capital; Financial Services (All); Government; Health Care; Clean Technology; Energy

20 May 2013
Research & Ideas

The Long-Term Fix to US Competitiveness

At an event at Harvard Business School that was three parts analysis and one part rally, participants tried to chart a new path forward for the sluggish US economy—a move that may require a new definition of "competitiveness."... View Details

Keywords: by Stephanie Schorow & Harvard Gazette

Research Summary

Debt Redemption and Reserve Accumulation

By: Laura Alfaro

In the past decade, foreign participation in local-currency bond markets in emerging countries increased dramatically. We revisit sovereign debt sustainability under the assumptions that countries can accumulate reserves and borrow internationally using their own... View Details

February 2025
Case

Managing EPS at Stanley Black & Decker?

By: Jonas Heese, Joseph Pacelli, Yuan Zou and James Barnett

The case explores Stanley Black and Decker’s (SBD) 2022 financial restatement announcement, which related to how SBD accounted for certain equity issuances in 2019. These transactions had a minimal effect on earnings but significantly reduced shares outstanding, and... View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Ethics; Financial Statements; Equity; Measurement and Metrics; Accounting Industry; Construction Industry; Manufacturing Industry

June 2015 (Revised May 2017)
Case

LOYAL3: Own What You Love™

By: Luis M. Viceira and Allison M. Ciechanover

This case features San Francisco–based financial technology startup, LOYAL3. Founded in 2008, the company seeks to disrupt the capital markets and democratize access to those markets for retail investors. By the fall of 2014, LOYAL3 had three products. In the first,... View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Stocks; Strategic Planning

December 2007 (Revised April 2008)
Case

Alltech...naturally

By: David E. Bell and Mary L. Shelman

Entrepreneur Pearse Lyons had built Alltech into the fastest growing company in the global animal health industry through innovative technology, creative marketing, and strong branding. Sel-Plex, a proprietary Alltech product, had shown important health benefits for... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Leadership Development; Customer Focus and Relationships; Expansion; Technological Innovation; Intellectual Property; Sales; Value Creation; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Health Industry

September 2004 (Revised January 2006)
Case

Catastrophe Bonds at Swiss Re

In 2002, Swiss Re, the world's second--largest insurance company, is considering securitizing parts of its risk portfolio in the capital markets. This would be a first for the company that, until then, had never transferred risk off its balance sheet. Peter Giessmann,... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Bonds; Natural Disasters; Insurance; Capital Markets; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry; Insurance Industry; Switzerland

1975
Working Paper

Information, Efficiency and Equilibrium

By: Jerry R. Green

When economic agents receive information over time concerning future events it is likely that prices for commodities whose value is influenced by these events will fluctuate in response to changes in the state of knowledge. If such events occur periodically,... View Details

Keywords: Economics; Supply and Industry; Price

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Research Summary

Dawn Matsumoto's research investigates managers' financial reporting decisions including the incentives driving these decisions and the impact of these decisions on capital market participants. She is interested in the role of financial intermediaries (such as... View Details

09 Apr 2007
Research & Ideas

Industry Self-Regulation: What’s Working (and What’s Not)?

adoption, participants are no better than others. Little evidence suggests that adopting such programs leads participants to improve faster, says Toffel. Government-initiated programs, however, show more... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

May 1986
Supplement

Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (B), Video Introduction

Provides an overview of the two-part video: 1) bake-off participant interviews with managers from Gillette and its advertising agency for Dry Idea, and 2) creative presentations by the two bake-off competitors. View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Consumer Products Industry

April 2019 (Revised June 2019)
Case

Western Governors University: 10x Vision

By: William R. Kerr and Susie L. Ma

Western Governors University (WGU) was a nonprofit institution of higher education whose online learning model served more than 100,000 students in 2019 and was scaling rapidly. President Scott Pulsipher wanted to expand WGU’s reach to millions more with a plan called... View Details

Keywords: Online Education; Enrollment; Scaling; Higher Education; Internet and the Web; Business Model; Expansion; Growth and Development Strategy; Education Industry; United States

May 2014
Case

Groupon, Inc.

By: Krishna G. Palepu, Blythe J. McGarvie and James Weber

Internet coupon site "Groupon" grew revenues rapidly and went public, but struggled to impress investors or operate profitably. Did it have a sustainable business model? Groupon sold coupons called Groupons which purchasers used to acquire goods or services at... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Corporate Governance; Entrepreneurship; Financial Management; Financial Reporting; Financial Statements; Organizational Culture; Strategy; Web Services Industry; United States