Publications

May 2018 (Revised June 2018)
Case

Cowen Inc.: Leveraging Data

By: Boris Groysberg, Sarah Abbott and Annelena Lobb

Cowen Inc.’s broker-dealer, Cowen and Company, LLC, boasted a number of analysts who had made prescient stock calls on the basis of creative data analysis. Now Cowen Inc. had opened a new subsidiary, Kyber, which would attempt to monetize new data science products.... View Details

Keywords: Data Science; Equity Research; Research Analysts; Investment; Analytics and Data Science; Equity; Research; Analysis; Competitive Strategy

01 Mar 2005
News

In the Blood

company to Cargill, and I moved to the farm full time.” Today Three Chimneys employs 140 and encompasses 1,800 acres spread over six parcels of land: four are dedicated to mares and foals, one to yearlings, and the last to the farm’s stallion business. The View Details

Keywords: Hanna, Julia; horse racing; Animal Production and Aquaculture; Agriculture; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Arts, Entertainment

09 Jan 2014
News

Tapping into Opportunity

rigorous, independent mechanism for identifying promising early-stage water-technology companies. She is using what she's learned from the competition to help get companies to invest in providing clean water in impoverished nations. In... View Details

Keywords: Constantine von Hoffman; Business and Environment Initiative; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

24 Apr 2014
News

A commitment to conservation supports the bottom line

Protecting the country’s conservation land while also turning a profit guides the business model at The Lyme Timber Company. David Hoffer (AB 1990, MBA 1995, JD 1996), managing director at the timberland investment management firm, says... View Details

19 Sep 2011
Research & Ideas

Doomsday Coming for Catastrophic Risk Insurers?

relatively few events.” The problem is, reinsurance isn't like any other equity investment: it isn't really exposed to market risk, so expecting high returns is unrealistic. A financial adviser might be willing to accept lower returns because she is View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish; Financial Services

03 Jul 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, July 3, 2018

Kong and listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange. In 2012, Noble shifted its business strategy towards an asset-light model. Under this model, Noble did not own mines or farms to produce commodities but built commodity sourcing capacity by... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

September 2009 (Revised September 2012)
Case

United Way

By: Allen S. Grossman and Cathy Ross

After United Way CEO Brian Gallagher began shifting the organization's focus from old-school fundraising to community impact, Gallagher and local leaders like Elise Bulk, CEO of the United Way of Greater Los Angeles, faced a series of challenges regarding how to best... View Details

Keywords: Investment Funds; Business or Company Management; Problems and Challenges; Civil Society or Community; Social Issues; Alignment; Los Angeles

04 Mar 2002
Research & Ideas

Don’t Lose Money With Customers

at the market level, then translate these into strategies at the market segment level. A paper mill's marketing strategy, for instance, might call for selling newsprint to the publishing industry segment and paperboard to the packaging... View Details

Keywords: by Peter K. Jacobs

01 Mar 2008
News

One-on-One with Jim Breyer

in many ways, reminiscent of the late ’90s here in the United States for similar types of Internet companies. We have an extraordinary team of partners in China led by Quan Zhou, Hugo Shong (AMP 151, 1996), and Young Guo. The cornerstone of our Chinese View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; Finance; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

Profile

Chris Wilson-Byrne

Although Chris Wilson-Byrne studied chemistry as an undergraduate, he found his first research experiences disappointing. "I realized that I liked working with people, with teams," Chris says. On the advice of friends, he applied for an internship with an... View Details

Profile

Allen Yang

world. Business school seemed like a logical choice." Accepted in his senior year through what is now called the 2+2 Program, Allen garnered a few years of required work experience before matriculating at HBS. He worked in investment... View Details

Keywords: CPG; Tech; Financial Services

June 2025
Case

Vail Resorts: Responding to Activist Pressure (A)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Edward A. Meyer

On January 27, 2025, the head of a relatively small hedge fund named Late Apex Partners sent a highly critical letter to the board of directors of Vail Resorts, the world’s largest ski resort operator. In his letter, and the 88-slide presentation that accompanied his... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Finance; Capital Budgeting; Corporate Governance; Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Leading Change; Valuation; Investment Activism; Climate Change; Management Succession; Financial Management; Risk Management; Business and Shareholder Relations; Sports Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Travel Industry; United States; Australia; Canada

September 2008
Article

Firm Heterogeneity and Credit Risk Diversification

By: Samuel G. Hanson, M. Hashem Pesaran and Til Schuermann

This paper examines the impact of neglected heterogeneity on credit risk. We show that neglecting heterogeneity in firm returns and/or default thresholds leads to under estimation of expected losses (EL), and its effect on portfolio risk is ambiguous. Once EL is... View Details

Keywords: Volatility; Credit; Investment Return; Outcome or Result; Risk and Uncertainty; Loss; Diversification; Complexity; United States

Find at Harvard

2010
Chapter

Facts and Fallacies about U.S. FDI in China

By: Lee Branstetter and C. Fritz Foley

Despite the rapid expansion of U.S.-China trade ties, the increase in U.S. FDI in China, and the expanding amount of economic research exploring these developments, a number of misconceptions distort the popular understanding of U.S. multinationals in China. In this... View Details

Keywords: Expansion; Trade; Foreign Direct Investment; Mathematical Methods; Multinational Firms and Management; China; United States