Publications

May 2010 (Revised August 2010)
Case

Breaking the Buck

By: Robert C. Pozen and Elizabeth Leonard

After an incredibly volatile six months since Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy, Finbar McCall contemplated his options. As the investment manager of RPG Prime Reserve Fund, Inc. (RPGXX), McCall had just heard the news that the U.S. Treasury was extending the... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Financial Crisis; Financial Management; Insurance; Investment Funds; Business and Government Relations; Business and Shareholder Relations; Financial Services Industry

01 Dec 2007
News

Rediscovering America

not to mention our own self-esteem — are on the line.” Kanter’s recommendations, which span economic, social, and government concerns, include securing the country’s future by nurturing innovation; getting the work-family balance right;... View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services

22 May 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, May 22, 2018

generations of the same family may even cease to regress towards the mean. Moreover, we demonstrate that government interventions intended to ameliorate inequality may in fact lower intergenerational mobility—even when they do not... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

2009
Working Paper

Watch What I Do, Not What I Say: The Unintended Consequences of the Homeland Investment Act

By: Dhammika Dharmapala, C. Fritz Foley and Kristin J. Forbes

This paper analyzes the impact on firm behavior of the Homeland Investment Act of 2004, which provided a one-time tax holiday for the repatriation of foreign earnings by U.S. multinationals. The analysis controls for endogeneity and omitted variable bias by using... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Multinational Firms and Management; Government Legislation; Taxation; Business and Shareholder Relations; Behavior; United States

06 Dec 2011
First Look

First Look: Dec. 6

behavior. Then we can understand that rationality also includes things that were once considered irrational, such as altruism or sacrifice in the interest of the greater good. The Economics of Housing Finance Reform Authors:David S.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Jun 2009
News

Letters to the Editor

hope the School’s researchers will make a record of the number of MBAs from HBS and other leading business schools at each level of the companies and government agencies that have played a role in the demise of our financial system. How... View Details

Keywords: News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; Information

November 2009 (Revised June 2012)
Case

Crisis and Reform in Japan's Banking System (A)

By: Thierry Porte, Rawi E. Abdelal, Laura Alfaro and Jonathan Schlefer

In 1997, amidst Japan's ongoing financial problems, Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto sought to restructure the financial sector to make it more transparent and globally competitive. He hoped that this effort, dubbed the "Big Bang" after the British financial... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Capital; Banks and Banking; Crisis Management; Business and Government Relations; Banking Industry; Japan

March 2011
Article

What Do Dividends Tell Us About Earnings Quality

By: Douglas Skinner and Eugene F. Soltes

Over the past 30 years, there have been significant changes in the distribution of earnings (cross-sectional variation has increased, with increasing left skewness) as well as in corporate payout policy, with many fewer firms paying dividends and the emergence of stock... View Details

Keywords: Distribution; Business Earnings; Change; Policy; Stocks; Investment Return; Performance Consistency; Quality

Find at Harvard

Read Now

Profile

Stephanie Tilenius

and Master’s, she received a prestigious Presidential Management Intern Program position that put her to work on trade relations with Japan. “I quickly realized,” says Stephanie, “that there was no way we were going to drive real reform in the real estate and banking... View Details

March 2005
Case

Vignette: Waiting for a CEO

By: G. Felda Hardymon and Ann Leamon

A venture capitalist must decide how to respond to an e-mail from his long-time troubleshooter now installed as interim CEO at a struggling contract manufacturing exchange for the custom car business. The investors have been seeking a full-time CEO but have made little... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Business or Company Management; Investment; Business Ventures; Corporate Governance; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Financial Strategy

26 Aug 2013
Lessons from the Classroom

Built for Global Competition from the Start

new, Kerr says. Phoenicians served as the middlemen for trade across the Mediterranean region, for instance, and Europeans built nation-spanning operations as they explored and colonized, exploiting valuable resources along the way. Throughout history, Kerr argues,... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard; Education

November 2007
Article

If Private Equity Sized Up Your Business

By: Robert C. Pozen

This article includes a one-page preview that quickly summarizes the key ideas and provides an overview of how the concepts work in practice along with suggestions for further reading. As the dust settles on the recent frenzy of private equity deals (including... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Capital Structure; Private Equity; Investment Return; Governing and Advisory Boards; Executive Compensation; Business and Shareholder Relations; Value Creation; Financial Services Industry

Find at Harvard

2004
Chapter

Banking Reform in India

By: Shawn A. Cole, A. Banerjee and E. Duflo

Keywords: Banks and Banking; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Government and Politics; Business and Government Relations; Developing Countries and Economies; Banking Industry; India

April 1996 (Revised May 1997)
Case

Netscape's Initial Public Offering

By: W. Carl Kester and Kendall Backstrand

In August 1995, Netscape's board of directors was confronted with a decision about what price to offer the company's shares in its initial public offering (IPO). Preliminary demand for shares was high, but the company had not generated any positive earnings at the time... View Details

Keywords: Initial Public Offering; Information Technology; Problems and Challenges; Valuation; Governing and Advisory Boards; Information Technology Industry

01 Sep 2012
News

New Post for Finnegan

HBS Fund Chair Paul Finnegan (MBA 1982) has been elected to the Harvard Corporation, the University’s principal fiduciary governing board. A past president of the Harvard Alumni Association and a current member of the University’s Board... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

20 Oct 2010
Research & Ideas

HBS Workshop Encourages Corporate Reporting on Environmental and Social Sustainability

stakeholders at an HBS workshop last week. Integrated reports combine a company's financial, environmental, social, and governance performance measures into a report that can be presented and used both online and on paper, giving... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Accounting

July 19, 2011
Article

Social Security Refrom Is the Key to the Debt Ceiling Debate

By: Robert C. Pozen

Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Borrowing and Debt