Publications

19 Sep 2014
News

Alibaba IPO: Corporate Structure Is Huge Investment Risk

18 Nov 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Payout Taxes and the Allocation of Investment

Keywords: by Bo Becker, Marcus Jacob & Martin Jacob

30 May 2019
News

How to Ensure ESG Investing Isn’t Whitewash

December 2014 (Revised October 2017)
Case

Social Business at Novartis: Arogya Parivar

By: Michael E. Porter, Mark R. Kramer and David Lane

Late in 2013, Novartis CEO Joseph Jimenez was considering whether or how to deepen the company's investment in Arogya Parivar, its profitable program that sold Novartis medicines in rural India while expanding access to medicine and health information to millions of... View Details

Keywords: Shared Value; India; Kenya; Vietnam; Novartis; Arogya Parivar; Social Business; Multinational Firms and Management; Competitive Advantage; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Pharmaceutical Industry; Viet Nam; Kenya; India

October 2006 (Revised September 2014)
Case

Summit Partners - The FleetCor Investment (A)

By: Michael J. Roberts

Part of a 3-case series in which students get to see the unfolding of due diligence on private equity (buy out) deal. In this, the A case, the deal team has negotiated a letter of intent with FleetCor, a firm that operates a fuel payment network for vehicle fleets.... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Preparation; Private Equity; Leveraged Buyouts; Investment; Negotiation Offer; Service Industry

Harvard Business School Professors Vikram Gandhi and Shawn Cole weigh in on teaching Impact Investing at Harvard Business School. The Impact Entrepreneur Luminarias Series is a live video webinar series featuring the leading lights in impact investing and... View Details

2020
Working Paper

Short-Termism, Shareholder Payouts, and Investment in the EU

By: Jesse M. Fried and Charles C.Y. Wang

Investor-driven “short-termism” is said to harm EU public firms' ability to invest for the long term, prompting calls for the EU to better insulate managers from shareholder pressure. But the evidence offered—in the form of rising levels of repurchases and dividends—is... View Details

Keywords: Short-termism; Quarterly Capitalism; EU; Dividends; Equity Issuances; Equity Compensastion; Capital Flows; Capital Distribution; R＆D; Innovation; Investment; Corporate Governance; Investment Return; Acquisition; European Union

SSRN

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27 Jan 2016
Research & Ideas

A Politician's Investment Portfolio Might Tip Off Corruption Potential

The risk taken in a politician’s private investment portfolio is a strong indicator of whether that person will cross legal or ethical lines in office. The riskier the portfolio, the more likely the lawmaker will be involved in at least... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland

November 1984
Article

Corporate Investments in Common Stock

By: W. Mikkelson and R. S. Ruback

Keywords: Investment; Stocks; Business Ventures

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October 1999
Case

CIBC Corporate and Investment Banking (A): 1987-1992

By: Joseph L. Bower and Michael Raynor

In 1992, CIBC CEO Al Flood faced the short-term operational challenge of saving Wood Gundy, the troubled investment bank CIBC had purchased five years earlier. At the same time he had to tackle the long-term strategic challenge of integrating Gundy's investment banking... View Details

Keywords: Investment Banking; Banks and Banking; Corporate Strategy; Integration; Problems and Challenges; Mergers and Acquisitions; Banking Industry

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November 1974 (Revised December 1991)
Case

Foreign Investment in Canada (A)

By: Bruce R. Scott and Audrey T. Sproat

Keywords: Investment; Development Economics; Business and Government Relations; Canada

Find at Harvard

02 Jan 2014
Blog Post

Preparing for a career in investment banking

learned to navigate. To be honest, I was quite sure that I wanted to try out investment banking in New York. My last year at my old job in corporate M&A gave me a taste of investment banking and I was... View Details

January 2025 (Revised April 2025)
Case

Doing Business in Cairo: Navigating a Path to Economic Resilience

By: A. Zelleke and Ahmed Dahawy

Egypt has long been a pivotal force in the Middle East and North Africa. Located at a crossroads of global trade routes, the country was a strategic partner for numerous regional and global powers. However, a substantial currency devaluation in 2016 brought many... View Details

Keywords: Egypt; Economy; Business; Country; Developing Countries and Economies; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Inflation and Deflation; Macroeconomics; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Globalized Economies and Regions; International Relations; Emerging Markets; Risk and Uncertainty; Culture; Egypt

13 Jun 2017
Research & Ideas

Why Global Investments Are Still a Good Bet

Photo by iStock Investors in global equity markets have traditionally hedged their bets, casting their investments far and wide across the world. That way, if the market in one country or region stagnated (think Japan in the 1990s or... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

August 2019 (Revised November 2019)
Case

Sustainable Investing at J.P. Morgan Private Bank

By: Sara Fleiss and Luis Viceira

This case features Monica Issar, then Global Head of J.P. Morgan Endowments & Foundations Group in the Private Bank. In just five years, she and J.P. Morgan have grown the Outsourced Chief Investment Officer (OCIO) business from $5 billion in AUM from primarily family... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Investment; Management; Strategy; Social Issues; Environmental Sustainability; Banking Industry

2025
Working Paper

Impact Investing and Worker Outcomes

By: Josh Lerner, Markus Lithell and Gordon M. Phillips

Impact investors claim to distinguish themselves from traditional venture capital and growth equity investors by also pursuing ESG objectives. Whether they successfully do so in practice is unclear. We use confidential Census Bureau microdata to assess worker... View Details

Keywords: ESG; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Private Equity; Venture Capital; Wages

SSRN

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09 Feb 2011
News

The Long & Short on Investing

September 2009 (Revised May 2011)
Case

Acumen Fund: Measurement in Impact Investing (A)

By: Alnoor Ebrahim and V. Kasturi Rangan

Acumen Fund is a global venture capital firm with a dual purpose: it looks for a return on its investments, and it also seeks entrepreneurial solutions to global poverty. This case examines Acumen's new projects in Kenya. The organization's investment committee and its... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Venture Capital; Investment Return; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Risk Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Government Relations; Social Enterprise; Financial Services Industry; Kenya

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