Publications

31 Aug 2009
Research & Ideas

Why Competition May Not Improve Credit Rating Agencies

In the run-up to the global financial crisis, credit rating agencies gave high marks to such risky financial vehicles as collateralized debt obligations, which few people understood. It has been argued that... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Financial Services

January 2005 (Revised October 2005)
Background Note

Standard & Poor's Sovereign Credit Ratings: Scales and Process

By: Rawi E. Abdelal and Christopher Bruner

Describes Standard & Poor's sovereign credit ratings scales and the credit rating process. In particular, describes the role and function of the rating committee and the analytical categories considered in arriving at a final sovereign credit rating. View Details

Keywords: Financial Markets; Credit; Bonds; Policy; Risk and Uncertainty; Measurement and Metrics; Forecasting and Prediction; Financial Services Industry

01 Aug 2012
What Do You Think?

Should CEOs Worry About ‘Too Big to Succeed?’

have been preoccupied with the question of financial institutions becoming too big to fail. But recent data points have me asking whether the relevant question should be whether financial (and other... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Financial Services; Financial Services

February 2006 (Revised October 2006)
Case

The Children's Investment Fund, 2005

By: Randolph B. Cohen and Joshua B. Sandbulte

TCI, The Children's Investment Fund, is a London-based hedge fund. The firm donates a significant fraction of the fees it earns to a charitable foundation. In 2005, TCI took a large stake in Deutsche Borse, the stock exchange in Frankfurt. Its battle with management... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Financial Markets; Investment Activism; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Financial Services Industry; London; Germany

February 1995 (Revised November 1996)
Case

MasterCard and World Championship Soccer

By: John A. Quelch and Carin-Isabel Knoop

The MasterCard vice president for global promotions and other MasterCard executives are appraising the results of MasterCard's worldwide sponsorship of the 1994 World Cup soccer championship. They must decide whether to commit to sponsor the 1998 championship to be... View Details

Keywords: Credit Cards; Marketing Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Advertising Campaigns; Globalization; Sports; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; France; United States

13 Jun 2012
HBS Case

HBS Cases: A Startup Takes On the Credit Ratings Giants

KBRA may hope to make the biggest impact there. At the moment, however, structured finance issuance is at a near-standstill since the financial crisis. "Parts of the structured market have gone away,... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish; Financial Services; Financial Services

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... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish; Financial Services

January 2002
Background Note

The Major Global Stock Exchanges

By: Ashish Nanda, Thomas J. DeLong and Lynn Villadolid Roy

Describes the major global stock exchanges. View Details

Keywords: Globalization; Financial Markets

June 2013 (Revised January 2014)
Case

S&P Indices and the Indexing Business in 2012

By: Luis Viceira and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

In June 2012, Standard & Poor's Indices is finalizing a deal with the CME Group, the largest global exchange for futures and options and majority owner of Dow Jones Indexes, to combine their respective indices business into a new joint venture called S&P Dow Jones... View Details

Keywords: Indexing; Business Model; Joint Ventures; Financial Markets; Standards; Financial Services Industry

March 2009
Teaching Note

Dogus Group: Weighing Partners for Garanti Bank (TN)

By: Tarun Khanna and Krishna G. Palepu

Teaching Note for [709401]. View Details

Keywords: Opportunities; Partners and Partnerships; Bids and Bidding; Financial Institutions; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry

09 Jun 2015
Sharpening Your Skills

Sharpening Your Skills: Social Media

Using social media to advance your marketing is a potentially powerful and low-cost tool. But the risk is potentially powerful, too—allowing consumers to co-create your brand is enough to induce night sweats in any marketer. From our... View Details

Keywords: Re: Multiple Faculty; Advertising

22 Sep 2014
Op-Ed

Online Banks Fill Funding Needs for Small Business

access capital” Historically, this segment of the market has been small compared to the $700 billion in small business bank credit assets. But since the onset of the financial crisis, and particularly during... View Details

Keywords: by Karen Mills; Financial Services; Financial Services

1995
Chapter

The Payment System and Derivative Instruments

By: André Perold

Keywords: Financial Instruments; Financial Markets

14 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

Keeping Credit Flowing to Consumers in Need

cycle could not continue. That erosion spread to nonprime consumer credit and commercial mortgages. Those factors helped spark a global financial crisis. Credit markets were seizing up. The US government was... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Financial Services; Financial Services; Financial Services

February 2001
Article

The Portfolio Flows of International Investors

By: K. A. Froot, P. O'Connell and M. Seasholes

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

Find at Harvard

01 Dec 1986
Conference Presentation

Contracts Markets, Cash Markets, and Arbitrage

By: André Perold and James F. Gammill Jr.

Keywords: Financial Markets