Publications

July 2010 (Revised June 2012)
Background Note

Note: Regulation of Hedge Fund Managers in the U.K. Before and After the Global Financial Crisis

By: Robert C. Pozen and Melissa Anne Hammerle

This note will examine the regulatory framework for hedge funds in the United Kingdom (UK) before and after the financial crisis of 2008. First, it will discuss European Union (EU)-level regulation that applies to the UK as an EU member state. Second, it will discuss... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Investment Funds; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Laws and Statutes; Business and Government Relations; Financial Services Industry; European Union; United Kingdom

13 Feb 2025
Blog Post

IFC India 2025: The Coal Dichotomy: Balancing Economic Growth and Decarbonization in India

to making no new investments in fossil fuel energy generation pouring resources into wind, solar, and other renewables instead — the reality is that large swaths of India still depend on coal for... View Details

22 Jan 2025
Blog Post

Career risks and professional growth: Finding a fulfilling career with Paige Arnof-Fenn (MBA 1991)

When I decided to attend Harvard Business School, I wasn’t entirely sure what my next step would be, but I knew it was time for a change. As a financial analyst in investment banking, I realized that, while the job paid well, the hours... View Details

Keywords: All Industries

summer 1993
Article

Underinvestment and Incompetence as Responses to Radical Innovation: Evidence from the Photolithographic Industry

By: Rebecca Henderson

Keywords: Investment; Competency and Skills; Innovation and Invention; Fine Arts Industry

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01 Apr 2001
News

New Ventures New Gains

with Matthew P. Burkley and Alexandre Scherer (both MBA 1998). “I think you can do a lot as a student. There’s less formal pressure because you haven’t taken in investment or signed on people. You are much... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna and Susan Young; Martin Dubilier (MBA 1952); Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services

13 Mar 2019
News

The First Five Years: Sierra Smith and Taylor Wiegele (both MBA 2017)

it all was refreshing.” How did it feel to get the investment from Sir Charles and Lori Greiner? Smith: “Dream. Come. True. We found out the night before that Charles Barkley was the guest Shark, View Details

April 1, 2012
Article

The Driver in Ford's Amazing Race

By: Nancy F. Koehn

In "American Icon: Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company" (Crown Business: $26), Bryce G. Hoffman recounts the turnaround in careful, often gripping detail. Make no mistake, this is a story, not a structured analysis of Ford's transformation. Those... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Transformation; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry; United States

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October 2018
Case

Accomplice: Scaling Early Stage Finance

By: Ramana Nanda, Raffaella Sadun and Olivia Hull

Accomplice, an early-stage venture capital firm based in Boston, is raising its second fund in November 2017. Since 2009, the firm has followed a seed-led investment model, investing in tech companies at the earliest stages, often when products and business models are... View Details

Keywords: Early Stage Finance; Seed Finance; Scouts; Venture Capital; Business Startups; Private Equity; Investment Portfolio; Organizational Structure; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Partners and Partnerships; Networks; Adaptation; Corporate Strategy; Technology; Financial Services Industry; Massachusetts; Boston; Cambridge; United States

March 2022
Case

DealShare: Social E-Commerce for the Indian Mass Market

By: Krishna G. Palepu and Malini Sen

Launched in September 2018, e-retail startup DealShare has created a tech-enabled model for the Indian mass market that allows customers to buy together, save money on good quality goods, and at the same time have fun. It targets customers who are still getting used to... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Disruption; Trends; Talent and Talent Management; Customer Focus and Relationships; Value; Cost vs Benefits; Value Creation; Internet and the Web; India

Vikram S. Gandhi is the Gerald P. Kaminsky Senior Lecturer of Business Administration in the General Management Unit. He has developed and teaches two new courses in the Elective Curriculum of the MBA Program. The first is a finance and investing course, Sustainable... View Details

Keywords: financial services

2008
Simulation

Strategic Innovation Simulation: Back Bay Battery

By: Willy C. Shih and Clayton Christensen

This online simulation allows students to play the role of a business unit manager at Back Bay Battery Company who faces the dilemma of balancing a portfolio of investment strategies across products in the rechargeable battery space. Players have to manage R&D... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Disruptive Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Innovation and Management; Investment; Product Development; Research and Development; Battery Industry

March 2009
Article

The Impact of Shareholder Activism on Financial Reporting and Compensation: The Case of Employee Stock Options Expensing

By: F. Ferri and Tatiana Sandino

We examine the economic consequences of more than 150 shareholder proposals to expense employee stock options (ESO) submitted during the proxy seasons of 2003 and 2004, the first case in which the SEC allowed a shareholder vote on an accounting matter. Our results... View Details

Keywords: Shareholder Activism; Shareholder Votes; Stock Option Expensing; Executive Compensation; Financial Reporting; Employee Stock Ownership Plan; Corporate Governance; Business and Shareholder Relations; Investment Activism

SSRN

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12 PM – 1 PM EDT, 16 Mar 2016
Webinars: Trending@HBS

How the Internet Became Commercial: Innovation, Privatization, and the Birth of a New Network

logic. All major technologies deploy when they overcome the circular conundrum and an adaptation conundrum. The circular conundrum arises because maximum value from the commercial technology requires all components to work together. That... View Details

July 2023
Supplement

Honeycomb (B): Jumping on The Generative AI Bandwagon?

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Kumba Sennaar

Honeycomb, an audio app enabling users to record stories and save family memories, considers pivoting to embrace generative AI. What should the co-founders business model look like if they pursued this new direction? View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Operations; Business Startups; Business Model; AI and Machine Learning; Technology Industry; United States

Web

Improve Decision-Making in Hiring: Common Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them - Recruiting

not limited to venture capital but also expand to goods and service-based businesses. Addressing Unconscious Bias in Recruiting There are excellent resources to help train your managers and employees to... View Details

06 Mar 2013
What Do You Think?

Who Should Manage Our Work Time?

School Senior Lecturer Robert Pozen, formerly chairman of MFS Investment Management, endorses these ideas as well in his book, Extreme Productivity: Boost Your Results, Reduce Your Hours. His basic advice: "Set View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

2017
Working Paper

Carbon Tariffs: Effects in Settings with Technology Choice and Foreign Production Cost Advantage

By: David F. Drake

Emissions regulation is a policy mechanism intended to address the threat of climate change. However, the stringency of emissions regulation varies across regions, raising concerns over carbon leakage—an outcome where stringent regulation in one region shifts... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Competition; Pollutants; Taxation; Environmental Sustainability; Globalized Markets and Industries

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18 Feb 2019
Working Paper Summaries

Diagnostic Bubbles

Keywords: by Pedro Bordalo, Nicola Gennaioli, Spencer Yongwook Kwon, and Andrei Shleifer; Financial Services

January 2009
Case

Berkshire Hathaway

By: Bharat N. Anand and Samhita Patwardhan Jayanti

Berkshire Hathaway describes the history and strategy of one of the best known investment firms over the last forty years. The case describes the investment philosophy of Warren Buffett, its legendary chairman and CEO, the gradual diversification of its portfolio, its... View Details

Keywords: History; Private Equity; Diversification; Resource Allocation; Investment Portfolio; Corporate Strategy; Investment; Corporate Governance