Publications

2011
Book

Capitalism: Its Origins and Evolution as a System of Governance

By: Bruce R. Scott

Capitalism, as defined in this book, is an indirect, three-level system of governance for economic relationships (i.e., economic, administrative, and political). Whereas economic markets can coordinate supply and demand within an existing system thanks to the invisible... View Details

Keywords: Economic Systems; Price; Governance; Government and Politics; Books; Markets; Relationships; System

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Research Summary

The Venture Capitalist as Entrepreneur

Noam's dissertation, entitled The Venture Capitalist as Entrepreneur, won Harvards George S. Dively award for dissertation research. In the dissertation, Noam examined the organizational dynamics and characteristics within venture capital firms themselves, viewing... View Details

April 2003 (Revised October 2003)
Case

Banking on Germany?

Explores the causes and consequences of transforming Germany's bank-oriented financial system into one more oriented to capital markets. The economics of globalization, international accords such as Basel II, EU financial policies, and Germany's own regulatory reforms... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Financial Crisis; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry; Germany

October 2007
Background Note

Price Formation

By: Joshua D. Coval and Erik Stafford

Investigates how prices are formed in competitive capital markets. Focuses on a single security called AOE. Students compete with computer traders and each other for market making and informed trading profits. Participants receive a variety of public news in the form... View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Price; Profit; Corporate Disclosure; Newsletters; Industry Structures; Business Processes; Competitive Strategy

01 May 2019
Blog Post

Viewpoints: Synthetic Thinking with a Humble Mindset

ideas by synthesizing them at a higher level. For instance, in the reimagining capitalism session, we explored the idea of “shared value”, which is a state where a business achieves both profitability AND social value. The process of... View Details

Research Summary

Overview

By: Boris Vallee

Professor Vallée focuses on financial innovation, investigating it from different angles. This research thread has led him to relate the methods and insights of corporate finance and banking with those of other subfields, including household finance, public finance,... View Details

May 2015
Case

Venture Republic, 2011

By: W. Carl Kester and Mayuka Yamazaki

In December 2011, the founders of Venture Republic, a Japanese developer and operator of on-line search engines for shopping and travel, faced a decison about whether or not to take the company private in a management buyout transaction just three years after an... View Details

Keywords: Management Buyout; MBO; Valuation Methodologies; Financing Decisions; Conflicts Of Interest; Governance; Japan; Search Engines; Going Private; Conflict of Interests; Internet and the Web; Valuation; Privatization; Financing and Loans; Corporate Governance; Web Services Industry; Japan

October 2011 (Revised March 2012)
Case

AQR's DELTA Strategy

By: Daniel Bergstresser, Lauren Cohen, Randolph B. Cohen and Christopher Malloy

In the summer of 2008, AQR Capital Management was considering the launch of a new hedge fund strategy. The proposed DELTA portfolio would offer investors exposure to a basket of nine major hedge fund strategies. The DELTA strategy would be innovative in two ways.... View Details

Keywords: Investment Portfolio; Investment Funds; Financial Strategy; Financial Services Industry

January 2009
Article

Spatial Diversity in Invention: Evidence from the Early R&D Labs

By: Tom Nicholas

This article uses historical data on inventor and firm R&D lab locations to examine the technological and geographic structure of corporate knowledge capital accumulation during a formative period in the organization of US innovation. Despite the localization of... View Details

Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Geographic Location; Innovation and Invention; Patents; Knowledge Acquisition; Research and Development; United States

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Read Now

16 Feb 2004
Research & Ideas

Marketing Wine to the World

"The Changing Structure of the Global Wine Industry," won the Best Paper award at the 2003 European Applied Business Research Conference. Roberto recently shared his thoughts on wine for HBS Working Knowledge in an e-mail... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls; Consumer Products; Entertainment & Recreation; Food & Beverage

November 2013 (Revised January 2015)
Case

Restructuring JAL

By: Malcolm Baker, Adi Sunderam, Nobuo Sato and Akiko Kanno

Hideo Seto, the recently appointed chairman of the investment committee of the Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corporation, must decide whether to push JAL group, Japan's largest airline, into bankruptcy or to act as a sponsor in an out-of-court restructuring. The... View Details

Keywords: Bankruptcy; Costs Of Financial Distress; Cost vs Benefits; Air Transportation; Restructuring; Capital Structure; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Air Transportation Industry; Japan; United States

April 2010
Background Note

Securities Trading: Front-, Middle- and Back Office

By: Francois Brochet and Rakeen Mabud

This note explains the basic structure of the trading floor in a typical financial institution and how the front, middle and back offices interact to ensure a functioning trading system. View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Financial Institutions; Financial Services Industry

August 2003 (Revised April 2004)
Case

Building to a Crescendo

By: Noam T. Wasserman and Vishesh Kumar

Examines the efforts of an early-stage venture capital firm to formalize processes and build a pyramidal organization in an industry dominated by informal, unpyramidal structures. View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Organizational Structure; Business Startups

October 2003 (Revised February 2004)
Background Note

Introduction to the Large-Scale Investment (LSI) Course at Harvard Business School

By: Benjamin C. Esty

Introduces students to the Large-Scale Investment (LSI) course taught at Harvard Business School. LSI is a case-based course about project finance that is designed for second-year MBA students. The course is about project finance, which involves creation of a legally... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Project Finance; Investment; Projects

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September 2017 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Dinesh Moorjani and Hatch Labs

By: Christopher Stanton, Shikhar Ghosh, Allison Ciechanover and Jeff Huizinga

This case is about Tinder. It discusses different business models and ways of structuring the initial team. With a $6 million investment from IAC/Interactive in 2010, Dinesh Moorjani founded Hatch Labs to build mobile apps. His mission was to attract entrepreneurial... View Details

Keywords: Returns; Incubator; Mobile App; Venture Capital; Entrepreneurship; Decision Choices and Conditions; Business Model; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Talent and Talent Management; Valuation; Equity; Finance; United States; North America