Publications

Article

Asset Accumulation and Labor Force Participation of Disability Insurance Applicants

By: Pian Shu

This paper provides empirical evidence of the existence of forward-looking asset-accumulation behavior among disability-insurance applicants, previously examined only in the theoretical literature. Using panel data from the RAND Health and Retirement Study, I show that... View Details

Keywords: Disability Insurance; Asset Accumulation; Labor Force Participation; Assets; Behavior; Employment; Insurance; Insurance Industry; United States

November 2018
Case

Governance Transition at Anadolu Group

By: Paul M. Healy and Esel Y. Cekin

Kamil Yazici and Izzet Ozilhan founded and built Anadolu Group Holding—a family business that grew into a multi-billion-dollar regional powerhouse. For 57 years they were equal partners in running the company. They then handed over a leadership role to a next... View Details

12 PM – 1:30 PM EDT, 29 Mar 2022
Virtual Programming

Considering Retirement?

Retirement can inspire not only excitement for new possibilities, but also fear for the future. How can you keep the parts of work you love but enjoy more balance in your life? What work will you do? How will this change affect your relationship with your spouse? What... View Details

2008
Working Paper

Attracting Flows by Attracting Big Clients: Conflicts of Interest and Mutual Fund Portfolio Choice

By: Lauren Cohen and Breno Schmidt

We explore a new channel for attracting inflows using a unique dataset of corporate 401(k) retirement plans and their mutual fund family trustees. Families secure substantial inflows by being named trustee of a 401(k) plan. This affords the plan sponsor potential... View Details

Keywords: Investment Funds; Investment Portfolio; Conflict of Interests; Financial Services Industry

Benjamin Esty is the Roy and Elizabeth Simmons Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Over the years, he has taught a variety of courses ranging from advanced corporate finance and project finance to competitive strategy and leadership. He... View Details

Keywords: banking; asset management; investment banking industry; consumer products; shipping; wine; financial services

February 2008 (Revised September 2009)
Case

Lance Johnstone: Developing 3000 North Broad

The case focuses on Lance Johnstone, a former NFL player, who has dabbled in real estate development during his playing career, and now, as a retired player, is trying to pursue the development of a 10-unit rental apartment building in a depressed area of Philadelphia,... View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Development Economics; Construction; Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Investment Return; Urban Development; Real Estate Industry; Philadelphia

2009
Working Paper

Can a Continuously-Liquidating Tontine (or Mutual Inheritance Fund) Succeed where Immediate Annuities Have Floundered?

By: Julio J. Rotemberg

A new instrument (the Mutual Inheritance Fund or MIF) is proposed whose purpose is to help people carry their savings forward from the moment they retire into their old age. Like annuities, this instrument requires an up-front payment before people receive any benefits... View Details

Keywords: Age; Annuities; Investment Return; Investment Funds; Saving; Retirement

September 2002 (Revised October 2002)
Case

Managing Knowledge and Learning at NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

By: Dorothy A. Leonard and David Kiron

Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) faces a serious loss of knowledge--both because of the "faster, better, cheaper" mandate for Mars missions and from the retirement of key personnel. An extensive knowledge management system for NASA/JPL includes formal knowledge-capture... View Details

Keywords: Knowledge Management; Knowledge Dissemination; Leadership Development; Internet and the Web; Risk and Uncertainty; Organizational Culture; Retirement; Human Resources; Human Capital

March 2025
Case

Taylor Guitars: Making Employee Ownership Work the Taylor Way

By: Dennis Campbell, Petros Kusmu and Stacy Straaberg

In 2013, guitar manufacturer Taylor Guitars’ co-founders Bob Taylor and Kurt Listug were considering several exit options including selling to a competitor or to a private equity firm. The co-founders decided, instead, to embark on a seven-year process to transfer 100%... View Details

2020
Chapter

Building Emergency Savings Through Employer-Sponsored Rainy-Day Savings Accounts

By: John Beshears, James J. Choi, J. Mark Iwry, David C. John, David Laibson and Brigitte C. Madrian

Roughly half of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. When financial shocks occur during their working life, many of these households tap into their retirement savings accounts. We explore the practical considerations and challenges associated with helping households... View Details

Keywords: Savings; Household; Saving

October 2009
Article

Attracting Flows by Attracting Big Clients

By: Lauren Cohen and Breno Schmidt

We explore a new channel for attracting inflows using a unique dataset of corporate 401(k) retirement plans and their mutual fund family trustees. Families secure substantial inflows by being named the trustee of a 401(k) plan. We find that family trustees... View Details

Keywords: Value; Information; Investment Funds; Stocks; Relationships; Financial Services Industry

05 Dec 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Seesaws and Social Security Benefits Indexing

Keywords: by Matthew Weinzierl

Trevor Fetter

Trevor Fetter is a Senior Lecturer and the Henry B. Arthur Fellow at Harvard Business School, where he has been on the faculty since 2019. He teaches two MBA required courses: Financial Reporting and Control and Leadership and Corporate Accountability. He has also... View Details

January 2003 (Revised August 2003)
Case

General Mills and the Hawthorne Huddle (A)

Examines the role of General Mills in the formation and leadership of the Hawthorne Huddle. The Huddle was in the Hawthorne neighborhood in Northern Minneapolis, which in 1997 was plagued with high crime and poverty. The Huddle served as a forum, held the first... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Management Succession; Social Issues; Consumer Products Industry; Minneapolis

John Batter is a retired Litigation Partner in the Boston Office of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP where his practice focussed on on the defense of public and private companies and their directors and management against breach of fiduciary duty claims and... View Details

August 2000 (Revised November 2000)
Case

Building Brand Community on the Harley-Davidson Posse Ride

The second Harley-Davidson Posse Ride, a grueling 2,300 mile, 10-day trek from South Padre Island, Tex., to the Canadian Border is billed "for serious riders only." Harley Owner's Group (H.O.G.) Director Mike Keefe must decide whether this rolling rally deserves a... View Details

Keywords: Relationships; Customer Focus and Relationships; Brands and Branding; Motorcycle Industry; United States

15 Apr 2025
HBS Seminar

Hal Hershfield, University of California, Los Angeles

September 2022 (Revised April 2023)
Case

Cesaro e Associati

By: Christina R. Wing and Amram Migdal

This case describes the leadership succession planning process at Cesaro e Associati (Studio Cesaro), founded in 1986 by Franco Cesaro in the northeastern Italian state of Veneto. In 2022, Franco was contemplating retirement and passing leadership of his firm, which... View Details