Publications

11 Oct 2022
Research & Ideas

Shrinking the Racial Wealth Gap, One Mortgage at a Time

and approved, but when minority loan officers shepherd those applications, approval rates increase significantly, says Adi Sunderam, the Willard Prescott Smith Professor of Corporate Finance at Harvard View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Financial Services

March 2001 (Revised February 2004)
Case

International Profit Associates

By: Ashish Nanda, Thomas J. DeLong and Monica Mullick

Describes the work environment, systems, and processes that allow International Profit Associates (IPA) to follow a systematic four-step approach to providing advisory service to small business owners. View Details

Keywords: Organizational Structure; Business Processes; Business Model; Consulting Industry

August 2012 (Revised November 2012)
Case

Colorscope, Inc. (Abridged)

By: V.G. Narayanan

A small company in the graphic design business faces severe price competition. The company must respond by cutting costs and making process improvements. View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Price; Business Processes; Performance Improvement; Competition; Fine Arts Industry

18 Sep 2007
First Look

First Look: September 18, 2007

activity to distance themselves from competitors. Microfinance: Business, Profitability, and the Creation of Social Value Author:Michael Chu Publication:Chap. 28 in Business Solutions for the Global Poor: Creating Social and Economic... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Research Summary

Overview

My work assists small business entrepreneurs, and high-growth technology firms that serve them, to grow with technology and AI in emerging economies. View Details

Keywords: Economic Development; Experimentation; Environment; Entrepreneurship; Artificial Intelligence

27 Sep 2006
Research & Ideas

Report From Egypt: Studying Global Influences

philanthropic efforts but more often helping communities through core business practices, such as gaining flexibility to hire and fire from the union by raising wages and increasing training or helping laid-off employees start View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

10 Dec 2013
First Look

First Look: December 10

http://ssrn.com/abstract=2358110 Cases & Course Materials Harvard Business School Case 413-097 Unilever's Paul Polman: Developing Global Leaders No abstract available. Purchase this case: http://hbr.org/search/413097-PDF-ENG Harvard... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Research Summary

Creating ‘Smart’ Policy to Promote Entrepreneurship and Innovation

By: Karen Mills

Entrepreneurship is a key to unlocking innovation and fostering regional and national economic productivity. Extensive studies demonstrate that small and young firms contribute to innovation and employment growth. But which of the many types of small firms are... View Details

24 Jul 2012
First Look

First Look: July 24

information has increased considerably in the last decade, companies are still failing to disclose material information in a comparable format. We believe this has two downsides. On the one hand, companies are not adequately managing important View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 2014
Article

Right Up the Middle: How Israeli Firms Go Global

By: Jonathan Friedrich, Amit Noam and Elie Ofek

The article considers international business enterprises based in Israel and how they successfully expanded from their origins as small businesses. A common technique of those companies in which they focused on market entry in other countries whose markets were too... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Israel

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June 2010 (Revised November 2013)
Case

Momentive Performance Materials, Inc.

By: Victoria Ivashina and David Scharfstein

After nearly violating its loan covenants in 2009, Momentive Performance Materials, backed by its financial sponsor Apollo Global Management, took a variety of actions to restructure its debt. The restructuring steps included an open market repurchase of publicly held... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Financial Crisis; Borrowing and Debt; Private Equity; Financing and Loans

Article

Does the Classic Microfinance Model Discourage Entrepreneurship Among the Poor? Experimental Evidence from India

By: Erica Field, Rohini Pande, John Papp and Natalia Rigol

Do the repayment requirements of the classic microfinance contract inhibit investment in high-return but illiquid business opportunities among the poor? Using a field experiment, we compare the classic contract which requires that repayment begin immediately after loan... View Details

Keywords: Microfinance; Poverty; Development Economics; Contracts

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July 1996
Case

Bayside Controls, Inc.

By: H. Kent Bowen, Jennifer Kochman and Sylvie Ryckebusch

Two recent MBA graduates acquire a small and ailing metal-machining company that had manufactured small aerospace components. Through clever application of state-of-the-art manufacturing, engineering, and marketing/sales concepts, they turned the company into a growing... View Details

Keywords: Business Earnings; Leveraged Buyouts; Machinery and Machining; Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Production; Personal Development and Career; Sales; Aerospace Industry

November 1997 (Revised February 1998)
Case

Finansol

By: James E. Austin, Roberto Gutierrez, Marc Labie and Enrique Ogliastri

Finansol, created to provide loans to micro-entrepreneurs, encountered considerable difficulties after rapidly growing to become the biggest micro-enterprise lender in Colombia. Major restructuring was required to rescue it. View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Microfinance; Crisis Management; Problems and Challenges; Social Enterprise; Financial Services Industry

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21 Dec 2009
Research & Ideas

Good Banks, Bad Banks, and Government’s Role as Fixer

rating agency after it was selected by the third party. Q: You note in your book that loan securitization collapsed at the end of 2008. Has it revived yet, and why is it important for a healthy economy? A: The monthly volume of... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson; Banking; Financial Services

26 Jun 2020
Working Paper Summaries

Weak Credit Covenants

Keywords: by Victoria Ivashina and Boris Vallée; Financial Services

2014
Case

Microfinance Services in Rural Areas--Farmers' Self-reliance Branch of CFPA Microfinance in Shangyi County

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Siqun Yang and Meihua Shen

Microfinance is introduced into China in the 1990s. It had gone through 3 phases since the beginning, namely the pilot phase when all Microfinance practices are sponsored by charity funds based on projects, the promotion phase when the government subsidized some... View Details

Keywords: Rural Entrepreneurship; Value Added; China; Risk Management; Microfinance; China

June 2004
Case

TechnoServe and the Tanzanian Specialty Coffee Industry

In 2003, TechnoServe, a U.S.-based, international, nonprofit organization, was deciding how to structure the capital investments required for Tanzanian business groups to acquire coffee bean central pulperies. This case explores the challenges of capital budgeting and... View Details

Keywords: Small Business; Nonprofit Organizations; Cash Flow; Emerging Markets; Financing and Loans; Capital Budgeting; Tanzania