Publications

July 1990 (Revised September 1991)
Case

Brinson Partners

By: Jay O. Light

Keywords: Financial Services Industry

2025
Working Paper

Centralized Governance in Decentralized Organizations

By: Lin William Cong, Daniel Rabetti, Charles C.Y. Wang and Yu Yan

We systematically document governance centralization in decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) and study its drivers and economic implications. Using multiple data sources and granular on-chain transactional data, we compare our findings to those in corporate... View Details

Keywords: Blockchain; Governance; Voting; Organizations; Financial Services Industry

SSRN

2024
Working Paper

Hidden Risk

By: Daniel Barth, Phillip Monin, Emil Siriwardane and Adi Sunderam

Since 2013, large U.S. hedge fund advisers have been required to report risk exposures in their regulatory filings. Using these data, we first establish that managers’ perceptions of risk contain useful information that is not embedded in fund returns. Investor flows... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Disclosure; Investment Funds; Risk and Uncertainty; Investment Return; Communication Strategy; Financial Services Industry

Read Now

June 2023
Supplement

Leading with Trust: Sarah Al-Suhaimi Video Supplement

By: Sandra J. Sucher, Sarah Livick-Moses and Dave Habeeb

This supplement features video interviews with Sarah Al Suhaimi, CEO of NCB Capital, the investment arm of Saudi's largest bank. View Details

Keywords: Leadership And Change Management; Women And Leadership; Women Executives; Stakeholder Management; Investment Banking; Growth and Development Strategy; Change Management; Strategy; Finance; Asset Management; Financial Services Industry; Saudi Arabia; Middle East

August 2022
Supplement

Broadway Angels (2022)

By: Jo Tango and Alys Ferragamo

In late June of 2022, Sonja Perkins, co-founder of Broadway Angels, contemplated the group’s future. She and her co-founders, Jennifer Fonstad, and Magdalena Yesil, started the group to gather together the most successful and powerful women in venture capital and... View Details

Keywords: Gender Equity; Impact; Business Startups; Venture Capital; Social and Collaborative Networks; Entrepreneurship; Gender; Mission and Purpose; Groups and Teams; Financial Services Industry

September 1983 (Revised October 1985)
Case

Lehman Management Co., Inc.

By: Andre F. Perold

Keywords: Investment Funds; Management; Financial Services Industry

August 2020
Background Note

US Private Equity Firms: ESG and Impact (B)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Holly Fetter

This is the second part of a two-part note. The first part (A) explores how US private equity firms are incorporating ESG (Environmental, Social, & Governance) factors and impact objectives into their investment strategies and firm practices. It is based on publicly... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Social Issues; Financial Services Industry; United States

Educators

January 2020 (Revised May 2021)
Case

Salary Finance US

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

In October 2019, Dan Macklin, the newly-appointed chief executive of Salary Finance Inc., was weighing his options for the future of the business. The company’s value proposition was quite simple: partner with employers to offer employees affordable loans that were... View Details

Keywords: Employees; Credit; Financing and Loans; Wages; Innovation and Invention; Expansion; Growth Management; Decision Making; Financial Services Industry; United States

Educators

August 2018 (Revised April 2019)
Case

Fair Value Accounting at Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (A)

By: Jonas Heese, Suraj Srinivasan, Francois Brochet and Christine Johnson

In May 2018, Berkshire Hathaway announced an unprecedented loss of more than $1 billion for the first quarter of 2018. Warren Buffett blamed this loss on the new accounting rules for equity securities which he criticized. In the case ‘Fair Value Accounting at Berkshire... View Details

Keywords: Equity Securities; FASB; Fair Value Accounting; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Financial Services Industry

Educators

December 2018
Article

Ideological Misfit? Political Affiliation and Employee Departure in the Private-Equity Industry

By: Y. Sekou Bermiss and Rory McDonald

Though organizations are increasingly active participants in the political realm, little research has investigated how an organization’s heightened focus on political ideology impacts employees. We address this gap by exploring how an individual’s political ideological... View Details

Keywords: Values and Beliefs; Employees; Organizational Culture; Resignation and Termination; Financial Services Industry; United States

March 2017
Supplement

Microfinance in India 2010-2016: Crisis and Recovery

By: Shawn Cole, Vikram Gandhi, Caitlin Reimers and Yannick Saleman

SKS, India's leading microfinance firm, is challenged when politicians declaim microfinance as exploitation of the poor and severely restrict business practices. View Details

Keywords: Microfinance; Government Administration; Policy; Capital Markets; Crisis Management; Poverty; Financial Services Industry; India

January 2017
Supplement

Q&A: Ghislain de Charentenay, Sanford C. Bernstein Director of Research, Asia

By: Linda A. Hill and Allison J. Wigen

In this video supplement to the HBS case series "Sanford C. Bernstein Goes to Asia," case protagonist Ghislain de Charentenay recalls his leadership priorities and challenges upon being appointed director of research in Asia. View Details

Keywords: Talent Management; Sell-side Analysts; Organizational Behavior; Leadership And Managing People; Leadership, Personal Strategy ＆ Style; Leadership Style; Asia; Hong Kong; Collaboration; Leadership; Organizational Culture; Talent and Talent Management; Financial Services Industry; Asia; Hong Kong