Publications

March 2010 (Revised December 2010)
Case

Danatbank

By: David A. Moss, Cole Bolton and Andrew Novo

In the summer of 1931, Germany was struggling with a deepening economic crisis. Production had fallen, unemployment was high, and bank deposits and gold were being withdrawn from the country at a rapid pace, threatening the value of the German mark. The country's third... View Details

Keywords: History; Risk Management; Business History; Capital Markets; Financial Crisis; Banks and Banking; Business and Government Relations; Banking Industry; Germany

19 Jun 2014
News

Life Beyond The Elevator Pitch: Venture Capital's New Formulas

Keywords: Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments; Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments

January 1987 (Revised November 1991)
Case

R.J. Reynolds International Financing

By: W. Carl Kester and William B. Allen

Reynolds must source a substantial portion of the financing of its Nabisco acquisition in offshore bond markets. Morgan Guaranty has proposed a yen/dollar dual currency Eurobond that could be hedged into dollars. This structure is compared to Eurodollar Bonds, Euroyen... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Capital Markets; Currency Exchange Rate; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Bonds; Financing and Loans

20 Dec 2019
Blog Post

Top 10 MBA Voices Blogs of 2019

and, in particular, the significant impact translational science has on patients’ lives. I became fascinated by the challenges and immense potential that sit at the intersection of life sciences and business. Read More>>> How View Details

October 2011 (Revised March 2015)
Case

SKS and the AP Microfinance Crisis

By: Shawn Cole 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

01 Dec 2006
News

Faculty Research Online From HBS Working Knowledge

How Europe Wrote the Rules of Global Finance After decades of liberalization, controls on cross-border capital movements are again being examined by financial institutions, governments, and policymakers... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

01 Mar 2023
News

The Exchange: Micro Management

for solutions to make the next generation of microfinance tools even more transformative. One of the great surprises of microfinance has been the astonishingly high rates of loan repayment, at around 96 or 98 percent. How do you interpret that? Ben Roth: One metric of... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles; Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles

05 May 2022
News

Like-Minded

seemingly missing in Japan’s financial world. They couldn’t put their collective finger on it—not until, that is, they built their own VC firm. To be clear, the trio did not set out to create the first female-led venture View Details

11 Mar 2008
News

Soak the Rich?

pay-as-you-go legislation. At issue was whether venture capital, private equity, and hedge fund partners should continue to pay the 15 percent capital gains tax rate on their earnings. Lawmakers had proposed treating their earnings as... View Details

Keywords: Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments; Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments

11 Jan 2000
Research & Ideas

Calling All Managers: How to Build a Better Call Center

call centers, with their attendant voice response units (VRUs—also known as automated voice response systems), need not be so inefficient. When a company manages its call center well, effectively linking a triad of service, information... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Financial Services; Financial Services

01 Sep 2011
News

Water for Life

importance of building trust, and engages them in understanding the importance of proper service to the lives of many who are deeply dependent on the reliability of this service. Governments need private View Details

Keywords: Waste Management and Remediation Services; Corporate Services; Water, Sewage and Supply Systems; Utilities

April 2010
Teaching Note

Groupe Ariel S.A.: Parity Conditions and Cross-Border Valuation (Brief Case)

By: Timothy A. Luehrman and James Quinn

Teaching Note for 4194 View Details

Keywords: Exchange Rates; Securities Analysis; Project Evaluation; Debt Securities; Analysis; Currency Exchange Rate; Performance Evaluation; Projects; Capital Budgeting

March 2005
Case

Vignette: Waiting for a CEO

By: G. Felda Hardymon and Ann Leamon

A venture capitalist must decide how to respond to an e-mail from his long-time troubleshooter now installed as interim CEO at a struggling contract manufacturing exchange for the custom car business. The investors have been seeking a full-time CEO but have made little... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Business or Company Management; Investment; Business Ventures; Corporate Governance; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Financial Strategy

28 Aug 2017
Research & Ideas

Should Industry Competitors Cooperate More to Solve World Problems?

Source: Cecilie_Arcurs George Serafeim has a startling suggestion to fix the world’s biggest environmental, social, and governance (ESG) problems such as water pollution, deforestation, and wealth inequality: encourage companies within industries to do less competing... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Financial Services; Manufacturing; Agriculture & Agribusiness; Mining

10 May 2004
Research & Ideas

Rethink the Value of Joint Ventures

and entrepreneurial management, done with colleagues C. Fritz Foley and James R. Hines Jr. at the University of Michigan. Their research will appear in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Financial Economics. In this interview, Desai... View Details

Keywords: by Cynthia Churchwell

January 1986 (Revised December 1986)
Case

Smartfood

By: William A. Sahlman

Contains a description of a major financing decision confronting the management and advisors of Smartfood, Inc., a company which hopes to market a cheese flavored popcorn product. The primary pedagogic objective is to teach students about matching the financing plan... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Financing and Loans; Financial Strategy; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Market Entry and Exit; Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Management; Food and Beverage Industry

Find at Harvard

January 1995
Background Note

A Note on Distribution of Venture Investments

By: Josh Lerner

Venture capitalists typically exit investments by distributing shares to investors. These transfers pose challenges for these investors. Predictions and evidence about the behavior of stock prices of firms around the time of these distributions are presented. View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Venture Capital; Stocks; Investment; Price