Publications

March 2006
Module Note

Exchange Rates and Firms

By: Mihir A. Desai and Kathleen Luchs

Describes a core module in the International Finance course at Harvard Business School. The module focuses on how firms identify, measure, and manage currency exposures. The cases first introduce students to foreign exchange exposures and the tools used to manage... View Details

Keywords: International Finance; Currency Exchange Rate; Corporate Finance

January 2006
Teaching Note

Foreign Exchange Hedging Strategies at General Motors: Transactional and Translational Exposures (TN)

By: Mihir A. Desai and Kathleen Luchs

Keywords: Currency Exchange Rate; Investment Funds; Auto Industry

March 2006 (Revised November 2010)
Background Note

Protecting Foreign Investors

By: Louis T. Wells Jr.

Describes the emergence of several kinds of efforts to assure the safety of foreign investment in emerging markets: international arbitration, expanded official political risk insurance, credit from government agencies, and intervention by investors' home governments.... View Details

Keywords: Foreign Direct Investment; Risk Management; Emerging Markets; Agreements and Arrangements; Business and Government Relations; Safety

1986
Other Unpublished Work

Capital Flight, Policy Credibility, and the Option Value of Foreign Exchange

By: K. A. Froot and S. van Wijnbergen

Keywords: Trade Policy; Capital Controls; Liberalization; Currency; International Finance; Capital

April 2005 (Revised January 2006)
Supplement

Foreign Exchange Hedging Strategies at General Motors: Transactional and Translational Exposures (CW)

By: Mihir A. Desai and Kathleen Luchs

Working Paper Summaries

A Quantity-Driven Theory of Term Premia and Exchange Rates

Keywords: by Robin Greenwood, Samuel G. Hanson, Jeremy C. Stein, and Adi Sunderam

October 2016 (Revised October 2017)
Case

Going Rogue: Choson Exchange in North Korea

By: Sophus A. Reinert, Dawn H. Lau and Amy MacBeath

In mid-2015, the Singapore-based CEO of Choson Exchange Geoffrey See pondered his next move. He had founded Choson Exchange as a non-profit in 2009 to further female entrepreneurship in North Korea by providing business and legal training in the isolated country. Now,... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; For-Profit Firms; Risk and Uncertainty; Opportunities; North Korea

04 Jan 2013
Working Paper Summaries

The Political Economy of Bilateral Foreign Aid

January 2013 (Revised January 2015)
Case

FX Risk Hedging at EADS

By: W. Carl Kester, Vincent Dessain and Karol Misztal

In 2008, EADS, the European aerospace group that owns Airbus, was faced with the decision of how best to hedge a large and growing mismatch between its dollar revenues and its euro manufacturing costs. Specifically, the company needed to decide if it would continue... View Details

Keywords: Derivatives; Foreign Exchange; Options; Forward Contract; Aerospace; Europe; Risk Management; Futures and Commodity Futures; Aerospace Industry; Europe

2012
Other Unpublished Work

Towards Efficiencies in Canadian Internet Traffic Exchange

By: Benjamin Edelman and Bill Woodcock

Canadian Internet access is heavily and unnecessarily dependent upon foreign infrastructure, especially U.S. infrastructure. This dependence imposes significant burdens upon Canadian Internet users:

* Service prices are higher than would be the case if... View Details

Keywords: Networks; Canada; Privacy; Technology Networks; Rights; Communication Technology; Internet; Ethics; Telecommunications Industry; Canada

Read Now

September 1996 (Revised July 1997)
Case

Grupo Sidek (A)

By: Kenneth A. Froot and Alberto Moel

A large Mexican conglomerate, active in tourism, real estate, and steel, is faced with difficult macroeconomic conditions beginning with the Peso crisis of December 1994. The conglomerate had extensive dollar-indexed liabilities and was caught in a crunch when the... View Details

Keywords: Foreign Exchange; Real Estate; Debt Policy; Tourism; Steel; Business Conglomerates; Macroeconomics; Currency Exchange Rate; Crisis Management; Valuation; Mexico

June 1994
Case

Alco Holdings Limited

By: Kenneth A. Froot and Xin Chen

Keywords: Financing; Foreign Exchange; Consumer Products; Foreign Investment; International Finance; Electronics Industry; Hong Kong

Find at Harvard

17 Jun 2002
Research & Ideas

Entrepreneurship in Asia and Foreign Direct Investment

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is often lauded for bringing economic growth and know-how to developing countries. The conventional wisdom is not necessarily wrong, but the real story is much more nuanced than is commonly believed, says... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

2022
Article

Climate Change Vulnerability and Currency Returns

By: Alex Cheema-Fox, George Serafeim and Hui (Stacie) Wang

Using measures of physical risk from climate change, we develop a methodology to allocate currency pairs according to a country’s vulnerability and construct portfolios with decreasing vulnerability to physical risk. We show that non-G10 currencies are more vulnerable... View Details

Keywords: Climate Finance; Vulnerabilities; Currencies; Foreign Exchange; Climate Change; Currency; Natural Disasters