Publications

13 Aug 2012
Research & Ideas

When Good Incentives Lead to Bad Decisions

Among the culprits contributing to the recent financial crisis were bank loan officers who approved mortgage loans that were doomed to fail. Many of these frontline workers... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Banking

April 2011 (Revised June 2014)
Case

Securities Lending After the Financial Crisis

By: Robert C. Pozen and Gayle Hameister

In April 2009, Wendy Jefferson had just returned to her office following a whirlwind day of meetings with her newest client, Star Advisor. Jefferson, a financial services consultant, was eager to dig into the information provided to her and her team about the Star... View Details

Keywords: Business Earnings; Debt Securities; Financing and Loans; Investment Funds; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Information

February 2016 (Revised June 2016)
Case

Janalakshmi Financial Services' HR Dilemma

By: Doug J. Chung and Radhika Kak

Janalakshmi Financial Services (JFS), an Indian microfinance institution, had grown rapidly by providing financial products to its main customer base, the urban poor. However, the company was facing several challenges. JFS’s productivity was declining, and it was... View Details

Keywords: Microfinance; Salesforce Management; Compensation and Benefits; Sales; Strategy; Financial Services Industry

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

June 2009 (Revised November 2020)
Case

Busse Place

By: Arthur I Segel, William J. Poorvu, Richard Kessler, Justin Seth Ginsburgh and Eric Fleiss

Busse Corporate Center's largest tenant recently declared bankruptcy, leaving the building 38% occupied and significantly overleveraged. In a depressed suburban Chicago office market, Hannah Sanchez, the leasing agent, has to negotiate lease proposals with three... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Restructuring; Borrowing and Debt; Financial Management; Mortgages; Investment; Leasing; Property; Real Estate Industry; Chicago

February 2009 (Revised June 2010)
Case

Mibanco: Meeting the Mainstreaming of Microfinance

By: Michael Chu and Gustavo A. Herrero

Mibanco, Peru's leading microfinance bank, faces intense competition as the banking industry rushes into low income segments. Companion video clips bring into the classroom the contemporary reality of a world-class microfinance institution, where the unpaved streets... View Details

Keywords: Microfinance; Profit; Business History; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Marketing Strategy; Service Operations; Performance; Competition; Banking Industry; Peru

17 Sep 2012
Research & Ideas

Blue Skies, Distractions Arise: How Weather Affects Productivity

true in the corporate world, the researchers looked at preexisting field data at a midsize bank in Tokyo. The bank had tracked employee productivity for two-and-a-half years following the launch of a new mortgage-processing system in June 2007, during which time the... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

11 Oct 2022
Research & Ideas

Shrinking the Racial Wealth Gap, One Mortgage at a Time

Hiring more minority loan officers could help people of color secure significantly more home loans and address one of the biggest factors driving the racial wealth gap, new... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Financial Services

18 Sep 2007
First Look

First Look: September 18, 2007

http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=607150 Microsoft Office 2007 Harvard Business School Case 607-015 A discussion of the history and processes behind the development of Microsoft's View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

2019
Article

Fair Algorithms for Learning in Allocation Problems

By: Hadi Elzayn, Shahin Jabbari, Christopher Jung, Michael J Kearns, Seth Neel, Aaron Leon Roth and Zachary Schutzman

Settings such as lending and policing can be modeled by a centralized agent allocating a scarce resource (e.g. loans or police officers) amongst several groups, in order to maximize some objective (e.g. loans given that are repaid, or criminals that are apprehended).... View Details

Keywords: Allocation Problems; Algorithms; Fairness; Learning

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October 2006 (Revised May 2007)
Case

Habitat for Humanity-Egypt

By: Jane Wei-Skillern and Kerry Herman

Habitat for Humanity--Egypt (HFHE), has grown in just seven years to become one of the most successful Habitat programs worldwide. The organization is at a crossroads as it attempts to reach the ambitious goal of serving 10% of the 20 million Egyptians living in... View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Construction; Social Issues; Social and Collaborative Networks; Non-Governmental Organizations; Construction Industry; Egypt

09 Aug 2016
First Look

August 9, 2016

the 2004–2006 period. Our estimates show that this lending increase is associated with a 3.3% rise in annual house price growth rate and a 2.2% expansion of employment in the non-tradable sectors. These effects are followed by a decline in View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

17 Jun 2008
First Look

First Look: June 17, 2008

loans to small firms and those with more "soft information"—particularly in states with weak legal enforcement of financial contracts. However, decentralized banks are also more responsive to the competitive environment when... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

November 1994 (Revised December 1995)
Case

The Domik Project

By: William J. Poorvu and John H. Vogel Jr.

Cameron Sawyer, CEO of Sawyer and Co., seeks financing for an office building he is developing in Moscow. The case describes the opportunities and challenges of development in Russia. Also highlights entrepreneurial opportunities in a changing world. View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Opportunities; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Problems and Challenges; Growth and Development Strategy; Moscow

Find at Harvard

February 2006 (Revised August 2006)
Case

Investment Banking at Thomas Weisel Partners

By: Malcolm P. Baker and Lauren Barley

Thomas Weisel Partners (TWP), a San Francisco-based bank focusing on emerging growth companies, is considering its strategy in the context of regulatory, competitive, and legal changes. Blake Jorgensen, the chief operating officer and co-director of investment banking,... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Business or Company Management; Conflict of Interests; Change Management; Investment Banking; Financing and Loans; Laws and Statutes; Financial Strategy; Corporate Finance; Banking Industry; San Francisco

July 2019 (Revised April 2021)
Case

Salary Finance

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

In April 2019, Asesh Sarkar, co-founder and chief executive of Salary Finance Limited, a London-based FinTech, faced tough choices. Sarkar had founded Salary Finance with Dan Cobley and Daniel Shakhani in 2015. The company’s value proposition was quite simple: partner... View Details

Keywords: Credit; Financing and Loans; Wages; Innovation and Invention; Expansion; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Culture; Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Services Industry

11 May 2009
Research & Ideas

The IT Leader’s Hero Quest

Rising star Jim Barton has decidedly mixed feelings after being selected as the new chief information officer at the fictional IVK Corporation. On the one hand, he lacks an IT background; on the other, he's ambitious and up for a... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

August 1992 (Revised June 1993)
Case

Compania de Telefonos de Chile

By: W. Carl Kester, Enrique Ostale and Charles McHugh La Follette

The newly privatized Chilean telephone company, Compania de Telefonos de Chile (CTC) must raise substantial new funds externally in order to finance its expansion program. This task is complicated by Chile's small, illiquid capital markets and the skeptical view of... View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Financing and Loans; Managerial Roles; Privatization; Expansion; Telecommunications Industry; South America; Chile

March 2006 (Revised April 2006)
Case

International Place (A): Boston Real Estate Playoff

First International Place, one of Boston's premier office buildings, was the subject of a control contest in 2005, as the New York real estate firm Tishman Speyer purchased the mortgage on the property through a sealed bid auction process and then sought to foreclose... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Mortgages; Auctions; Insolvency and Bankruptcy