Publications

October 2014 (Revised June 2016)
Case

MasterCard: Driving Financial Inclusion

By: Sunil Gupta, Rajiv Lal and Natalie Kindred

MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga was investing significant time and attention to increase financial inclusion among individuals with historically no access to banking or financial services in countries around the world with large underserved populations. The effort included... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Financial Services; Financial And Social Return; Financial Inclusion; Strategic Management; South Africa; Nigeria; Ajay Banga; Marketing Strategy; Social Marketing; Financial Services Industry; Banking Industry; South Africa; Nigeria

09 Feb 2023
Blog Post

The Sixth Year of Short Intensive Programs (SIPs) at HBS

Short Intensive Programs (SIPs) are courses that offer a great opportunity for students to think about career choices, gain practical skills, and explore new topics. These are no-fee, no-credit courses over winter break open to both... View Details

Profile

Raja Bobbili

far? I work at a small firm with a big mandate – we have a pool of capital that we can invest in any asset class, industry and geography. I enjoy the intellectual freedom that comes with that and take pride in the sense of accountability... View Details

Keywords: Investment Management / Hedge Fund

January 2021
Case

Saham Group: It's In the Genes

By: Christina R. Wing and Gamze Yucaoglu

The case opens in August 2020 as Moulay Mhamed Elalamy (Mhamed), CEO of the Saham Group (the Group), a pan-African investment company that operates a variety of businesses out of Morocco, contemplates the Group’s identity, its investment strategy, and how to navigate... View Details

Keywords: Family and Family Relationships; Family Business; For-Profit Firms; Transformation; Transition; Emerging Markets; Change Management; Private Equity; Investment; Strategy; Insurance Industry; Real Estate Industry; Education Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Morocco; Africa

December 2024
Case

Tencent Games

By: Rebecca Karp, Billy Chan and Nancy Hua Dai

For years, Tencent Games, a division of China’s largest internet company, had taken the lion’s share of revenue in the global gaming market with blockbuster titles such as “League of Legends” and “PUBG: Battlegrounds.” These games defined the game genres that they... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Development; Organizational Culture; Business Strategy; Investment; Competitive Strategy; Video Game Industry; Europe; China

February 2002 (Revised December 2003)
Exercise

Incentives Game, The

By: Jason R. Barro, Brian J. Hall and Jonathan Lim

This exercise provides an opportunity to gain insight about designing, negotiating, and responding to incentives. The setting is investment management. A class is divided into a certain number of investment firms. Each company has one CEO and begins with four portfolio... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Compensation and Benefits; Investment; Management

January 2011 (Revised June 2011)
Supplement

Fixed Income Arbitrage in a Financial Crisis (C): TED Spread and Swap Spread in November 2008

Investment manager Albert Mills confronts an apparent arbitrage opportunity during the global financial crisis of 2008 when he notices an unusually low-- and briefly negative-- thirty-year U.S. dollar fixed-floating swap spread. Mills must decide if there is an... View Details

Keywords: Bonds; Financial Management; Investment Return; Financial Crisis; Financial Services Industry; United States

25 Aug 2003
Research & Ideas

Why IT Does Matter

had the courage to invest in its performance, and they used it to gain a significant competitive edge. It is naive to assume that other sharply discontinuous technologies will not offer similar transformation View Details

Keywords: by F. Warren McFarlan & Richard L. Nolan

October 2019 (Revised October 2019)
Background Note

Entrepreneurship and Innovation Trends in China K-12

By: John J-H Kim, Haibo Zhao and Shu Lin

This note provides a brief survey of the major entrepreneurial and innovation trends in China’s K-12 education landscape, using trends in public policy as background, but focusing on opportunities available for the private market. The note first provides a brief... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Innovation ＆ Entrepreneurship; Education; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Education Industry; China

October 2012 (Revised September 2013)
Case

Creating the First Public Law Firm: The IPO of Slater & Gordon Limited

By: Benjamin C. Esty and E. Scott Mayfield

Slater & Gordon (S&G), a midsized Australian law firm with a high-growth consolidation strategy, had an initial public offering (IPO) scheduled for May 2007. Due to a series of regulatory changes in Australia in recent years, the IPO provided an opportunity for S&G to... View Details

Keywords: IPO; Mergers ＆ Acquisitions; Law Firm; Value Drivers; Growth Strategy; Revenue Recognition; Roll-up; Consolidator; Initial Public Offering; Valuation; Consolidation; Mergers and Acquisitions; Financial Strategy; Growth Management; Corporate Governance; Business Strategy; Legal Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; Australia

December 13, 2022
Article

6 Ways Companies Fail to Help Workers Grow

By: Joseph Fuller, Matthew Sigelman and Nik Dawson

The authors recently studied Fortune 250 companies and ranked them based on the lived experience of three million of their U.S. workers. One of their key findings was that even top-ranked firms fail to deliver consistently on worker advancement. To understand why this... View Details

Keywords: Personal Development and Career; Training; Business Model; Outcome or Result; Performance Evaluation; Opportunities

Register to Read

C. Fritz Foley is the André R. Jakurski Professor of Business Administration. Foley’s research focuses on corporate finance and the role of the CFO, and he currently teaches Corporate Financial Operations, a second-year MBA elective course he created. He also... View Details

October 1991 (Revised November 1993)
Case

Philips' Compact Disc Introduction (A)

Asks that students adopt the perspective of Philips in 1979, after technical development of the CD was complete, but three years before it was introduced commercially. At that time, Philips' management had to decide whether to attempt to establish a CD standard through... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Market Entry and Exit; Product Launch; Standards; Product Development; Technology Industry

October 2008 (Revised November 2010)
Case

NEC Electronics

By: C. Fritz Foley, Robin Greenwood and James Quinn

Why do shares in NEC Electronics, a publicly listed subsidiary of Japan conglomerate NEC, trade at a discount to their fundamental value? Can Perry Capital, a U.S. hedge fund, restructure this subsidiary and generate significant returns? This case provides students... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Private Equity; Investment Return; Ownership Stake; Business and Shareholder Relations; Financial Services Industry; Japan

Career Coach

Cici Xie

Cici wants to help students explore opportunities in the investment management industry at both hedge funds and long-only asset management firms. Having gone through the extensive recruiting process of both... View Details

2025
Working Paper

Precautionary Debt Capacity

By: Deniz Aydin and Olivia S. Kim

The determinants of debt capacity are a central theme in finance and macroeconomics, yet it remains unclear why firms leave some of their debt capacity unused and whether this affects investment and growth. Textbook theory suggests that firms should not leave their... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Credit; Financing and Loans