Publications

August 2010
Case

Flash Memory, Inc.

By: William E. Fruhan and Craig Stephenson

The CFO of Flash Memory, Inc. prepares the company's investing and financing plans for the next three years. Flash Memory is a small firm that specializes in the design and manufacture of solid state drives (SSDs) and memory modules for the computer and electronics... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting; Financial Management; Cash Flow; Forecasting and Prediction; Capital Budgeting; Computer Industry; Electronics Industry; United States

June 2025
Article

Who Benefits from Online Gig Economy Platforms?

By: Christopher T. Stanton and Catherine Thomas

Online labor platforms for short-term, remote work have many more job seekers than available jobs. Despite their relative abundance, workers capture a substantial share of the surplus from transactions. We draw this conclusion from demand estimates that imply workers'... View Details

Keywords: Gig Economy; Knowledge Workers; Online Platforms; Job Search; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Wages; Demand and Consumers

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Daniel Green is an assistant professor of business administration in the Finance Unit. He teaches the Finance II course to MBA students.

Professor Green’s research focuses on corporate finance, capital markets, and financial intermediation. His current... View Details

Keywords: asset management; banking; private equity (LBO funds); investment banking industry

06 Jan 2010
What Do You Think?

Is a Stringent Climate Change Agreement a Pot of Gold?

Summing Up Do we even need a stringent climate change agreement? Judging from this month's comments, a question can be raised about the necessity of a climate change agreement, stringent or not, as a catalyst to foster innovation and the... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett; Energy; Utilities

01 Feb 1997
News

Shaping the Future of Business: Entrepreneurial Evolution at HBS

Marketing; Entrepreneurship, Creativity, and Organization; Real Property Asset Management; Venture Capital and Private Equity; Entrepreneurship in the Social Sector; and Running and Growing the Small Company. Several related courses... View Details

Keywords: Nancy O. Perry and Susan Young; profiles by Garry Emmons

November 2007
Background Note

Asset Allocation I

By: Joshua D. Coval, Erik Stafford, Rodrigo Osmo, John Jernigan, Zack Page and Paulo Passoni

The goal of these simulations is to understand the mathematics of mean-variance optimization and the equilibrium pricing of risk if all investors use this rule with common information sets. Simulation A focuses on five to 10 years of monthly sector returns that are... View Details

Keywords: Asset Pricing; Capital; Investment Return; Risk Management; Mathematical Methods

November 2001 (Revised December 2003)
Case

Whirlpool Europe

By: Richard S. Ruback, Sudhakar Balachandran and Aldo Sesia

This case presents a capital budgeting problem. Whirlpool Europe is evaluating an investment in an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that would reorganize the information flow throughout the company. Students derive the cash flows from working capital, sales,... View Details

Keywords: Working Capital; Cash Flow; Investment; Capital Budgeting; Consumer Products Industry; Europe

01 Jan 2014
News

To Spot Financial Trouble Early, Use Three Circles: A conversation with Blythe McGarvie of Harvard Business School

2010
Working Paper

Valuation When Cash Flow Forecasts Are Biased

By: Richard S. Ruback

This paper focuses adaptations to the discount cash flow (DCF) method when valuing forecasted cash flows that are biased measures of expected cash flows. I imagine a simple setting where the expected cash flows equal the forecasted cash flows plus an omitted downside.... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Cash Flow; Cost of Capital; Performance Expectations; Prejudice and Bias; Valuation

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The leading volume of finance cases used worldwide, Case Problems in Finance presents real business situations that pose debatable alternative courses of action. The cases contain problems that can be narrowed but not always settled by the usual techniques... View Details

16 Oct 2019
News

Climate Change Is Going to Transform Where and How We Build

January 2008
Article

On the Pricing of Intermediated Risks: Theory and Application to Catastrophe Reinsurance

By: K. A. Froot and P. O'Connell

Keywords: Catastrophe Risk; Corporate Finance; Banking And Insurance; Hedging; Banking; Financial Markets; Insurance; Policy; Risk Management; Natural Disasters; Cost of Capital; Asset Pricing; Insurance Industry

Find at Harvard

January 1993 (Revised October 1994)
Background Note

Note on Adjusted Present Value

By: Timothy A. Luehrman

Describes the "adjusted present value" (APV) approach to discounted cash flow analysis. Much of the note is devoted to a critical comparison of APV and an approach based on the wrighted average cost of capital (WACC). Argues that APV is usually, if not always, simpler,... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Cost of Capital

22 Feb 2011
Research & Ideas

The Most Important Management Trends of the (Still Young) Twenty-First Century

production. Importantly, firms are not the only entities to participate in the new ecosystems. The Internet and other social media have dramatically lowered the cost of communication and collective action,... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

02 Dec 2014
Working Paper Summaries

International Trade, Multinational Activity, and Corporate Finance

Keywords: by C. Fritz Foley & Kalina Manova

24 Apr 2023
HBS Case

What Does It Take to Build as Much Buzz as Booze? Inside the Epic Challenge of Cannabis-Infused Drinks

industries. They all add up to extra costs and burdens for young businesses trying to establish themselves, says Israeli, the Marvin Bower Associate Professor of Business Administration. The challenges... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald; Consumer Products; Food & Beverage

November 1988 (Revised September 1991)
Case

Simmons Japan Ltd.

By: W. Carl Kester and Richard P. Melnick

Concerns the first leveraged buyout to occur in Japan. Analytic tasks include a valuation of the company and an assessment of its debt capacity. Also provides opportunities to discuss agency costs associated with alternative capital and equity ownership structures,... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Restructuring; Borrowing and Debt; Capital Structure; Cost; Equity; Production; Valuation; Japan; United States