Publications

October 2008
Article

The Small World of Investing: Board Connections and Mutual Fund Returns

By: Lauren Cohen, Andrea Frazzini and Christopher J. Malloy

This paper uses social networks to identify information transfer in security markets. We focus on connections between mutual fund managers and corporate board members via shared education networks. We find that portfolio managers place larger bets on firms they are... View Details

Keywords: Financial Markets; Information Management; Social and Collaborative Networks; Announcements; Investment Portfolio; Investment Return; Investment Funds; Asset Pricing; Governing and Advisory Boards

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27 May 2009
First Look

First Look: May 27, 2009

Working PapersThe Long-Run Risks Model and Aggregate Asset Prices: An Empirical Assessment Authors:Jason Beeler and John Y. Campbell Abstract The long-run risks model of asset prices explains stock View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

August 2014 (Revised March 2016)
Case

Thomas Cook Group on the Brink (A)

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Stuart C. Gilson and Aldo Sesia

Harriett Green, the newly appointed CEO of Thomas Cook Group, faces a daunting set of business and financial challenges at the 171-year old UK travel services company. The company has lost almost £600 million in the last three quarters; has seen its stock price fall... View Details

Keywords: Turnaround; Corporate Restructuring; Change Leadership; Female Ceo; Change Management; Communication Strategy; Borrowing and Debt; Cash Flow; Cost Management; Financial Liquidity; Financial Management; Executive Compensation; Leading Change; Crisis Management; Value Creation; Travel Industry; United Kingdom

October 2021 (Revised May 2023)
Case

Engine No.1: An Impact Investing Firm Engages with ExxonMobil

By: Mark Kramer, Shawn Cole, Vikram S. Gandhi and T. Robert Zochowski

ExxonMobil, the world's fifth largest source of carbon emissions, remained committed to aggressively expanding its oil & gas business despite global warming. During the COVID pandemic this strategy resulted in massive losses as the price and demand for oil declined. ... View Details

Keywords: Carbon Emissions; Global Warming; Impact Investment Funds; Hedge Fund Activism; Leadership Development; Business Model; Renewable Energy; Resource Allocation; Decision Choices and Conditions; Governing and Advisory Boards

26 Jun 2019
Research & Ideas

Why the US-China Tariff Standoff Hurts American Companies More

significantly cut their prices, while Chinese exporters have not reduced the prices of the goods they sell to US importers. "This nearly complete pass-through of tariffs to the total price paid by... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Retail; Manufacturing; Steel

2005
Other Unpublished Work

Corporate Financing Decisions When Investors Take the Path of Least Resistance

By: Malcolm Baker, Joshua Coval and Jeremy Stein

We explore the consequences for corporate financial policy that arise when investors exhibit inertial behavior. One implication of investor inertia is that, all else equal, a firm pursuing a strategy of equity-financed growth will prefer a stock-for-stock merger to... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Behavior; Stocks; Mergers and Acquisitions; Policy; Investment; Financial Institutions; Equity; Corporate Finance

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April 2006 (Revised October 2006)
Case

Best Buy Co., Inc.: Customer-Centricity

By: Rajiv Lal, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Irina Tarsis

With FY2005 sales of $27.3 billion, Richfield, Minn.-based Best Buy Co., Inc. was the leading retailer of consumer electronics, home-office products, and related services in North America. Its operations included the distinct store formats Best Buy, Future Shop in... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Service Operations; Business Earnings; Financial Crisis; Failure; Business Model; Leadership; Segmentation; Value Creation; Electronics Industry; United States; Canada; Mongolia

Randolph B. (Randy) Cohen is the MBA Class of 1975 Senior Lecturer of Entrepreneurial Management in the Finance Unit at Harvard Business School. Cohen’s main research focus has been the identification of top investment managers and the prediction of manager... View Details

Keywords: financial services; investment banking industry

September 2023 (Revised September 2024)
Case

IBJ, Inc. (A): Seeking Matrimony in Japan

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Akiko Saito

In March 2020, Shigeru Ishizaka, founder and CEO of IBJ, Inc., Japan's largest marriage matching service provider, faced a critical decision regarding the company’s planned ¥3.5 billion (US$32.8 million) acquisition of competitor ZWEI Co., Ltd. IBJ, founded in 2006,... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Risk and Uncertainty; Business Model; Corporate Strategy; Value

November 1996
Case

Del Webb Corporation (A), The

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Samanta Graff

Begins with a company history, tracing the tenures of founder Del E. Webb and his successor as chairman and CEO, Robert H. Johnson. Johnson inherited a diversified company that was involved in construction, real estate development (including the famous Sun City), and... View Details

Keywords: Management Style; Conflict Management; Governing and Advisory Boards; Management Succession; Crisis Management

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07 Feb 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Attracting Flows by Attracting Big Clients: Conflicts of Interest and Mutual Fund Portfolio Choice

Keywords: by Lauren H. Cohen & Breno Schmidt; Financial Services

January 1995
Case

Keller Fund's Option Investment Strategies, The

By: W. Carl Kester

A closed-end mutual fund's decision to study option trading provides an opportunity to study the profit profile and pricing of multiple option investment strategies (e.g., buy a call, buy a put, write a call, buy stock-write call, etc.). This case is designed to... View Details

Keywords: Investment Funds; Stock Options; Profit; Price; Strategy; Financial Services Industry

Research Summary

Effective Capital Market Communications

Hutton's most recent research and cases examine how managers enhance the credibility and effectiveness of their financial reports and voluntary disclosures. Her most recent working paper, "Effective Voluntary Disclosure" (co-authored with Greg Miller, HBS, and Douglas... View Details

2025
Working Paper

Public Displays of Alignment: Firm Speech in Autocratic Regimes

By: Joris Mueller, Jaya Y. Wen and Cheryl Wu

Political speech by firms is increasingly common around the world. This paper examines the government as an important, yet understudied, audience for such speech, focusing on how Chinese firms rhetorically align with the state. We introduce novel, general, and... View Details

Keywords: Business and Government Relations; Economic Systems; Power and Influence; Government Administration; Policy; China

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2012
Book

Strategic IQ: Creating Smarter Corporations

By: John R. Wells

In today's world, only the smartest survive. The competitive landscape is littered with graves of well-known firms whose revenues, profits and stock prices rose for decades until they suddenly imploded.
In fast-changing business environments, firms must adapt... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Competition; Business Growth and Maturation; Adaptation; Corporate Strategy; Decision Making; Innovation and Invention

27 Feb 2013
Working Paper Summaries

In Strange Company: The Puzzle of Private Investment in State-Controlled Firms

Keywords: by Mariana Pargendler, Aldo Musacchio & Sergio G. Lazzarini; Banking; Financial Services

June 1990 (Revised August 1990)
Supplement

Sun Microsystems, Inc.--1987 (B)

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

Describes a specific opportunity to seek financing from AT&T as part of a proposed technological joint venture. Students must consider the price paid and control rights attached to a large block of shares and outline a negotiating position for each side. View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Stock Shares; Financing and Loans; Price; Governance Controls; Rights; Negotiation; Opportunities; Computer Industry