Publications

July 2007 (Revised March 2009)
Case

Berkshire Partners: Purchase of Rival Company (A)

Berkshire Partners, a private equity firm in Boston, was pleased with their recent investment in the Holmes Group, a home comfort consumer electronics company. The portfolio company was exceeding key financial targets and Berkshire Partners was confident that it would... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Capital Structure; Decision Choices and Conditions; Investment; Acquisition; Financial Services Industry; Boston

August 2005 (Revised April 2014)
Teaching Note

Innocents Abroad: Currencies and International Stock Returns

By: Mihir A. Desai, Kathleen Luchs, Elizabeth A. Meyer and Mark Veblen

What do international stocks contribute to the portfolio of a U.S. investor? How do currencies interact with stock price movements in determining the benefits of international diversification? This case helps students compare the risks and returns of foreign stock... View Details

06 May 2014
News

Pfizer's bid for AstraZeneca: It's time to reform the U.S. corporate tax system

October 1997 (Revised March 1998)
Case

Komatsu Ltd.: Project G's Globalization

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

This case describes the major strategic and organizational transformation at Komatsu aimed at changing it from a Japan-based producer of construction equipment to a truly global company with the ability to leverage its groupwide portfolio of resources and capabilities... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Construction; Asset Pricing; Investment Portfolio; Global Strategy; Leadership; Resource Allocation; Risk Management; Expansion; Manufacturing Industry; Japan

2008
Simulation

Strategic Innovation Simulation: Back Bay Battery

By: Willy C. Shih and Clayton Christensen

This online simulation allows students to play the role of a business unit manager at Back Bay Battery Company who faces the dilemma of balancing a portfolio of investment strategies across products in the rechargeable battery space. Players have to manage R&D... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Disruptive Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Innovation and Management; Investment; Product Development; Research and Development; Battery Industry

2020
Working Paper

Venture Capitalists and COVID-19

By: Paul A. Gompers, Will Gornall, Steven N. Kaplan and Ilya A. Strebulaev

We survey over 1,000 institutional and corporate venture capitalists (VCs) at more than 900 different firms to learn how their decisions and investments have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. We compare their survey answers to those provided by a large sample of... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Health Pandemics; Investment; Decision Making; Surveys

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2015
Working Paper

Risk Preferences and Misconduct: Evidence from Politicians

By: Dylan Minor

When seeking new leaders, business and government organizations alike often need individuals that are less risk averse, or even risk-seeking, in order to improve performance. However, individuals amenable to increased risk-taking may be more likely to engage in... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Behavior; Ethics; Government and Politics; United States

SSRN

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January 2025
Case

North Forty: Managing Liquidity Through Change

By: Luis M. Viceira and Brad Towne

This case explores the interaction between spending and investment decisions at a family office, specifically the family office of Jeff and Tricia Raikes, with special emphasis on the management of spending, portfolio investments, and asset liquidity in the presence of... View Details

Keywords: Family Office; Forecasting and Prediction; Asset Management; Financial Liquidity; Financial Strategy; Investment Portfolio; Spending; Planning

2017
Working Paper

Private and Public Disclosures in Countries with Weak Institutional Environments: Evidence from Shanghai-Hong Kong Connect

By: Aaron Yoon

I study firms’ use of disclosure to build investor confidence when they operate in a market where the institutions that support the supply of credible information are weak. Using the announcement of a regulation that allowed foreigners to invest in select Shanghai... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Disclosure; Reputation; Institutional Investing; Trust

SSRN

We examine how the external information environment in which foreign subsidiaries operate affects the investment decisions of multinational corporations (MNCs). We hypothesize and find that the investment decisions of foreign subsidiaries in country-industries with... View Details

Eva J. Sudol

Eva Sudol is a Senior Lecturer in the Finance Unit at HBS, teaching Finance 1 in the required curriculum of the MBA program. She is also a Retired Partner at the Capital Group, a global investment management company, where she worked from 1994 – 2023 as an... View Details

08 Aug 2017
Working Paper Summaries

The Role of Taxes in the Disconnect Between Corporate Performance and Economic Growth

Keywords: by Urooj Khan, Suresh Nallareddy, and Ethan Rouen

24 Mar 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Securing Jobs or the New Protectionism? Taxing the Overseas Activities of Multinational Firms

Keywords: by Mihir A. Desai

December 2020
Article

Sovereign Debt Portfolios, Bond Risks, and the Credibility of Monetary Policy

By: Wenxin Du, Carolin Pflueger and Jesse Schreger

We document that governments whose local currency debt provides them with greater hedging benefits actually borrow more in foreign currency. We introduce two features into a government's debt portfolio choice problem to explain this finding: risk-averse lenders and... View Details

Keywords: Investment Portfolio; Currency; Policy; Risk and Uncertainty

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13 Dec 2012
News

Is ESG Information for Investors Losing its Competitive Edge?

September 2006 (Revised August 2007)
Case

The Dubai Ports World Debacle and its Aftermath

By: Julio J. Rotemberg

Describes the political ramifications in the United States of Dubai-based DP World's acquisition of London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O). Because P&O operated some port terminals in the United States, DP World obtained clearance from the... View Details

Keywords: Foreign Direct Investment; Multinational Firms and Management; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Government Legislation; National Security; Business and Government Relations; Ship Transportation; Dubai; United States

September 2010 (Revised March 2012)
Case

AQR's Momentum Funds (A)

By: Daniel Baird Bergstresser, Lauren H. Cohen, Randolph B. Cohen and Christopher J. Malloy

AQR is a hedge fund based in Greenwich, Connecticut, that is considering offering a wholly new line of product to retail investors, namely the ability to invest in the price phenomenon known as momentum. There is a large body of empirical evidence supporting momentum... View Details

Keywords: Financial Strategy; Investment Funds; Investment Portfolio; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Product Development; Financial Services Industry; Greenwich

August 2005 (Revised May 2007)
Case

Partners Healthcare

By: Joshua D. Coval

Focuses on the portfolio allocation decision of a passive fund manager. Provides a setting to study portfolio theory, including mean-variance analysis, the capital market line, and the efficient frontier. View Details

Keywords: Investment Portfolio; Capital Markets; Business or Company Management; Decisions; Health Industry

July 2014
Case

Thompson Asset Management

By: William Fruhan and John Banko

Thompson Asset Management (TAM) is a small investment advisory and asset management firm in Jacksonville, Florida, with about $100 million in assets under management in two different funds. Since starting the firm in 2009, the CEO and founder Allison Thompson has had a... View Details

Keywords: Small Business; Asset Management; Expansion; Investment Portfolio; Financial Services Industry; Florida