Publications

October 2013
Article

With a Little Help from My (Random) Friends: Success and Failure in Post-Business School Entrepreneurship

By: Josh Lerner and Ulrike Malmendier

To what extent do peers affect our occupational choices? This question has been of particular interest in the context of entrepreneurship and policies to create a favorable environment for entry. Such influences, however, are hard to identify empirically. We exploit... View Details

Keywords: Behavior; Entrepreneurship; Attitudes; Relationships; Cognition and Thinking

Find at Harvard

07 Jan 2019
News

Decreases In Readmissions Credited To Medicare’s Program To Reduce Hospital Readmissions Have Been Overstated

18 Apr 2017
First Look

First Look at New Ideas, April 18

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=52520 Interest Rate Conundrums in the Twenty-First Century By: Hanson, Samuel G., David O. Lucca, and Jonathan H. Wright Abstract—A large literature argues that long-term interest View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

February 2021
Tutorial

Assessing Prediction Accuracy of Machine Learning Models

By: Michael Toffel and Natalie Epstein

This video describes how to assess the accuracy of machine learning prediction models, primarily in the context of machine learning models that predict binary outcomes, such as logistic regression, random forest, or nearest neighbor models. After introducing and... View Details

Keywords: Statistics; Experiments; Forecasting and Prediction; Performance Evaluation; AI and Machine Learning

September 2006 (Revised April 2008)
Case

The Howland Long-Term Opportunity Fund

By: Andre F. Perold and David S. Scharfstein

Melissa Howland, founder of an investment firm, must choose between two competing investments, which differ in size, maturity, and rate of return. View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Instruments; Investment Return; Investment Funds; Value

April 2006
Background Note

Understanding Corporate-Value-at-Risk through a Comprehensive and Simple Example

By: Marc L. Bertoneche and Frantz Maurer

Using a comprehensive and simple example of a firm exposed to foreign exchange risk, interest rate risk, and commodity price risk, shows how to use corporate-value-at-risk to measure and manage a firm's global exposure to risk. View Details

Keywords: Financial Markets; Interest Rates; International Finance; Globalization; Risk Management; Measurement and Metrics; Value

17 Feb 2020
News

Why Don’t Women Promote Themselves?

August 2017 (Revised September 2023)
Case

Altoona State Investment Board & Bain Capital Fund XI

By: Josh Lerner and Ted Berk

Considers the decision faced by state pension fund manager Rod Calhoun as he decides whether to invest $200 million in Bain Capital's eleventh global buyout fund: Bain Capital Fund XI. For the fund, Bain was offering its limited partners a choice among three different... View Details

Keywords: Equity Method; Leveraged Buyout; Management Buyout; Capital; Design; Entrepreneurship; Finance; Leveraged Buyouts; Management; Private Equity; Venture Capital; Banking Industry; Massachusetts

20 Feb 2014
News

Online Patient Reviews: 6 Strategies For Doctors

October 2004 (Revised February 2007)
Background Note

Foreign Exchange Markets and Transactions

By: Mihir A. Desai, Christina Pham, Kathleen Luchs and Yanjun Wang

Provides information on the foreign exchange market and exchange rate movements. Describes the different types of foreign exchange transactions, including spot transactions, forwards, swaps, futures, and options. Includes worked examples to help students understand the... View Details

Keywords: Currency Exchange Rate

February 1979
Case

Systems Engineering Laboratories, Inc.

By: William E. Fruhan Jr.

Choosing an equity offering or an offering of straight subordinated debt with a CCC credit rating and a 12.5% coupon. View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Borrowing and Debt; Corporate Finance; Computer Industry

Research Summary

Does Banks' Corporate Control Benefit Firms?

In this paper we examine the importance of banks' corporate control by investigating the loan policy pricing effect of banks' voting stakes on their borrowers. A sample of loans taken out over the 2000-2003 time period shows that banks charge lower rates on... View Details

August 2004 (Revised September 2004)
Background Note

Note on Bond Valuation and Returns

All securities can be evaluated based on certain common characteristics: value, rate of return, risk, maturity, and so forth. This case examines how bonds are valued and how their rates of return are computed. It begins with basic definitions and features of... View Details

Keywords: Bonds; Valuation; Investment Return

Sebastian Hillenbrand is an Assistant Professor in the Finance Unit at Harvard Business School. He teaches the Finance I course in the MBA required curriculum.

Sebastian’s research interests are in behavioral and... View Details

March 1990 (Revised June 1993)
Case

Analog Devices, Inc.: The Half-Life System

By: Robert S. Kaplan

The company has committed to major improvements in quality, cost, and on-time delivery performance. Despite strong senior management support, however, the actual rate of improvement was disappointing until a new measurement philosophy was introduced. The new approach... View Details

Keywords: Quality; Performance Improvement; Earnings Management; Financial Reporting; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance Productivity; Business or Company Management; Cost Management; Measurement and Metrics; Management Teams; Semiconductor Industry

24 Nov 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Valuation When Cash Flow Forecasts Are Biased

Keywords: by Richard S. Ruback

March 2009
Case

Barbara Norris: Leading Change in the General Surgery Unit

By: Boris Groysberg, Nitin Nohria and Deborah Bell

Barbara Norris struggles to address the many problems facing her as a recently promoted nurse manager in the General Surgery Unit (GSU) at Eastern Massachusetts University Hospital (EMU). She has inherited a unit with the lowest employee satisfaction scores and highest... View Details

Keywords: Employee Relationship Management; Leading Change; Service Delivery; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Groups and Teams; Motivation and Incentives; Satisfaction; Health Industry