Publications

March 2006
Case

Bringing OTC back to the Exchange: Euronext.liffe's launch of ABC

Euronex.liffe, a derivatives trading exchange, launches matching, clearing, and confirmation services for the over-the-counter market. This combination of services creates a new platform for a market that potentially cannibalizes its current exchange-based services. Is... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Digital Platforms; Consolidation; Financial Markets; Network Effects

November 2003 (Revised January 2004)
Case

eBay Inc.: Internet Success or Fairy Tale?

By: David F. Hawkins and Jacob Cohen

A well-known financial analyst claims that eBay has never been profitable and currently does not generate any "unfettered" cash flow. View Details

Keywords: Cash Flow; Accounting; Web Services Industry

June 2016
Case

Duff & Phelps: Scaling an Entrepreneurial Venture (A)

By: Lynda M. Applegate and David Lane

Having teamed up to launch their own financial services business, Noah Gottdiener and Jacob Silverman soon discover a venerable brand and viable business in an established bank subsidiary. They then work for many months to acquire the business as a platform for... View Details

Keywords: Duff ＆ Phelps; Entrepreneurial Management; Mergers ＆ Acquisitions; Entrepreneurial Financing; Entrepreneurship; Mergers and Acquisitions; Integration; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Financial Services Industry

September 2011 (Revised December 2011)
Case

CARD Group: Mutually Reinforcing Institutions

By: Cynthia A. Montgomery, Michael Shih-Ta Chen and Dawn Lau

CARD (Center for Agricultural and Rural Development) is a Philippines-based microfinance organization that began as an NGO and has since expanded into eight related entities providing services to the poor. Under Founding Director Dr. Aristotle Alip's leadership, CARD... View Details

Keywords: Microfinance; Partners and Partnerships; Non-Governmental Organizations; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Philippines

February 2020
Case

Rotoplas: Bringing More and Better Water

By: John D. Macomber and Carla Larangeira

Private companies were being turned to for potable water in the world’s megacities due to impacts of climate change including droughts and flooding. Mexico City had endured several water-related crises, with its population suffering from floods, droughts, water... View Details

Keywords: Water Supply; Water Management; Finance; Infrastructure; Urban Development; Business and Government Relations; Latin America; Mexico

29 May 2006
What Do You Think?

How Important Is the “Service Sector Effect” on Productivity?

in productivity in the U.S. in recent years. In fact, a recent report by the McKinsey Global Institute has found that five of the top seven industries that have led productivity growth in the period of 2000 to 2003 are service industries... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Service

V.G. Narayanan

Professor Narayanan is the Thomas D. Casserly, Jr. Professor of Business Administration, and Senior Associate Dean of Executive Education and HBS Online. His research focuses on management accounting with an interest in performance evaluation and incentives. He uses... View Details

Keywords: service industry; service industry; service industry; service industry; service industry; service industry

2013
Working Paper

Accountability of Independent Directors—Evidence from Firms Subject to Securities Litigation

By: Francois Brochet and Suraj Srinivasan

We examine which independent directors are held accountable when investors sue firms for financial and disclosure related fraud. Investors can name independent directors as defendants in lawsuits, and they can vote against their re-election to express displeasure over... View Details

Keywords: Debt Securities; Lawsuits and Litigation; Legal Liability

SSRN

07 Dec 2016
HBS Case

Why Millennials Flock to Fintech for Personal Investing

asset accumulators of the future” A new breed of financial technology companies, known collectively as fintech, has taken advantage of these traits to disrupt an unexpected industry: personal investing. Just as manufacturing companies... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

Gary P. Pisano

Gary Pisano is the Harry E. Figgie, Jr. Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School where he has been on the faculty since 1988. From 2018-2023, Pisano was Harvard Business School’s Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Promotion and... View Details

Keywords: biotechnology; electronics; health care; manufacturing; pharmaceuticals

24 Sep 2018
News

Harvard Business School to Expand Case Studies Related to Artificial Intelligence

February 2023
Case

Adyen: Reshaping the Payment Ecosystem

By: Marco Di Maggio, Antonio Moreno and Elena Corsi

A payment services company rethinks its strategy to reach out to a different customer base. View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Entrepreneurship; Service Operations; Market Entry and Exit; Financial Services Industry; Europe

March 2022 (Revised August 2022)
Case

Swvl: Smart Mobility for the Masses

By: Krishna Palepu, Esel Çekin and Menna Hassan

The case focuses on strategy and governance issues at Swvl, a tech-enabled mass mobility marketplace. It describes the journey of CEO and Chairman Mostafa Kandil on his journey from founding the company to its listing on Nasdaq. Since its founding in Egypt in 2017,... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Growth and Development Strategy; Initial Public Offering; Innovation and Invention; Business Startups; Transportation Industry; Technology Industry; Middle East; North Africa

22 Dec 2015
First Look

December 22, 2015

Ann Leamon Abstract—In the past two decades, patents of inventions related to financial services ("finance patents"), as well as litigation around these patents, have surged. One of the repeated... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

January 2016
Teaching Note

Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency

By: Michael W. Toffel, Kira Fabrizio and Stephanie van Sice

This case examines a start-up service provider that helps clients improve the energy efficiency of their factories, warehouses, and commercial and office spaces by integrating and installing lighting, heating, and cooling technologies. The company seeks to double... View Details

Keywords: Energy Efficiency; Energy Efficiency Paradox; Environment; Environmental Strategy; Growth; Energy; Energy Conservation; Entrepreneurship; Environmental Sustainability; Energy Industry

November 2023
Case

Will Fintechs and Central Banks Play in Emtech's Sandbox?

By: Daniel Isenberg and William R. Kerr

In February 2023, Emtech’s founder Carmelle Cadet is facing a dilemma. Rapidly running out of cash, Cadet has a term sheet from a leading VC but has a choice of how to structure the investment. The decision will have significant implications for Cadet’s own stake, as... View Details

Keywords: Cryptocurrency; Business Startups; Venture Capital; Cash Flow; Currency; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Digital Platforms

December 2010 (Revised June 2018)
Case

The Pecora Hearings

By: David Moss, Cole Bolton and Eugene Kintgen

In 1932, in the depths of the Great Depression, the Senate Banking Committee began a much-publicized investigation of the nation's financial sector. The hearings, which came to be known as the Pecora hearings after the Banking Committee's lead counsel Ferdinand Pecora,... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Fairness; Borrowing and Debt; Financial Institutions; Debt Securities; Stocks; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Government Legislation; History; Financial Services Industry; United States