Publications

January 2019
Case

King Abdullah Economic City: Population Drivers and Cash Flow

By: John D. Macomber

CEO of high profile new economic city in Saudi Arabia must decide how to allocate limited investment funds across projects under duress. Issues include understanding core economic drivers; planning infrastructure investment and return; attracting multinationals; and... View Details

Keywords: Urban Development; Infrastructure; Project Finance; Resource Allocation; Decision Making; City; Real Estate Industry; Saudi Arabia

07 May 2021
News

From Dutch Tulips to Internet Stocks, How to Spot a Financial Bubble

August 2001 (Revised April 2002)
Case

Strategic Capital Management, LLC (A)

By: Mark L. Mitchell, Erik Stafford and Todd Pulvino

Strategic Capital Management, LLC, is a hedge fund that is planning to make financial investments in Creative Computers and Ubid. Creative Computers recently sold approximately 20% of its Internet auction subsidiary, Ubid, to the public at $15 per share. Ubid's stock... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Business Subsidiaries; Internet and the Web; Investment Funds; Price; Performance Efficiency; Capital Markets; Auctions; Investment Return; Equity; Planning; Financial Services Industry

January 2002 (Revised August 2004)
Case

Massachusetts Financial Services

By: Brian J. Hall and Jonathan Lim

This case describes the compensation and performance evaluations at an investment management company. The senior management team of Massachusetts Financial Services (MFS) Investment Management was contemplating an introduction of hedge funds at the firm, but many... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Organizational Culture; Performance Evaluation; Management Teams; Compensation and Benefits; Financial Services Industry; Massachusetts

October 2013
Article

Corporate Venturing

By: Josh Lerner

For decades, large companies have been wary of corporate venturing. But as R&D organizations face pressure to rein in costs and produce results, companies are investing in promising start-ups to gain knowledge and agility. The logic of corporate venturing is... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Knowledge Acquisition; Corporate Strategy; Research and Development; Business Startups; Innovation and Invention

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May 1993 (Revised June 1993)
Case

Friendly Cards, Inc.

By: William E. Fruhan Jr.

Involves analysis of a major capital investment proposal, an acquisition of another company, an estimate of the funds required for these two possible outlays, and a recommended course of management action. View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Capital; Capital Budgeting; Investment

May 2005 (Revised January 2006)
Case

Ticonderoga: Inverse Floating Rate Bond

Presents a simple interest hedging exercise. A hedge fund is considering an investment in a structured fixed--income product: an inverse floating-rate bond, or inverse floater, designed by a U.S. investment bank. The hedge fund's normal policy is to hedge interest rate... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Bonds; Investment Funds; Interest Rates

December 2008 (Revised July 2010)
Case

TravelCenters of America

By: Robin Greenwood, Daniel Jacob Goldberg and James Quinn

A New York-based hedge fund must decide whether to invest in TravelCenters of America (TA), a recent spin-off from a U.S.-based real estate investment trust. The case confronts students with the question: To what extent is this spin-off opportunity attractive from a... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Investment; Valuation; Real Estate Industry; Travel Industry; United States

04 Sep 2015
News

Foreign investors navigate turmoil in Chinese markets with new playbook

December 2012
Case

Trouble Brewing for Green Mountain Coffee Roasters

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Michael Norris

In October 2011, noted hedge fund manager David Einhorn of Greenlight Capital delivered a presentation at an investors' conference analyzing the business and accounting quality weaknesses of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters. Until then Green Mountain had exhibited rapid... View Details

March 2020
Article

Do Fire Sales Create Externalities?

By: Sergey Chernenko and Adi Sunderam

We develop three novel measures of how much of the price impact of their trading different mutual funds internalize. We show that mutual funds that internalize more of their price impact hold larger cash buffers and use these buffers more aggressively to accommodate... View Details

Keywords: Fire Sales; Externalities; Investment Funds; Price; Financial Liquidity; Management

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07 Jun 2014
Video

Dora Vardis - Making A Difference

August 2022 (Revised January 2025)
Case

NOW PT (A): Should We Invest?

By: George A Riedel, Amy Klopfenstein and Mel Martin

In fall 2021, a team of students from the HBS Impact Investing Fund considered Neurologic Optimal Wellness Physical Therapy (NOW PT) for a potential investment. Dr. Banks, the founder of NOW PT, drove to visit patients. She sought an investment from the fund to open a... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Social Entrepreneurship; Finance; Investment; Health; Health Care and Treatment; Medical Specialties; Buildings and Facilities; Health Industry; Financial Services Industry; North and Central America; United States; Massachusetts

January 1999 (Revised August 1999)
Case

Asia Property Limited

By: William J. Poorvu and Daniel J. Rudd

On October 23, 1998, Bud Lake leafed through his files on property markets in Asia. Lake was responsible for real-estate investments at an aggressive and eclectic investment fund with total assets of $1.5 billion--up from $400 million at its start in 1994. As the fund... View Details

Keywords: Private Ownership; Entrepreneurship; Investment Funds; Globalized Markets and Industries; Public Ownership; Real Estate Industry; Asia; United States; Europe

September 1994
Case

BayFunds

By: Alvin J. Silk, Lisa Klein Pearo and Jamie Harper

In June, 1994, the Senior Vice President of BayBank's Investment Management Group is preparing a strategic plan for her organization's line of mutual funds. Sixteen months earlier, BayBank, Massachusetts's leading retail bank, had entered the mutual fund business by... View Details

Keywords: Banks and Banking; Marketing Strategy; Brands and Branding; Investment Funds; Product Marketing; Integration; Financial Services Industry

2024
Working Paper

Fire Sales of Safe Assets

By: Gabor Pinter, Emil Siriwardane and Danny Walker

We use trade-level data to study price pressure effects in the UK gilt market from September to October 2022. During this period, forced sales by liability-driven investment funds (LDIs) led to price discounts on the order of 10%, accounting for roughly half the total... View Details

Keywords: Investment Funds; Capital Markets; United Kingdom