Publications

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2013
Working Paper

The Appeal of the Appropriate: Accounting, Risk Management, and the Competition for the Supply of Control Systems

By: Anette Mikes

How do certain risk measurements in organizations come to be seen as more reliable and acceptable than others? Taking a multiple-control perspective, I investigate the aftermath of a control debacle at a financial services company (MultiBank), focusing on its insurance... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Multiple Control Systems; Interactive Control Systems; Performance Measurement; Risk Measurement; Financialization Of Accounting; Institutional Logics; Banking; Risk Management; Fair Value Accounting; Insurance; Financial Services Industry

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June 2009
Article

Level Playing Fields in International Financial Regulation

By: Lucy White and Alan Morrison

We analyze the desirability of level playing fields in international financial regulation. In general, level playing fields impose the standards of the weakest regulator upon the best-regulated economies. However, they may be desirable when capital is mobile because... View Details

Keywords: Economy; International Finance; Multinational Firms and Management; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Standards; Banking Industry

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27 Feb 2011
News

Moonlighting Within Microsoft, in Pursuit of New Apps

March 2017 (Revised March 2019)
Case

Ant Financial (A)

By: Feng Zhu, Ying Zhang, Krishna G. Palepu, Anthony K. Woo and Nancy Hua Dai

Headquartered in Hangzhou (China), Ant Financial has grown into a fintech “Unicorn.” The fintech empire that the company established spanned verticals such as mobile and online payment (Alipay), money market fund (Yu’e Bao), wealth management (Ant Fortune),... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Global Strategy; Finance; Opportunities; Financial Services Industry; Technology Industry

2019
Chapter

Integrated Partnerships in Cultural Sponsorship: The Cases of Guggenheim UBS and MFA Boston-Fleet

By: Stephen A. Greyser and Ragnar Lund

This chapter presents and interprets two field-based studies of sponsorship collaborations between major museums and significant financial institutions—a global multi-year partnership between the Guggenheim Foundation and UBS, and the pioneering regional integrated... View Details

Keywords: Museums; Financial Institutions; Partners and Partnerships; Culture; Cooperation

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February 2023
Supplement

Performance Management at Afreximbank (B)

By: Robert S. Kaplan, Siko Sikochi, Anna Ngarachu and Namrata Arora

Supplements the (A) case. Founded in October 1993, the Cairo-based African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) was a specialized continental financial institution designed to address the low level of intra-African trade, the decline in financial flows to Africa, the... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Performance Evaluation; Organizational Culture; Crisis Management; Banking Industry; Africa

November 2023 (Revised April 2024)
Case

Paytm: A Payments Journey in India

By: Álvaro Rodríguez Arregui, Amram Migdal and Kanika Jain

Paytm was an Indian financial technology company. Since its launch in 2010, it had built a dominant payments system in India, comprising mobile wallets, offline payments via QR codes, and a payments bank that offered no-frills banking. However, in 2016, the Indian... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Situation or Environment; Business Ventures; Business Model; Banks and Banking; Business Strategy; Competition; Banking Industry; Banking Industry; Banking Industry; Asia; South Asia; India

November 2022 (Revised October 2024)
Case

'A Marshall Plan for Africa': James Mwangi and Equity Group Holdings

By: Caroline M. Elkins, Debora L. Spar, Zeke Gillman and Julia M. Comeau

Financial Inclusion. Dignity. Trust. These were the core principles driving James Mwangi’s transformation of Equity Building Society, insolvent in 1991, into what is, today, Equity Group Holdings, East and Central Africa’s largest retail banking institution. Raised in... View Details

Keywords: Income Inequality; Micro Finance; Microcredit; Microfinance; Banks and Banking; Equality and Inequality; Mission and Purpose; Business Model; Social Entrepreneurship; Banking Industry; Banking Industry; Africa; Kenya

13 Mar 2023
Research & Ideas

What Would It Take to Unlock Microfinance's Full Potential?

and we’ve just deployed the first few dozen of each of them. The first is a graduation loan. For many borrowers, it’s hard to get a formal bank loan that’s more than $1,200 but less than $10,000, so we’ve been identifying borrowers from... View Details

Keywords: by Jen McFarland Flint; Financial Services

August 2010 (Revised August 2011)
Case

Developing an App for That

By: Hanna Halaburda, Joshua Gans and Nathaniel Burbank

At a time when ever-rising smartphone sales are driven as much by demand for devices that run must-have third-party "apps" as by the quality of traditional voice and data services, there is a myriad of challenges facing the software developer who is looking to choose... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Competitive Strategy; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Applications and Software; Digital Platforms; Banking Industry; Banking Industry

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

02 Nov 2010
First Look

First Look: November 2, 2010

choose which mobile development software platform to invest in. Written from the perspective of an established consumer bank that is about to commence development on its first downloadable application for... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Jun 2017
Cold Call Podcast

Building India’s First $100 Billion Company

Keywords: Re: Sunil Gupta; Banking; Banking

October 2024
Supplement

NOW PT (B)

By: George A Riedel, Allison J. Wigen and Dave Habeeb

Pre-Abstract: Instructors should consider the timing of making videos available to students, as they may reveal key case details.

Abstract: In fall 2021, a team of students from the HBS Impact Investing Fund considered Neurologic Optimal Wellness Physical... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Medical Specialties; Business Model; Investment; Health Industry; United States

October 2024
Supplement

NOW PT (A)

By: George A Riedel, Allison J. Wigen and Dave Habeeb

Pre-Abstract: Instructors should consider the timing of making videos available to students, as they may reveal key case details.

Abstract: In fall 2021, a team of students from the HBS Impact Investing Fund considered Neurologic Optimal Wellness Physical... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Medical Specialties; Investment; Business Model; Health Industry; United States

12 Mar 2013
First Look

First Look: March 12

But there's a growing consensus that ads don't work on mobile devices; consumers just don't like them. Instead of creating tiny banner ads, smart marketers will turn to apps to reach customers and engage them. Effective apps will do one... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

08 Jun 2010
First Look

First Look: June 8

partly a result of poor corporate governance. We also provide evidence of a channel through which the benefits of ownership concentration outweigh its costs. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/10-100.pdf Cases & Course MaterialsBank of America:... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

June 2021 (Revised November 2021)
Case

Equity Bank: Charting the Future

By: Lauren Cohen, Michael Chitavi and Spencer C. N. Hagist

After climbing the ranks among Kenya's financial institutions from 66th to 1st, and toppling a quarter of the market share held by mobile money giant Safaricom, CEO James Mwangi must now guide Equity Bank into its next stage of development beyond "Equity 3.0." Should... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Leadership; Decision Making; Market Entry and Exit; Developing Countries and Economies; Financial Institutions; Economics; Kenya