Publications

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March 2013 (Revised July 2014)
Supplement

In December 2012, Salil Deshpande has rejoined Bay Partners (Bay), which had been restructured following the 2010 departures of three of its general partners. Life was good for Deshpande: his firm had distributed roughly $1 billion to its limited partners (LPs) over... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Investment Funds; Growth and Development Strategy; Financial Services Industry

March 2013
Article

The Client Is King: Do Mutual Fund Relationships Bias Analyst Recommendations?

By: Michael Firth, Chen Lin, Ping Liu and Yuhai Xuan

This paper investigates whether the business relations between mutual funds and brokerage firms influence sell-side analyst recommendations. Using a unique data set that discloses brokerage firms' commission income derived from each mutual fund client as well as the... View Details

Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; Decision Choices and Conditions; Investment Funds

March 2004 (Revised July 2004)
Case

UCB: Managing Information for Globalization and Innovation (A) (Abridged)

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Brian DeLacey

A medium-size European manufacturer of pharmaceuticals and chemicals faces a number of information strategy issues. The case focuses on the issues of coordinating international IT activities and day-to-day operations as well as balancing the company's IT applications... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Information Technology; Operations; System; Corporate Strategy; Investment Portfolio; Globalization; Pharmaceutical Industry; Information Technology Industry; Brussels

August 2004
Article

Appearing and Disappearing Dividends: The Link to Catering Incentives

By: Malcolm Baker and Jeffrey Wurgler

We document a close link between fluctuations in the propensity to pay dividends and catering incentives. First, we use the methodology of Fama and French (J. Finan. Econ. (2001)) to identify a total of four distinct trends in the propensity to pay dividends... View Details

Keywords: Dividends; Payout Policy; Catering; Dividend Premium; Investor Sentiment; Investment Return; Motivation and Incentives; Trends; Stocks; Financial Services Industry

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2008
Chapter

The Importance of Default Options for Retirement Saving Outcomes: Evidence from the United States

By: John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson and Brigitte C. Madrian

This paper summarizes the empirical evidence on how defaults impact retirement savings outcomes. After outlining the salient features of the various sources of retirement income in the U.S., the paper presents the empirical evidence on how defaults impact retirement... View Details

Keywords: Saving; Financial Condition; Retirement; Investment Funds; Microeconomics; Outcome or Result; Government and Politics; Financial Institutions; Macroeconomics; United States

2008
Working Paper

The Small World of Investing: Board Connections and Mutual Fund Returns

By: Lauren Cohen, Andrea Frazzini and Christopher J. Malloy

This paper uses social networks to identify information transfer in security markets. We focus on connections between mutual fund managers and corporate board members via shared education networks. We find that portfolio managers place larger bets on firms they are... View Details

Keywords: Asset Pricing; Investment Portfolio; Governing and Advisory Boards; Knowledge Sharing; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Social and Collaborative Networks; Financial Services Industry

August 2014 (Revised March 2015)
Case

Molycorp: Morgan Brothers' Reverse Convertible Notes (C)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and E. Scott Mayfield

In August 2011, Morgan Brothers Bank was issuing a $2.5 million reverse convertible note with payoffs linked to the price of Molycorp's common stock. These financially engineered securities were just one of many kinds of structured notes available in the retail market.... View Details

Keywords: Structured Products; Reverse Convertible Notes; Replication; Option Pricing; Bond Pricing; Financial Engineering; Valuation; Metals and Minerals; Debt Securities; Finance; Investment; Mining Industry; Financial Services Industry; Canada; California

October 2003 (Revised October 2004)
Case

AT&T Canada (A)

By: Andre F. Perold and Kwame C. Van Leeuwen

AT&T Canada (ATTC) is a merger arbitrage situation where AT&T Corp. has a contractual commitment to purchase the shares of ATTC at an escalating formula price. However, ATTC's business is performing poorly, and its bonds are trading at significant discounts to par.... View Details

Keywords: Agreements and Arrangements; Valuation; Mergers and Acquisitions; Investment; Telecommunications Industry; Canada

04 Dec 2019
Working Paper Summaries

Pathways to Materiality: How Sustainability Issues Become Financially Material to Corporations and Their Investors

Keywords: by Jean Rogers and George Serafeim

01 Mar 2017
News

HBS Celebrates Launch of New Legacy Society

Cindy Whitehead (center), the widow of the late John Whitehead, with event hosts Beth (MBA 1984) and Mike (MBA 1982) Fascitelli. (photo by Dana Maxson) Cindy Whitehead (center), the widow of the late John Whitehead, with event hosts Beth (MBA 1984) and Mike (MBA 1982)... View Details

01 Jan 2010
News

Allan W.B. Gray, MBA 1965

Chairman, Orbis Investment Management, Ltd. Return to Alumni Achievement Awards main page Earlier Education: B.Com., Rhodes University, South Africa, 1957 On Leadership: “One needs to cultivate a sense of purpose, a commitment to making a... View Details

13 Nov 2019
Working Paper Summaries

Shareholder Activism and Firms’ Voluntary Disclosure of Climate Change Risks

Keywords: by Caroline Flammer, Michael W. Toffel, and Kala Viswanathan

Web

Eligibility | New Venture Competition

(HBS) Field Course: Innovating in Health Care (HBS) Field Course: Investing for Impact (HBS) Field Course: Life Sciences Venture Creation (HBS) Field Course: Scaling Minority Businesses (HBS) Field Course: Startup Operations (HBS) Impact... View Details

20 May 2019
Research & Ideas

Activist CEOs Are Rising Up—and Their Customers Are Listening

When former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz announced earlier this year he was thinking about running for president of the United States, it wasn’t a new idea. Past CEOs seeking the White House have included Carly Fiorina, Ross Perot, Herman Cain, Steve Forbes, Mitt... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

June 2007 (Revised March 2008)
Case

Zoots - Financing Growth (A)

By: Michael J. Roberts, William A. Sahlman and Todd Krasnow

Traces the genesis and founding of Zoots, the largest chain of dry cleaning establishments in the U.S. Founded by some of the founders of the very successful Staples chain, the company raises a very large amount of capital without fully proving its business model, and... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Venture Capital; Financial Strategy; Investment Return; Growth and Development Strategy; Valuation; United States

September 2006
Case

Stedman Place: Buy or Rent?

By: Andre F. Perold and David S. Scharfstein

A couple has to decide whether to continue renting a townhouse or buy the one next door. Allows for a discussion of net present value, internal rate of return, and the costs and benefits of homeownership. View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Decisions; Asset Pricing; Investment Return; Housing; Family Ownership; Renting or Rental; Valuation

Web

Club Conferences | MBA

Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition Women in Investing Conference November 9, 2025 Women in Investing Club Health Care Conference November 15, 2025 Health Care Club Jewish Student Association and Israel... View Details

2022
Article

Climate Change Vulnerability and Currency Returns

By: Alex Cheema-Fox, George Serafeim and Hui (Stacie) Wang

Using measures of physical risk from climate change, we develop a methodology to allocate currency pairs according to a country’s vulnerability and construct portfolios with decreasing vulnerability to physical risk. We show that non-G10 currencies are more vulnerable... View Details

Keywords: Climate Finance; Vulnerabilities; Currencies; Foreign Exchange; Climate Change; Currency; Natural Disasters

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