Publications

January 2002 (Revised October 2007)
Case

Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo & Co., 2001

By: Joshua Musher and Andre F. Perold

Asset manager GMO underperforms the market during the 1996-2000 stock market bubble because of the focus on absolute risk. After suffering significant client withdrawals, performance again shines when the bubble collapses. Did they win the battle only to lose the war?... View Details

Keywords: Customers; Asset Management; Stocks; Investment; Price Bubble; Mathematical Methods; Risk and Uncertainty

winter 2002
Article

Customers As Assets

By: Sunil Gupta and Donald R. Lehmann

Keywords: Customers; Assets

December 2001 (Revised April 2003)
Case

Financing PPL Corporation's Growth Strategy

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Carrie Ferman

PPL Corp., an electric utility in Pennsylvania, needs to finance $1 billion of peaking plants as part of its new growth strategy. In February 2001, Steve May, director of finance for PPL's Global Division, is responsible for recommending a finance plan. After... View Details

Keywords: Financial Management; Financial Instruments; Project Finance; Financial Strategy; Corporate Finance; Leasing

December 2001 (Revised July 2005)
Case

E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company: The Conoco Split-off (A)

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Perry Fagan

After taking 30% of its Conoco oil and gas subsidiary public in the largest domestic initial public offering (IPO) in U.S. history, management of E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DuPont) is considering divesting its remaining interest in Conoco. This goal is to be... View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Business Subsidiaries; Restructuring; Non-Renewable Energy; Chemicals; Assets; Initial Public Offering; Business and Shareholder Relations; Diversification; Value; Chemical Industry; United States

December 2001
Case

Qwest Communications International Inc.

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Christopher Hackett

Describes the evolution of Qwest from a small fiber-optic construction firm in 1996 to a global telecommunications giant in 2001. Focuses on Qwest's pivotal acquisition of "Baby Bell" US West, a regional Bell operating company many times Qwest's size. Discusses the... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Asset Pricing; Business History; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Organizational Culture; Partners and Partnerships; Vertical Integration; Telecommunications Industry

2001
Book

Appendix to 'Strategic Asset Allocation: Portfolio Choice for Long-Term Investors'

By: Luis M. Viceira and John Y. Campbell

Keywords: Strategy; Resource Allocation; Assets; Decision Choices and Conditions; Investment

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October 2001 (Revised February 2002)
Case

Acme Investment Trust: January 2001

By: Josh Lerner

The managers of a large corporate pension fund must decide whether to invest in a private equity fund that is offering a guaranteed rate of return of 20% on part of its portfolio. The background behind and implications of the guarantee are explored. View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Private Equity; Motivation and Incentives; Asset Management; Investment Funds; Financial Strategy; Financial Services Industry

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

August 2001 (Revised October 2001)
Case

Shinsei Bank (A)

By: Michael Y. Yoshino and Perry Fagan

In a deal marking the first acquisition of a domestic Japanese financial institution by foreigners, a consortium of Western investors purchased the assets of the Long Term Credit Bank (LTCB) of Japan in March 2000. The new management renames the bank Shinsei Bank,... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Assets; Banks and Banking; Investment; Business or Company Management; Managerial Roles; Organizational Structure; Failure; Adaptation; Banking Industry; Japan

August 2001
Article

The Geography of Investment: Informed Trading and Asset Prices

By: Joshua D. Coval and Tobias J. Moskowitz

Keywords: Investment; Trade; Asset Pricing

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2001
Working Paper

Asset Accumulation, Interdependence and Technological Change: Evidence from Pharmaceutical Drug Discovery

By: Stefan Thomke and Walter Kuemmerle

summer 2001
Article

Optimizing Inventory Replenishment of Retail Fashion Products

By: Ananth Raman, Marshall Fisher and Kumar Rajaram

Keywords: Assets; Product

June 2001
Background Note

IT Asset: the "Legacy" System Problem

By: Richard L. Nolan

Describes the legacy system problem facing traditional companies as they strive to build strategic I-Nets. Identifies the key trends amplifying legacy system problems that cause IT assets to become IT liabilities. View Details

Keywords: Trends; Management Systems; Problems and Challenges; Business Strategy; Information Technology

May 2001 (Revised January 2003)
Case

Calpine Corporation: The Evolution from Project to Corporate Finance

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Michael Kane

In early 1999, Calpine Corp.'s CEO Pete Cartwright adopted an aggressive growth strategy with the goal of increasing the company's aggregate generating capacity from approximately 3,000 to 15,000 megawatts (MW) by 2004. He believed there was a fleeting opportunity to... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Cost of Capital; Project Finance; Adaptation; Profit; Financial Strategy; Corporate Finance; Energy Industry; United States

Article

The Market for Catastrophe Risk: A Clinical Examination

By: K. A. Froot

Keywords: Catastrophe Risk; Corporate Finance; Cost Of Capital; Banking And Insurance; Asset Pricing; Hedging; Banking; Insurance; Decision Choice And Uncertainty; Financial Markets; Policy; Risk Management; Natural Disasters; Insurance Industry

February 2001 (Revised August 2001)
Case

WholesalerDirect

By: Alan D. MacCormack and Kerry Herman

Describes the development of WholesalerDirect, a B2B electronic commerce venture in the plumbing, heating, cooling, and piping industry. Adam Berger, the CEO, is trying to raise funding to roll out the company's e-commerce platform to the industry's more than 3,000... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Valuation; Business Plan; Financing and Loans; Financial Strategy

February 2001
Case

California PERS (B)

By: Jay O. Light, Jay W. Lorsch, James O. Sailer and Katharina Pick

The largest state pension fund continues the evolution of its approach to corporate governance contemplating "relationship investing" and other new approaches. View Details

Keywords: Investment; Corporate Governance; Financial Management; Asset Management; Business and Shareholder Relations; Investment Funds; Financial Services Industry; California

February 2001
Article

The Portfolio Flows of International Investors

By: K. A. Froot, P. O'Connell and M. Seasholes

Keywords: Asset Pricing; Equity Investment; Forecasting and Prediction; Behavioral Finance; Stocks; Investment Return; Market Transactions; Performance Expectations; Personal Characteristics; Financial Services Industry

December 2000
Background Note

Intellectual Asset Valuation

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Gavin Clarkson

Discusses the shortcomings of the current "rules of thumb" for intellectual asset valuation in the context of intellectual property licensing transactions. As an alternative to the present scheme, this note proposes quantitative methods for such valuations in order to... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Intellectual Property