Publications

October 2024
Case

Tonik

By: Andy Wu, Maliha Malek Quadir and Aticus Peterson

This case study examines Tonik, the first digital bank in the Philippines, as it navigates the challenges of scaling its lending operations and achieving profitability in an evolving fintech landscape. It explores Tonik's journey from its launch in 2018 to early 2024,... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Financing and Loans; Profit; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Growth and Development Strategy; Emerging Markets; Entrepreneurship; Product; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; Technology Industry; Philippines

2019
Article

Pay-for-Monopoly?: An Assessment of Reverse Payment Deals by Pharmaceutical Companies

By: Sana Rafiq and Max Bazerman

Abstract Over the past eighteen years, pharmaceutical firms have developed a blueprint to impede competition in order to maintain their monopoly profits. This scheme, termed pay-for-delay, involves direct or indirect payment of money from a branded-drug manufacturer... View Details

Keywords: Monopoly; Policy; Competition; Agreements and Arrangements; Pharmaceutical Industry

Read Now

14 Jul 2015
First Look

First Look: July 14, 2015

Case 315-109 Pearson Affordable Learning Fund An in-house venture capital fund for affordable private schools at the base of the pyramid established by Pearson, the world's largest education company, PALF... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

16 Jun 2008
Research & Ideas

Seven Tips for Managing Price Increases

Editor's Note: Harvard Business School professor John Quelch writes a blog on marketing issues, called Marketing Know: How, for Harvard Business Online. It is reprinted on HBS Working Knowledge. When driving... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch

2022
Working Paper

The Fed and the Secular Decline in Interest Rates

By: Sebastian Hillenbrand

In this paper I document a striking fact: a narrow window around Fed meetings fully captures the secular decline in U.S. Treasury yields since 1980. By contrast, yield movements outside this window are transitory and wash out over time. This is surprising because the... View Details

Keywords: United States Treasury; Monetary Policy; Yield Curve; Central Banking; Interest Rates; Valuation

SSRN

January 1994 (Revised April 1995)
Case

Judo Economics

The early 1990s saw a new wave of start-ups in the U.S. airline business. One entrant, Kiwi International Air Lines, took to the skies in September 1992 with a strategy of attracting small-business travelers looking to save money but lacking the flexibility to book in... View Details

Keywords: Market Entry and Exit; Competitive Advantage; Business Startups; Air Transportation Industry; Financial Services Industry

January 2025
Case

Index and Active Investing: Vanguard and the New Frontier of Active ETFs

By: Marco Sammon, Luis M. Viceira and Jonathan Kanagasabai

This case explores Vanguard’s strategic decision-making process as it considers entering the growing market for actively managed exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Set in 2024, the case places students in the position of Rodney Comegys, Vanguard’s global head of the Equity... View Details

Keywords: Asset Management; Financial Strategy; Investment Funds; Investment Portfolio; Financial Services Industry

22 Dec 2020
News

Dove: Maintaining a Brand with Purpose

June 1990 (Revised August 1990)
Case

Sun Microsystems, Inc.--1987 (A)

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

An integrated sequence of three cases on the financing of a technical workstation manufacturer. This case focuses on Sun's competitive strategy which requires an inordinately high rate of growth (over 20% per quarter) and commensurate amounts of working capital.... View Details

Keywords: Cash Flow; Competitive Strategy; Financing and Loans; Capital; Financial Strategy; Public Equity; Corporate Finance; Information Technology Industry

13 Jul 2020
News

Roles Foundations Play in Shaping Impact Investing

28 Oct 2009
Lessons from the Classroom

HBS Begins Teaching Consumer Finance

look at what functions they perform. In the classroom, we study four functions: payments, movements of money from today to tomorrow (savings and investing), movements of money from tomorrow back to today... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson; Financial Services; Education

August 1992 (Revised June 1993)
Case

Compania de Telefonos de Chile

By: W. Carl Kester, Enrique Ostale and Charles McHugh La Follette

The newly privatized Chilean telephone company, Compania de Telefonos de Chile (CTC) must raise substantial new funds externally in order to finance its expansion program. This task is complicated by Chile's small, illiquid capital markets and the skeptical view of... View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Financing and Loans; Managerial Roles; Privatization; Expansion; Telecommunications Industry; South America; Chile

July 2020
Case

Mortgage Backed Securities and the Covid-19 Pandemic

By: Emil N. Siriwardane, Luis M. Viceira and Dean Xu

In April 2020, global financial markets were still reeling as the COVID-19 pandemic spread rapidly across the world. Global equity markets had initially fallen by 30% in response to the pandemic, and high-yield credit markets had dropped by nearly 20%. In contrast,... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Mortgage-backed Securities; Health Pandemics; Financial Markets; Assets; Resource Allocation; Financial Instruments; Decision Making

December 2004 (Revised March 2007)
Case

Cutlass Capital, L.P.

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Brian DeLacey

David Hetz and Jon Osgood are forming a new venture capital fund in 2001 to invest in health care start-ups. Describes their fundraising activities at a time when venture capital investing has reached an all-time high. Although their background skills and experiences... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Negotiation Process; Entrepreneurship; Investment Funds; Health Care and Treatment; Business Startups; Health Industry; United States

Brian Trelstad is a Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School in the General Management Unit and the Faculty Chair of the Advanced Leadership Initiative. He teaches elective courses on Social Entrepreneurship and Systems... View Details

Keywords: emerging market private equity; emerging market private equity; emerging market private equity; emerging market private equity; emerging market private equity; emerging market private equity

May 2022 (Revised December 2023)
Case

Founder Collective

By: Jo Tango and Alys Ferragamo

Founder Collective ("FC") launched in 2009 with a clear mission: to be the most aligned fund for founders at the seed stage. In keeping with its mission, FC maintained smaller fund sizes and was not a lifecycle investor. By November of 2021, the seed market had become... View Details

Keywords: Seed Investing; Business Startups; Mission and Purpose; Investment; Competitive Strategy; Venture Capital

August 1993 (Revised December 1993)
Case

Scudder, Stevens & Clark

By: Jay O. Light and James O. Sailer

A large multi-product investment counseling firm considers its positioning in the mutual fund business. View Details

Keywords: Investment; Investment Funds; Product Positioning; Consulting Industry; Service Industry