Publications

June 2011 (Revised October 2012)
Case

Patagonia Sur: For-Profit Land Conservation in Chile

By: Arthur I Segel, Nicolas Ibanez and Jay Verjee

Warren Adams founded Patagonia Sur in 2007 as one of the world's first for-profit land conservation businesses. His goal was to purchase over 100,000 acres of land in southern Chile and to run a variety of sustainable businesses to generate annual returns for... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Environmental Sustainability; Profit; Investment; For-Profit Firms; Entrepreneurship; Investment Return; Revenue; Risk and Uncertainty; Capital; SWOT Analysis; Real Estate Industry; Chile

Carl Kester is a Baker Foundation Professor and the George Fisher Baker Jr. Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus at Harvard Business School. He is a member of the Finance Unit. He served as Deputy Dean for Academic Affairs (2006-2010), Chairman of the... View Details

Keywords: asset management; asset management; asset management; asset management; asset management; asset management; asset management

29 Sep 2009
First Look

First Look: September 29

has good information about cost and demand functions, product quality, and optimal output mix. Profit centers—defined as business units whose managers have responsibility for... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

April 2005 (Revised September 2005)
Case

Pegasus Capital: The Musimundo Decision

By: Michael Chu and Barbara Zepp Larson

The five managing directors of Pegasus Capital were meeting in June 2003 to make a go/no-go decision regarding the investment of Musimundo, one of the largest entertainment retailers in Argentina. Just four days before the planned closing of the sale, Pegasus' 50%... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Debates; Decision Choices and Conditions; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Financial Crisis; Music Entertainment; Investment; Business or Company Management; Risk and Uncertainty; Opportunities; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Argentina

November 2016 (Revised March 2018)
Case

Deutsche Bank: Structured Retail Products

By: Boris Vallée and Jérôme Lenhardt

Describes how Deutsche Bank, a leading European bank, is deciding whether or not to launch a new structured retail product in Germany: an autocallable note. Will this product find a market and how does it fit into the bank’s product portfolio? The case investigates how... View Details

August 2024 (Revised March 2025)
Case

DBS' AI Journey

By: Feng Zhu, Harold Zhu and Adina Wong

Headquartered in Singapore, DBS Bank, one of Asia's leading financial services groups, embarked on a multi-year digital transformation under CEO Piyush Gupta in 2014. It was then that DBS also began experimenting with AI to drive value for the business and customers.... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; AI and Machine Learning; Digital Transformation; Risk Management; Value Creation; Banking Industry; Banking Industry; Asia; Singapore

September 2024 (Revised January 2025)
Teaching Note

Leading Culture Change at SEB

By: Amy Edmondson and Cat Huang

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 621-074. The Risk organization at SEB, a leading Nordic financial services group founded in 1856, undertook a culture change program focused on psychological safety, empathic listening, and strategic framing. The program enabled risk... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Leading Change; Organizational Culture; Decision Making; Banking Industry; Banking Industry; Sweden

30 Oct 2006
First Look

First Look: October 31, 2006

capital are also important for the effect of FDI on economic growth. Download working paper: http://papers.nber.org/papers/W12522 A New Framework for Analyzing and Managing... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

21 Aug 2006
Research & Ideas

How Europe Wrote the Rules of Global Finance

1998 as part of its management of an apparently ongoing crisis. The reaction of the international financial community—and some of my students—was severe. The capital controls were labeled... View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen

22 Jun 2009
Research & Ideas

“Too Big To Fail”: Reining In Large Financial Firms

for the first time, define and limit. Second, companies that create systemic risk should bear the cost of insuring against it, just as commercial banks pay into an FDIC... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson; Banking; Banking

23 Oct 2012
First Look

First Look: October 23

decisions and structure. Was this typical of an investment in China or did Bain Capital just find itself in a unique situation? What can future managers learn from this... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 2017
Teaching Note

Partners Group: Ain't No Mountain High Enough

By: Nori Gerardo Lietz

Partners Group (PG), a Swiss-based PE manager, initiated a series of strategic shifts and evolved from a predominately fund-of-funds manager into a large, multi-asset class PE firm focused on direct investments. PG was the first PE firm to go public in 2006. A number... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Entrepreneurship; Management Practices and Processes; Private Equity

December 2009 (Revised February 2010)
Case

The Investment Fund for Foundations (TIFF) in 2009

By: Luis M. Viceira and Brendon Christopher Parry

In late June 2009, management at The Investment Fund for Foundations (TIFF) was considering expanding the footprint of the TIFF Diversified Fund (TDF), the first truly comprehensive endowment management vehicle offered under the TIFF banner. The recent large capital... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Asset Management; Financial Strategy; Investment Funds; Risk Management; Product Marketing; Financial Services Industry; United States

2014
Case

Microfinance Services in Rural Areas--Farmers' Self-reliance Branch of CFPA Microfinance in Shangyi County

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Siqun Yang and Meihua Shen

Microfinance is introduced into China in the 1990s. It had gone through 3 phases since the beginning, namely the pilot phase when all Microfinance practices are sponsored by charity funds based on projects, the promotion phase when the government subsidized some... View Details

Keywords: Rural Entrepreneurship; Value Added; China; Risk Management; Microfinance; China

26 Apr 2011
First Look

First Look: April 26

PublicationsManagement Accounting: Information for Decision Making and Strategy Execution Authors:Anthony A. Atkinson, Robert S. Kaplan, Ella Mae Matsumura, and S. Mark Young Publication:. Pearson... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

24 Jun 2014
First Look

First Look: June 24

of trade finance terms is shaped by the risk that an importer defaults on an exporter and by the possibility that an exporter does not deliver goods as specified in the contract. The empirical results... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Clayton S. Rose

Clayton Rose is Baker Foundation Professor of Management Practice and teaches the course Accountability in the Advanced Management Program. His case writing is focused on the how leaders consider the... View Details

Keywords: financial services

February 1995 (Revised September 1995)
Case

The Bourland Companies

By: William J. Poorvu and John H. Vogel Jr.

Michael Bourland, the president of the Bourland Companies, needs to refinance two properties, an office building in southern New Hampshire and a retail property in Massachusetts. He is considering three alternatives: a renewal of a bank mini-perm, a 15-year mortgage... View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Property; Mortgages; Family Business; Financial Management; Family Ownership; Real Estate Industry; Massachusetts; North and Central America

December 2002 (Revised June 2003)
Case

Rabobank Group: Leadership Role in Global Agribusiness

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Hal Hogan

The largest global agribusiness bank has lost its triple A rating and is rethinking its global strategy as the leading global food and agribusiness bank. How does it position itself in the vertical value-added global food system? View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Globalization; Finance; Risk Management; Global Strategy; Value Creation; Banking Industry; Banking Industry