Publications

19 Feb 2021
News

A Playbook for Progress

corporate America for many, many years. What do you think it takes to actually achieve inclusive leadership? What should be different now? Bonita: This was a moment I think for all leaders, there was so much that was going on last year in... View Details

August 2024 (Revised November 2024)
Case

Mercado Bitcoin: M&A, IPO, or Series B?

By: Raymond Kluender, Emanuele Colonnelli, Sabrina T. Howell and Karina Souza

In April 2021, Brazilian cryptocurrency platform Mercado Bitcoin had to decide how to scale: go public, M&A with a bank, or take a VC big check. In a highly volatile market, Roberto Dagnoni, chairman of the board, viewed the unprecedent crypto momentum as a window of... View Details

January 2025
Case

PayJoy: Financing for the Next Billion

By: Boris Groysberg and Sarah L. Abbott

PayJoy, an impact-driven financial technology company founded in 2015, provides smartphone financing and other financial products to customers who lack access to traditional credit products. As of early 2025, PayJoy had issued $2.5 billion in loans to 13 million... View Details

July 2018 (Revised July 2018)
Teaching Note

Argentina Power—Don’t Cry for Me Argentina

By: Nori Gerardo Lietz and Sayiddah Fatima McCree

Teaching Note for HBS No. 218-041. This case concerns a complex potential energy infrastructure investment in Argentina by a global conglomerate shortly after Mauricio Macri (“Macri”) became President of Argentina in 2015. The central issues are (i) why was a country... View Details

Keywords: Argentina; Argentine Exceptionalism; Infrastructure Finance; Investing; Finance; Inflation and Deflation; Government and Politics; Energy Generation; Infrastructure; Utilities Industry; Energy Industry; Financial Services Industry; Argentina; South America

March 2013
Teaching Note

Colbún and the Future of Chile's Power (TN)

By: Forest L. Reinhardt and Shon R. Hiatt

Keywords: Energy Industry; Chile; South America

October 2012 (Revised June 2013)
Case

YPF — The Argentine Oil Nationalization of 2012

By: Noel Maurer and Gustavo A. Herrero

Keywords: Oil Prices; Energy; Energy Conservation; Energy Industry; Argentina; South America

August 2012 (Revised August 2013)
Case

Día Día Practimercados: Meeting the Daily Needs at the Base of the Pyramid (A)

By: Michael Chu, Regina Garcia-Cuellar and Rosa Amelia Gonzalez

Keywords: Venezuela; South America

January 2008
Case

Procter & Gamble Brazil (A): 2 1/2 Turnarounds

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Matthew Bird

Juliana Azevedo Schahin, a local marketing director for Procter & Gamble in Sao Paulo, had worked closely with Tarek Fahahat, a regional executive based in Caracas, to solve the growth and profitability problems of P&G Brazil. They did so through the creation of... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Brands and Branding; Demand and Consumers; Product Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Expansion; Consumer Products Industry; Caracas

2024
Working Paper

Anti-Political-Establishment Citizens: An In-Depth Study from Two Latin American Countries

By: Loreto Cox and Natalia Garbiras-Diaz

Building on citizens’ animosity towards politicians, anti-establishment parties and candidates have achieved significant electoral success. While recent studies examine the supply-side, we know little about what drives citizens’ anti-establishment sentiments and how... View Details

Keywords: Political Parties; Political Instability; Democracy; Elections; Electoral Behavior; Election Outcomes; Ideology; Political Elections; Policy; Governance; Government and Politics; Social Issues; Society; Perception; Crime and Corruption; Latin America; South America; Colombia; Peru

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November 2003 (Revised March 2004)
Case

Drilling South: Petrobras Evaluates Pecom

By: Mihir A. Desai and Ricardo Reisen de Pinho

The Brazilian oil company, Petrobras, is evaluating the acquisition of an Argentine oil company, the Perez Companc Group (Pecom). The acquisition would increase Petrobras' oil reserves and expand its interests outside Brazil, a significant step for the largest company... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Forecasting and Prediction; Financial Crisis; Non-Renewable Energy; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Corporate Governance; Risk Management; Emerging Markets; State Ownership; Performance Evaluation; Risk and Uncertainty; Valuation; Energy Industry; Argentina; Brazil

September 1998 (Revised July 2009)
Case

Power Across Latin America: Endesa de Chile

Endesa, a privatized Chilean electricity generator, has made significant investments in the privatization of Argentina's electricity sector and is now contemplating an even larger privatization opportunity in Peru. In deciding how much to bid in Peru, Endesa must... View Details

Keywords: Expansion; Energy Generation; Privatization; Government and Politics; Utilities Industry; Peru; Chile

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2003
Report

Effectiveness of Stakeholder Participation Processes: Yacyretá Hydroelectric Project, Paraguay and Argentina (LAC Region)

By: Alnoor Ebrahim

Keywords: Business and Stakeholder Relations; Corporate Governance; Performance Effectiveness; Energy Industry; Paraguay; Argentina

February 2007 (Revised April 2007)
Case

Banca Regional Andino: Facing the Globalization of Microfinance

By: Michael Chu and Jean Hazell

Three leading Latin American microfinance banks join forces to face the new challenges of globalization, competition, and politics while common shareholder ACCION investments considers its options. From an initial project to share costs in the revamping of their IT... View Details

Keywords: History; Microfinance; Competitive Strategy; Globalization; Problems and Challenges; Growth and Development; Bolivia; Ecuador; Peru

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March 2011 (Revised February 2012)
Supplement

Cosmeticos de Espana, S.A. (E)

By: David F. Hawkins

Spanish parent company must decide on the Euro/BsF exchange rate to translate its Venezuelan subsidiary's financial statements into Euros. View Details

Keywords: Financial Statements; Business Subsidiaries; Decision Choices and Conditions; Currency Exchange Rate; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Spain; Venezuela

August 2010 (Revised November 2010)
Supplement

Cosmeticos de Espana, S.A. (C)

By: David F. Hawkins

The third case in the Cosmeticos de Espana case series. What should management's accounting response be to a further devaluation of the Bolivar? View Details

Keywords: Financial Statements; Decision Choices and Conditions; Inflation and Deflation; Currency Exchange Rate; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Spain; Venezuela

May 2008
Article

Why Doesn't Capital Flow from Rich to Poor Countries? An Empirical Investigation

By: Laura Alfaro, Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan and Vadym Volosovych

We examine the empirical role of different explanations for the lack of capital flows from rich to poor countries—the "Lucas Paradox." The theoretical explanations include cross country differences in fundamentals affecting productivity and capital market... View Details

Keywords: International Finance; Wealth and Poverty; Development Economics; Income; Capital Markets; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Australia; Peru

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September 1996 (Revised June 1998)
Case

InterSoft of Argentina (B)

By: Linda A. Hill and Stacy Palestrant

Focuses on InterSoft of Argentina, a growing software company in Argentina. In 1993, InterSoft acquires a Russian software company and Emilo Lopez, the vice president and director of InterSoft's Systems Software Lab, must manage a creative, cross-cultural, "virtual"... View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Business Growth and Maturation; Mergers and Acquisitions; Management Teams; Groups and Teams; Partners and Partnerships; Conflict Management; Information Technology Industry; Argentina; Russia