Publications

2024
Working Paper

How Do Global Portfolio Investors Hedge Currency Risk?

By: Robin Greenwood and Alex Cheema-Fox

We use monthly portfolio data from one of the world’s largest custodian banks, with over $40 trillion assets under custody, to study how global portfolio investors hedge foreign exchange risk in their equity and fixed income portfolios over the past 25 years. The data... View Details

Keywords: Investment Portfolio; Investment Funds; Currency; Risk and Uncertainty

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May 2018 (Revised October 2018)
Case

Argentina Power—Don't Cry for Me Argentina

By: Nori Gerardo Lietz and Sayiddah Fatima McCree

In 2016, Bruce Wayne, Managing Director of Energy Finance Corporation (“EFC”), was refining the Investment/Credit Committee materials for the development of up to 10 power generating plants in Argentina. As a subsidiary of the much larger International Conglomerate... View Details

Keywords: Cross Border; Energy Markets; Infrastructure Finance; Infrastructure Development; Business Subsidiaries; Business Cycles; Macroeconomics; Energy Generation; International Finance; Project Finance; Government and Politics; Demand and Consumers; Infrastructure; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; Argentina; Latin America

19 Jan 2011
Research & Ideas

Activist Board Members Increase Firm’s Market Value

government's regulatory efforts to increase shareholder power at the board level following the recent financial crisis. To help answer that question, three Harvard Business School professors performed a natural experiment made possible by... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

August 2015
Article

Poultry in Motion: A Study of International Trade Finance Practices

By: Pol Antràs and C. Fritz Foley

This paper analyzes the financing terms that support international trade and sheds light on how these terms shape the impact of economic shocks on trade. Analysis of transaction-level data from a U.S.-based exporter of frozen and refrigerated food products, primarily... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; International Finance; Financing and Loans; Trade

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04 Dec 2007
First Look

First Look: December 4, 2007

belief that one can talk about errors without risk of punishment—and problem-solving efficacy—the belief that the organization will support employees' system improvement efforts—were positively correlated with frontline system improvement... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

June 2018
Article

Deviations from Covered Interest Rate Parity

By: Wenxin Du, Alexander Tepper and Adrien Verdelhan

We find that deviations from the covered interest rate parity (CIP) condition imply large, persistent, and systematic arbitrage opportunities in one of the largest asset markets in the world. Contrary to the common view, these deviations for major currencies are not... View Details

Keywords: Interest Rates; Financial Markets; Banks and Banking; Price

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June 2020
Supplement

RBC: Transforming Transformation (B)

By: Ethan Bernstein, Francesca Gino and Aldo Sesia

In 2017, the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), a Canadian financial icon, mandated a swat team of “enablers of collaboration” (their job description) to support the personal and commercial bank in the enterprise-wide RBC Cultural Transformation initiative. Historically,... View Details

Keywords: Service Delivery; Information Technology; Transformation; Change Management; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Management; Decision Making; Human Resources; Management Systems; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Groups and Teams; Management Teams; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; Canada

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

22 Jul 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Banks as Patient Fixed-Income Investors

Keywords: by Samuel G. Hanson, Andrei Shleifer, Jeremy C. Stein & Robert W. Vishny; Banking

27 Oct 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Stock Price Fragility

Keywords: by Robin Greenwood & David Thesmar

August 1996 (Revised December 1999)
Case

J Boats, Inc.

By: Robert L. Simons

During the 20-year evolution of a family-owned, entrepreneurial sailboat company, two founders leverage their design and marketing skills to build one of the most recognized brands in the recreational boating industry. The founder then considers management succession... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Family Business; Risk Management; Financial Management; Leveraged Buyouts; Brands and Branding; Competitive Strategy; Capital Markets; Valuation; Shipping Industry; Transportation Industry

June 2017
Article

Options Compensation as a Commitment Mechanism in Oligopoly Competition

By: Jun Ishii and David Hao Zhang

We analyze how CEO stock options compensation can be used as a commitment device in oligopolistic competition. We develop a two-stage model where shareholders choose managerial compensation to commit their managers to being aggressive in equilibrium. Our results may... View Details

Keywords: CEO Compensation; Ceo Risk-taking; Strategic Delegation; Stock Options; Executive Compensation

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January 2021
Supplement

What Went Wrong with Boeing’s 737 Max? (B)

By: William W. George and Amram Migdal

Following the March 10, 2019, crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight 302, en route to Nairobi, Kenya and the October 29, 2018, downing of Lion Air flight 610 as it took off from Jakarta, Indonesia, Boeing’s 737 Max jet, the model flown in both instances, was grounded by... View Details

Spring 2024
Article

The Evolution of Banking in the 21st Century: Evidence and Regulatory Implications

By: Samuel Gregory Hanson, Victoria Ivashina, Laura Nicolae, Jeremy C. Stein, Adi Sunderam and Daniel K. Tarullo

As revealed by the failures of three regional banks in the spring of 2023, bank runs are not a thing of the past. To inform the ongoing discussion of the appropriate regulatory response, we examine trends in the banking industry over the last twenty-five years. On the... View Details

Keywords: Financial Instruments; Financial Crisis; Assets; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Financial Condition; Banking Industry

August 2017
Case

Turkish Economy Bank and Fortis Bank: Managing a Complex Merger

By: Stuart C. Gilson, Esel Çekin and Sarah L. Abbott

Following the announcement of the merger of the Turkish Economic Bank (TEB) and Fortis Bank AS, Varol Civil, TEB's CEO, is faced with the task of executing the merger of these two entities. First, all parties must agree to the economic terms of this merger; a process... View Details

Keywords: M＆A; Turkey; Banking; Restructuring; Financial Institutions; Change Management; Mergers and Acquisitions; Banking Industry; Turkey

11 Dec 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, December 11, 2018

acknowledged, oral history can still be seen as a critical source of data on opinions, voices, and judgements on events in which there was often silence in written records. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=55332 A Measure of View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

2009
Working Paper

Don't Just Survive - Thrive: Leading Innovation in Good Times and Bad

By: Lynda M. Applegate and J. Bruce Harreld

Battered by contracting markets and frozen credit, many businesses today are fighting for survival. Indeed, the current global financial crisis provides a mandate for restructuring. But survival is not the end goal. In fact, cost cutting and restructuring are simply... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Risk Management; Leading Change; Innovation and Management; Crisis Management; Growth and Development Strategy

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June 2008 (Revised October 2008)
Case

International Carbon Finance and EcoSecurities

By: Andre F. Perold, Forest L. Reinhardt and Mikell Hyman

In late 2007, EcoSecurities had to decide whether to undertake a new Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project in China. EcoSecurities was an aggregator of carbon credits and also invested directly in projects that produced carbon credits. Governments and firms... View Details

Keywords: Non-Renewable Energy; Cost Management; Investment Return; Business and Government Relations; Risk and Uncertainty; Investment; Cash Flow; Valuation; Pollutants; Environmental Sustainability; Financial Services Industry; China