Publications

Educators

September 2020 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Eaton Corporation: Portfolio Transformation and The Cost of Capital

By: Benjamin C. Esty, E. Scott Mayfield and Daniel Fisher

In 2000, Eaton Corporation was a broadly diversified industrial conglomerate. But its strategy was evolving and its focus was narrowing around “power management” and more recently on “intelligent power,” the use of digitally enabled products and services designed to... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Conglomerates; Business Divisions; Cost of Capital; Corporate Finance; Value; Valuation; Industrial Products Industry; United States; Denmark; Republic of Ireland

Educators

29 Jul 2013
Research & Ideas

A Manager’s Moral Obligation to Preserve Capitalism

Most of us tend not to think of capitalism as a moral system. The prevailing view of the free market, among laypeople and economists alike, is that it's one step removed from the law of the jungle. But the fact is that View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

Eaton Corp.: Portfolio Transformation and the Cost of Capital

In 2000, Eaton Corporation was broadly diversified industrial conglomerate. But its strategy was evolving and its focus was narrowing around “power management” and more recently on “intelligent power,” the use of digitally enabled products and services designed... View Details

2023
Working Paper

Corporate Leaders Say They Are for Stakeholder Capitalism—But Which Version Exactly?: A Critical Look at Four Varieties

By: Lynn S. Paine

The past few years have seen an outpouring of articles and statements heralding the arrival of a new and more inclusive form of capitalism often called stakeholder capitalism. The new capitalism promises to strengthen companies, improve outcomes for their... View Details

Keywords: Stakeholder Capitalism; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Economic Systems; Business and Shareholder Relations

January 2021 (Revised June 2021)
Supplement

Eaton Corporation: Portfolio Transformation and The Cost of Capital (Abridged)

By: Benjamin C. Esty, E. Scott Mayfield and Daniel Fisher

In 2000, Eaton Corporation was a broadly diversified industrial conglomerate. But its strategy was evolving and its focus was narrowing around “power management” and more recently on “intelligent power,” the use of digitally enabled products and services designed to... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Conglomerates; Business Divisions; Cost of Capital; Corporate Finance; Value; Valuation; Industrial Products Industry; United States; Denmark; Republic of Ireland

What are we to do about declining public trust and confidence in democratic capitalism, which many citizens consider a cornerstone of our national ideology and identity? In this short book, I address how we can rekindle the fading light of democratic capitalism as... View Details

28 May 2019
Research & Ideas

Investor Lawsuits Against Auditors Are Falling, and That's Bad News for Capital Markets

it will make investors more wary of engaging in the capital markets.” Two Supreme Court decisions, although not the only reasons, appear to have made a difference, according to the researchers. The rulings in Tellabs v. Makor (2007) and... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Financial Services; Accounting

September 2020 (Revised June 2021)
Supplement

Eaton Corporation: Portfolio Transformation and The Cost of Capital

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Scott Mayfield and Daniel Fisher

In 2000, Eaton Corporation was a broadly diversified industrial conglomerate. But its strategy was evolving and its focus was narrowing around “power management” and more recently on “intelligent power,” the use of digitally enabled products and services designed to... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Conglomerates; Business Divisions; Cost of Capital; Corporate Finance; Value; Valuation; Industrial Products Industry; United States; Denmark; Republic of Ireland

August 2013
Article

The Price of Diversifiable Risk in Venture Capital and Private Equity

By: Michael Ewens, Charles Jones and Matthew Rhodes-Kropf

This paper explores the private equity and venture capital (VC) markets and extends the standard principal-agent problem between the investors and venture capitalist to show how it alters the interaction between the venture capitalist and the entrepreneur. Since the... View Details

Keywords: Price; Risk and Uncertainty; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Contracts; Investment; Competition; Agency Theory; Investment Return; Forecasting and Prediction; Theory; Diversification

2021
Working Paper

Elusive Safety: The New Geography of Capital Flows and Risk

By: Laura Alfaro, Ester Faia, Ruth Judson and Tim Schmidt-Eisenlohr

A confidential dataset with industry-level disaggregation of U.S. cross-border claims and liabilities, shows U.S. securities to be increasingly intermediated by tax-haven-financial-centers (THFC) and less regulated funds. These securities are risky, in... View Details

Keywords: Tax Havens; Financial Centers; Geography Of Flows; Profit Shifting; Tax Avoidance; Risk; Safe Assets; Hetergeneous Firms; Endogenous Entry; Endogenous Monitoring; Regulatory Arbitrage; Assets; Safety; Risk and Uncertainty; Capital; Global Range

Web

Field Course: Venture Capital Journey - Course Catalog

HBS Course Catalog Field Course: Venture Capital Journey Course Number 6728 Senior Lecturer Jeffrey Bussgang Fall; Q1Q2; 3.0 credits Paper Please see this video for more on this course. Click here for application (updated May 5, 2025)... View Details

27 Apr 2021
Research & Ideas

IPO or M&A? How Venture Capital Shapes a Startup's Future

syndicates, the study says. Public companies also typically require more infrastructure and legal support to handle shareholder and regulatory demands. “For a lot of entrepreneurs, it's just about the term sheet and how much equity... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

Web

Venture Capital and Private Equity - Course Catalog

Capital (Stephen Campbell, John Shumate) Yale Investments Office (Amy Chivetta, John Ryan, David Swensen) York Capital (Jeremy Blank, Bill Vrattos) Submissions: Some cases will View Details

08 Dec 2021
Blog Post

The Drive to Succeed: Silvio Memme (MBA 2020) of OMERS Ventures and His Career Switch into Venture Capital

looked at a goal others said was impossible and found a way. And specifically, how Memme broke into Venture Capital from the automotive industry and launched a new stage of his career utilizing his unique perspective and transferable... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital

August 2020
Article

Machine Learning and Human Capital Complementarities: Experimental Evidence on Bias Mitigation

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury, Evan Starr and Rajshree Agarwal

The use of machine learning (ML) for productivity in the knowledge economy requires considerations of important biases that may arise from ML predictions. We define a new source of bias related to incompleteness in real time inputs, which may result from strategic... View Details

Keywords: Machine Learning; Bias; Human Capital; Management; Strategy

Find at Harvard

Web

IFC: Israel; Startups and Venture Capital - Course Catalog

HBS Course Catalog IFC: Israel; Startups and Venture Capital Course Number 6048 Professor Paul Gompers Baker Foundation Professor Richard Ruback January; J; 3.0 credits Fall On-Campus Course Sessions: Thursday sessions: 3:10-5:10pm:... View Details

29 May 2009
Research Event

Business Summit: Introduction to the Future of Market Capitalism

business leaders with the understanding, skills, and values to embrace these challenges. Key concepts include: Market capitalism has propelled unprecedented global prosperity. While optimistic about market capitalism, global business... View Details

Keywords: Re: Joseph L. Bower

October 2007
Article

The Influence of Financial Statement Recognition and Analyst Coverage on the Market's Valuation of R&D Capital

By: Michael D. Kimbrough

Statement of Financial Accounting Standards 141 (SFAS No. 141)'s requirement that an acquirer in a business combination estimate the fair value of the target's separately identifiable assets and liabilities (including research and development capital) provides a rare... View Details

Keywords: Information; Value Creation; Fair Value Accounting; Research and Development; Financial Statements; Capital

September–October 2023
Article

What Does 'Stakeholder Capitalism' Mean to You?: A Guide to the Four Main Types

By: Lynn S. Paine

Business leaders are being urged to adopt a multistakeholder approach to governance in place of the shareholder-centered approach that has guided their work for several decades. But through hundreds of interviews with directors, executives, investors, governance... View Details

Keywords: Stakeholder Capitalism; Corporate Governance; Business and Shareholder Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Organizational Structure; Trust