Publications

Article

Short-Termism and Capital Flows

By: Jesse M. Fried and Charles C.Y. Wang

During 2007–2016, S&P 500 firms distributed to shareholders $7 trillion via buybacks and dividends, over 96% of their aggregate net income, prompting claims that "short-termism" is impairing firms' ability to invest and innovate. We show that, when taking into account... View Details

Keywords: Short-termism; Quarterly Capitalism; Share Buybacks; Open Market Repurchases; Dividends; Equity Issuances; Seasoned Equity Offerings; Equity Compensastion; Acquisitions; Payout Policy; Capital Flows; Capital Distribution; Working Capital; Business and Shareholder Relations; Acquisition

May 2001 (Revised February 2007)
Background Note

Statement of Cash Flows, The

By: David F. Hawkins and Jacob Cohen

Discusses the components of the statement of cash flow and its direct and indirect format of presentation. Also briefly explains the difference between cash and accrual accounting and provides examples of Standard Microsystems Corp. and Intel Corp. View Details

Keywords: Cash Flow; Financial Statements; Accrual Accounting

December 1998
Background Note

Cash Management Practices in Small Companies

By: H. Kent Bowen, Andrew R. Jassy, Laurence E. Katz, Kevin E. Kelly and Baltej Kochar

Most small business managers claim that cash management is their leading concern. Often walking a tightrope between growth and illiquidity, small business managers face different cash management challenges than their counterparts in larger companies. Compared to larger... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Working Capital; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Design; Cash; Forecasting and Prediction; Policy; Business Strategy

24 Apr 2014
News

Cash flow struggles can take down a company or spark ideas that transform an industry

Plans that Jonathan Bush (MBA 1997) had for an obstetrics practice ran into trouble when faced with unpaid claims and problems tracking patient records. In that, Bush saw an opportunity that forever changed the health records services industry. Record-keeping... View Details

02 Nov 2016
Op-Ed

Government and Financial Tech Can Fix Cash Woes for Small Businesses

Ask any small business owner and they will tell you that cash flow is on their mind pretty much all the time. This isn’t surprising, given that they are continuously managing dollars coming in from customers... View Details

Keywords: by Karen Mills

27 Apr 2017
News

Going with the Flow

“Where’s your cash register? I don’t hear the cash register ringing.” Cynthia Fisher (MBA 1990) still recalls the first words her father, a small-town accountant, uttered when he visited ViaCord’s startup... View Details

11 May 2017
News

Going with the Flow

cash flow. “My father had a CPA firm and occasionally acted as an angel investor,” she says. “In all, he helped start 30 different businesses in our area. He occasionally brought my sisters and me into the businesses as a learning... View Details

Keywords: Robert S. Benchley

May 2007
Article

Capital Flows and Capital Goods

By: Laura Alfaro and Eliza Hammel

Studying the relation between equity market liberalization and imports of capital goods, we examine one channel through which international financial integration can promote growth. For the period 1980–1997, we find that after controlling for other policies and... View Details

Keywords: Cash Flow; Equity; Financial Markets; Economy; Distribution Channels; Machinery and Machining; Capital

Find at Harvard

Read Now

26 Aug 2009
Op-Ed

Where Cash for Clunkers Ran Off the Road

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. Today, let us celebrate the end of an unjustifiable drain on the U.S.... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Auto

February 2022 (Revised November 2022)
Case

Nuritas

By: Mitchell Weiss, Satish Tadikonda, Vincent Dessain and Emer Moloney

Nora Khaldi had built a technology “to unlock the power of nature” in the service of extending human lifespan and improving health, and now in April 2020 was debating telling her Board of Directors she wanted to put on ice some of her discoveries. Nuritas, the company... View Details

Keywords: Cash Burn; Cash Flow Analysis; Pharmaceutical Companies; Founder; Artificial Intelligence; AI; Entrepreneurship; Health Testing and Trials; Health Care and Treatment; Decision Making; Market Entry and Exit; AI and Machine Learning; Pharmaceutical Industry

September 2006
Article

Discussion of 'Overinvestment of Free Cash Flow'

Keywords: Investment; Cash Flow

Find at Harvard

June 1993 (Revised April 1996)
Teaching Note

Statements of Cash Flows: Three Examples TN

By: William J. Bruns Jr. and Julie H. Hertenstein

Teaching Note for (9-193-103). View Details

Keywords: Cash Flow; Financial Statements

April 2016
Supplement

Preparing a Concession Bid at TAV Airports Holding

By: C. Fritz Foley and Çiğdem Çelik

In 2013, TAV Airports Holding prepared a bid for the concession to build and operate the third Istanbul airport. This process involved input from various parts of the firm with operating and financial expertise. Burcu Geriş, the CFO of TAV Airports Holding, and her... View Details

Keywords: Project Finance; Infrastructure Development; Equity Cash Flows; Capital Budgeting; Valuation; Financial Management; Financing and Loans; Air Transportation Industry; Transportation Industry; Turkey

March 2016
Case

Preparing a Concession Bid at TAV Airports Holding

By: C. Fritz Foley and Çiğdem Çelik

In 2013, TAV Airports Holding prepared a bid for the concession to build and operate the third Istanbul airport. This process involved input from various parts of the firm with operating and financial expertise. Burcu Geriş, the CFO of TAV Airports Holding, and her... View Details

Keywords: Project Finance; Infrastructure Development; Equity Cash Flows; Capital Budgeting; Valuation; Financial Management; Financing and Loans; Turkey

01 Feb 2017
News

The Morning Risk Report: Corporate Cash Distribution Isn’t Short-Termism Culprit

June 2013
Teaching Note

Bonne Chance

By: Jim Sharpe and Ian Cornell

This is a teaching note related to HBS Case 813049. View Details

Keywords: Turnaround; Turnarounds; Bankruptcy; Bankruptcy Reorganization; Cash Flow; Cash; Forecasting; Bank Debt; Distressed Debt; Forecasting and Prediction; Entrepreneurship; Retail Industry; United States

January 2018
Case

OldTown Berhad

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Greg Saldutte

In December 2017, Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE, a Dutch coffee company) made an offer to acquire OldTown Berhad (OTB), a Malaysian coffee company. Three large shareholders, representing more than half of the outstanding shares, have agreed to tender their shares, and... View Details