Publications

June 2020
Case

Recovering Trust After Corporate Misconduct at Wells Fargo

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Jonah S. Goldberg

The case describes widespread misconduct at Wells Fargo Community Bank in the period leading up to 2017 and the company’s subsequent attempts to improve internal controls, company culture, and corporate governance. The case examines the potential causes of large scale... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Misconduct; Internal Controls; Banks and Banking; Crime and Corruption; Corporate Governance; Organizational Culture; Governance Compliance; Management Systems; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance Improvement; Governing and Advisory Boards

June 2016
Supplement

Supply Chain Finance at Procter & Gamble Spreadsheet Supplement

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Scott Mayfield and David Lane

In April 2013, Procter & Gamble (P&G), the world’s largest consumer packaged goods (CPG) company, announced that it would extend its payment terms to suppliers by 30 days. At the same time, P&G announced a new supply chain financing (SCF) program giving suppliers the... View Details

1991
Other Unpublished Work

Japanese Corporate Finance and Governance: Implications for the Privatization of Eastern European Economies

By: David S. Scharfstein

Keywords: Privatization; Corporate Governance; Developing Countries and Economies; Corporate Finance; Japan; Europe

Summer 2020
Article

Venture Capital's Role in Financing Innovation: What We Know and How Much We Still Need to Learn

By: Josh Lerner and Ramana Nanda

Venture capital is associated with some of the most high-growth and influential firms in the world. Academics and practitioners have effectively articulated the strengths of the venture model. At the same time, venture capital financing also has real limitations in its... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Financing; Venture Capital; Financing and Loans; Technological Innovation

Find at Harvard

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February 2014 (Revised October 2019)
Case

Should Corporate Profits Be Taxed? (A)

By: Matthew Weinzierl, Katrina Flanagan and Michael Cianellli

Taxing corporations is popular, but why? Corporations do not bear the burden of taxes, people do, and the incidence of the corporate income tax burden is likely to be far different from what many of its supporters assume.
Instructors may also obtain a Teaching... View Details

Keywords: Economic Versus Statutory Incidence; Basics Of Corporate Taxation; Business Ventures; Taxation; Profit

June 2017 (Revised August 2018)
Supplement

Making Target the Target: Boycotts and Corporate Political Activity (B)

By: Nien-hê Hsieh and Victor Wu

Supplements the (A) Case. View Details

1994
Other Unpublished Work

Interest Allocation Rules and the Changing Cost of Debt Finance

By: K. A. Froot and J. Hines

Keywords: Corporation Taxation; Interest Deductibility; Cost of Capital; Taxation; Interest Rates; Borrowing and Debt; Corporate Finance

2017
Working Paper

Lessons Unlearned? Corporate Debt in Emerging Markets

By: Laura Alfaro, Gonzalo Asis, Anusha Chari and Ugo Panizza

This paper documents a set of new stylized facts about leverage and financial fragility for emerging market firms following the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). Corporate debt vulnerability indicators during the Asian Financial Crisis (AFC) attributed to corporate... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Debt; Financial Fragility; Firm-level Data; Large Firms; Emerging Markets; Borrowing and Debt; Corporate Finance; Financial Condition

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09 Jan 2010
News

Morgan Stanley-American Finance Association Award

01 Mar 2021
Blog Post

Climate Finance SIP

climate risk as an asset owner, measuring climate risk and using metrics in portfolio construction, incorporating physical climate risk into portfolio analysis. The last day turned to financing innovation with a focus on early stage... View Details

Teaching Interest

Executive Education: Finance for Senior Executives

By: Malcolm P. Baker

Finance for Senior Executives provides the frameworks to strategically use financial resources and position your company for future success. By examining corporate finance from both internal and external perspectives, this HBS Executive Education View Details

Program

Finance for Senior Executives

Summary When you can speak the language of finance, you have the power to build stronger strategies, expand your influence, and make better business decisions. Finance for Senior Executives delivers a foundation in View Details

December 2001 (Revised April 2003)
Case

Financing PPL Corporation's Growth Strategy

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Carrie Ferman

PPL Corp., an electric utility in Pennsylvania, needs to finance $1 billion of peaking plants as part of its new growth strategy. In February 2001, Steve May, director of finance for PPL's Global Division, is responsible for recommending a finance plan. After... View Details

Keywords: Financial Management; Financial Instruments; Project Finance; Financial Strategy; Corporate Finance; Leasing

February 2024 (Revised April 2024)
Case

Finberg: Corporate Venture Capital in Türkiye

By: Paul A. Gompers and Namrata Arora

In December 2021, Murat Özyeğin, Chairman of Fiba Holding, along with Ömer Mert and İhsan Elgin, engaged in discussions about the future of United Payment, a fintech company in which Finberg, a subsidiary of Fibabanka, held a 20% stake. Finberg, established in 2018 as... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Venture Capital; Technology; Return On Investment; Venture Capital; Investment; Strategy; Technological Innovation; Competition; Valuation; Acquisition; Business Startups; Information Technology Industry; Banking Industry; Middle East; North Africa; Turkey; Ukraine; Romania; Poland

January 2007 (Revised August 2008)
Case

NatuRi Corporation

By: Robert F. Higgins and Virginia Fuller

NatuRi Corporation was a start up, founded in 2005, aiming to manufacture a cholesterol-lowering drug made from the byproducts of rice bran oil production. With operations split between Chennai, India and Boston, Massachusetts, NatuRi faced several challenges,... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Equity; Investment Funds; Growth and Development Strategy; Chennai; Boston

Teaching Interest

Large-Scale Investment (LSI, MBA Elective Curriculum)

By: Benjamin C. Esty

Large-Scale Investment (LSI) is a case-based course about project finance that is designed for second-year MBA students. Project finance involves the creation of a legally independent project company financed with nonrecourse debt for the purpose of investing in a... View Details

Keywords: Project Finance; Corporate Finance; Corporate Governance; Valuation; Capital Budgeting

October 2020
Article

Corporate Legal Structure and Bank Loan Spread

By: Anywhere (Siko) Sikochi

This study examines how a corporate legal structure may affect borrowing costs. Corporate legal structure refers to the legal fragmentation of a firm into multiple, separately incorporated entities. This fragmentation is bound to be a factor when lenders determine the... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Legal Structure; Subsidiaries; Bank Loans; Minority Interest; Credit Risk; Organizational Structure; Business Subsidiaries; Financing and Loans

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2013
Working Paper

FIN Around the World: The Contribution of Financing Activity to Profitability

By: Russell Lundholm, George Serafeim and Gwen Yu

We study how the availability of domestic credit influences the contribution that financing activities make to a firm's return on equity (ROE). Using a sample of 51,866 firms from 69 countries, we find that financing activities contribute more to a firm's ROE in... View Details

Keywords: Domestic Credit; Return Of Equity; Corporate Performance; Financial Statement Analysis; Financial Statements; Valuation; Cost of Capital; Asset Pricing; Economic Growth