Publications

January 2019
Article

The ABCs of Financial Education: Experimental Evidence on Attitudes, Behavior, and Cognitive Biases

By: Fenella Carpena, Shawn A. Cole, Jeremy Shapiro and Bilal Zia

This paper uses a large-scale field experiment in India to study attitudinal, behavioral, and cognitive constraints that can stymie the link between financial education and financial outcomes. The study complements financial education with (1) financial incentives on a... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Education; Attitudes; Behavior; Outcome or Result

23 Dec 2014
Research & Ideas

The Founder of Modern Venture Capital

Georges F. Doriot, an educator and a founder of the modern venture capital industry, is the subject of a new exhibition and website at Harvard Business School, where he spent 40 years. The charismatic professor taught business and... View Details

Keywords: Education; Education

October 2021 (Revised February 2022)
Case

upGrad: Delivering Career Outcomes Online: Degree by Degree

By: John J-H Kim, Anjali Raina and Rachna Chawla

In August 2021, the founders of upGrad, the latest unicorn in the Indian higher education online space, were deciding how to best use the funds to execute on their ambitious growth plans. Ronnie Screwvala, Mayank Kumar and Phalgun Kompalli had envisioned upGrad as an... View Details

Keywords: Unicorns; COVID-19 Pandemic; Higher Education; Internet and the Web; Spending; Growth and Development Strategy; Education Industry; India

October 2023
Case

Social Finance: Driving Accountability

By: Robin Greenwood, Richard S. Ruback and Robert Ialenti

Social Finance is a Boston-based nonprofit that works at the intersection of finance and policy. It raises, allocates, and manages capital to fund projects in the areas of education, early childhood development, criminal justice, and health. The case explores how... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Nonprofit Organizations; Training

April 2021
Case

Codecademy: Where to Next?

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Max Mailman and Sarah Ascherman

In March 2020, Zach Sims, co-founder and CEO of online education platform Codecademy, prepared for a meeting with his Chief of Staff Kunal Ahuja to discuss the company’s goals. Codecademy billed itself as the largest online resource for computer science literacy and... View Details

Keywords: Monetization Strategy; Business Model; Change Management; Venture Capital; Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Management Teams; Marketing Channels; Product Marketing; Network Effects; Product Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategic Planning; Internet and the Web; Digital Platforms; United States

2016
Working Paper

Innovating in Science and Engineering or 'Cashing In' on Wall Street? Evidence on Elite STEM Talent

By: Pian Shu

Using data on MIT bachelor's graduates from 1994 to 2012, this paper empirically examines the extent to which the inflow of elite talent into the financial industry affects the supply of innovators in science and engineering (S&E). I first show that finance does not... View Details

Keywords: Higher Education; Engineering; Personal Development and Career; Science; Finance

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January 2021
Article

Sales Hiring Is Hard to Do (Don't Make It Harder)

By: Frank V. Cespedes

In the aggregate, hiring in sales is more expensive than many companies’ cap-ex decisions. But it rarely gets the same attention and companies fail to deal with challenges inherent in sales hiring. Unlike many other business functions, there is no easily identified... View Details

Keywords: Salesforce Management; Selection and Staffing; Human Resources

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2020
Book

Think Outside the Building: How Advanced Leaders Can Change the World One Smart Innovation at a Time

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter

Over a decade ago, renowned innovation expert Rosabeth Moss Kanter co-founded and then directed Harvard’s Advanced Leadership Initiative. Her breakthrough work with hundreds of successful professionals and executives, as well as aspiring young entrepreneurs, identifies... View Details

Keywords: Leaders; Advanced Leadership; Advanced Leadership Initiative; Community; Change Leadership; Innovation; Problem Solving; Cross-sector Collaboration; Institutional Change; Leadership; Change; Leading Change; Communication; Innovation Leadership; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business and Community Relations; Civil Society or Community

02 Apr 2007
Lessons from the Classroom

Making the Move to General Manager

to go in the future." Launched in autumn 2006, GMP is a new executive education comprehensive leadership program designed to address the needs and concerns of precisely these managers. GMP's innovative teaching philosophy and... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

May 2020
Article

Negotiating a Better Future: How Interpersonal Skills Facilitate Inter-Generational Investment

By: Nava Ashraf, Natalie Bau, Corinne Low and Kathleen McGinn

Using a randomized control trial, we examine whether offering adolescent girls nonmaterial resources—specifically, negotiation skills—can improve educational outcomes in a low-income country. In so doing, we provide the first evidence on the effects of an intervention... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Competency and Skills; Training; Age; Gender; Education; Investment; Outcome or Result; Developing Countries and Economies

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September 2005 (Revised January 2006)
Case

Restating Revenues and Earnings at INVESTools, Inc. (A)

By: Michael D. Kimbrough and F. Warren McFarlan

Relates the events leading up to the announcement in February 2005 that INVESTools, a Utah-based provider of investor education services, would be restating prior-year financial statements due to inappropriate revenue recognition. View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Accounting Audits; Financial Statements; Capital Markets; Currency Exchange Rate; Corporate Disclosure; Education Industry; Education Industry; Utah

12 Jul 2016
First Look

July 12, 2016

forecasts as an input into the government budgeting-making process would probably reduce official forecast errors for budget deficits. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=51324 College Tuition, Public View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

08 Jan 2018
Research & Ideas

The Startling Percentage of Financial Advisors with Misconduct Records

Mark Egan, an assistant professor of finance at Harvard Business School and a co-author of the study. “The average settlement is in excess of $100,000 and the median is $40,000. These are costly offenses.” Included in the study was any... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

March 2010 (Revised May 2013)
Case

Chile's Copper Surplus: The Road Not Taken (A)

By: Laura Alfaro, Dante Roscini and Renee Kim

In 2008, Andres Velasco, Chile's Finance Minister, was under mounting criticisms over his fiscal policy. As the world's largest copper producer, Chile was benefiting from the rise in copper prices, which had more than tripled since 2003. Copper revenues translated into... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Economic Growth; Metals and Minerals; Investment Funds; Policy; State Ownership; Wealth; Chile

January 2011 (Revised July 2019)
Case

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah L. Abbott

One of the leading publishers of textbooks and other educational materials for the U.S. K-12 educational instruction market has suffered a dramatic decline in sales and profits in the wake of the 2008-2009 financial market crisis and economic recession, and is now... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Capital Structure; Financial Crisis; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Publishing Industry; Massachusetts

03 May 2010
Research & Ideas

What Is the Future of MBA Education?

new book, Rethinking the MBA: Business Education at a Crossroads. Employing a wealth of interviews and quantitative data, their book takes the first comprehensive approach in decades to examine the evolving MBA marketplace and its threats... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Education

December 2011
Article

Prices or Knowledge? What Drives Demand for Financial Services in Emerging Markets?

By: Shawn A. Cole, Thomas Sampson and Bilal Zia

Financial development is critical for growth, but its micro-determinants are not well understood. We test leading theories of low demand for financial services in emerging markets, combining novel survey evidence from Indonesia and India with a field experiment. We... View Details

Keywords: Price; Knowledge; Demand and Consumers; Emerging Markets; Banks and Banking; Education; Finance; Behavior; Service Operations; Financial Services Industry; India; Indonesia

December 1996
Case

Common Fund Hedge Fund Portfolio, The

By: Andre F. Perold and William T. Spitz

The Common Fund, a nonprofit consortium of educational institutions, is deciding whether to create a fund of hedge funds for its members, and if it does, which hedge fund managers to select. View Details

Keywords: Measurement and Metrics; Investment Funds