Publications

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23 Jun 2023
HBS Case

This Company Lets Employees Take Charge—Even with Life and Death Decisions

Is it possible to truly empower employees to make their own decisions—even when those decisions could mean life or death? That is the question posed by Dutch home healthcare organization Buurtzorg, which has radically avoided almost all... View Details

Keywords: by Annelena Lobb; Health

March 2024
Module Note

Navigating the Future: Managing Financial Forecasts

By: Mark Egan

This module note guides instructors on delivering a course module that focuses on understanding, developing, and using financial forecasts from a chief financial officer’s (CFO) perspective. The cases in the module equip students with an understanding of the techniques... View Details

Keywords: CFO; Forecasting; Corporate Finance; Forecasting and Prediction; Financial Management; Revenue; United States

May 1979 (Revised August 2013)
Background Note

Financial Analysis of Real Property Investments

By: William J. Poorvu

Develops a conceptual framework for financial analysis of real estate investments, taking into consideration the necessity for baseline data, project trends, and forecast discontinuities. View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Investment Return; Trends; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry

30 Aug 2018
Blog Post

My Difficult Decision to Leave Google for HBS

apply came from talking to HBS alumni. While each individual had unique experiences and found varying degrees of career success, not one regretted the decision to attend. I never detected a single trace of regret. That might not be the... View Details

April 2008
Teaching Note

Central Bank: The ChexSystemsSM QualiFile® Decision (TN)

By: Dennis Campbell and Francisco de Asis Martinez-Jerez

Teaching Note for [208029]. View Details

Keywords: Banks and Banking; Banking Industry

October 2015 (Revised August 2018)
Case

Ozark Feed and Ag Corporation: The ERP Decision

By: Jan Hammond, Paul Kalmbach and Eric Bernstein

This case describes a medium-sized business that manufactures animal feed for commercial and companion animals. The company has been growing rapidly and is considering whether or not to implement an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Ozark currently uses an IT... View Details

Keywords: ERP Systems; Information Technology; Supply Chain Management; Growth Management; Performance Improvement; Animal-Based Agribusiness; Decision Choices and Conditions; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Information Technology Industry; Missouri; Oklahoma; Texas; Arkansas

2021
Working Paper

Dirty Money: How Banks Influence Financial Crime

By: Joseph Pacelli, Janet Gao, Jan Schneemeier and Yufeng Wu

On September 21st, 2020, a consortium of international journalists leaked nearly 2,500 suspicious activity reports (SAR) obtained from the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, exposing nearly $2 trillion of money laundering activity. The event raises important... View Details

Keywords: Financial Institutions; Crime and Corruption; Policy

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Web

Admissions & Financial Aid | MBA

Admissions & Financial Aid MS/MBA Biotechnology: Life Sciences The program seeks a diverse group of outstanding students who have an undergraduate degree in life sciences and/or significant workplace experience in biotechnology or life... View Details

June 2010 (Revised September 2011)
Case

The Southeast Bank of Texas in the Financial Crisis

By: Robert C. Pozen and Benjamin Greff Schneider

The Southeast Bank of Texas, like most other financial institutions in the U.S., has fallen on hard times during the financial crisis of the past year. Now, in March 2009, the bank is faced with several choices as a result of the new reforms spawned from the financial... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Crisis; Capital; Financial Liquidity; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Banking Industry; Texas

April 2025
Case

Thrivent: From Insurance Agents to Financial Advisors

By: Hubert Joly, Leonard A. Schlesinger and Tom Quinn

Thrivent, a midwestern financial services company with a centuries-long history rooted in Lutheranism, had reached $10 billion in revenue mostly by selling life insurance. In the 2020s, however, CEO Terry Rasmussen began a transformation process centered around the... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transformation; Talent and Talent Management; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Value and Value Chain; Forecasting and Prediction; Employee Relationship Management; Retention; Selection and Staffing; Job Design and Levels; Human Capital; Leading Change; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States; Minneapolis

July 2014
Article

Smart Money? The Effect of Education on Financial Outcomes

By: Shawn A. Cole, Anna Paulson and Gauri Kartini Shastry

Household financial decisions are important for household welfare, economic growth and financial stability. Yet, our understanding of the determinants of financial decision-making is limited. Exploiting exogenous variation in state compulsory schooling laws in both... View Details

Keywords: Personal Finance; Investment; Decisions; Behavior; Financial Condition

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Article

Impact-Weighted Financial Accounts: A Paradigm Shift

By: Ethan Rouen and George Serafeim

The last decade has seen an exponential increase in corporate sustainability activities and efforts by investors to use these activities in their portfolio formation, valuation, and stewardship activities. This paper explains the need for a uniform strategy to measure... View Details

Keywords: Impact-Weighted Accounts; ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Measurement and Metrics; Standards

23 Apr 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Corporate Financial Policies in Misvalued Credit Markets

Keywords: by Jarrad Harford, Marc Martos-Vila & Matthew Rhodes-Kropf; Financial Services; Financial Services

July 2013 (Revised January 2014)
Case

Experience! The Finger Lakes: The Groupon Partnership Decision

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Chekitan S. Dev, Gabriele Piccoli and Arnold B. Peinado

In 2010, Experience! The Finger Lakes (ExperienceFLX), a tour operator offering guided tours and concierge services in the Finger Lakes region of New York State, was at a crossroads. The business was poised for growth, and its owners, Laura and Alan Falk, were... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Social Marketing; United States

January 2024 (Revised February 2024)
Case

Data-Driven Denim: Financial Forecasting at Levi Strauss

By: Mark Egan

The case examines Levi Strauss’ journey in implementing machine learning and AI into its financial forecasting process. The apparel company partnered with the IT company Wipro in 2017 to develop a machine learning algorithm that could help Levi Strauss forecast its... View Details

Keywords: Investor Relations; Forecasting; Machine Learning; Artificial Intelligence; Apparel; Corporate Finance; Forecasting and Prediction; AI and Machine Learning; Digital Transformation; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States

2013
Working Paper

Inequality and Decision Making: Imagining a New Line of Inquiry

By: David Moss, Anant Thaker and Howard Rudnick

The substantial increase in inequality in the United States over the past three decades has provoked considerable debate, with some analysts characterizing rising inequality as among the greatest threats facing the nation and others dismissing it as little more than a... View Details

Keywords: Equality and Inequality; Income; Decision Making; Government and Politics; Economics; United States

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01 Feb 1997
News

Leading the Way In Negotiation and Decision Making

chair of the Negotiation and Decision Making unit. Indeed, the field has grown so important that in 1994 HBS became the first major business school to require a full negotiation course for MBAs. In that popular new course, which draws on... View Details

Keywords: Judith A. Ross

21 Jul 2010
Research & Ideas

HBS Faculty Debate Financial Reform Legislation

research on financial markets and regulation and who, in many cases, have held leadership positions in the financial sector, think about the bill and its intended (and unintended) consequences? Below, HBS... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

2009
Working Paper

Why Do Countries Adopt International Financial Reporting Standards?

By: Karthik Ramanna and Ewa Sletten

In a sample of 102 non-European Union countries, we study variations in the decision to adopt International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). There is evidence that more powerful countries are less likely to adopt IFRS, consistent with more powerful countries being... View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; International Accounting; Globalized Economies and Regions; Network Effects; Standards; Adoption

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