Publications

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June 2009 (Revised August 2010)
Background Note

How Institutional Investors Think About Real Estate

By: Arthur I Segel

Real estate is an increasingly important component in the portfolios of institutional investors. This note discusses the issues these investors must consider when investing in real estate from the legal forms of ownership, to separate or commingled funds, to property... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Investment Funds; Investment Portfolio; Property; Financial Services Industry

January 2009
Article

FDI, Productivity, and Financial Development

By: Laura Alfaro, Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan and Selin Sayek

This paper examines the effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) on growth by focusing on the complementarities between FDI inflows and financial markets. In our earlier work, we found that FDI is beneficial for growth only if the host country has well-developed... View Details

Keywords: Human Capital; Income; Performance Productivity; Financial Markets; Foreign Direct Investment; Financial Institutions; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues

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2015
Working Paper

Corporate Sponsorship in Culture—A Case of Partnership in Relationship Building and Collaborative Marketing by a Global Financial Institution and a Major Art Museum

By: Ragnar Lund and Stephen A. Greyser

Purpose: This paper examines cultural sponsorship from a partnership and relationship marketing perspective. It studies a case of how a partnership between two international institutions, a bank and a museum, adds value to both in terms of interaction with... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Partners and Partnerships; Marketing Strategy; Culture; Banks and Banking

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March 2011
Article

Institutional Demand Pressure and the Cost of Corporate Loans

By: Victoria Ivashina and Zheng Sun

Between 2001 and 2007, annual institutional funding in highly leveraged loans went up from $32 billion to $426 billion, accounting for nearly 70% of the jump in total syndicated loan issuance over the same period. Did the inflow of institutional funding in the... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Financial Crisis; Credit; Debt Securities; Financing and Loans; Interest Rates; Investment

SSRN

2009
Book

Experiments in Financial Democracy: Corporate Governance and Financial Development in Brazil, 1882-1950

By: Aldo Musacchio

In Experiments in Financial Democracy, I challenge the idea that it was colonial institutions that sent Brazil, a civil law country, down a particular path of corporate governance and finance. Detailed archival research reveals significantly different patterns of... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Investment; Corporate Governance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business History; Business and Shareholder Relations; Brazil

January 2009
Case

Sue Whitman at MBB Financial

By: William A. Sahlman

This case describes some issues confronting the leader of a major investment bank. She is pleased with the financial performance of her firm but concerned about signs of a bubble in the market. View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Investment Banking; Financial Condition; Performance Effectiveness; Performance Evaluation; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry

Research Summary

Experiments in Financial Democracy: Corporate Governance and Financial Development in Brazil, 1882-1950 (BOOK)

In my first book manuscript, Experiments in Financial Democracy, I challenge the idea that it was colonial institutions that sent Brazil, a civil law country, down a particular path of corporate governance and finance. Detailed archival research reveals... View Details

December 1998
Background Note

Retail Financial Services in 1998

By: Stephen P. Bradley and Takia Mahmood

Provides an overview of the current restructuring that is taking place in the retail financial services industry. Provides a brief overview of the structural changes in banking, brokerage, insurance, and mutual funds. Used as background for examining the strategies of... View Details

Keywords: Economic Sectors; Economy; Financial Institutions; Financial Markets; Industry Growth; Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry

May 2000 (Revised June 2000)
Case

German Financial System in 2000, The

Describes the evolution and current situation of Germany's financial system. Based on a discussion of the German economy in the postwar period, the case highlights the impact of financial globalization and EU policies on Germany's domestic system of banking and... View Details

Keywords: Globalization; Corporate Governance; Banks and Banking; Germany

March 2008
Case

Ujjivan: A Microfinance Institution at a Crossroads (A)

By: V.G. Narayanan and Pamela Freed

Samit Ghosh, the CEO and founder of Ujjivan, a major microfinance provider in Bangalore, wants to grow his business rapidly and become financially sustainable, but he's struggling with staff fraud, high costs, and how to stay true to Ujjivan's mission of poverty... View Details

Keywords: Financial Institutions; Microfinance; Ethics; Mission and Purpose; Growth and Development Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Bangalore

2015
Book

Political Standards: Corporate Interest, Ideology, and Leadership in the Shaping of Accounting Rules for the Market Economy

By: Karthik Ramanna

There are certain institutions underlying our modern market-capitalist system that are largely outside the interest and understanding of the general public—e.g., rulemaking for bank capital adequacy, actuarial standards, accounting standards, and auditing practice. In... View Details

Keywords: Business And Society; Financial Institutions; Financial Reporting; GAAP; IFRS; Lobbying; Capitalism; Sustainability; Accounting; Finance; Business and Government Relations; Leadership; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States; China; India

1985
Chapter

Institutional Aspects of European Equity Markets

By: Marc L Bertoneche

Keywords: Equity; Financial Markets; Financial Institutions; Organizational Design; Financial Services Industry; Europe

2016
Book

Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance in Emerging Markets

By: Lakshmi Iyer

Emerging markets play an increasingly important role in the global economy, accounting for 31% of global GDP and more than 50% of global foreign direct investment in 2012. However, doing business in emerging markets remains subject to a high degree of "policy risk,"... View Details

Keywords: Property Rights; Economic Policy; Political Economy; Emerging Markets; Economic Growth; Government and Politics; Business and Government Relations

April–May 2024
Article

Gone with the Big Data: Institutional Lender Demand for Private Information

By: Jung Koo Kang

I explore whether big-data sources can crowd out the value of private information acquired through lending relationships. Institutional lenders have been shown to exploit their access to borrowers’ private information by trading on it in financial markets. As a shock... View Details

Keywords: Analytics and Data Science; Borrowing and Debt; Financial Markets; Value; Knowledge Dissemination; Financing and Loans

SSRN

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21 Jul 2010
Research & Ideas

HBS Faculty Debate Financial Reform Legislation

across the financial system if they failed (think Lehman). Financial institutions that pose such a threat are the financial equivalent of nuclear... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

October 2008
Case

Financial Crisis in Asia: 1997-1998 (Abridged)

By: Huw Pill, Rafael M. Di Tella and Jonathan Schlefer

What caused the 1997-98 Asia Crisis: Asian nations' poor economic management, international financial contagion, close "crony" relations between local politicians and capitalists? This case examines how the crisis erupted in Thailand and spread in a chain of events... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Financial Crisis; Ethics; Financial Institutions; Financial Management; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business and Government Relations; Asia

2014
Article

Corporate Governance and the Financial Crisis in Italy

By: Dante Roscini

The financial crisis hit Italy harder than many other Eurozone countries. In part this was due to the fact that the crisis came upon a system that was weakened by years of sub-par economic growth. One of the several endogenous factors that explain the stagnation of the... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Corporate Governance; Italy; European Union