Publications

15 May 2017
Sharpening Your Skills

The Promises and Limitations of Big Data

data, which can be used to improve programs and services, according to Michael Luca and his research colleagues. Why Millennials Flock to Fintech for Personal Investing New tech-heavy financial firms are helping millennials invest, but with a twist. They are View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Financial Services; Utilities; Public Administration; Health

16 Apr 2020
Research & Ideas

Has COVID-19 Broken the Global Value Chain?

dollar funding. To satisfy this big demand the Federal Reserve on March 19 announced establishment of temporary US dollar swap lines with an expanded list of central banks, including a handful of economies (EMEs), Australia, Brazil,... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

September 2004 (Revised February 2007)
Case

Hedging Currency Risks at AIFS

By: Mihir A. Desai, Vincent Dessain and Anders Sjoman

The American Institute for Foreign Studies (AIFS) organizes study abroad programs and cultural exchanges for American students. The firm's revenues are mainly in U.S. dollars, but most of its costs are in eurodollars and British pounds. The company's controllers review... View Details

Keywords: Foreign Direct Investment; Investment Funds; Financial Strategy; Forecasting and Prediction; Revenue; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Currency; Currency Exchange Rate; Education Industry; North and Central America

March 2005 (Revised January 2006)
Case

Foreign Exchange Hedging Strategies at General Motors: Transactional and Translational Exposures

By: Mihir A. Desai and Mark Veblen

How should a multinational firm manage foreign exchange exposures? Examines transactional and translational exposures and alternative responses to these exposures by analyzing two specific hedging decisions by General Motors. Describes General Motors' corporate hedging... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Currency Exchange Rate; Expansion; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Financial Management; Investment Funds; Risk and Uncertainty; International Finance; Auto Industry

05 Jun 2009
What Do You Think?

What Does Slower Economic Growth Really Mean?

services? The latter grew so rapidly in the U.S. in recent years (with every mortgage backed security and credit default swap transaction counted, resulting in substantial contributions to growth rates) that, at its peak, it may well have... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett; Financial Services; Construction; Real Estate

2014
Book

Critical Knowledge Transfer: Tools for Managing Your Company's Deep Smarts

By: Dorothy A. Leonard, Walter Swap and Garvin Barton

When highly skilled subject matter experts, engineers, and managers leave their organizations, they take with them years of hard-earned, experience-based knowledge—much of it undocumented and irreplaceable. Organizations can thereby lose a good part of their... View Details

Keywords: Knowledge Management

Find at Harvard

November 2010
Case

Lessons Learned? Brooksley Born & the OTC Derivatives Market (A)

By: Clayton S. Rose and David Lane

On May 7, 1998, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, chaired by Brooksley Born, issued a "Concept Release" inviting public comment on the relevance and appropriateness of existing regulation of the over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives market, a market with a... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Business and Government Relations; Financial Services Industry; Public Administration Industry; District of Columbia

08 Sep 2008
HBS Case

The Value of Environmental Activists

There are many methods, most financial, to measure the success of companies in meeting goals. But the question becomes a lot harder at Harvard Business School when MBAs are challenged to measure the efforts of environmental organizations like Greenpeace and the World... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Energy; Utilities

September 2004
Article

Deep Smarts

By: Dorothy Leonard and Walter Swap

Find at Harvard

2001
Chapter

The Value of 'Been There, Done That' in Innovation

By: Dorothy A. Leonard and Walter C. Swap

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Value

Find at Harvard

06 Apr 2021
Working Paper Summaries

Currency Hedging in Emerging Markets: Managing Cash Flow Exposure

Keywords: by Laura Alfaro, Mauricio Calani, and Liliana Varela; Financial Services

08 Aug 2018
Sharpening Your Skills

Parmigiano-Reggiano, Jane Austen, and Other Things You Didn't Know About Finance

with a twist. They are swapping out investment advisers for financial robots, and passing along the savings. Research Papers A Bank That Takes Parmesan as Collateral: The Cheese Stands a Loan Italian regional bank Credito Emiliano accepts... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Financial Services

May 2005 (Revised December 2005)
Case

Nexgen: Structuring Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs)

A client asks Luc Giraud, CEO of the structured finance solutions provider Nexgen Financial Solutions, to put together a solution that allows the client to add AAA-rated bonds to its portfolio. The client cannot find suitably priced top-rated bonds in the market and... View Details

Keywords: Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Risk and Uncertainty; Debt Securities; Bonds; Financial Services Industry

21 Nov 2005
Research & Ideas

Making Credibility Your Strongest Asset

said yes. Once Rovell recruited a celebrity, that person often would cheerfully give him another star's direct line. Rovell quickly built an impressive Rolodex. You can succeed without explicitly swapping favors. Tapes of the show... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Wheeler

January 2013 (Revised April 2017)
Supplement

Maxum Petroleum, Inc.

By: W. Carl Kester

Maxum seeks an oil-price hedging strategy that yields substantial cash during oil price spikes, is affordable under ordinary circumstances, and is easily managed. It is striving to avoid a repeat of the challenging situation encountered in 2008 when spiking oil prices... View Details

Keywords: Hedging; Options; Commodities; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Risk Management; Futures and Commodity Futures; Financial Strategy; Volatility