Publications

September 2008
Case

TCS: The MCA 21 Project

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a leading outsourced software services provider based in India, must decide whether to bid on a high-profile government project within India. The project, if completed successfully, would mark another step in TCS's progression from a... View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Developing Countries and Economies; Globalized Firms and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Service Operations; Projects; India

May 2001 (Revised January 2003)
Case

Calpine Corporation: The Evolution from Project to Corporate Finance

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Michael Kane

In early 1999, Calpine Corp.'s CEO Pete Cartwright adopted an aggressive growth strategy with the goal of increasing the company's aggregate generating capacity from approximately 3,000 to 15,000 megawatts (MW) by 2004. He believed there was a fleeting opportunity to... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Cost of Capital; Project Finance; Adaptation; Profit; Financial Strategy; Corporate Finance; Energy Industry; United States

Teaching Interest

Overview

By: Benjamin C. Esty

I created and teach a course called Strategies for Value Creation (SVC). It is designed to be a capstone course in the Elective Curriculum (EC or second year of the MBA program) that integrates and further develops concepts developed in several Required Curriculum (RC... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Corporate Finance; Value Creation; Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Financial Management

12 Mar 2024
Research & Ideas

Publish or Perish: What the Research Says About Productivity in Academia

Health, claim to be interested in supporting “high-risk, high-reward” research. First off, Myers notes, the goal should be to fund the most rewarding research that has the lowest risks. But, if it is true that high rewards necessitate... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Education

Program

Driving Digital Strategy

and entrepreneurship Build a more flexible organization that aligns with strategic goals Leverage digital technologies to enhance your operations Understand the impact of various technologies, such as generative AI, IoT, and smart... View Details

Program

Foundations of Private Equity and Venture Capital

Private Equity and Venture Capital, may be more appropriate. The programs are not intended to be taken consecutively and are designed to meet the needs of two distinct groups of investors. Applicants are advised to choose the program that best fits their View Details

Keywords: Finance; Finance

24 Jul 2007
First Look

First Look: July 24, 2007

empirically show that firm operational performance has improved. Finally, we suggest that the lean initiative studied possesses qualities of a Trojan Horse change initiative—its outward manifestation accomplishes the short-term goal... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Fall 2020
Article

Sizing Up Corporate Restructuring in the COVID Crisis

By: Robin Greenwood, Benjamin Iverson and David Thesmar

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the financial and legal system will need to deal with a surge of financial distress in the business sector. Some firms will be able to survive, while others will face bankruptcy and thus need to be liquidated or reorganized. Many... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Health Pandemics; Economy; System Shocks; Financial Crisis; Restructuring

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2015
Article

International Trade, Multinational Activity, and Corporate Finance

By: C. Fritz Foley and Kalina Manova

An emerging new literature brings unique ideas from corporate finance to the study of international trade and investment. Insights about differences in the development of financial institutions across countries, the role of financial constraints, and the use of... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Investment; Trade; Corporate Finance

Find at Harvard

March 2016
Teaching Note

MasterCard: Driving Financial Inclusion

By: Sunil Gupta

Since joining MasterCard (MC) in 2010, CEO Ajay Banga had made advancing financial inclusion (FI)—bringing formal financial services to marginalized populations—an important goal for the company. In 2014, MC had entered a number of partnerships with governments and... View Details

Keywords: Financial Inclusion; Banking; Equality and Inequality; Credit Cards; Developing Countries and Economies; Banking Industry; South Africa; Nigeria

February 2009
Case

Avid Radiopharmaceuticals: The Venture Debt Question

By: Matthew Rhodes-Kropf and Ann Leamon

The CEO of a promising biotech company must decide how to respond to the macro-economic slump of late 2008. He had planned to pursue an aggressive schedule, moving the firm's Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease imaging compounds through clinical trials and into the... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Entrepreneurship; Borrowing and Debt; Venture Capital; Financial Management; Investment; Health Testing and Trials; Expansion; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

06 Apr 2020
News

Is China Ready for Leadership on the Global Stage?

March 2025 (Revised March 2025)
Background Note

Getting to Net Zero: The Role of the Financial Sector

By: Shawn Cole, Jonah Zahnd, Karina Chung and Jack Cenovic

In early 2025, momentum towards the goal of reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050 continued in many parts of the world, even as it appeared to face a set-back following the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States. Financial institutions... View Details

2021
Working Paper

Salience

By: Pedro Bordalo, Nicola Gennaioli and Andrei Shleifer

We review the fast-growing work on salience and economic behavior. Psychological research shows that salient stimuli attract human attention “bottom up” due to their high contrast with surroundings, their surprising nature relative to recalled experiences, or their... View Details

Keywords: Salience; Economic Behavior; Bottom Up Attention; Microeconomics; Decision Making; Behavior

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January 2018
Case

Pravost Consulting Services

By: Andrew Wasynczuk and Tiffany Y. Chang

Pravost Consulting Services considers a division manager's response to the stringent demands of his boss who lambasts him for the division's weak performance. Six months earlier Jakub Kowalski, CEO of Pravost, promoted Viktor Novak to head up the faltering Pravost... View Details

Keywords: Consulting; Consulting Services; Employee Retention; Eastern Europe; Performance; Attrition; Culture; Krakow; Retention; Performance Improvement; Organizational Culture; Consulting Industry; Information Technology Industry; Poland; Europe

March 2014
Background Note

Setting Price Effectively

By: Nava Ashraf and Kristin Johnson

Price is one of the most powerful instruments a manager can use to influence the take-up of her product, especially in a subsidized and noncompetitive market as is common for global health products. However, the question of whether and how to price has been the subject... View Details

2013
Dictionary Entry

Technology and Innovation Management

By: Elizabeth J. Altman, Frank Nagle and Michael L. Tushman

The goal of this annotated bibliography on technology and innovation is to organize and present the most important literature relevant to a scholar seeking to understand and advance the field. It includes articles that are highly-cited and foundational pieces, as well... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Technological Change; Innovation Streams; Organizational Evolution; Executive Leadership; Organizational Architecture; Information Technology; Technological Innovation; Innovation and Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leadership; Organizational Design

September 2017 (Revised June 2019)
Case

Dianrong: Marketplace Lending, Blockchain, and 'The New Finance' in China

By: Christopher J. Malloy, Lauren H. Cohen and Anthony K. Woo

This case examines the strategic positioning of Dianrong, one of the largest online peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms in China, in its attempt to become a foundational player in the expansion of the FinTech sector in Asia. Dianrong had recently announced the... View Details

Keywords: Financing and Loans; Internet and the Web; Supply Chain; Finance; Innovation and Invention; Competition; Product Positioning; Strategy; Financial Services Industry; China