Publications

2010
Working Paper

A Behavioral Model of Demandable Deposits and Its Implications for Financial Regulation

By: Julio J. Rotemberg

A model is developed that rationalizes contracts that give depositors the right to obtain funds on demand even when depositors intend to use these funds for consumption in the future. This is explained by depositor overoptimism regarding their own ability to collect... View Details

Keywords: Banks and Banking; Insurance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Consumer Behavior; Financial Services Industry

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September 2019 (Revised August 2020)
Case

Engineering an Inclusive Bioeconomy

By: Tarun Khanna, Raffaella Sadun and Susie L. Ma

In 2019, entrepreneur Juan Carlos Castilla-Rubio was developing a project he hoped could generate and share wealth from the natural resources of the Amazon without destroying those resources. His idea, called Earth Bank of Codes (EBC), would create a library of the... View Details

September 2023 (Revised October 2024)
Case

Forecasting Climate Risks: Aviva’s Climate Calculus

By: Mark Egan and Peter Tufano

In late 2021, Ben Carr, Director of Analytics and Capital Modeling at Aviva Plc (Aviva)—a leading insurer with core operations in the UK, Ireland and Canada,—was preparing for an upcoming presentation before the company's board which included its CEO, Amanda Blanc,... View Details

Keywords: Climate Risk; Climate Finance; Forecasting; Insurance; Risk Measurement; Climate Change; Risk Management; Forecasting and Prediction; Insurance Industry; United States

November 2012 (Revised September 2013)
Case

Restructuring at Nova Chemical Corporation (Abridged)

By: Scott P. Mason

Management of a diversified chemicals company faces two financial decisions: whether to finance a major investment in new production facilities for its rapidly expanding Environmental Products Division, and whether to sell a more slowly growing non-specialty chemicals... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Decision Choices and Conditions; Chemicals; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Finance; Chemical Industry

January 2002 (Revised January 2003)
Case

Finova Group, Inc. (A), The

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Perry Fagan

Finova Group, a $14 billion commercial finance company, filed for Chapter 11 in early March 2001, in what was one of the largest U.S. bankruptcy filings of all time and the largest corporate bond default since the Great Depression. While in Chapter 11, Finova became... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Business Startups; Borrowing and Debt; Equity; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Debt Securities; Price; Crisis Management; Bids and Bidding; Partners and Partnerships; Strategy; Valuation; Financial Services Industry; United States

Dan Gilbane is a Lecturer of Business Administration presently teaching Deal Making in Real Estate in the Finance Unit.

Dan is a 5th generation family leader of Gilbane, Inc., a construction and real estate development firms in the industry with a global... View Details

January 2019
Case

First Aid Beauty

By: Karen Mills and Annie Dang

In 2008, Lilli Gordon, an experienced financial and skincare entrepreneur, founded First Aid Beauty (FAB). She had discovered a white space in the prestige beauty market: high-end skin solutions that were suitable for sensitive skin. After initial success through... View Details

Keywords: Prestige Beauty; Skincare; Preferred Shares; Common Stock; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Decision Choices and Conditions; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry

March 2011 (Revised June 2013)
Case

Next Street, LLC

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Next Street Financial, LLC was a modern merchant bank that provided high quality advisory services and capital to small- and mid-sized inner city businesses. Next Street was a for-profit business that aimed to increase the growth, profitability and success of its... View Details

Keywords: Development Economics; Entrepreneurship; Capital; Commercial Banking; Investment Funds; Urban Development; Financial Services Industry

21 Jul 2015
First Look

First Look: July 21, 2015

from its historical competence in hardware to become a provider of hardware and software for managing transactions across a range of industries and payments methods. Nuti envisioned a world in which consumers would use NCR hardware or... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2021 (Revised March 2021)
Case

Juno (A): Leveraging Student Power

By: Joshua Schwartzstein, Kathleen L. McGinn and Amy Klopfenstein

In March 2020, Chris Abkarians and Nikhil Agarwal were in the midst of preparing the annual auction for their student loan assistance startup, Juno. Both current MBA students at Harvard Business School, the duo founded Juno in 2018 to leverage student bargaining power... View Details

03 Jan 2007
First Look

First Look: January 3, 2007

available for download Banking Deregulation, Financial Constraints, and Entrepreneurship Authors:William R. Kerr and Ramana Nanda Abstract We study how U.S. branch banking deregulations affected the entry of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2015
Mimeo

Market Power in Mortgage Lending and the Transmission of Monetary Policy

By: David S. Scharfstein and Adi Sunderam

We present evidence that high concentration in mortgage lending reduces the sensitivity of mortgage rates and refinancing activity to mortgage-backed security (MBS) yields. We isolate the direct effect of concentration and rule out alternative explanations in two ways.... View Details

Keywords: Mortgage Lending; Market Power; Monetary Policy Transmission; Mortgages; Banking Industry; United States

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Luis M. Viceira is the George E. Bates Professor in the Finance Unit and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. His research, course development, and teaching focus on the areas of investment management... View Details

Keywords: banking; banking; banking; banking; banking

August 2024 (Revised March 2025)
Case

DBS' AI Journey

By: Feng Zhu, Harold Zhu and Adina Wong

Headquartered in Singapore, DBS Bank, one of Asia's leading financial services groups, embarked on a multi-year digital transformation under CEO Piyush Gupta in 2014. It was then that DBS also began experimenting with AI to drive value for the business and customers.... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; AI and Machine Learning; Digital Transformation; Risk Management; Value Creation; Banking Industry; Banking Industry; Asia; Singapore

October 2009 (Revised December 2010)
Case

GE Money Bank: The M-Budget Card Initiative

By: Michael L. Tushman, Sebastian Raisch and Christian Welling

The M-Budget Card case study is about mastering the challenges of an exploratory strategic initiative in a context marked by time pressure and frequent change. M-Budget was the first of a series of highly successful projects that established GE Money Bank as a leader... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Credit Cards; Leading Change; Product Launch; Product Development; Groups and Teams; Banking Industry; Switzerland

March 2022 (Revised May 2022)
Case

Reclaiming the Land of Purple: Purpl’s Mission to Unlock Finance in Lebanon

By: Lauren Cohen and Grace Headinger

Karl Naim, Co-Founder and CEO of Purpl, embarked on a venture to lower remittance costs for his native Lebanon. Since October 2019, the Lebanese economy had entered a free fall as its banking sector collapsed and large swathes of its population were plunged into... View Details

Keywords: Business Startup; Fintech; Inflation; Deflation; Cross-border Frictions; Remittances; Business Startups; Diasporas; Financial Crisis; Money; Entrepreneurship; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Poverty; Financial Institutions; Banking Industry; Banking Industry; Banking Industry; Lebanon

09 Nov 2009
Research & Ideas

Come Fly with Me: A History of Airline Leadership

Few industries have had the competitive challenges—the literal ups and downs—experienced by the U.S. airline industry since its formation in the 1920s. Consider that its early pioneers had the unenviable... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Air Transportation

16 Apr 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, April 16, 2019

Management Review What to Do When Industry Disruption Threatens Your Career By: Groysberg, Boris, Eric Lin, and Whitney Johnson Abstract—This article discusses how to diagnose the risks that disruptive View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

October 2005
Case

Tad Piper and Piper Jaffray

By: William W. George and Andrew N. McLean

In 2005, Tad Piper reflects on the successful spin-off from US Bancorp of Piper Jaffray, the investment bank founded by his grandfather. Profiles the development of Piper Jaffray from a Midwestern brokerage house to a national, diversified financial services firm. In... View Details

Keywords: Crisis Management; Leadership Style; Management Style; Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Financial Services Industry