Publications

March 2021 (Revised April 2021)
Case

Making Impact Investing Markets: IFC (A)

By: Shawn A. Cole, John Masko and T. Robert Zochowski

In 2017, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) faced the first big investment decision in its new Scaling Solar project. Founded in 1956, IFC was an international investment body with national governments as shareholders, whose mission was to promote economic... View Details

16 Jul 2020
News

Black Lives Matter and the promise of entrepreneurship

1989
Book

British Business in Asia since 1860

By: G. Jones and R.P.T. Davenport-Hines

This book examines the historical experience of British business in Asia since 1860. Chapters on Iran, India, Thailand, Malayasia, China, Russian Asia and Japan explore the British impact on the region, and the relationship between British business and British and... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Business and Government Relations; India; Iran; Japan; Malaysia; Thailand; Great Britain

28 Jan 2008
Research & Ideas

Billions of Entrepreneurs in China and India

villages, small towns, and major cities, often with a sizable amount of investment or involvement by local government authorities. It is hard to find any reasonably sized Chinese company in which View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

June 2014
Article

Frictions in Shadow Banking: Evidence from the Lending Behavior of Money Market Funds

By: Sergey Chernenko and Adi Sunderam

We document the consequences of money market fund risk taking during the European sovereign debt crisis. Using a novel data set of security-level holdings of prime money market funds, we show that funds with large exposures to risky Eurozone banks suffered significant... View Details

Keywords: Money Market Mutual Funds; European Sovereign Debt Crisis; Runs; Contagion; Risk Taking; Investment Funds; Financial Crisis; Europe

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August 2024
Case

Cristina Ventura: The Career of a Catalyst

By: Linda A. Hill, Allison J. Wigen and Ruth Page

This multimedia case follows the career of Chief Catalyst Officer for the Lane Crawford Joyce Group (LCJG), Cristina Ventura. After beginning her career in luxury in Europe and Asia, Ventura was recruited in 2011 to open Apple’s flagship stores in Hong Kong and South... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Innovation; Innovation Leadership; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Entrepreneurship; Luxury; Family Business; Fashion Industry; Retail Industry; Technology Industry; Asia; China; Hong Kong

07 Apr 2011
What Do You Think?

When Should the Public Sector Take Over in a Meltdown?

While C.J. Cullinane recommends that government "at least monitor the situation," he offers little hope that government intervention can be any more effective than private sector responses. Richard... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett; Energy; Utilities

18 Sep 2017
Blog Post

Applying HBS Lessons in an African Context

Nigeria, I realized that I had much more to learn about doing business in my home region. I applied to Harvard Business School because I thought I would gain skills in finance and management, as well as gain access to an alumni network... View Details

October 2003 (Revised January 2004)
Case

The 2001 Crisis in Argentina: An IMF-Sponsored Default? (A)

By: Rafael M. Di Tella and Ingrid Vogel

At the end of 2001, Argentina's economy and society both appeared on the verge of collapse. Furious about controls imposed on the convertibility of their bank deposits into cash (the "corralito") and huge proposed government spending cuts amidst high unemployment and... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Banks and Banking; Problems and Challenges; Decision Choices and Conditions; Currency Exchange Rate; Economy; Government Administration; Crime and Corruption; Argentina

February 2016 (Revised August 2017)
Case

Battle Over a Bank: Defining the Limits of Federal Power Under a New Constitution

By: David Moss and Marc Campasano

In late February, 1791, Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton submitted a report to President Washington defending his recent proposal for a national bank, which he hoped would bolster the American economy and assist the federal government in managing its finances.... View Details

Keywords: Governance; Central Banking; Laws and Statutes; Government and Politics; History; Public Administration Industry; United States

May 2021
Article

Mutual Funds as Venture Capitalists? Evidence from Unicorns

By: Josh Lerner, Sergey Chernenko and Yao Zeng

The past decade saw the rise of both “founder-friendly” venture financings and non-traditional investors, frequently with liquidity constraints. Using detailed contract data, we study open-end mutual funds investing in private venture-backed firms. We posit an... View Details

Keywords: Investment Funds; Investment; Business Startups; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Governance

March 2010 (Revised May 2013)
Case

Chile's Copper Surplus: The Road Not Taken (A)

By: Laura Alfaro, Dante Roscini and Renee Kim

In 2008, Andres Velasco, Chile's Finance Minister, was under mounting criticisms over his fiscal policy. As the world's largest copper producer, Chile was benefiting from the rise in copper prices, which had more than tripled since 2003. Copper revenues translated into... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Economic Growth; Metals and Minerals; Investment Funds; Policy; State Ownership; Wealth; Chile

August 2012
Article

Surviving the Global Financial Crisis: Foreign Ownership and Establishment Performance

By: Laura Alfaro and Maggie Chen

We examine the differential response of establishments to the recent global financial crisis with particular emphasis on the role of foreign ownership. Using a worldwide establishment panel dataset, we investigate how multinational subsidiaries around the world... View Details

Keywords: Globalization; Financial Crisis; Multinational Firms and Management; Analytics and Data Science; Business Subsidiaries; Production; Finance; Performance; Ownership

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16 Jan 2007
First Look

First Look: January 16, 2007

Baker and Jeffrey Wurgler Periodical:Journal of Economic Perspectives (forthcoming) Abstract Real investors and markets are too complicated to be neatly summarized by a few selected biases and trading frictions. The "top-down" approach to behavioral View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

26 Dec 2017
News

Breaking Down the New U.S. Corporate Tax Law

June 1990 (Revised August 1990)
Supplement

Sun Microsystems, Inc.--1987 (B)

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

Describes a specific opportunity to seek financing from AT&T as part of a proposed technological joint venture. Students must consider the price paid and control rights attached to a large block of shares and outline a negotiating position for each side. View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Stock Shares; Financing and Loans; Price; Governance Controls; Rights; Negotiation; Opportunities; Computer Industry

2019
Working Paper

Fiscal Rules and Sovereign Default

By: Laura Alfaro and Fabio Kanczuk

Recurrent concerns over debt sustainability in emerging and developed nations have prompted renewed debate on the role of fiscal rules. Their optimality, however, remains unclear. We provide a quantitative analysis of fiscal rules in a standard model of sovereign debt... View Details

Keywords: Sovereign Debt; Hyperbolic Discounting; Fiscal Rules; Sovereign Finance

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April 2002 (Revised April 2003)
Case

Malaysia: Capital and Control

By: Rawi E. Abdelal and Laura Alfaro

On September 1, 1998, the government of Malaysia imposed currency and capital controls in response to the financial crisis that had swept Asia. The controls sparked an enormous controversy in the world of international finance. Some celebrated the controls for... View Details

Keywords: Capital Controls; Business and Government Relations; International Finance; Policy; Crisis Management; Balance and Stability; Globalized Economies and Regions; Malaysia