Publications
Publications
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(3,768)
- Faculty Publications (925)
- August 1987 (Revised December 1998)
- Background Note
Capital Market Myopia
Focuses attention on a phenomenon we call capital market myopia, a situation in which participants in the capital markets ignore the logical implications of their individual investment decisions. Viewed in isolation, each decision seems to make sense. When taken... View Details
Keywords: Capital Markets
- July 1987 (Revised October 2009)
- Background Note
A Method For Valuing High-Risk, Long-Term Investments: The "Venture Capital Method"
By: William A. Sahlman and Daniel R Scherlis
Describes a method for valuing high-risk, long-term investments such as those confronting venture capitalists. The method entails forecasting a future value (e.g., five years from the present) and discounting that terminal value back to the present by applying a high... View Details
- March 1985 (Revised November 1985)
- Case
Wilmington Tap and Die
By: Robert S. Kaplan
The general manager of a division manufacturing taps and dies must decide whether to continue a major capital investment program. The program was designed to replace aging mechanical machines with modern, electronically controlled equipment. A post-audit, after an... View Details
- March 1985 (Revised November 1988)
- Case
Precision Parts, Inc. (A)
Contains a description of a decision confronting two entrepreneurs in mid-1981. They are considering purchasing a small manufacturer of precision electromechanical parts. Among the issues in the case are the following: 1) Should Taylor and Grayson buy Precision Parts,... View Details
- January 1985 (Revised February 1997)
- Case
Lotus Development Corp.
Contains a description of the history and venture capital financing of Lotus Development. Focuses on issues related to the possible terms of investment in Lotus by a major venture capital firm. The pedagogic objectives in the case are: to explore the elements of the... View Details
- February 1984
- Background Note
Managing Capital Investment (B)
- February 1984 (Revised February 1986)
- Case
E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co.: Titanium Dioxide
By: W. Carl Kester, Robert R. Glauber, David W. Mullins Jr. and Stacy S. Dick
Disequilibrium in the $350 million TiO2 market has prompted Du Pont's Pigments Department to develop two strategies for competing in this market in the future. The growth strategy has a smaller internal rate of return than the alternative strategy due to large capital... View Details
- February 1984
- Background Note
Managing Capital Investment (A)
- October 1982 (Revised September 1988)
- Case
Steven B. Belkin
By: Howard H. Stevenson and Richard O. von Werssowetz
Steven Belkin, 26 years old and 2 1/2 years out of HBS, has decided to leave a group travel company he has run for the last year to start his own similar business. In the course of several months he has written a business plan, attracted several partners and employees,... View Details
- June 1982
- Article
Optimal Sequential Investment When Capital is Not Readily Reversible
Keywords: Capital
- Article
Inflation and Taxes in a Growing Economy with Debt and Equity
By: M. Feldstein, Jerry R. Green and Eytan Sheshinski
Our tax system was designed for an economy with little or no inflation. The current paper shows that inflation causes capricious changes in the effective rate of tax on capital income and therefore in the real net rate of return that savers receive. This is not only a... View Details
- January 1977
- Case
MRC, Inc. (Consolidated)
By: Thomas R. Piper
A large diversified company must develop a strategy for a division whose performance has deteriorated due to its aging product. Alternatives range from liquidation to a major investment in a new product. The formal capital budgeting system is compared with the informal... View Details
- June 1975 (Revised September 2004)
- Case
Angus Cartwright III
By: Kenneth J. Hatten, William J. Poorvu, Howard H. Stevenson, Arthur I. Segel and John H. Vogel, Jr.
Judy and John DeRight, looking to diversify their investment portfolios, have retained Angus Cartwright, Jr. to identify prospective real estate acquisitions. Mr. Cartwright has four potential properties that he feels merit an in-depth financial analysis. The case... View Details
- April 1975 (Revised November 1984)
- Case
Enzone Petroleum Corp.
By: Thomas R. Piper
A large integrated oil company is debating whether to switch from a single hurdle rate to multiple hurdle rates for project analysis purposes. Raises questions on: 1) determination of the cost of equity; 2) the usefulness of multiple hurdle rates to adjust for project... View Details
- October 1973 (Revised May 1983)
- Case
Zenith Radio Corp. (A)
By: Robert H. Hayes
Provides an analysis of capital investment (new plant and equipment), production, and operations management. View Details
- Forthcoming
- Article
Catching Outliers: Committee Voting and the Limits of Consensus When Financing Innovation
By: Andrey Malenko, Ramana Nanda, Matthew Rhodes-Kropf and Savitar Sundaresan
We document that investment committees of major VCs use a voting rule where one partner `championing' an early-stage investment is sufficient to invest. Their stated reason for this rule is to `catch outliers'. The same VCs use a more conventional `majority' rule for... View Details
- Research Summary
Corporate Governance and International Competitiveness
By: W. Carl Kester
W. Carl Kester's research involves comparisons of national or broad regional systems of corporate governance (e.g., German, Japanese, Anglo-American), and the influence these systems exert on corporate investment and international competitiveness. Kester has found... View Details
- Research Summary
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)
By: Sandra J. Sucher
In this research I develop cases and articles that provide thought-provoking, real-world examples of the ways in which social identity differences emerge and are managed in the workplace, and the skills needed to constructively engage with differences to create and... View Details
- Teaching Interest
Doing Business in Africa
By: John D. Macomber
This course introduces frameworks and models for smart and focused investing and operations across sectors, nations, industries, and time frames in Africa. Students will learn tools and skills to help navigate the business landscape of Africa in terms of selection... View Details
Keywords: Africa