Publications

07 Dec 2016
HBS Case

Why Millennials Flock to Fintech for Personal Investing

asset accumulators of the future” A new breed of financial technology companies, known collectively as fintech, has taken advantage of these traits to disrupt an unexpected industry: personal investing. Just as manufacturing companies... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

Profile

Henry McCance

a few FDA-approved drugs for Alzheimer’s disease, and they won’t help,’” he recalls. McCance, a venture- capital pioneer with Greylock Partners, had spent 40 years as eyewitness to advances in technology that changed the world at... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital / Private Equity; Venture Capital / Private Equity; Venture Capital / Private Equity

April 2011 (Revised December 2017)
Case

Latvia: Navigating the Strait of Messina

By: Rafael Di Tella, Rawi Abdelal and Natalie Kindred

This case describes Latvia's transition from a Soviet republic into an EU member, its economic boom and subsequent bust in 2008, and its policy response. After implementing significant economic and political reforms in order to qualify for EU membership in 2004, Latvia... View Details

Keywords: Currency Exchange Rate; Competitive Strategy; Economic Growth; Policy; Financial Crisis; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Latvia

William Sahlman is a Baker Foundation Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.

Mr. Sahlman received an A.B. degree in Economics from Princeton University (1972), an M.B.A. from Harvard University (1975), and a Ph.D. in Business... View Details

Research Summary

Impact Investing

In the last decade, inspired by the success of commercial microfinance, the concept of applying the practice of equity investing to the delivery of high social impact interventions has drawn increasing attention in development circles, business academia and... View Details

Building small business utopia: how artificial intelligence and Big Data can increase small business success

Small business lending has remained unchanged for decades, laden with frictions and barriers that prevent many small businesses from accessing the capital they need to succeed. Financial technology, or “fintech,” promises to change this trajectory. In 2010, new fintech... View Details

2014
Working Paper

Financing Risk and Innovation

By: Ramana Nanda and Matthew Rhodes-Kropf

We provide a model of investment into new ventures that demonstrates why some places, times, and industries should be associated with a greater degree of experimentation by investors. Investors respond to financing risk―a forecast of limited future funding―by modifying... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Venture Capital; Financial Markets; Financing and Loans; Investment; Price Bubble; Innovation and Invention; Technological Innovation; Risk and Uncertainty

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February 1992 (Revised March 1993)
Case

Intel Corp.--1992

By: Kenneth A. Froot

Intel Corp., the world's dominant designer and manufacturer of microprocessors (the "brains" of the personal computer), has accumulated a large amount of cash (net of debt). Furthermore, it expects to continue to accumulate cash at an unprecedented rate. Has the... View Details

Keywords: Dividends; Financial Management; Competition; Multinational Firms and Management; Cash; Technological Innovation; Capital Structure; Investment Return; Equity; Financial Strategy; Corporate Finance; Semiconductor Industry; United States

December 1990 (Revised November 1992)
Case

Anheuser-Busch and Campbell Taggart

In 1984, the SEC accused Paul Thayer and eight others of insider trading. Some of Thayer's inside information came from his position on the board of Anheuser-Busch, where he had learned about Busch's 1982 merger with Campbell Taggart before the merger was publicly... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Ethics; Capital Markets; Manufacturing Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

June 1996 (Revised July 1997)
Case

Hostile Bid for Red October, The

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Alan Bigman

Manatep Bank, a Russian investment bank, has just announced the country's first hostile tender offer for Red October, a confectionery company located in Moscow. As the chief financial officer of the target company, Yuri Yegorov must decide how to respond, how much his... View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Cash; Governance Controls; Financial Condition; Investment Banking; Financial Markets; Trade; Valuation; Financial Management; Food and Beverage Industry; Moscow

Companies are scrambling for cash in the wake of the pandemic. Unfortunately, for structural reasons they are unlikely to get the cash they need from their traditional lenders, even though the financial system is in relatively good shape and there are reserves of... View Details

July 2009
Article

How Is Foreign Aid Spent? Evidence from a Natural Experiment

By: Eric D. Werker, Faisal Z. Ahmed and Charles Cohen

We use oil price fluctuations to test the impact of transfers from wealthy OPEC nations to their poorer Muslim allies. The instrument identifies plausibly exogenous variation in foreign aid. We investigate how aid is spent by tracking its short-run effect on aggregate... View Details

Keywords: Foreign Aid; Money

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August 2014 (Revised March 2016)
Case

Thomas Cook Group on the Brink (A)

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Stuart C. Gilson and Aldo Sesia

Harriett Green, the newly appointed CEO of Thomas Cook Group, faces a daunting set of business and financial challenges at the 171-year old UK travel services company. The company has lost almost £600 million in the last three quarters; has seen its stock price fall... View Details

Keywords: Turnaround; Corporate Restructuring; Change Leadership; Female Ceo; Change Management; Communication Strategy; Borrowing and Debt; Cash Flow; Cost Management; Financial Liquidity; Financial Management; Executive Compensation; Leading Change; Crisis Management; Value Creation; Travel Industry; United Kingdom

29 Oct 2020
Blog Post

Delving Deeper into Development with the MBA/MPA-ID Program – a Q+A with Zainab Raji (MBA/MPA-ID 2022)

Can you share a bit about your background and where you grew up? Zainab Raji I am one of four children born to my Nigerian parents. I grew up in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest commercial hub, and in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city. I have fond... View Details

15 Jul 2008
First Look

First Look: July 15, 2008

there is financial data available in the years before and after their initial public offering (IPO), I differentiate between those that have private equity sponsorship (PE-backed firms) and those that do not (non-PE-backed firms). The... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

October 1991 (Revised January 2002)
Case

Butler Lumber Company

By: Thomas R. Piper

The Butler Lumber Co. is faced with a need for increased bank financing due to its rapid sales growth and low profitability. Students must determine the reasons for the rising bank borrowing, estimate the amount of borrowing needed, and assess the attractiveness of the... View Details

Keywords: Commercial Banking; Financial Crisis; Borrowing and Debt; Financial Strategy; Financing and Loans; Capital Structure; Forecasting and Prediction

Article

MIT Roundtable on Corporate Risk Management

By: Robert C. Merton

Against the backdrop of financial crisis, a distinguished group of academics and practitioners discusses the contribution of financial management and innovation to corporate growth and value, along with the pitfalls and unintended consequences of such innovation.... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Market Participation; Finance; Innovation and Invention; Growth and Development Strategy; Value; Distribution; Capital Structure; Risk Management; Business Ventures; Business Model; Strategy

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23 Apr 2008
Op-Ed

The Gap in the U.S. Treasury Recommendations

not disappear. With tightened credit standards and higher capital requirements on loans, it became more profitable for banks to package loans as securities and sell the credit risk to the buyers of securities in the domestic and... View Details

Keywords: by Dwight Crane; Financial Services; Financial Services; Financial Services; Financial Services

December 2008 (Revised March 2009)
Case

Rosetree Mortgage Opportunity Fund

By: Victoria Ivashina and Andre F. Perold

In December 2008, in the midst of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, Rosetree Capital Management was evaluating the purchase of a pool of U.S. residential mortgages. The firm had formed an investment vehicle to acquire troubled residential mortgages... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Borrowing and Debt; Mortgages; Investment; Housing; Valuation; United States