Publications

Adi Sunderam is the Willard Prescott Smith Professor of Corporate Finance at Harvard Business School, a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a Faculty Affiliate of the Harvard Economics department. He teaches Finance 2 in... View Details

Keywords: financial services; financial services; financial services; financial services; financial services; financial services

August 2022 (Revised November 2022)
Case

Altos Ventures (A)

By: Jo Tango and Alys Ferragamo

In December 2012, Altos Ventures General Partners Han Kim, Anthony Lee, and Ho Nam met to discuss the future of the firm. Altos had already adjusted its strategy multiple times. It began as a U.S.-focused venture capital investor whose first two funds were backed by a... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Venture Capital; Investment Portfolio; Partners and Partnerships

September 1998 (Revised March 2002)
Case

Petrolera Zuata, Petrozuata C.A.

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Mathew M Millett

Petrozuata is a proposed $2.5 billion oil-field development project in Venezuela. The case is set in 1997 as the project sponsors, Conoco and PDVSA (Venezuela's national oil company), are planning to meet with various development agencies and rating agencies regarding... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Valuation; Project Finance; Capital Markets; Investment; Projects; Mining Industry; Energy Industry; Venezuela

15 Oct 2019
Cold Call Podcast

Goldman Sachs’ $500 Million Bet on Small Businesses

Keywords: Re: Leonard A. Schlesinger; Financial Services

24 Jun 2020
News

Why Are Black and Latino People Still Kept Out of the Tech Industry?

Teaching Interest

Executive Education: Finance for Senior Executives

By: Malcolm P. Baker

Finance for Senior Executives provides the frameworks to strategically use financial resources and position your company for future success. By examining corporate finance from both internal and external perspectives, this HBS Executive Education View Details

26 Jun 2024
Video

A conversation with Colin Mayer: Profit from producing solutions, not problems

March 1999 (Revised October 1999)
Case

Tufts Health Plan

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer and Nancy D. Beaulieu

Describes the introduction of capitation by a managed care company and the challenges of managing financial risk in the Medicare population. Focuses on the relationship between the health plan and physicians. View Details

Keywords: Health; Behavior; Motivation and Incentives; Risk and Uncertainty; Insurance; Health Industry; Insurance Industry

Brian Baik is an assistant professor in the Accounting and Management Unit at Harvard Business School. He teaches the Financial Reporting and Control course in the MBA required curriculum.

Professor Baik studies how information, financial reporting, and... View Details

Keywords: venture capital industry; venture capital industry

2024
Working Paper

Priors, Experiments, Learning and Persuasion in (Bayesian) Entrepreneurial Finance

By: Ramana Nanda

At the heart of entrepreneurial finance lies a persuasion challenge: regardless of the strength of an entrepreneur’s belief in the potential of their idea, they typically need to convince investors to provide the financial capital required for its... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Finance; Business Startups; Communication Intention and Meaning; Prejudice and Bias

SSRN

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July 2023 (Revised October 2024)
Case

Revenue Recognition at Stride Funding: Making Sense of Revenues for a Fintech Startup

By: Paul M. Healy and Jung Koo Kang

The case explores the challenges of revenue recognition and financial reporting for Stride Funding (Stride), a fintech startup that has disrupted the student loan market. Stride leveraged proprietary machine learning and financial models to underwrite alternative... View Details

Keywords: Revenue Recognition; Financial Reporting; Entrepreneurial Finance; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Governance Compliance; Accrual Accounting; Financial Services Industry; United States

01 Mar 2012
News

The Incentive Bubble

January 2001
Case

Valuing Project Achieve

By: Mihir A. Desai and Kathleen Luchs

Project Achieve is a start-up providing information management solutions for schools. Its founders see a need for software both to manage the volumes of information necessary to administer a school and to connect parents, teachers, and students in a more effective way.... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Valuation; Venture Capital; Cost of Capital; Cash Flow; Forecasting and Prediction

Article

An Evaluation of Money Market Fund Reform Proposals

By: Samuel G. Hanson, David S. Scharfstein and Adi Sunderam

U.S. money market mutual funds (MMFs) are an important source of dollar funding for global financial institutions, particularly those headquartered outside the U.S. MMFs proved to be a source of considerable instability during the financial crisis of 2007–2009,... View Details

Keywords: Balance and Stability; Globalized Markets and Industries; Banks and Banking

Find at Harvard

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Victoria Ivashina is the Lovett-Learned Professor of Finance and Head of the Finance Unit at Harvard Business School. She also serves as a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), a Research Fellow at the Center for Economic Policy... View Details

Keywords: financial services; financial services; financial services; financial services; financial services; financial services

25 Jan 2022
Research & Ideas

More Proof That Money Can Buy Happiness (or a Life with Less Stress)

happiness that money can bring, I think we are missing something,” says Jachimowicz, an assistant professor of business administration in the Organizational Behavior Unit at HBS. “We also need to think about all of the worries that it can... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

July 2011 (Revised April 2012)
Case

The Clorox Company: Leveraging Green for Growth

By: Elie Ofek and Lauren Barley

The Clorox Company needs to decide on the marketing strategy going forward for its three sustainable brands, Brita, Burt's Bees and Green Works. These brands had fared differently over the past 3 years and each presents multiple courses of action heading into 2011.... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Managerial Roles; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Social Marketing; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Sales; Opportunities; Corporate Strategy; Environmental Sustainability; Chemical Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

Forthcoming
Article

Measurement and Effects of Bank Exit Policies

By: Daniel Green and Boris Vallée

We study whether exit policies by financial institutions have financial and real consequences on the firms they target, using bank coal exit policies as a laboratory. In contrast to theories assuming high capital substitutability, we find large effects of these... View Details

Keywords: Coal Power; Financing and Loans; Banks and Banking; Policy; Energy Industry

November 2006
Case

Brontes Technologies -- 2005

By: William A. Sahlman and Caroline Perkins

Describes a set of decisions confronting the founders of a company developing a new device for taking three-dimensional pictures of teeth in order to improve dental outcomes. The company needs more money and must choose between raising new equity capital from a venture... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Business Startups; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry