Publications

November 2003 (Revised January 2004)
Case

eBay Inc.: Internet Success or Fairy Tale?

By: David F. Hawkins and Jacob Cohen

A well-known financial analyst claims that eBay has never been profitable and currently does not generate any "unfettered" cash flow. View Details

Keywords: Cash Flow; Accounting; Web Services Industry

14 Sep 2021
Blog Post

Top 5 Myths About HBS

Chad Losee, Managing Director of MBA Admissions and Financial Aid, recently sat down with Cyril Straughn-Turner, second-year MBA student and Chief Admissions Ambassador, for a “Busting HBS Myths” event aimed at demystifying what business... View Details

Research Summary

Capital Flows and Capital Goods (joint with Eliza Hammel)

By: Laura Alfaro

We examine one of the channels through which financial integration can help promote growth. In particular, we study the effects of capital account liberalization on the imports of capital goods. We pay particular attention to the effects of equity market... View Details

Forthcoming
Article

Transitory and Permanent Cash Flow Shocks in Debt Contract Design

By: Le Ma, Anywhere Sikochi and Yajun Xiao

We examine how lenders design contracts to account for transitory and permanent cash flow shocks facing borrowers. We find that volatile transitory cash flow shocks are associated with fewer liquidity covenants, indicating financial flexibility that enables firms to... View Details

Keywords: Debt Covenants; Cash Flow Shocks; Debt Contracting; Likelihood Of Default; Cash Flow; System Shocks

April 1984 (Revised May 2004)
Case

Waltham Motors Division

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

Loss of a major contract has reduced production volume below the level expected when budget and standard costs were determined. Apparently favorable results for monthly operations result from reduced volume rather than operating efficiency. Rewritten version of a case... View Details

Keywords: Capital Budgeting; Cost Management; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Activity Based Costing and Management; Business Growth and Maturation; Accounting Industry; Accounting Industry

April 2022
Teaching Note

Banorte Móvil: Data-Driven Mobile Growth

By: Ayelet Israeli and Carla Larangeira

In mid-2019, Carlos Hank was deliberating over the results for Banorte Móvil—the mobile application for Banorte, Mexico’s most profitable and second-largest financial institution. Hank, who had been appointed as Banorte´s Chairman of the Board in January 2015, had... View Details

Keywords: Data Analytics; Customer Lifetime Value; Financial Institutions; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Growth and Development Strategy; Customers; Technology Adoption; Communication Strategy; Banking Industry; Mexico; Latin America

2024
Working Paper

Transitory and Permanent Cash Flow Shocks in Debt Contract Design

By: Le Ma, Anywhere Sikochi and Yajun Xiao

We examine how lenders design contracts to account for transitory and permanent cash flow shocks facing borrowers. We find that volatile transitory cash flow shocks are associated with fewer liquidity covenants, indicating financial flexibility that enables firms to... View Details

Keywords: Debt Covenants; Cash Flow Shocks; Debt Contracting; Likelihood Of Default; Cash Flow; System Shocks

SSRN

06 Feb 2009
News

Keeping a keen eye on consumer behaviour

Clayton S. Rose

Clayton Rose is Baker Foundation Professor of Management Practice and teaches the course Accountability in the Advanced Management Program. His case writing is focused on the how leaders consider the... View Details

Keywords: financial services

November 2002 (Revised May 2006)
Case

Forest Stewardship Council

By: James E. Austin and Ezequiel Reficco

In just a few years the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) made impressive progress toward its mission of promoting "environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable management of the world's forests." By 2001, 25.5 million hectares of forests in... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Corporate Governance; Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Competitive Strategy

23 Aug 2021
Research & Ideas

Why White-Collar Crime Spiked in America After 9/11

After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the FBI shifted financial resources and hundreds of agents toward combatting terrorism, unintentionally weakening the agency’s ability to investigate white-collar crime in America, research shows. As a... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

2014
Article

Models of Caring, or Acting as if One Cared, About the Welfare of Others

By: Julio J. Rotemberg

This paper surveys the theoretical literature in which people are modeled as taking other people's payoffs into account either because this affects their utility directly or because they wish to impress others with their social-mindedness. Key experimental results that... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Behavior; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving

Find at Harvard

2008
Working Paper

Rethinking the Role of History in Law & Economics: The Case of the Federal Radio Commission in 1927

By: David A. Moss and Jonathan B. Lackow

In the study of law and economics, there is a danger that historical inferences from theory may infect historical tests of theory. It is imperative, therefore, that historical tests always involve a vigorous search not only for confirming evidence, but for... View Details

Keywords: Economic History; Decision Choices and Conditions; Government Legislation; Law; Media and Broadcasting Industry

14 Aug 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Insider Trading Preceding Goodwill Impairments

Keywords: by Karl A. Muller III, Monica Neamtiu & Edward J. Riedl

Deborah M. Winshel

Deborah Winshel is a Senior Lecturer in the General Management Unit of Harvard Business School. She teaches several MBA required courses: Leadership and Organizational Behavior (LEAD), Leadership and Corporate Accountability and the Field Immersion course (2025 in... View Details

14 Nov 2011
Research & Ideas

Creating a Global Business Code

The turn of the 21st century has been laden with high-profile corporate scandals, prompting widespread concern about the standards of conduct followed by big business. Intrigued by the complexity of managing corporate behavior in a global... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

2008
Article

Governance and Merger Accounting: Evidence from Stock Price Reactions to Purchase versus Pooling

By: Francisco de Asis Martinez-Jerez

This paper examines the effect of corporate governance on investor reactions to accounting choice in the context of accounting for business combinations. Using a sample of 324 recent stock swap acquisitions I find that, contrary to practitioners' belief that capital... View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Financial Statements; Mergers and Acquisitions; Capital Markets; Stocks; Price; Corporate Governance

SSRN

Find at Harvard

May 1995 (Revised April 1998)
Case

AT&T Paradyne

By: Robert S. Kaplan

A company making data communication devices has adopted a Total Quality philosophy for working with suppliers, employees, and customers. The finance group finds its existing cost system has become obsolete because of a shift from manual to automatic production... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Product; Corporate Accountability; Activity Based Costing and Management; System; Performance Efficiency; Financial Reporting; Operations; Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry

January 1996 (Revised December 1997)
Case

Colgate-Palmolive Company: Analyzing an Annual Report

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

A directed analysis of the Colgate-Palmolive Co. annual report. Focuses on the basics of reading an annual report including analysis of financial statements, calculation of financial ratios, and study of the layout and message of the report. Industry financial ratios... View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Reports; Financial Statements; Consumer Products Industry