Publications

Yuan Zou is an assistant professor in the Accounting and Management unit. She teaches Financial Reporting and Control (FRC) in the MBA required curriculum.

Professor Zou conducts theoretically-motivated empirical studies aimed at furthering the understanding... View Details

01 Mar 2012
News

The Incentive Bubble

20 Mar 2019
News

A Proposed Megadeal Exposes the Grim Outlook for Europe’s Banks

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

15 Oct 2019
Cold Call Podcast

Goldman Sachs’ $500 Million Bet on Small Businesses

Keywords: Re: Leonard A. Schlesinger; Financial Services

23 Apr 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, April 23, 2019

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=55999 forthcoming Journal of Accounting Research The Role of Gatekeepers in Capital Markets By: Srinivasan, Suraj, and Sugata Roychowdhury Abstract—Gatekeepers in View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

December 2004 (Revised March 2007)
Case

Cutlass Capital, L.P.

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Brian DeLacey

David Hetz and Jon Osgood are forming a new venture capital fund in 2001 to invest in health care start-ups. Describes their fundraising activities at a time when venture capital investing has reached an all-time high. Although their background skills and experiences... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Negotiation Process; Entrepreneurship; Investment Funds; Health Care and Treatment; Business Startups; Health Industry; United States

September 2000 (Revised March 2001)
Case

Old Mutual

By: Tarun Khanna, Krishna G. Palepu and Kirsty O'Neil-Massaro

Designed to explore the demutualization and listing overseas of one of Africa's largest financial institutions, Old Mutual, and the effects that these actions have on South Africa's domestic capital markets. Explores the particular difficulties that arise as a result... View Details

Keywords: Financial Institutions; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Structure; Global Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Capital Markets; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business Education; Financial Strategy; Business or Company Management; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; South Africa

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2021
Chapter

Building Small Business Utopia: How Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Can Increase Small Business Success

By: Karen G. Mills and Annie Dang

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

Keywords: Big Data; Fintech; Artificial Intelligence; Small Business; Financing and Loans; Capital; Success; AI and Machine Learning; Analytics and Data Science

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

May 1999 (Revised August 1999)
Case

Westfield America

By: William J. Poorvu, Richard S. Tedlow and Daniel J. Rudd

The company is attempting to duplicate its Australian formula for successful mall ownership in the U.S. market. It must deal with rapidly evolving financial markets while recognizing and capitalizing on emerging trends in retailing. View Details

Keywords: Market Entry and Exit; Adaptation; Financial Markets; Property; Trends; Retail Industry; Real Estate Industry; Australia; United States

Find at Harvard

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

February 2002 (Revised May 2004)
Case

U.S. Labs

By: Michael J. Roberts and Robert F. Higgins

Describes the evolution of a start-up venture in the pathology lab segment of the clinical lab business. U.S. Labs tries a series of business models before running out of cash. The company is in dire need of financing, as its venture capital backers are refusing to put... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Venture Capital; Financial Strategy; Financing and Loans; Business Model; Business or Company Management; Planning; Business Strategy; Health Industry

2023
Working Paper

ESG: From Process to Product

By: George Serafeim

ESG measurement, analysis, management, and communication is a process that the financial industry has turned into a product, resulting in many investment funds using the ESG label. This has caused confusion, generating demand for a framework that defines... View Details

Keywords: ESG; ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; ESG Ratings; ESG Reporting; Investment Fund; Investment; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Financial Services Industry

Read Now

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

August 2023
Case

Constellation Pharmaceuticals: Corporate Development at a Novel Therapeutic Company

By: Satish Tadikonda and Brad Prosek

Constellation Pharmaceuticals was a company focused on epigenetic therapies for cancer patients. Despite a promising start and an early deal with a leading biopharma company, the company weathered twin setbacks in the end of a major research collaboration and the... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Health Care and Treatment; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Research and Development; Business Strategy; Partners and Partnerships; Goals and Objectives; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States

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

Keywords: Acquisition; Cash Flow; Investment Return; Investment Portfolio; Taxation; Balanced Scorecard; Valuation

September 1994 (Revised May 2010)
Case

Hamilton Test Systems, Inc.

By: William A. Sahlman and Norman Klein

The protagonists must decide whether to invest in an auto emissions testing company as the first investment in the leveraged buyout fund they recently formed. Issues of how to raise the needed equity capital and how to structure the acquisition are emphasized. View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Leveraged Buyouts; Environmental Sustainability; Investment; Service Industry; Auto Industry