Publications

October 2006 (Revised August 2008)
Background Note

Performing Industry Research to Inform Investment Decisions

Conducting thorough research about an industry is often an important component of investment analysis. Written specifically for HBS MBA students, provides guidance on how to perform industry research to inform investment decisions. Provides detailed information about... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Investment; Supply and Industry; Research

Article

Price and Quality Decisions by Self-Serving Managers

By: Marco Bertini, Daniel Halbheer and Oded Koenigsberg

We present a theory of price and quality decisions by managers who are self-serving. In the theory, firms stress the price or quality of their products, but not both. Accounting for this, managers exploit any uncertainty about the cause of market outcomes to credit... View Details

Keywords: Causal Reasoning; Self-serving Bias; Strategic Orientation; Managerial Decision-making; Price; Quality; Decision Making; Theory

28 Nov 2018
Blog Post

Making the Switch from Finance to Fitness

“Fitness is your hobby. Finance is your career.” - Words so false that they changed my life. Finance After graduating from Yale University, I joined the fast-paced world of Foreign Exchange (FX) at a large... View Details

Keywords: Entertainment / Media / Sports

Web

Business Finance Course Online | HBS Online

potential projects Examine how capital markets work and how they affect your business Develop a financial intuition that will give you the confidence to make effective decisions in your career and life Who Will Benefit Early and... View Details

01 Oct 1999
News

Finance Conference Explores Research Methodologies

While HBS scholars have long appreciated the value of field-based research, the broader academic community in the field of finance has been slower to accept this method of inquiry. Field-based research, which closely studies the actions... View Details

Web

Entrepreneurial Finance (Q2) - Course Catalog

receivables financing. Course Content and Educational Objectives The goal of Entrepreneurial Finance is to help managers make better investment and financing decisions in... View Details

Web

Private Equity Finance - Course Catalog

HBS Course Catalog Private Equity Finance Course Number 1440 Professor Victoria Ivashina Senior Lecturer Ted Berk Fall; Q1Q2; 3.0 credits 28 Sessions Exam Career Focus This is an advanced corporate finance... View Details

September–October 1988
Article

Measure Costs Right: Make the Right Decisions

By: Robin Cooper and Robert S. Kaplan

Keywords: Measurement and Metrics; Cost; Decision Making

April 2000
Case

Financing of Project Achieve, The (B)

By: Mihir A. Desai

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Forecasting and Prediction; Venture Capital; Cash Flow; Equity; Negotiation Deal; Valuation

2010
Book

A Call for Judgment: Sensible Finance for a Dynamic Economy

By: Amar Bhide

Our prosperity requires the enterprise of innumerable individuals and businesses who exercise their imagination and judgment—and bear responsibility for outcomes. And it is through dialogue and relationships that widespread enterprise is fostered, not merely prices in... View Details

Keywords: Recession; Banking; Banks; Finance; Economics; Macroeconomics; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry

Web

Finance & Investing - Business & Environment

Confronting Climate Change Finance & Investing Understanding risk, identifying opportunity, and managing investments in the context of climate change The global financial landscape is increasingly being shaped by factors associated with... View Details

2010
Working Paper

A Brief Postwar History of U.S. Consumer Finance

By: Andrea Ryan, Gunnar Trumbull and Peter Tufano

This article describes the consumer finance sector in the US since World War II. We first define the sector in terms of the functions delivered by firms (payments, savings/investing, borrowing, managing risk, and providing advice.) We provide time series evidence on... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Borrowing and Debt; Mortgages; Personal Finance; Business History; Innovation and Invention; Risk and Uncertainty; Financial Services Industry; United States

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December 2000 (Revised April 2006)
Case

Promise (A): Building a Consumer Finance Company in Japan

Describes Promise, the third-largest consumer finance company in Japan. Promise was created in 1963 by an entrepreneur and has grown rapidly, especially in the 1990s when commercial banks struggled. Promise's core business consists of providing unsecured loans of up to... View Details

Keywords: Capital Structure; Entrepreneurship; Financial Institutions; Financial Services Industry; Japan

November 1997 (Revised August 1998)
Case

Palm Computing, Inc. 1995: Financing Challenges

By: Myra M. Hart and Stephanie Dodson

The president, Donna Dubinsky, and the chairman and founder, Jeff Hawkins, discuss an opportunity to sell their company to U.S. Robotics. They must weigh this option versus accepting venture capital funding, partnering with a large company that could provide... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Partners and Partnerships; Business Exit or Shutdown; Decision Choices and Conditions; Computer Industry; Information Technology Industry

27 Mar 2017
News

Lauren Cohen: Harvard’s Powerlifting Finance Prof

June 2007 (Revised March 2008)
Case

Zoots - Financing Growth (A)

By: Michael J. Roberts, William A. Sahlman and Todd Krasnow

Traces the genesis and founding of Zoots, the largest chain of dry cleaning establishments in the U.S. Founded by some of the founders of the very successful Staples chain, the company raises a very large amount of capital without fully proving its business model, and... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Venture Capital; Financial Strategy; Investment Return; Growth and Development Strategy; Valuation; United States

February 1991
Case

Burlington Northern: The ARES Decision (B)

By: Julie H. Hertenstein and Robert S. Kaplan

The ARES team formally proposes that Burlington Northern implement the ARES system. The project meets resistance. In light of financial restructuring and high level of debt, executives wonder whether the company can afford ARES. Weak links during the ARES development... View Details

Keywords: Accounting Audits; Restructuring; Cost vs Benefits; Decision Choices and Conditions; Borrowing and Debt; Capital Budgeting; Projects; Technology Adoption; Service Industry