Publications

March 2011 (Revised September 2014)
Case

Bridging the GAAPs

By: Gwen Yu

Inconsistencies in accounting treatment across countries are a major obstacle for global equity investment. Adoption of a single accounting standard (IFRS) has been received with much excitement, where apples to apples comparison across countries will become easier.... View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; International Accounting; Private Equity; Investment; Globalized Markets and Industries; Information Management; Standards; Valuation

02 Jan 2024
Research & Ideas

10 Trends to Watch in 2024

The lightning-fast ascent of generative AI isn’t the only sea change on the horizon for businesses in the new year. The global economy is in flux as war, climate change, trade issues, and infrastructure problems demand attention. Many companies continue to struggle to... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

11 Apr 2023
Research & Ideas

Is Amazon a Retailer, a Tech Firm, or a Media Company? How AI Can Help Investors Decide

managers wanted to hedge that risk. Well, how can I hedge my risk against a portfolio that has retail stocks and technology stocks? If you have put Amazon into the retail, you're not putting the right... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Consumer Products; Real Estate; Financial Services; Retail

December 2015 (Revised May 2016)
Case

Jibo: A Social Robot for the Home

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Christine Snively

In January 2015, Jibo Inc. had completed a raise of $25.3 million in Series A financing after a successful 2014 crowdfunding campaign for preorders of Jibo, the first social robot for the home. Over 4,800 Jibo units were preordered, generating $2.6 million in sales. On... View Details

Keywords: Business Development; Entrepreneurship; Applications and Software; Information Infrastructure; Business Startups; Technology Industry

May 2025
Case

'Net Zero in Action': Impact Investing at the McKnight Foundation

By: Lauren Cohen, Christina R. Wing and Sophia Pan

Elizabeth McGeveran, Vice President of Investments at the McKnight Foundation, reflected on how to effectively advance the organization’s net-zero strategy. The foundation had committed 10% of its endowment to building a portfolio of impact investments and was among... View Details

September 2022
Article

Human Versus Machine: A Comparison of Robo-Analyst and Traditional Research Analyst Investment Recommendations

By: Braiden Coleman, Kenneth J. Merkley and Joseph Pacelli

We provide the first comprehensive analysis of the properties of investment recommendations generated by “Robo-Analysts,” which are human analyst-assisted computer programs conducting automated research analysis. Our results indicate that Robo-Analyst recommendations... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; Analysts; Robo-analysts; Investment Recommendations; Investment; Information Technology; Performance

Find at Harvard

26 Sep 2006
First Look

First Look: September 26, 2006

the economy that have occurred during the same time and argue that they are consistent with an increased use of information technology (IT) in general and enterprise information technology in particular. In... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

August 2021
Case

Andreessen Horowitz’s Cultural Leadership Fund (A)

By: Anita Elberse, Briana Richardson and Cydni Williams

In May 2020, Chris Lyons, a partner at leading venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz receives the news that his company has reached a verbal agreement with one of Silicon Valley’s hottest social-media startups to lead its ‘Series A’ funding round, in a deal that... View Details

Keywords: Entertainment; Talent Management; General Management; Inclusion; Talent and Talent Management; Diversity; Venture Capital; Entrepreneurship; Networks; Nonprofit Organizations

15 Jan 2007
Research & Ideas

The Business of Free Software

proprietary software portfolios to invest in open source software (OSS) projects that can sometimes seem unrelated to their core business. "This new reality upends the classic rules of strategy," Iansiti says, "and it's... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Computer

2020
Article

Public Sentiment and the Price of Corporate Sustainability

By: George Serafeim

Combining corporate sustainability performance scores based on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data with big data measuring public sentiment about a company’s sustainability performance, I find that the valuation premium paid for companies with strong... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; ESG; ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; Investment Management; Investment Strategy; Big Data; Machine Learning; Environment; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Governance; Performance; Asset Pricing; Investment; Management; Strategy; Human Capital; Public Opinion; Value; Analytics and Data Science

SSRN

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November 2024
Case

Ather Energy: The Future of Mobility

By: Shunyuan Zhang, Kannan Srinivasan and Malini Sen

Ather Energy, India’s third-largest electric scooter maker by volume, was founded in 2013. Five years later, the start-up launched its first electric scooter, Ather 450, which was powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT), to navigate... View Details

19 Jan 2016
First Look

January 19, 2016

emphasize users over producers. Large parts of the knowledge economy now routinely rely on users, communities, and open innovation approaches to solve important technological and organizational problems. This view of innovation, pioneered... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

05 Apr 2016
First Look

April 5, 2016

Scale versus Scope in the Diffusion of New Technology By: Gross, Daniel P. Abstract—Using the farm tractor as a case study, I show that lags in technology diffusion arise along two distinct margins: scale... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthlorne

05 Dec 2023
Research & Ideas

Are Virtual Tours Still Worth It in Real Estate? Evidence from 75,000 Home Sales

virtual tour technologies improve—and become less expensive—smaller agents may be able to more efficiently oversee larger portfolios of homes and attract more possible buyers. Future research areas may... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Real Estate

April 2012
Article

The Predictive Value of Accruals and Consequences for Market Anomalies

By: Francois Brochet, Seunghan Nam and Joshua Ronen

We revisit the role of the cash and accrual components of accounting earnings in predicting future cash flows using out-of-sample predictions and market value of equity as a proxy for all future cash flows. We find that, on average, accruals improve upon current cash... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Investment Return; Value; Equity; Markets; Cash Flow; Information Management; Accrual Accounting; Earnings Management; Corporate Governance; Stocks

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26 Mar 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, March 26, 2019

use biometric identification technology to improve the reliability of administrative information and deliver social services more efficiently. This paper exploits the random placement of biometric devices in tuberculosis (TB) treatment... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

August 2018 (Revised September 2018)
Supplement

LendingClub (C): Gradient Boosting & Payoff Matrix

By: Srikant M. Datar and Caitlin N. Bowler

This case builds directly on the LendingClub (A) and (B) cases. In this case students follow Emily Figel as she builds an even more sophisticated model using the gradient boosted tree method to predict, with some probability, whether a borrower would repay or default... View Details

Keywords: Data Analytics; Data Science; Investment; Financing and Loans; Analytics and Data Science; Analysis; Forecasting and Prediction