Publications

30 Jun 2010
News

In A.I.G. Bailout, Amnesty for Big Banks

Winter 2022
Article

Courageous Leadership: Paul Polman’s Insights for the Next Generation of Business Managers

By: John Pontillo, Celia Bravard and Andrew J. Hoffman

In 2021, John Pontillo, Celia Bravard, and Andrew Hoffman conducted a series of interviews with Paul Polman, former CEO of Unilever. They discussed how business managers and leaders can build a new model of capitalism that serves the needs of society. Here’s what they... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Social Issues

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September 2004 (Revised December 2005)
Case

Chardonnay Shortage at Mondavi Winery, The

Mondavi Winery is facing a shortage of its Chardonnay wine. This shortage will disrupt its positioning in wine outlets and impact earnings. Allows students to discuss how to communicate such temporary--but financially important--shocks to the capital markets and... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Business Earnings; Production; System Shocks; Capital Markets; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

Research Summary

Dawn Matsumoto's research investigates managers' financial reporting decisions including the incentives driving these decisions and the impact of these decisions on capital market participants. She is interested in the role of financial intermediaries (such as... View Details

July/September 2005
Article

Le consensus de Paris: la France et les règles de la finance mondiale

By: Rawi Abdelal

This article is about the institutional foundations of the globalization of finance. These institutional foundations are both informal and formal. Until the 1980s the formal rules of the international financial architecture – most consequentially in the European Union... View Details

Keywords: Policy; International Finance; Globalization; France; European Union

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2010
Chapter

The Financing of R&D and Innovation

By: Bronwyn H. Hall and Josh Lerner

Evidence on the “funding gap” for investment innovation is surveyed. The focus is on financial market reasons for underinvestment that exist even when externality-induced underinvestment is absent. We conclude that while small and new innovative firms experience high... View Details

Keywords: Research and Development; Innovation and Invention; Venture Capital; Corporate Finance

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October 1981 (Revised August 2010)
Case

Quabbin Cablevision Company

By: Henry B. Reiling

Several entrepreneurs are considering the purchase of an existing cable TV business with the financial assistance of several investors. They must decide whether to establish the company as a partnership or a corporation, and how to capitalize the company for an optimal... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Organization; Television Entertainment; Entrepreneurship; Capital Structure; Taxation; Telecommunications Industry; Massachusetts

March 2017 (Revised February 2020)
Case

Corey Thomas and the IPO

By: Steven Rogers and Derrick Collins

Corey Thomas, the African American CEO of the company Rapid7, must decide if it is the right time to take the 15-year-old company public, as it stood poised to capitalize on what appeared to be the next frontier for digital technology markets—cybersecurity. In spite of... View Details

Keywords: Business Finance; Capital Markets; Private Equity; Internet and the Web; Initial Public Offering; Decision Making; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States

September 2011
Case

AXA Private Equity: The Diana Investment

By: Michael J. Roberts and William A. Sahlman

The case focuses on an investment made by AXA Private Equity, a French manufacturer of food ingredients. The investment is made at the height of the financial markets, and financed with significant debt. Soon thereafter, the financial crisis impacted the company's... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Ethics; Investment; Financial Crisis

Scott Mayfield is a Senior Lecturer of Business Administration in the Finance Unit at the Harvard Business School. Prior rejoining the faculty in 2011, Professor Mayfield was an assistant professor and member of the Finance Unit at HBS from 1997 to... View Details

20 Jun 2021
News

Interview with Frank Cespedes of Harvard Business School, on his new book, Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World that Never Stops Changing

How Finance Works: The HBR Guide to Thinking Smart About the Numbers

If you're not a numbers person, then balance sheets and financial jargon can be intimidating and easy to ignore. But if you want to advance in your career, it's crucial that you are able to make smart financial decisions and develop the confidence to... View Details

An Evaluation of Money Market Fund Reform Proposals

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

May 2011 (Revised July 2015)
Case

Ford Motor Company: Strengthening the Dealer Network

By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Katharine Lee and Marie Bell

The case describes a five-year effort (2006-2011) of distribution rationalization and consolidation at Ford. The financial crisis in the second-half of 2008 forced GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy. Having completed the distribution overhaul work by 2011, its senior... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Product; Distribution; Consolidation; Distribution Channels; Transformation; Business Processes; Auto Industry