Publications

March 2002 (Revised August 2006)
Case

September 11th Fund, The: The Creation

By: Jane Wei-Skillern

Describes the entrepreneurial process through which the September 11th Fund was created, developed, and operated, focusing primarily on the furst seven weeks of the fund. This case details the genesis of the fund as a partnership between the United Way of New York City... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Partners and Partnerships; Social Entrepreneurship; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving

15 Jan 2015
News

The Other Debt Bomb in Public-Employee Benefits

July 2022 (Revised October 2024)
Case

3G Capital

By: Jo Tango and Alys Ferragamo

In June 2022, 3G Capital Co-Managing Partners Alex Behring and Daniel Schwartz were in a partners’ meeting. On the agenda were three potential investments. Code named “Alpha,” “Bravo,” and “Charlie” (real target companies that have been disguised), they were the... View Details

Keywords: Investment Decisions; Investment Funds; Investment Portfolio; Decision Choices and Conditions; Private Equity; Leveraged Buyouts

January 2019
Case

King Abdullah Economic City: Population Drivers and Cash Flow

By: John D. Macomber

CEO of high profile new economic city in Saudi Arabia must decide how to allocate limited investment funds across projects under duress. Issues include understanding core economic drivers; planning infrastructure investment and return; attracting multinationals; and... View Details

Keywords: Urban Development; Infrastructure; Project Finance; Resource Allocation; Decision Making; City; Real Estate Industry; Saudi Arabia

07 May 2021
News

From Dutch Tulips to Internet Stocks, How to Spot a Financial Bubble

16 Jan 2012
Research & Ideas

Private Meetings of Public Companies Thwart Disclosure Rules

anyone, it must make that information public to everyone. “Place yourself in the position of a hedge fund manager. Why would you spend all this energy seeking to meet with the CEO if it didn't help to significantly inform you in some... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Financial Services

2025
Working Paper

Bank Capital and the Growth of Private Credit

By: Sergey Chernenko, Robert Ialenti and David Scharfstein

We show that business development companies (BDCs), a significant source of private credit, are very well capitalized according to bank capital frameworks. These types of private credit funds have median risk-based capital ratios of about 36%, which is 26 percentage... View Details

Keywords: Financing and Loans; Capital; Credit; Financial Institutions

SSRN

07 Jun 2014
Video

Dora Vardis - Making A Difference

02 Apr 2018
News

Is 'Gut Feel' a Good Reason to Invest in a Startup?

2012
Other Unpublished Work

What Are We Meeting For? The Consequences of Private Meetings with Investors

By: Eugene F. Soltes and David H. Solomon

Executives of publicly-traded firms spend considerable time meeting privately with investors, despite regulation restricting their ability to convey material nonpublic information. Using a set of records of all one-on-one meetings between senior management and... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Investment; Investment Funds; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Management Teams; Public Ownership; Business and Shareholder Relations

SSRN

February 2000 (Revised April 2003)
Case

InSite Marketing Technology (A)

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Genevieve J.S. Feraud and Sheila L Marcelo

Introduces students to products and services that improve customers' online shopping experience. Also discusses the challenges of marketing new product concepts and finding funding for start-up ventures. View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Financing and Loans; Technological Innovation; Business or Company Management; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Service Delivery; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Service Industry; Web Services Industry

Video

International Perspective Series: Financing Your Degree

22 Apr 2015
HBS Seminar

Riitta Katila, Stanford School of Engineering

August 2010 (Revised March 2012)
Supplement

The Dow Acquisition of Rohm and Haas (C)

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Melissa Barton

The global economy entered a crippling recession in the fourth quarter of 2008 and Dow lost its primary source of funding for its planned acquisition of Rohm and Haas. View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Financial Crisis; Financing and Loans; Chemical Industry

June 2022 (Revised October 2022)
Case

Can Goodr Fight Food Insecurity at Scale?

By: Daniel Isenberg and William R. Kerr

Jasmine Crowe founded Goodr to redirect food waste to people in need. Now a profitable enterprise, she’s searching for Series A funding and encountering pushback. Scaling and contract concerns are also at the forefront of her mind, but so are her values. Feeding... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Investor Demand; Food; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Values and Beliefs; Social Issues; Race; Opportunities; Contracts; Mission and Purpose; Financing and Loans

May 2015
Case

Transforming Alkermes into a Global Biopharmaceutical Company

By: C. Fritz Foley and Nicholas Haas

In the summer of 2011, Jim Frates, CFO of Alkermes faced choices about how to finance the acquisition of Dublin, Ireland-based Elan Drug Technologies (EDT)—a deal that was expected to close in the fall. The case describes the history of Alkermes, provides information... View Details

Keywords: Financing; Debt; Merger; CFO; Financial Management; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States; Europe

27 Oct 2017
News

Lessons for 2017 from a Man Who ‘Called’ the Crash of 1929

March 2021 (Revised November 2022)
Case

Blue Meridian Partners (A): Scaling for Impact

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

In 2018, Edna McConnell Clark Foundation in a bold move transferred all its assets to a fund pooled with other General Partners and Limited Partners, called Blue Meridian Partners, to focus substantial long range investments in a few carefully chosen nonprofits.The... View Details

Keywords: Venture Philanthropy; Scaling; COVID-19 Pandemic; Social Justice; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Venture Capital; Business Model; Social Issues; Poverty; Values and Beliefs; Decisions; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Nonprofit Organizations; Investment Portfolio

2008
Working Paper

Inexperienced Investors and Bubbles

By: Robin Greenwood and Stefan Nagel

We use mutual fund manager data from the technology bubble to examine the hypothesis that inexperienced investors play a role in the formation of asset price bubbles. Using age as a proxy for managers' investment experience, we find that around the peak of the... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Stocks; Information Technology; Price Bubble; Asset Management; Experience and Expertise