Publications

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July 2009 (Revised January 2012)
Case

Risk Management at Wellfleet Bank: All That Glitters Is Not Gold

By: Anette Mikes

This case motivates a debate on the role of staff functions, such as risk management: what does it mean for them to be independent, and at the same time, to partner the business lines? The case describes the risk assessment process in the corporate banking arm of... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Judgments; Credit; Banks and Banking; Governance Controls; Risk Management; Mathematical Methods

2013
Working Paper

The Appeal of the Appropriate: Accounting, Risk Management, and the Competition for the Supply of Control Systems

By: Anette Mikes

How do certain risk measurements in organizations come to be seen as more reliable and acceptable than others? Taking a multiple-control perspective, I investigate the aftermath of a control debacle at a financial services company (MultiBank), focusing on its insurance... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Multiple Control Systems; Interactive Control Systems; Performance Measurement; Risk Measurement; Financialization Of Accounting; Institutional Logics; Banking; Risk Management; Fair Value Accounting; Insurance; Financial Services Industry

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October 2012
Case

Winfield Refuse Management, Inc.: Raising Debt vs. Equity

By: W. Carl Kester and Sunru Yong

A small, publicly traded company specializing in non-hazardous waste management considers a major acquisition in the Midwestern U.S. The acquisition can provide entry into the region, help the firm compete in a competitive industry, and improve its cost position. The... View Details

Keywords: United States; Acquisitions; Capital Structure; Equity Capital; Debt Management; Expansion; Leveraged Buyouts; Financial Analysis; Administrative/Support/Waste Management/Remediation Services; Equity; Borrowing and Debt; Service Industry

March 2011 (Revised March 2014)
Case

The IASB at a Crossroads: The Future of International Financial Reporting Standards (A)

By: Karthik Ramanna, Karol Misztal and Daniela Beyersdorfer

What are the major challenges to the continued growth of IFRS worldwide? Should countries be encouraged to pursue "full adoption" of IFRS or should each country determine its own IFRS "convergence" strategy? Given the limitations of governance and... View Details

Keywords: International Accounting; Emerging Markets; Financial Reporting; Global Strategy; Fair Value Accounting; Corporate Governance; Standards; Adoption; Growth and Development Strategy

October 2022
Case

Star Magnolia Capital: Becoming Experts at Finding Experts

By: Lauren Cohen, Hao Gao, River Ewing and Grace Headinger

Shinya Deguchi, Founder and Managing Partner of Star Magnolia Capital, a Shanghai-based multi-family office (MFO), considered how to convince a new prospective family that the MFO’s endowment model approach would best suit their needs. In recent decades, there has been... View Details

Keywords: China; Asia; Family Office; Shanghai; Financial Industry; Asset Management; Financial Instruments; Financial Management; Financial Strategy; Investment; Investment Return; Investment Portfolio; Human Capital; Family Business; Financial Services Industry; China; Shanghai

June 2015 (Revised January 2017)
Case

Greece's Debt: Sustainable?

By: George Serafeim

The case "Greece's Debt: Sustainable?" describes the Greek economic crisis, bailout from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the debt restructuring that followed. Because of a lack of trust in Greece's ability to repay its debt, two... View Details

Keywords: Debt Crisis; Accounting; Debt Sustainability; Austerity; Solvency Opinions; Borrowing and Debt; Restructuring; Valuation; Accrual Accounting; Fair Value Accounting; Economy; Greece

July 2014
Case

Venture Capital at the Harvard Management Company in Historical Perspective

By: Felda Hardymon, Tom Nicholas and Vasiliki Fouka

The compromise between capital preservation and growth has always been central to the performance of the Harvard endowment. Setting an institutional structure for effectively governing this compromise became especially important when the Harvard Management Company... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Financial Management; Asset Management; Higher Education; Investment; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; Cambridge

21 Nov 2012
Research & Ideas

What Health Care Managers Need to Know--and How to Teach Them

health care community. Specialized Skills Required In a health care setting, learning to become a fungible manager with good business skills is really just the start. "Sure, health care managers must be able... View Details

Keywords: by Paul Guttry; Health; Education

11 Jan 2000
Lessons from the Classroom

New Game, New Rules: Developing Managers for a Competitive World

philosophy are flawed? What if intellectual capital rather than financial capital was the scarce resource, as it is in many companies today? Unlike financial resources, an organization's vital information,... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

21 Jan 2015
News

Alan J. Hirschfield, Who Led Film Studio Through Financial Scandal, Dies at 79

Keywords: Columbia Pictures; Arts, Entertainment

2015
Book

Political Standards: Corporate Interest, Ideology, and Leadership in the Shaping of Accounting Rules for the Market Economy

By: Karthik Ramanna

There are certain institutions underlying our modern market-capitalist system that are largely outside the interest and understanding of the general public—e.g., rulemaking for bank capital adequacy, actuarial standards, accounting standards, and auditing practice. In... View Details

Keywords: Business And Society; Financial Institutions; Financial Reporting; GAAP; IFRS; Lobbying; Capitalism; Sustainability; Accounting; Finance; Business and Government Relations; Leadership; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States; China; India

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May 2015 (Revised September 2017)
Case

Generating Higher Value at IBM (A)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and E. Scott Mayfield

This case analyzes IBM's financial performance and its capital allocation decisions over a 10-year period from 2004-2013, during which IBM returned more than $140B to shareholders through a combination of dividends and share repurchases. During this time, CEO Sam... View Details

Keywords: Dividends; Share Repurchases; Earnings Guidance; Financial Statement Analysis; Financial Ratios; Payout Policy; Earnings Per Share (EPS); Earnings Management; Change Management; Leadership; Transformation; Financial Strategy

Web

Future Positive - Managing the Future of Work

to embrace change and prepare for the future. Read Featured Article Your Workforce Is More Adaptable Than You Think Joseph B. Fuller, Judith K. Wallenstein, Manjari Raman & Alice de Chalendar MAY-JUN 2019 | Harvard Business Review Many View Details

April 2015 (Revised June 2016)
Case

The Transformation of NCR

By: David Collis, Raffaella Sadun and Matthew Shaffer

During his tenure as CEO since 2005, Bill Nuti had moved NCR Corporation (originally National Cash Register) from its historical competence in hardware to become a provider of hardware and software for managing transactions across a range of industries and payments... View Details

Keywords: NCR; Hardware; Software; Acquisitions; Financial Services; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Expansion; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Transformation; Acquisition; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry

2011
Book

The Fund Industry: How Your Money Is Managed

By: Robert Pozen and Theresa Hamacher

The Fund Industry explains to students and investors how to evaluate mutual funds and other collective investment vehicles. It discusses how different types of funds are managed, marketed, and regulated. It also reviews how funds invest and gather assets in countries... View Details

Keywords: Money; Financial Management; International Finance; Investment Funds; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Financial Services Industry

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January 1999 (Revised September 2004)
Background Note

International Entrepreneurship: Managing and Financing Ventures in the Global Economy - Overview

International Entrepreneurial Finance is the study of allocation of scarce resources by and to entrepreneurs in international settings. This note provides an overview of "International Entrepreneurial Finance," a second-year MBA course developed and taught at Harvard... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Globalization; Finance

2012
Working Paper

Earnings Management from the Bottom Up: An Analysis of Managerial Incentives Below the CEO

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Julie Wulf

Performance-based pay is an important instrument to align the interests of managers with the interests of shareholders. However, recent evidence suggests that high-powered incentives also provide managers with incentives to manipulate the firm's reported earnings. The... View Details

Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Interests; Business and Shareholder Relations; Motivation and Incentives; Earnings Management; Performance Evaluation; Stock Options