Publications

SSRN

June 2009 (Revised November 2020)
Case

Busse Place

By: Arthur I Segel, William J. Poorvu, Richard Kessler, Justin Seth Ginsburgh and Eric Fleiss

Busse Corporate Center's largest tenant recently declared bankruptcy, leaving the building 38% occupied and significantly overleveraged. In a depressed suburban Chicago office market, Hannah Sanchez, the leasing agent, has to negotiate lease proposals with three... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Restructuring; Borrowing and Debt; Financial Management; Mortgages; Investment; Leasing; Property; Real Estate Industry; Chicago

March 2008 (Revised June 2009)
Case

Actis: January 2008

By: Felda Hardymon, Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon

Paul Feltcher, the CEO of Actis, a leading private equity investor in emerging markets, is preparing for an executive retreat at which the management team will consider how best to position the firm for the future. Actis could move in a number of different directions... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Private Equity; Investment; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Teams; Emerging Markets; Organizational Change and Adaptation

Article

Investor Activism and Takeovers

By: Robin Greenwood and Michael Schor

Recent work documents large positive abnormal returns around the time that a hedge fund announces its activist intentions with a publicly listed firm. We show that these returns are largely explained by the ability of activists to force target firms into a takeover: In... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Private Equity; Investment Return; Investment Activism; Investment Portfolio; Public Ownership

September 1992 (Revised March 1993)
Case

Empresas ICA and the Mexican Road Privatization Program

By: Willis M. Emmons III and Monica Brand

Mexico's largest construction company, Empresas ICA, makes an initial public offering to international equity investors in April 1992 to help fund its participation in an ambitious new private-sector approach to highway development. Under the new program, launched by... View Details

Keywords: Construction; Transportation Networks; Infrastructure; Privatization; Private Equity; Investment; Initial Public Offering; Private Sector; Government and Politics; Policy; Construction Industry; Mexico

Find at Harvard

On October 7, 2020, Bespoken Spirits publicly announced it had received $2.6 million of seed funding for its “sustainable maturation process,” a process that could produce award-winning whiskeys in just days rather than years using a novel technology and data... View Details

December 2018 (Revised May 2021)
Background Note

Making UK Energy Smarter

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

This case describes the history of the United Kingdom's domestic energy industry and the country's efforts to create a more competitive, greener, and distributed power sector. On July 24, 2017, the United Kingdom government and the industry regulator, the Office of Gas... View Details

March 2010 (Revised May 2013)
Case

Chile's Copper Surplus: The Road Not Taken (A)

By: Laura Alfaro, Dante Roscini and Renee Kim

In 2008, Andres Velasco, Chile's Finance Minister, was under mounting criticisms over his fiscal policy. As the world's largest copper producer, Chile was benefiting from the rise in copper prices, which had more than tripled since 2003. Copper revenues translated into... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Economic Growth; Metals and Minerals; Investment Funds; Policy; State Ownership; Wealth; Chile

Web

Podcasts - Managing the Future of Work

well-paid tech jobs, the workforce nonprofit is expanding its training, footprint, and funding strategy for its tuition-free programs. As AI redefines positions across the org chart, can bootcamps plus training top-ups, and a mix of hard... View Details

08 Sep 2010
First Look

First Look: September 8, 2010

determinant of choices than fairness, and iii) agents display a marked propensity to work for principals with similar distributional concerns. Working PapersReport on the State of Available Data for the Study of International Trade and Foreign Direct View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

11 Apr 2023
Research & Ideas

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

Traditional investing classifications consider Walmart a consumer staples retailer, but the company owns more than 6,000 retail and distribution properties around the world—the portfolio dwarfs those of many commercial real estate firms.... View Details

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

Web

California - Global

$50 million Fund 1, invested in 36 startups, many of which showed strong traction, culminating in a 15% IRR. As investor interest in the longevity market increased and competition intensified, Miller Levy... View Details

24 Apr 2007
First Look

First Look: April 24, 2007

Note on U.S. Public Education Finance (A): Revenues Harvard Business School Note 307-069 Describes the revenue structure of U.S. public education. Covers funding by federal, state, and local governments. Examines in detail two federal... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2009
Case

Avid Radiopharmaceuticals: The Venture Debt Question

By: Matthew Rhodes-Kropf and Ann Leamon

The CEO of a promising biotech company must decide how to respond to the macro-economic slump of late 2008. He had planned to pursue an aggressive schedule, moving the firm's Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease imaging compounds through clinical trials and into the... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Entrepreneurship; Borrowing and Debt; Venture Capital; Financial Management; Investment; Health Testing and Trials; Expansion; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

Web

MBA Experience - Health Care

providers, international health, venture capital, private equity, investment banking, and consulting. The Student-Alumni Mentor Program Matches students interested in health care with alumni who can provide direction on navigating the... View Details

Web

Latin America - Global

Reskilling Model JUNE 2024 ALUMNI EVENT Alumni Event with HBS Club of Brazil The HBS Club of Brazil hosted a dedicated event for search funds in June 2024. Gustavo Vaz (MBA 2018), Marcos Noll Barboza (GMP), and Paulo Molinari (MBA 2020)... View Details

Web

Global Impact of the Collapse | Baker Library | Bloomberg Center | Harvard Business School

Introduction 1840s – 1880s General Merchants to Commodities Brokers 1880s – 1920s Investment Banking & Securities Underwriting 1920s – 1960s Investing in Emerging Industries 1850–1968 Lehman Brothers Family... View Details

12 Sep 2023
Research & Ideas

How Can Financial Advisors Thrive in Shifting Markets? Diversify, Diversify, Diversify

like education planning and account aggregation, advisory firms can strengthen their businesses, shows the study, which Di Maggio cowrote with five collaborators from the investment company Dimensional Fund... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Financial Services

Web

Finance Curriculum - Faculty & Research

of material: Advanced valuation—valuation of levered firms and projects. Advanced valuations—options as a metaphor for flexibility. Financial choices of firms—financing, distributing funds to shareholders, managing risk. Integrated... View Details

October 2023 (Revised April 2024)
Case

Accounting Red Flags or Red Herrings at Catalent? (A)

By: Joseph Pacelli, ZeSean Ali and Tom Quinn

Fund manager Janet Curie asked for a recommendation about the pharmaceutical company Catalent. The company seemed like a solid investment. However, a pair of research reports issued over the previous two months complicated this narrative. GlassHouse Research, a short... View Details