Publications

December 2012
Background Note

Glossary of Municipal Finance Terms

A note on municipal bond structuring. View Details

Keywords: Local Government; Political Process; Debt Management; Financial Planning; Financial Management; Bonds; Urban Development; Local Range; Government Administration

March 2011
Article

What Do Dividends Tell Us About Earnings Quality

By: Douglas Skinner and Eugene F. Soltes

Over the past 30 years, there have been significant changes in the distribution of earnings (cross-sectional variation has increased, with increasing left skewness) as well as in corporate payout policy, with many fewer firms paying dividends and the emergence of stock... View Details

Keywords: Distribution; Business Earnings; Change; Policy; Stocks; Investment Return; Performance Consistency; Quality

January 2008
Background Note

Index Options

By: Joshua Coval and Erik Stafford

The goal of this simulation is to understand the patterns in index option prices that are not predicted by the Black-Scholes model. In particular, the simulation focuses on two properties of options prices. First, at-the-money implied volatilities from index options... View Details

Keywords: Volatility; Stock Options; Investment; Price; Profit; Risk Management; Mathematical Methods

Article

The Economics of Structured Finance

By: Joshua D. Coval, Jakub W. Jurek and Erik Stafford

This paper investigates the spectacular rise and fall of structured finance. The essence of structured finance activities is the pooling of economic assets like loans, bonds, and mortgages, and the subsequent issuance of a prioritized capital structure of claims, known... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Asset Management; Debt Securities; Investment; Risk Management; Behavior

January 2002 (Revised October 2007)
Case

Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo & Co., 2001

By: Joshua Musher and Andre F. Perold

Asset manager GMO underperforms the market during the 1996-2000 stock market bubble because of the focus on absolute risk. After suffering significant client withdrawals, performance again shines when the bubble collapses. Did they win the battle only to lose the war?... View Details

Keywords: Customers; Asset Management; Stocks; Investment; Price Bubble; Mathematical Methods; Risk and Uncertainty

15 Sep 2017
Working Paper Summaries

Debt Redemption and Reserve Accumulation

Keywords: by Laura Alfaro and Fabio Kanczuk

November 2004 (Revised April 2005)
Case

Deutsche Bank: Discussing the Equity Risk Premium

Two members of Deutsche Bank's Fixed Income Research Group are discussing how to advise clients on bond vs. equity asset allocation. A critical aspect to this asset allocation decision is the equity risk premium. Discusses a unique way developed by the bank for... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Asset Management; Bonds; Capital Markets; Investment Banking; Institutional Investing; Equity; Banking Industry; Germany

January 1994 (Revised June 1994)
Case

Dean Witter, Discover & Co.

By: Dwight B. Crane and W. James Whalen

Early in 1993, Sears was in the process of spinning off its Dean Witter, Discover subsidiary. This subsidiary consisted of a securities brokerage that was acquired in 1981 and also the Discover Card, a general purpose credit card, the firm introduced in 1985. The key... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Business Subsidiaries; Initial Public Offering; Credit Cards; Corporate Strategy; Asset Pricing; Financial Services Industry

June 1995
Case

Banc One Corporation (A)

As Banc One's use of derivatives had proliferated, investors and analysts had expressed increasing concern about the size of derivative portfolios, the potential sensitivity of their value to interest rate swings, and the lack of standardized reporting on their use.... View Details

Keywords: Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Investment Banking; Financial Reporting; Annual Reports; Banking Industry

July 2009 (Revised June 2015)
Case

Citigroup's Exchange Offer

By: Robin Greenwood and James Quinn

Citigroup faced considerable distress in early 2009. In late 2008, the bank had accepted $45 billion in preferred equity from the United States government via the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP). Yet, the stock had continued to slide in early 2009. In late... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Capital Markets; Banks and Banking; Stocks; Price; Globalized Markets and Industries; Financial Services Industry

26 Oct 2017
Research Event

In an Era of 'Fake News,' What is the Future of Advertising and Publishing?

at HBS and author of The Content Trap: A Strategist’s Guide to Digital Change. “It’s hard to think about revenue without willingness of users to pay,” Anand said. The panel included Brendan Eich, a technologist instrumental in creating... View Details

Keywords: by Jen Deaderick; Media & Broadcasting; Journalism & News

January 1992
Teaching Note

MCI Communications Corporation (1983) TN

By: Richard S. Ruback

Teaching Note for (9-284-057). View Details

Keywords: Financing and Loans; Growth and Development Strategy; Debt Securities; Risk and Uncertainty; Monopoly; Communications Industry

May 2017
Article

Distracted Shareholders and Corporate Actions

By: Elisabeth Kempf, Alberto Manconi and Oliver Spalt

Investor attention matters for corporate actions. Our new identification approach constructs firm-level shareholder "distraction" measures, by exploiting exogenous shocks to unrelated parts of institutional shareholders' portfolios. Firms with "distracted" shareholders... View Details

Keywords: Investors; Business and Shareholder Relations; Executive Compensation; Stocks; Mergers and Acquisitions

August 2010 (Revised December 2010)
Case

Malcolm Life Enhances Its Variable Annuities

By: Robert C. Pozen and David J. Pearlman

The case involves an insurance CEO choosing between different designs for a variable annuity product in light of hedging, marketing, and pricing issues. The case provides students with background on the economics and regulation of life insurance and variable annuities.... View Details

Keywords: Annuities; Insurance; Investment Return; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Product Design; Insurance Industry; United States

21 Sep 2010
First Look

First Look: September 21, 2010

production workers) are associated with more autonomy and a wider span of control. By contrast, communication technologies (like data networks) decrease autonomy for both workers and plant managers. Treating technology as endogenous using View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

14 Apr 2003
Research & Ideas

Pay-for-Performance Doesn’t Always Pay Off

employees have an honest discussion of their mutual expectations, they added. This is "very difficult to do." Going forward, Beer suggested that managers recognize pay-for-performance not just in instrumental terms—as a carrot,... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

02 Aug 2021
What Do You Think?

Can Companies with Remote Management Succeed?

Goldshlager added, “ a CXO could prove instrumental (if) the company (is) ready to invest in its customers and employees, potentially to the detriment of its short-term profit needs everyone else, particularly the front-line employees,... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

01 Oct 2001
Research & Ideas

Connecting With Nonprofits

Continuum can be used as an instrument for managing their "Partnering Portfolios." Not only can one ascertain the current nature of the existing relationships, but also begin to strategize as to the ideal mix of relationship... View Details

Keywords: by James Austin

February 2025
Supplement

Align Partners and SM Entertainment: Korean Shareholder Activism Meets K-Pop (B)

By: Charles C.Y. Wang and Billy Chan

Supplements the (A) case, HBS No. 125-065. For years, institutional investors had experienced very limited success in influencing the management of listed companies through shareholder activist campaigns in Korea. The common practice of circular ownership and public... View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Public Equity; Stocks; Investment Activism; Music Entertainment; Corporate Governance; Success; Business and Shareholder Relations; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; South Korea