Publications

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Article

Best Practices in Estimating the Cost of Capital: Survey and Synthesis

By: Robert Bruner, Kenneth M. Eades, Robert S. Harris and Robert F. Higgins

This paper presents the results of a cost-of-capital survey of 27 highly regarded corporations, ten leading financial advisers, and seven best selling textbooks and trade books. The results show close alignment among all these groups on the use of common theoretical... View Details

Keywords: Cost of Capital

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2007
Other Unpublished Work

Influence and Inefficiency in the Internal Capital Market

By: Julie Wulf

I model inefficient resource allocations in M-form organizations due to influence activities by division managers that skew capital budgets in their favor. Corporate headquarters receives two types of signals about investment opportunities: private signals that can be... View Details

Keywords: Capital Budgeting; Investment; Knowledge Acquisition; Managerial Roles; Resource Allocation; Power and Influence

2009
Case

Blaine Kitchenware, Inc.: Capital Structure: Brief Case No. 4040.

By: Timothy A. Luehrman and Joel L. Heilprin

A diversified mid-sized manufacturer of kitchen tools contemplates a stock repurchase in response to an unsolicited takeover. The company must analyze its debt capacity and optimal capital structure,while considering associated changes in firm value and stock price.... View Details

Keywords: Capital Structure; Financial Strategy; Interest Rates; Taxation; Stocks; Consumer Products Industry

19 Mar 2006
Research & Ideas

Unlocking Your Investment Capital

markets, managers can engineer a company's capital structure so that the only liabilities borne by the company are value-added risks. What are value-added risks and how are they different from passive risks? A: "Value-added"... View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen; Financial Services

May 2013
Teaching Plan

High Wire Act: Credit Suisse and Contingent Capital

By: Clayton Rose and David Lane

Late in 2010, Credit Suisse CEO Brady Dougan and his team considered whether or not to issue contingent capital, which Swiss regulators would require by 2019. They faced a number of substantial issues, including: Would contingent capital actually work as conceptualized... View Details

Keywords: Financial Institutions; Capital Markets; Financial Crisis; Decision Choices and Conditions; Leadership; International Finance; Financial Liquidity; Risk and Uncertainty; Competitive Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Switzerland

January 2010
Article

Buy Local? The Geography of Successful Venture Capital Expansion

By: Henry Chen, Paul A. Gompers, Anna Kovner and Josh Lerner

We document geographic concentration by both venture capital firms and venture capital-financed companies in three metropolitan areas: San Francisco, Boston, and New York. We find that venture capital firms locate in regions with high success rates of venture... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Expansion; Success; Capital; Geographic Location; Business Units; Corporate Accountability; Business Offices; Goals and Objectives; Mission and Purpose; Investment Funds; Corporate Governance; Boston; New York (state, US); San Francisco

December 2015
Article

Introduction: New Perspectives on Corporate Capital Structure

By: Viral Acharya, Heitor Almeida and Malcolm Baker

The National Bureau of Economic Research held a symposium titled "New Perspectives on Corporate Capital Structures" on April 5–6, 2013 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In its call for the submission of theoretical and empirical papers for the symposium, the NBER noted that... View Details

Keywords: Capital Structure; Economic Growth; Financial Crisis; Corporate Finance

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August 2011 (Revised October 2014)
Case

High Wire Act: Credit Suisse and Contingent Capital (A)

By: Clayton S. Rose and Aldo Sesia

Late in 2010, Credit Suisse CEO Brady Dougan and his team closed in on the decision of whether or not to issue contingent capital, which Swiss regulators would require by 2019. There were a number of substantial issues facing Dougan and his team, including whether... View Details

Keywords: Financial Institutions; Capital Markets; Financial Crisis; Decision Choices and Conditions; Leadership; International Finance; Financial Liquidity; Risk and Uncertainty; Competitive Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Switzerland

Educators

23 Nov 1999
Research & Ideas

The Future of the Venture Capital Cycle

Over the past two decades, there has been a tremendous boom in the venture capital industry. The pool of U.S. venture capital funds has grown from less than $1 billion in 1976 (Charles River Associates 1976)... View Details

Keywords: by Paul A. Gompers & Josh Lerner; Financial Services

30 Jun 2020
Book

Capitalism Is More at Risk Than Ever

The book Capitalism at Risk first appeared in 2011. The problems it identified with social inequality, global trade strife, and environmental degradation have only accelerated by 2020. The new edition of View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

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

Web

Research - Private Capital Project

Research Research June 2025 Teaching Material Blackstone Credit and Delaware Basin Resources By: Victoria Ivashina and Srimayi Mylavarapu Teaching note for case 224035 2025 Working Paper Performance Capital Flows in DC Pensions By: Bryan... View Details

September 2009 (Revised September 2010)
Case

Avid Radiopharmaceuticals and Lighthouse Capital Partners

By: Matthew Rhodes-Kropf and Ann Leamon

In fall 2008, a venture lender must decide whether to make a loan to Avid, a small but promising venture-backed life sciences firm. In reviewing her proposal, Cristy Barnes considers the company's characteristics and how they differ from a typical investment. At the... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Crisis; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Financing and Loans; Investment; Financial Services Industry; Health Industry

Educators

March 2011
Case

Valuation of AirThread Connections

By: Erik Stafford and Joel L. Heilprin

This case can be used as a capstone valuation exercise for first-year MBA students in an introductory finance course. A senior associate in the business development group at American Cable Communications, one of the largest cable companies in the U.S., must prepare a... View Details

Keywords: Communication; Present Value; Tax Accounting; Capital Costs; Synergy; Telephony; Wireless Technologies; Communication Technology; Assets; Cost of Capital; Valuation; Cash Flow; Capital Structure; Accounting; Wireless Technology; Communications Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry

Educators

17 Oct 2019
News

Venturing Away from Venture Capital

Illustration by Peter Arkle Illustration by Peter Arkle Sandra Oh Lin (MBA 2003) has raised enough venture capital for now, thank you very much. Lin is the founder and CEO of KiwiCo, which designs and delivers science and art project kits... View Details

Keywords: Alexander Gelfand

June 2007
Article

Risk Management, Capital Budgeting and Capital Structure Policy for Insurers and Reinsurers

By: K. A. Froot

Keywords: Risk Management; Capital Budgeting; Cost of Capital; Policy; Insurance; Asset Pricing; Insurance Industry