Publications

07 Sep 2021
News

Embracing Activism for Social Change

financial assistance from classroom to career. SUPPORTING STUDENTS Her role as senior advisor in the Detroit Mayor’s office is Mendu’s first experience in municipal government, but she has long embraced activism for social change. Before... View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg

2021
Article

The Sustainable Corporate Governance Initiative in Europe

By: Mark Roe, Holger Spamann, Jesse M. Fried and Charles C.Y. Wang

In July 2020, the European Commission published the “Study on directors’ duties and sustainable corporate governance” by EY. The Report purports to find evidence of debilitating short-termism in EU corporate governance and recommends many changes to support sustainable... View Details

Keywords: Short-termism; Hedge Funds; Shareholder Activism; Securities Regulation; Agency Costs; Political Economy; Payouts; Repurchases; Corporate Governance; Investment Funds; Investment Activism; Research and Development; Investment; European Union

SSRN

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September 2017 (Revised July 2021)
Case

Asset Allocation at the Cook County Pension Fund

By: Emil Siriwardane, Juliane Begenau and Yuval Gonczarowski

Nickol Hackett, chief investment officer of the Cook County Pension Fund, is responsible for investing the fund’s $9 billion worth of assets on behalf of the employees of Cook County, Illinois. Like many other defined-benefit pensions at the time, the Cook County... View Details

Keywords: Asset Management; Investment Funds; Financial Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions

Web

Veterans & Active Military | MBA

Veterans & Active Military External Funding For Veterans Yellow Ribbon Program Harvard Business School (HBS) will contribute $20,000 per year to each eligible veteran, which is matched by the VA for a total... View Details

14 Jan 2022
Blog Post

Embracing Activism for Social Change

the city’s Mental Health Co-Response Partnership, as well as with Andrea Smith, director of Workforce Training & Program Development at DWIHN. Her role as senior advisor in the Detroit Mayor’s office is Mendu’s first experience in municipal government, but she has... View Details

August 2015 (Revised September 2015)
Case

Shareholder Activists and Corporate Strategy

By: David Collis and Ashley Hartman

By 2015, there had been an upsurge in activist shareholders arguing for radical changes in companies' corporate strategies. Personalities like Carl Icahn, Bill Ackman, and Daniel Loeb were feared and loathed in some quarters, celebrated in others. With nearly $120... View Details

Keywords: Scope; Activist Investors; Spin-offs; Synergy; Diversification; Consolidation; Hedge Fund; Corporate Strategy

January 2006
Teaching Note

Foreign Exchange Hedging Strategies at General Motors: Competitive Exposures (TN)

By: Mihir A. Desai and Kathleen Luchs

Keywords: Currency Exchange Rate; Investment Funds; Auto Industry

Web

Europe - Global Activities 2021

platform aimed at newcomers and employers in need of low-skilled jobs for short-term contracts. Funded by angel investors, the for-profit enterprise uses a business approach to solve one of Sweden’s most important social problems.... View Details

Web

Africa - Global Activities 2020

GO: Africa Fellowship not only allows you to keep up with all the debt that comes with an MBA education, but also be a resource to your loved ones. Having funding available to do that and try to reach our North Star is extremely helpful.”... View Details

November 2011
Case

Brink's Company: Activists Push for a Spin-off

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Aldo Sesia and Amy Kaser

The case studies the decision of the security services corporation Brink's Company to spin-off its home security division from the rest of the company. The decision followed intense pressure on the company by three activist hedge funds that felt that Brink's was... View Details

Keywords: Activist Investors; Spin-off; Leveraged Recapitalization; Debt; Valuation; Hedge Funds; Conglomerates; Investment Activism

December 2020
Teaching Plan

George Soros: The Stateless Statesman

By: Geoffrey Jones and Grace Ballor

Keywords: Philanthropy; Democracy; Hedge Fund; Populism; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Finance; Financial Services Industry; Europe; Hungary; North and Central America; United Kingdom

June 2025
Case

TfL Pension Fund and the 2022 Gilt Market Crisis

By: Emil N. Siriwardane, Vincent Dessain, Emer Moloney and Carlota Moniz

On September 27, 2022, Padmesh Shukla, CIO of the Transport for London (TfL) Pension Fund, was keeping a careful eye on the turmoil in the U.K. sovereign bond (or gilt) market. When the new government announced the largest tax cuts the U.K. had seen in half a century,... View Details

November 2012
Teaching Note

Brink's Company: Activists Push for a Spin-off (TN)

By: Suraj Srinivasan

The case this Teaching Note addresses studies the decision of the security services company Brink's Corporation to spin off its home security division from the rest of the company. The decision followed intense pressure on the company by three activist hedge funds that... View Details

Keywords: Activist Investors; Spin-off; Leveraged Recapitalization; Debt; Hedge Funds; Conglomerates; Valuation; Restructuring; Accounting; Business Strategy; Investment Activism; Service Industry

18 Aug 2015
News

New HBS Fund Chairs

Ashley Garrett and Alan K. “AJ” Jones’s term as HBS Fund Chairs began on July 1, 2015. The couple, who are both members of the MBA Class of 1987, are longtime Harvard supporters. They will serve as the School’s chief fundraising... View Details

Web

South Asia - Global Activities 2020

revelations about China’s involvement in the port that would have likely never surfaced without guidance from our professors and discovery on the ground. ” Pallavi Menon MBA 2020 Involvement with the Belt and Road Initiative The two-week immersion was packed with... View Details

17 Apr 2009
Working Paper Summaries

The Investment Strategies of Sovereign Wealth Funds

Keywords: by Shai Bernstein, Josh Lerner & Antoinette Schoar; Financial Services

2012
Book

The Rate and Direction of Inventive Activity Revisited

By: Josh Lerner and Scott Stern

While the importance of innovation to economic development is widely understood, the conditions conducive to it remain the focus of much attention. This volume offers new theoretical and empirical contributions to fundamental questions relating to the economics of... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Opportunities; Nonprofit Organizations; Resource Allocation; Economic Growth; Research and Development