Publications

March 2003 (Revised June 2003)
Case

Risk Arbitrage: Abbott Labs and Alza (A)

By: George C. Chacko, Randolph B. Cohen, Marc Chennault and Andrew Kuhlman

A hedge fund is trying to decide whether to capitalize on a seeming risk arbitrage opportunity that exists during the Abbott Labs acquisition of ALZA. View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Mergers and Acquisitions; Investment Funds

October 2013 (Revised November 2013)
Case

Blackstone and the Sale of Citigroup's Loan Portfolio

By: Victoria Ivashina and David Scharfstein

The credit boom that preceded the 2007-2009 financial crisis led to several lending practices that exposed banks to large risks. In particular, when the financial crisis unraveled, there were several billion dollars' worth of leveraged buyout (LBO) loans that were... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Private Equity; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Financial Markets; Investment; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry

2015
Case

Advanced Leadership Pathways: Robert Whelan and the Student Loan Crisis (B)

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, Grace Sza-Hua Chen and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

Bob Whelan developed an idea with partners that was a seed before his fellowship year and addressed a significant national challenge - college financing - with a creative concept and experience from his years in investment banking. His nonprofit was called 13th Avenue... View Details

Keywords: Social Enterprise; Higher Education; Financing and Loans; Borrowing and Debt; Leading Change; Education Industry; Financial Services Industry

27 Apr 2010
First Look

First Look: April 27

American-based scholars with European ties, we decided to examine the impact of Organization Studies in North American academia with the objective of understanding what, if anything, makes some Organization Studies' articles more likely... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

20 Sep 2022
Cold Call Podcast

Larry Fink at BlackRock: Linking Purpose to Profit

Keywords: Re: George Serafeim; Financial Services

September 2008 (Revised September 2010)
Case

Ithmar Capital

By: Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon

The founders of Ithmar Capital, a mid-market private equity fund targeting businesses in and addressing the Gulf Co-operation Council countries, are about to raise their third fund, targeting $1 billion. The firm's current strategy as demonstrated in Funds I ($70... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Financial Management; Investment Funds; Investment Portfolio; Financial Services Industry

Find at Harvard

04 Nov 2019
News

Getting Around: Shaping the Future of Transportation

Research Summary

Research

By: Michael I. Norton

Professor Norton's research can be grouped into two broad areas. First, he explores the effects of social norms on people’s attitudes and behavior, addressing the key role that social factors play in shaping the preferences of individuals. This work has a particular... View Details

11 Dec 2017
Blog Post

3 Ways Financial Aid is Unique at HBS

When prospective students consider applying to an MBA program, funding the degree is usually top of mind. There's no getting around the fact that pursuing an MBA can be costly, but financial aid at HBS is designed to make the degree... View Details

June 2014 (Revised May 2017)
Case

Southeastern Asset Management Challenges Buyout at Dell

By: Paul Healy, Suraj Srinivasan and Aldo Sesia

In late 2012, Michael Dell wants to take Dell Inc., the company he founded, private. Mr. Dell believes that the successful company's transformation from a personal computer (PC) manufacturer to an enterprise solutions and services provider (ESS) is dependent on going... View Details

06 Jun 2007
Research & Ideas

Behavioral Finance—Benefiting from Irrational Investors

like computers in financial models. Behavioral finance replaces these idealized decision makers with real and imperfect people who have social, cognitive, and emotional biases. My work focuses on how the resulting inefficiencies in the capital markets can create... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

March 2014 (Revised May 2014)
Teaching Note

The TELUS Share Conversion Proposal

By: Lucy White and Benjamin C. Esty

On February 21, 2013, TELUS announced a proposal to convert the firm's non-voting shares into voting shares on a one-to-one basis, thereby eliminating the firm's dual class structure. Shareholders were scheduled to vote on the proposal at the firm's annual general... View Details

27 Oct 2015
News

Pay-For-Success is Working in Utah

Incentives for Bad Science

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) inform medical practice, health care delivery, follow-on research, regulation, and health policy. Yet, many RCTs are inadequately randomized, blinded, and reported. To analyze scientists' and firms' incentives to meet clinical trial... View Details

16 Feb 2021
Research & Ideas

To Fight Climate Change, Should Green Investors Reconsider Big Oil?

allocated to sustainable funds that invest in companies with specific environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors and goals. Since 2015, when the US Department of Labor began allowing pension View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Energy

March 2021
Case

Litigation Finance 2.0: LexShares

By: Lauren Cohen, Spencer C. N. Hagist and Yago Zavalia Gahan

Litigation finance—also referred to as third party litigation funding—was in its relative infancy as an asset class when Jay Greenberg and Max Volsky made a platform-play in the space. Seven years later, the market was far from "mainstream," but nonetheless had grown... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; United States

February 2001
Case

California PERS (B)

By: Jay O. Light, Jay W. Lorsch, James O. Sailer and Katharina Pick

The largest state pension fund continues the evolution of its approach to corporate governance contemplating "relationship investing" and other new approaches. View Details

Keywords: Investment; Corporate Governance; Financial Management; Asset Management; Business and Shareholder Relations; Investment Funds; Financial Services Industry; California