Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(1,020)
- Faculty Publications (162)
- August 2008
- Article
Economic Links and Predictable Returns
By: Lauren Cohen and Andrea Frazzini
This paper finds evidence of return predictability across economically linked firms. We test the hypothesis that in the presence of investors subject to attention constraints, stock prices do not promptly incorporate news about economically related firms, generating... View Details
- April 2008 (Revised September 2008)
- Case
Shareholder Activists at Friendly Ice Cream (A)
By: Fabrizio Ferri, V.G. Narayanan and James Weber
Two activist investors, one a founder and one a hedge-fund manager, seek to improve board oversight at a chain restaurant company. Prestley Blake founded Friendly Ice Cream in 1935 with his brother, and the two created a chain of full-service restaurants. In 1979 they... View Details
- May 2008
- Article
Excess Comovement of Stock Returns: Evidence from Cross-sectional Variation in Nikkei 225 Weights
By: Robin Greenwood
In the presence of limits to arbitrage, cross-sectional variation in periodic investor demand should be related to the degree of comovement of returns. I exploit the unusual weighting system of the Nikkei 225 index in Japan to identify cross-sectional variation in... View Details
Keywords: Stocks; Investment; Investment Return; Market Transactions; Weight; Performance Expectations; Behavior; Japan
- January 2008
- Background Note
Equity Options
By: Joshua Coval and Erik Stafford
The goal of this simulation is to understand the reliance of option values on volatility. When an investor trades an option, they are essentially trading volatility. Therefore, much of the focus in this lesson is on forecasting volatility. Students are able to use two... View Details
- December 2007
- Article
Private Power in Indonesia
By: Louis T. Wells
The Asian Currency Crisis led to the collapse of agreements Indonesia had negotiated for private electric power only a few years earlier. The ensuing struggle meant bad publicity and several hundred million dollars in costs for Indonesia. As Indonesia in 2007 was... View Details
- November 2007 (Revised March 2009)
- Case
OppenheimerFunds and Take-Two Interactive (A)
By: Jay W. Lorsch, Andrew Hill and Kaitlyn Simpson
Describes the dilemma faced by Emmanuel Ferreira, a fund manager at OppenheimerFunds. As the largest shareholder and a long-time investor in software publisher Take-Two Interactive, Ferreira contemplates whether or not to get involved with other investors in trying to... View Details
- March 2007 (Revised March 2010)
- Case
Rovna Dan: The Flat Tax in Slovakia
By: Laura Alfaro, Rafael M. Di Tella, Ane Damgaard Jensen and Vincent Marie Dessain
Explores the tax policy choices made by Slovakia and the impact of reforms. Set in 2006, looks at the decision facing new Prime Minister Robert Fico as he faces the public's "reform fatigue." Traces the development of tax and fiscal policies since Slovakia's... View Details
Keywords: Investment; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Taxation; Labor; Welfare; Slovakia
- July 2006 (Revised March 2008)
- Case
Changan Automobile Co., Ltd.
By: Dennis Campbell and Donglin Xia
Chairman Yin Jiaxu must communicate that the company's extraordinary reported performance in 2002 reflects Changan's unique strategy within the competitive dynamics of China's automobile industry. Changan's 2002 annual report demonstrated an extraordinary level of... View Details
- June 2006 (Revised April 2024)
- Case
Creditor Activism in Sovereign Debt: 'Vulture' Tactics or Market Backbone
By: Laura Alfaro and Ingrid Vogel
The role of distressed debt funds, also known as "vulture funds," in sovereign debt restructuring was a hotly debated topic, especially after the success of Elliot Associates in converting an $11 million investment in Peruvian bonds worth $21 million into a $58 million... View Details
- March 2006 (Revised November 2010)
- Background Note
Protecting Foreign Investors
Describes the emergence of several kinds of efforts to assure the safety of foreign investment in emerging markets: international arbitration, expanded official political risk insurance, credit from government agencies, and intervention by investors' home governments.... View Details
- September 2005 (Revised January 2006)
- Case
Restating Revenues and Earnings at INVESTools, Inc. (A)
By: Michael D. Kimbrough and F. Warren McFarlan
Relates the events leading up to the announcement in February 2005 that INVESTools, a Utah-based provider of investor education services, would be restating prior-year financial statements due to inappropriate revenue recognition. View Details
- July 2005 (Revised September 2020)
- Case
The U.S. Current Account Deficit
By: Laura Alfaro, Rafael Di Tella, Ingrid Vogel, Renee Kim, Sarah Jeong, Matthew Johnson and Jonathan Schlefer
Investors and policymakers throughout the world were confronted with the risk of painful economic consequences arising from the large U.S. current account deficit. In 2007, the U.S. current account deficit was $731 billion, equivalent to 5.3% of GDP. The implications... View Details
- March 2005 (Revised July 2007)
- Case
Capital Controls in Chile in the 1990s (A)
By: Laura Alfaro, Rafael M. Di Tella and Ingrid Vogel
In 1991, Chile adopted a framework of capital controls focused on reducing the massive flows of foreign investment coming into the country as international interest rates remained low. Capital inflows threatened the Central Bank's ability to manage the exchange rate... View Details
- March 2005 (Revised August 2006)
- Case
Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO
By: Malcolm P. Baker and Lauren Barley
Mike Lawrie, the newly appointed CEO of Siebel Systems, considers a combination of growth and spending cuts to turn around the struggling software company. Focuses on the role of the chief financial officer, Ken Goldman, in corporate governance and compliance under... View Details
- March 2005
- Article
Short- and Long-term Demand Curves for Stocks: Theory and Evidence on the Dynamics of Arbitrage
By: Robin Greenwood
I develop a framework to analyze demand curves for multiple risky securities at extended horizons in a setting with limits-to-arbitrage. Following an unexpected change in uninformed investor demand for several assets, I predict returns of each security to be... View Details
- February 2005 (Revised March 2006)
- Case
PCAOB, The (A)
By: Lynn S. Paine and Kim Bettcher
Members of the Public Co. Accounting Oversight Board--a private-sector, nonprofit body created by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002--must determine the form and content of a new auditing standard on internal control that will fulfill the requirements of Section 404 of the... View Details
- June 2004
- Article
A Catering Theory of Dividends
By: Malcolm Baker and Jeffrey Wurgler
We propose that the decision to pay dividends is driven by prevailing investor demand for dividend payers. Managers cater to investors by paying dividends when investors put a stock price premium on payers, and by not paying when investors prefer nonpayers. To test... View Details
- March 2004 (Revised June 2006)
- Case
Journey to Sakhalin: Royal Dutch/Shell in Russia (A)
By: Rawi E. Abdelal
Operations of Royal Dutch/Shell in Russia included a strategic alliance with Gazprom, the country's natural gas monopoly, the development of the Salym oil fields in Siberia, and a small retail refilling network in St. Petersburg. Focuses on the Sakhalin II project.... View Details
- September 2003
- Case
Driving Change at Seagate
By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, Douglas A Raymond and Lyn Baranowski
A new CEO, Steve Luczo, together with COO Bill Watkins, have led a turnaround of Seagate, raising productivity dramatically and increasing innovation through teamwork, cross-functional collaboration, and other transformations in the culture of this manufacturer of disk... View Details
- September 2003
- Case
Executive Compensation at Reckitt Benckiser plc
By: V.G. Narayanan, Krishna G. Palepu and Lisa Brem
Investors felt betrayed by the increasingly lucrative pay packages awarded to CEOs and other top executives at multinational companies. Yet, board members charged with adequately rewarding executives were forced to compete with rising packages of salaries and stock... View Details