Publications

January 1996 (Revised February 1997)
Case

Tennessee Valley Authority: Option Purchase Agreements

James Cross, VP of customer planning at the Tennessee Valley Authority, a major supplier of electric power in the Southeast United States, is considering meeting its incremental capacity needs by creating new financial contracts, Option Purchase Agreements (OPAs) to... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Risk Management; Energy Generation; Corporate Finance; Energy Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

October 1995 (Revised July 1996)
Case

Aspen Technology, Inc.: Currency Hedging Review

The chief financial officer of a rapidly growing U.S.-based software firm that sells its process-control software to industrial users around the globe must review the goals, strategies, and policies of the firm's currency hedging program. This review is prompted by... View Details

Keywords: Currency Exchange Rate; Applications and Software; Investment; Business Startups; Business Strategy; Information Technology Industry; United Kingdom; United States

June 1994 (Revised September 1995)
Case

Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust

Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc. (LOR), which profited by selling portfolio insurance to institutional investors, attempts to rebuild itself after the 1987 stock market crash by creating new products to meet the unsatisfied needs of equity investors. LOR... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Financial Services Industry; United States

March 1994 (Revised September 1995)
Case

Enron Gas Services

The CEO of Enron Gas Services (EGS), a subsidiary of the largest U.S. integrated natural gas firm, considers the risks and opportunities of selling a variety of natural gas derivatives, both embedded in gas delivery contracts and as free-standing financial contracts.... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Energy Sources; Financial Services Industry; Energy Industry

February 1994 (Revised February 1996)
Case

Union Carbide Corporation: Interest Rate Risk Management

Union Carbide's board of directors is asked to evaluate a proposal from the staff treasurer's that would articulate policies to manage its debt portfolio. The staff proposes that shareholder value will be maximized if the firm manages its exposure to interest rates by... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Interest Rates; Corporate Finance; Chemical Industry

February 1994 (Revised September 1995)
Case

Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: Portfolio Insurance

Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, a small financial advisory firm founded in 1980, has created a successful business by selling a product commonly known as portfolio insurance. Portfolio insurance is a trading strategy that institutional investors use to establish... View Details

Keywords: Investment Portfolio; Insurance; Product; Financial Services Industry

January 1994 (Revised July 1994)
Case

Dell Computer Corporation

Tina Chen, chief investment officer of a large insurance company, hears accusations by a Kidder Peabody equity research analyst that Dell Computer Corp. might be improperly accounting for what he suspects are large foreign exchange losses resulting from speculation.... View Details

Keywords: International Accounting; Financial Instruments; Ethics; Financial Statements; Computer Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

April 1993 (Revised October 1995)
Case

American Barrick Resources Corporation: Managing Gold Price Risk

Managing the risk of changing prices of gold is central to the business strategy of American Barrick Resources Corp., one of North America's largest and most successful gold-mining firms. The case contrasts this firm's hedging policies with those of its rivals that do... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Business Strategy; Mining; Mining Industry; United States

January 1993 (Revised August 2003)
Case

Sally Jameson: Valuing Stock Options in a Compensation Package

Details a thinly disguised situation faced by a recent Harvard MBA graduate who was forced by a prospective employer to place a dollar value on a grant of stock options. There are two objectives: 1) Serves as an introduction to option valuation, in which students have... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Stock Options; Compensation and Benefits

autumn 1992
Book Review

Review of John Jacob Astor: Business and Finance in the Early Republic, by John Denis Haeger

By: Nancy F. Koehn

Keywords: Finance; Business History

Find at Harvard

June 1989 (Revised November 1991)
Supplement

Ingersoll-Rand (C): Managing Multiple Channels--1987

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

Describes the actions taken by Peter Baldwin to address the issues. View Details

Keywords: Industrial Products Industry

2024
Case

EPCorp: Sell on Amazon or Invest in Our Data?

By: Jacob M. Cook

Amidst a history of exponential growth, Electronic Products Company (EPCorp) finds itself at a crossroads as its once thriving retail presence faces a downturn, despite hefty investments into a promising new direct-to-consumer e-commerce platform. Shivani, EPCorp s... View Details