Publications

2023
Working Paper

Firm Visibility and Acquisition Likelihood: Evidence from Seeking Alpha Coverage

By: Pu Gu, Benjamin Yost and Yuan Zou

This study investigates whether social media coverage influences a firm’s likelihood of being acquired. Specifically, we hypothesize that coverage of a firm on the Seeking Alpha platform raises its visibility to potential acquirers and M&A advisers (i.e., investment... View Details

Keywords: Social Media; Mergers and Acquisitions; Marketplace Matching; Investment Banking

SSRN

August 2007
Case

The Battle Of Union Square

Union Square Ventures, a Private Equity firm founded in 2003, filed a trademark infringement suit against Union Square Partners, another private equity firm founded in November 2006. Examines the possible impact that public litigation will have on the two firms. The... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Investment; Trademarks; Lawsuits and Litigation; Conflict Management; Reputation; Financial Services Industry

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December 2021
Article

Left- and Right-Leaning News Organizations Use Negative Emotional Content and Elicit User Engagement Similarly

By: Andrea Bellovary, Nathaniel Young and Amit Goldenberg

Negativity has historically dominated news content; however, little research has examined how news organizations use affect on social media, where content is generally positive. In the current project we ask a few questions: Do news organizations on Twitter use... View Details

Keywords: Negative Press; Twitter; Political Affiliation; Affect; News; Media; Internet and the Web; Emotions; Perspective; Social Media

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April 2005 (Revised November 2008)
Case

Banco Real: Banking on Sustainability

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Ricardo Reisen de Pinho

ABN AMRO REAL made corporate social responsibility central to its brand, adding to customer focus and reflecting its values. Leaders developed the Bank of Value theme and implemented it through activities such as microfinance in poor communities, environmentally... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage

19 Oct 2015
News

Goldman Sachs paid to expand pre-K in Utah. It worked.

Luis M. Viceira

Luis M. Viceira is the George E. Bates Professor in the Finance Unit and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. His research, course development, and teaching focus on the areas of investment management... View Details

Keywords: banking; education industry; financial services; nonprofit industry; retail financial services

November 2011
Article

Ownership Structure and Financial Constraints: Evidence from a Structural Estimation

By: Chen Lin, Yue Ma and Yuhai Xuan

This article examines the impact of the divergence between corporate insiders' control rights and cash-flow rights on firms' external finance constraints via generalized method of moments estimation of an investment Euler equation. Using a large sample of U.S.... View Details

Keywords: Ownership; Social Enterprise; Reputation; Cash Flow; Annuities; Investment; Investment Funds; Financial Reporting; Accounting Audits; Financial Services Industry; United States

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2021
Book

Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World That Never Stops Changing

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Selling is changing, but the impact on sales of megatrends like ecommerce, big data, and AI is often misunderstood and not supported by empirical data. Managers who fail to separate fact from hype will make decisions based on bad assumptions and, in a competitive... View Details

Keywords: Sales; Strategy; Salesforce Management; Change; Adaptation

January 2019 (Revised February 2020)
Case

Should a Pension Fund Try to Change the World? Inside GPIF's Embrace of ESG

By: Rebecca Henderson, George Serafeim, Josh Lerner and Naoko Jinjo

In the fall of 2018, Hiro Mizuno, the Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of GPIF, the Japanese Government Pension Fund, was reflecting on his efforts to integrate Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues into every aspect of GPIF’s portfolio. His efforts ranged... View Details

Keywords: Pension Funds; ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; Investment Funds; Environmental Sustainability; Social Issues; Governance; Leading Change; Economy; Performance Improvement; Japan

29 Apr 2015
News

Nitin Nohria's Exhilarating Journey

Keywords: Nitin Nohria; career experience; Indian; corporate social responsibility; women in business; diversity; The Harvard Campaign; HBS Campaign; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

May–June 2023
Article

A New Approach to Building Your Personal Brand: How to Communicate Your Value

By: Jill Avery and Rachel Greenwald

For better or worse, in today’s world everyone is a brand. Whether you’re applying for a job, asking for a promotion, or writing a dating profile, your success will depend on getting others to recognize your value. So you need to get comfortable marketing... View Details

Keywords: Personal Brand; Influencer Marketing; Leadership Development; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Identity; Reputation; Competency and Skills

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January 2003 (Revised May 2003)
Case

Heineken NV: Workplace HIV/AIDS Programs in Africa (C)

Third in a three-part series that explores the multifaceted organizational and strategic choices that companies now face as a result of the global AIDS epidemic. Heineken is considering becoming one of the first companies to offer AIDS drugs (antiretroviral therapy) to... View Details

Keywords: Health Disorders; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Employees; Food and Beverage Industry; Africa

TeachingInterests

Performance Management for Nonprofit Organizations (Executive Education, Faculty Co-chair)

This Executive Education course —a joint program presented by the HBS Social Enterprise Initiative and Harvard University's Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations—explores the impact of measurement on resource allocation, organizational learning, internal processes,... View Details

30 Mar 2018
News

BlackRock Sticking With Proposed Alaska Copper, Gold Mine

January 2016
Case

Haiti Hope: Innovating the Mango Value Chain

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Jean-François Harvey

This case study examines a market-based approach to economic development through the eyes of NGO TechnoServe's project manager, implementing a US$9.5 million five-year public-private partnership between Coca-Cola, IDB, and USAID. The case ends at the beginning of the... View Details

February 2020 (Revised March 2020)
Case

Prime Coalition: Catalytic Capital for Climate Innovation

By: Ramana Nanda, Benjamin N. Roth and Olivia Hull

With long development timelines and high risk, new energy technologies were often left to languish in the “valley of death,” unable to raise enough funds to bring a product to market. In 2014, Sarah Kearney founded the nonprofit Prime Coalition to solve this problem.... View Details

Keywords: Energy Conservation; Renewable Energy; Social Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Investment; Innovation and Invention; Technological Innovation; Mission and Purpose; Science-Based Business; Nonprofit Organizations; Social Enterprise; Energy Industry; Technology Industry; Green Technology Industry; United States

October 2020
Case

TowerBrook: ESG in Action (A)

By: Victoria Ivashina, Brian Trelstad and Meaghan Conway

This case is the first of a two-part series that follows Ramez Sousou and his team at TowerBrook Capital Partners as they face a challenging investment decision in February of 2013. Since its founding, TowerBrook has prided itself on its purpose-driven investing... View Details

Keywords: ESG; Finance; Private Equity; Corporate Governance; Value Creation; Investment; Decision Making