Publications

2012
Book

The Founders and Finance: How Hamilton, Gallatin, and Other Immigrants Forged a New Economy

In 1776 the United States government started out on a shoestring and quickly went bankrupt fighting its War of Independence against Britain. At the war's end, the national government owed tremendous sums to foreign creditors and its own citizens. But lacking the power... View Details

Keywords: History; Sovereign Finance; Ethnicity Characteristics; Economics; Great Britain; United States

18 Mar 2014
First Look

First Look: March 18

the supply of capital create the need for increased upfront financing, but this protection lowers the real option value of the new venture. In equilibrium, financing risk disproportionately impacts... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

28 Feb 2023
Blog Post

Celebrating Socioeconomic Diversity and Inclusion at HBS (Part 1)

The week of February 27 to March 3 is the inaugural Socioeconomic Inclusion (SEI) Week. HBS will be participating in events that highlight and celebrate socioeconomic diversity and inclusion on campus. This week is a powerful reminder of the value of diverse... View Details

October 2002 (Revised November 2002)
Case

Welfare State and its Impact on Business Competitiveness, The: Sweden Inc. for Sale?

By: Huw Pill, Petter Johnsson, Ola Nordquist and Ingrid Vogel

The Swedish Model--sometimes presented as a third way between savage capitalism and unrealistic socialism--was much lauded in the 1960s. It was viewed as a strategy that addressed social concerns while supporting economic growth. However, the financial and currency... View Details

Keywords: Economic Systems; Welfare; Government and Politics; Taxation; Competition; Public Administration Industry; Sweden

15 May 2009
News

Diminished Returns

October 2023 (Revised June 2024)
Case

Revvity: A Symbol of Change

By: Satish Tadikonda and William Marks

After selling the PerkinElmer name and several ancillary business units, Prahlad Singh (CEO) and his team at the newly christened Revvity faced a challenge on how best to capitalize on the opportunities ahead for the business and emerge as winners within the Life... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Corporate Strategy

January 2015
Teaching Plan

Residencial Los Andes

By: Nicolas P. Retsinas and Lisa Strope

In 2011, Mauricio Levitin and Josef Preschel, Managing Directors of Peninsula Investments Group (Peninsula) are deciding whether or not to recapitalize an equity investment in Residencial Los Andes, a residential development project in Santiago, Chile, or exit and take... View Details

Keywords: Real Estate; Property; Real Estate Industry; Chile

2011
Working Paper

Fiduciary Duties and Equity-Debtholder Conflicts

By: Bo Becker and Per Stromberg

We use an important legal event as a natural experiment to examine the effect of management fiduciary duties on equity-debt conflicts. A 1991 Delaware bankruptcy ruling changed the nature of corporate directors' fiduciary duties in firms incorporated in that state.... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Capital Structure; Equity; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Laws and Statutes; Conflict and Resolution; Welfare or Wellbeing; Delaware

Read Now

11 Aug 2008
Research & Ideas

Strategy Execution and the Balanced Scorecard

they took on. All companies, not just financial ones, need to have better methods to assess and monitor their risks. Quantifying financial, operating, technological, and strategic risk is far from trivial,... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

June 2020
Case

RBC: Transforming Transformation (A)

By: Ethan Bernstein, Francesca Gino and Aldo Sesia

In 2017, the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), a Canadian financial icon, mandated a swat team of “enablers of collaboration” (their job description) to support the personal and commercial bank in the enterprise-wide RBC Cultural Transformation initiative. Historically,... View Details

Keywords: Service Delivery; Information Technology; Transformation; Change Management; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Management; Decision Making; Human Resources; Management Systems; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Groups and Teams; Management Teams; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; Canada

September 2008 (Revised September 2011)
Background Note

Note: Credit Rating Agencies

By: William E. Fruhan

The note examines the role of credit rating agencies in capital markets, with emphasis on the role of these agencies in the recent credit crisis and recommendations for change. View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Capital Markets; Credit; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Standards

March 1996 (Revised July 1996)
Case

Service Corporation International

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Craig F Schreiber

The CFO of a high-growth company in the low-growth and fragmented funeral services industry must decide how to optimize capital structure and earnings growth while maximizing the company's market value. View Details

Keywords: Financial Management; Value Creation; Business Growth and Maturation; Consolidation; Industry Growth; Capital Structure; Expansion; Service Industry; United States; North and Central America

June 2017
Case

Obesity Management at Kaiser Permanente: A New Mindset for Healthcare Delivery?

By: Kevin Schulman, Gregory Leya and Christina Beveridge

Kaiser Permanente (KP) is the largest managed care organization in the United States with over 10 million members. KP evolved from a prepayment or capitation model that focuses the organization around the efficiency of care and the health of the population it serves.... View Details

Keywords: Operations; Health Care and Treatment; Business Model; Strategy; Health Industry; United States

November 1996 (Revised February 1997)
Case

Historical Society of Pennsylvania, The

By: Stephen A. Greyser and Stephanie L. Woerner

The Historical Society of Pennsylvania (HSP) runs one of the nation's most important research libraries and a museum focusing on colonial history. Financial analysis shows that the society has absorbed increased costs of operation over the past decade through slow but... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Cost; Human Resources; Leadership Style; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Managerial Roles; Mission and Purpose; Corporate Strategy; Pennsylvania

January 2007
Case

Gobi Partners: Raising Fund II

By: G. Felda Hardymon and Ann Leamon

The three founding partners of Gobi Partners, a venture capital fund investing in early start IT and digital media companies in China, are planning to raise a second fund. The first $51.75 million fund is close to being entirely invested and the portfolio companies are... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Private Equity; Investment Funds; Financial Strategy; Business or Company Management; China

10 Jul 2000
Research & Ideas

The State of the Markets

to pay the IOUs coming due." Financial markets can help that happen by offering mechanisms that enable capital to be allocated to companies and industries where it can be the most productive. The result... View Details

Keywords: by James E. Aisner

October 2005
Case

Saskatchewan Wheat Pool 2005

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Mary L. Shelman

CEO Mayo Schmidt had just guided his firm through five difficult years. Survival had come with the difficult decision to change the 80-year-old agricultural cooperative into a Canadian business corporation. The Saskatchewan Wheat Pool (SWP) now faced the future with a... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Customer Value and Value Chain; Capital; Technological Innovation; Leading Change; Demand and Consumers; Partners and Partnerships; Expansion; Technology Adoption; Food and Beverage Industry; Canada

Find at Harvard

October 2005 (Revised June 2007)
Case

Apollo Hospitals--First-World Health Care at Emerging-Market Prices

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee, Tarun Khanna and Carin-Isabel Knoop

The Apollo Hospitals Group, one of Asia's premier health care organizations, had come to rival the best health care organizations on the globe. Apollo offered advanced medical procedures, such as cardiac surgery using the beating heart technique, at very high levels of... View Details

Keywords: Vertical Integration; Decision Choices and Conditions; Health Care and Treatment; Global Strategy; Developing Countries and Economies; Health Industry; Thailand; United States; India