Publications

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April 2022 (Revised August 2022)
Case

Conflicts of Interest at Uptown Bank

By: Jonas Heese

In 2013, two employees debated whether to blow the whistle on their employer, Bell Bank, after completing an internal review that revealed undisclosed conflicts of interest. Bell Bank’s Asset Management business disproportionately invested clients’ money in Bell Bank’s... View Details

05 Aug 2024
Research & Ideas

Watching for the Next Economic Downturn? Follow Corporate Debt

growth during the three years preceding financial busts, downturns, and crises from 1940 to 2014, the analysis finds. Once a boom cycle begins to bust, it’s corporate debt that... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

March 2019
Case

Mahindra Finance

By: V.G. Narayanan and Tanvi Deshpande

Mahindra Finance is a non-banking lender operating mainly in the rural and semi-urban areas of India. Set up in 1991, the company had grown to become a market leader with assets of $8.5 billion and a presence in 3,30,000 villages across India. Since most of Mahindra's... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Business Model; Volatility; Customer Focus and Relationships; Decisions; Credit; Financing and Loans; Service Delivery; Risk and Uncertainty; Financial Services Industry; India

December 1996 (Revised October 1999)
Case

Kidder, Peabody & Co.: Creating Elusive Profits

By: Robert L. Simons and Antonio Davila

On April 17, 1994, Kidder, Peabody & Co. announced a $350 million charge against earnings resulting from the discovery of false trading profits. That same day, the termination of Joseph Jett's employment with the company was made public. By illustrating the mechanics... View Details

Keywords: Bonds; Governance Controls; Crime and Corruption; Financial Reporting; Profit; Financial Strategy

January 2022
Background Note

The Florange Law: Encouraging Long-Termism in Equity Markets?

By: Charles C.Y. Wang and Tonia Labruyere

This note provides background information on a French law (“the Florange law”) passed in 2014 that the French government said would encourage long-term shareholdings. The note describes the law, what led to it, the reactions it evoked, and similar initiatives in other... View Details

Keywords: Equity; Financial Markets; Investment Activism; Institutional Investing; Corporate Governance; Policy; Rights; Laws and Statutes; Business and Government Relations; Accounting Industry; France

05 May 2003
What Do You Think?

Is This a Golden Era for Marketing Productivity?

and needs of significant numbers of customers? Or will it lead to the introduction of new products and services that fail because they are ahead of their time or based on misinterpretations of consumers'... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

December 2010 (Revised September 2011)
Case

Kanebo Ltd. (A)

By: David F. Hawkins, Suraj Srinivasan, Akiko Kanno and Lizzie Gomez

Speculation as to how Japanese companies might implement IFRS with particular emphasis on consolidation accounting. View Details

Keywords: History; Business Conglomerates; Misleading and Fraudulent Advertising; Consolidation; Financial Statements; International Finance; International Accounting; Standards; Goodwill Accounting; Manufacturing Industry; Japan

January 1991 (Revised March 2010)
Case

Westchester Distributing, Inc. (A)

By: Robert L. Simons and Robert Boxwell

Focuses on the three-way interaction among internal controls, employee behavior, and incentives. Salesmen are illegally providing kickbacks to customers of this beer-distribution firm. In turn, salesmen are reimbursing themselves by filing fraudulent expense reports.... View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Crime and Corruption; Corporate Governance; Governance Controls; Salesforce Management; Behavior; Motivation and Incentives; Distribution Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

15 Oct 2014
Research & Ideas

Apple Pay’s Technology Adoption Problem

the consumer's name, credit card number or security code because Apple uses a fingerprint reader on its recent iPhones to confirm identities. And when consumers add a credit or debit card with Apple Pay, the card number is not stored by... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Technology; Retail

12 Mar 2013
First Look

First Look: March 12

course. Purchase this case:http://hbr.org/search/813127-PDF-ENG First Solar: CFRA's Accounting Quality Concerns Srinivasan, Suraj, and Ian McKown CornellHarvard Business School Case 113-044 The case relates View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

05 Jun 2020
Blog Post

Developing Black Talent for Leadership

engineers, 40% of members of congress, and account for 25% of Black undergrad STEM majors [2,3]. HBCUs are outperforming the average postsecondary institution in terms of upward mobility to the top quintile... View Details

19 Oct 2010
First Look

First Look: October 19, 2010

emerged that explicitly links leadership and identity. Research and theorizing on leadership development have yet to specify the processes that account for identity transformations in role transitions. This... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2011 (Revised November 2011)
Case

Identifying Firm Capital Structure

Students are asked to link concealed balance sheets with firm descriptions. The case helps students understand how balance sheets reflect industry and firm characteristics. View Details

Keywords: Financial Statements; Business Ventures; Capital Structure

23 Oct 2007
First Look

First Look: October 23, 2007

Download the paper (purchase from NBER required: $5): http://papers.nber.org/papers/w13470 Accountability in Complex Organizations: World Bank Responses to Civil Society Authors:Alnoor Ebrahim and Steve Herz... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

26 Mar 2013
First Look

First Look: March 26

through its development bank (BNDES), we find a positive effect of those stakes on firms' return on assets and on the capital expenditures of financially constrained firms with investment opportunities. However, these positive effects are... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2024
Working Paper

Ponzi Funds

By: Philippe van der Beck, Jean-Philippe Bouchaud and Dario Villamaina

Many active funds hold concentrated portfolios. Flow-driven trading causes price pressure, which pushes up the funds’ existing positions resulting in realized returns. We decompose fund returns into a price pressure (self-inflated) and a fundamental component and... View Details

Keywords: Investment Funds; Investment Portfolio; Investment Return; Price Bubble; Financial Reporting; Financial Liquidity