Publications

May 1996
Case

First Capital Holdings Corp.

By: Stuart C. Gilson, Harry DeAngelo and Linda DeAngelo

The manager of a money-management firm considers whether to invest in the securities of a large, financially troubled, California-based life insurance holding company that holds 40% of its assets in high-yield junk bonds. Over the past year, the value of its portfolio... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Debt Securities; Bonds; Valuation; Investment Return; Fair Value Accounting; Financial Institutions; Insurance Industry

September–October 2022
Article

Should Your Company Sell on Amazon?: Reach Comes at a Price

By: Ayelet Israeli, Leonard A. Schlesinger, Matt Higgins and Sabir Semerkant

Selling on Amazon allows brands to reach millions of consumers—but that exposure comes with costs. They include smaller margins, more competition, the risk of commoditization, and less knowledge about customers. In this article, the authors present a scorecard to... View Details

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February 2018 (Revised October 2018)
Case

Wellington Global Impact

By: Shawn Cole and Lynn Schenk

Wellington Global Impact is one of the first public equities impact investing strategies in the market. The case explores how the strategy was developed at Wellington, including an analysis of the culture that supported its development. It also explores the difficulty... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Impact Investing; Investment; Strategy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Organizational Culture; Analysis

October 1989 (Revised May 1990)
Case

Jaguar plc--1984

By: Timothy A. Luehrman and William Schiano

A vehicle for analyzing the exposure of operating cash flows to exchange rate changes. Considers the value of Jaguar plc at the time of its privatization and share offering in 1984. Jaguar is a major exporter from the United Kingdom and the United States is therefore... View Details

Keywords: Change; Cash Flow; Currency Exchange Rate; Risk Management; Privatization; Valuation; Auto Industry; United Kingdom; United States

Fall 2013
Article

Sustainable Operations Management: An Enduring Stream or a Passing Fancy?

By: David Drake and Stefan Spinler

Paul Kleindorfer was among the first to weigh in on and nurture the stream of Sustainable Operations Management. The thoughts laid out here are based on conversations we had with Paul relating to the drivers underlying sustainability as a management issue: population... View Details

Keywords: Sustainable Operations; Sustainability; Environment; Paul Kleindorfer; Management; Environmental Sustainability

Spring 2012
Article

The Need for Sector-Specific Materiality and Sustainability Reporting Standards

By: Robert G. Eccles, Michael P. Krzus, Jean Rogers and George Serafeim

Even though the supply of sustainability information has increased considerably in the last decade, companies are still failing to disclose material information in a comparable format. We believe this has two downsides. On the one hand, companies are not adequately... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Reporting; Standard Setting; Regulation; Environmental Sustainability; Accounting; Standards; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Corporate Disclosure; Competitive Advantage; Capital Markets; Accounting Industry; United States

April 2006
Background Note

Understanding Corporate-Value-at-Risk through a Comprehensive and Simple Example

By: Marc L. Bertoneche and Frantz Maurer

Using a comprehensive and simple example of a firm exposed to foreign exchange risk, interest rate risk, and commodity price risk, shows how to use corporate-value-at-risk to measure and manage a firm's global exposure to risk. View Details

Keywords: Financial Markets; Interest Rates; International Finance; Globalization; Risk Management; Measurement and Metrics; Value

April 2002
Article

The Determination of Unemployment Benefits

By: Rafael Di Tella and Robert J. MacCulloch

While much empirical research exists on labor market consequences of unemployment benefits, there is remarkably little evidence on the forces determining benefits. We present a simple model where workers desire insurance against unemployment risk and benefits increase... View Details

Keywords: Unemployment; Compensation and Benefits

12 Oct 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Crashes and Collateralized Lending

Keywords: by Jakub W. Jurek & Erik Stafford; Banking; Financial Services

January 2008
Background Note

Convertible Arbitrage

By: Joshua Coval and Erik Stafford

The goal of this simulation is to understand how convertible bonds can be viewed as a portfolio of simpler securities and to introduce an over-the-counter market. The convertible bonds that are available during the simulation are at-the-money and in-the-money so that... View Details

Keywords: Bonds; Investment Portfolio; Price; Risk Management; Mathematical Methods

2021
Working Paper

Limits to Bank Deposit Market Power

By: Juliane Begenau and Erik Stafford

Claims about the market power of bank deposits in the banking literature are numerous and far reaching. Recently, a causal narrative has emerged in the banking literature: market power in bank deposits, measured as imperfect pass-through of short-term market rates on... View Details

Keywords: Bank Deposits; Market Power; Net Interest Margin (NIM); Banks and Banking; Interest Rates; Risk and Uncertainty

19 Jul 2004
Research & Ideas

Your Customers: Use Them or Lose Them

"palatable" way to have customers pay for their own service, Frei said. Reduce Costs Not every industry, however, is set up so it can persuade customers to sacrifice more money for better service. Customers of most auto View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

11 Dec 2012
First Look

First Look: Dec. 11

of bank leverage and risk exposures contributes to a form of systemic risk. We compute bank exposures to system-wide deleveraging, as well as the spillover of a single bank's... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

30 Jan 2013
Working Paper Summaries

These Are the Good Old Days: Foreign Entry and the Mexican Banking System

Keywords: by Stephen Haber & Aldo Musacchio; Banking

August 2017
Article

Tort Reform and Innovation

By: Alberto Galasso and Hong Luo

Current academic and policy debates focus on the impact of tort reforms on physicians’ behavior and medical costs. This paper examines whether these reforms also affect incentives to develop new technologies. We develop a theoretical model that predicts that the impact... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Health Care and Treatment; Technological Innovation; Legal Liability; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

17 Feb 2014
Research & Ideas

Companies Detangle from Legacy Pensions

insurance companies. In the HBS case study Prudential Financial-General Motors Pension Risk Transfer: Back to the Future?, Viceira, with Emily A. Chien, wrote about the historic de-risking of GM's pension... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Aerospace; Financial Services

12 Sep 2023
Research & Ideas

How Can Financial Advisors Thrive in Shifting Markets? Diversify, Diversify, Diversify

influencers such as attorneys, accountants, and insurance agents furthered expansion. Gaining 10 new clients from referrals is worth a 1-to-2 percent increase in assets under management and revenue, and 0.5 percent to 1 percent in... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Financial Services

31 Aug 2020
Working Paper Summaries

The Pass-Through of Uncertainty Shocks to Households

Keywords: by Marco Di Maggio, Amir Kermani, Rodney Ramcharan, Vincent Yao, and Edison Yu

2017
Working Paper

Tort Reform and Innovation

By: Alberto Galasso and Hong Luo

Current academic and policy debates focus on the impact of tort reforms on physicians’ behavior and medical costs. This paper examines whether these reforms also affect incentives to develop new technologies. We develop a theoretical model which predicts that the... View Details

Keywords: Lawsuits and Litigation; Laws and Statutes; Innovation and Invention; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry