Financial Development - Publications - Faculty & Research

May 2022
Supplement

Maestro Pizza (B): The Competition Awakens

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Fares Khrais

Maestro pizza opened its first store in 2013 after its founder, Khalid Al Omran, recognized an opportunity in Saudi Arabia to offer high quality pizza at affordable prices. The business grew rapidly and under the radar at first, but soon enough caught the attention of... View Details

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10 Jan 2005
Research & Ideas

Motivation and the Cross-Sector Alliance

business holdings. The traditional Argentine newspaper La Nación provides an example of such a shift, when in 1996 a change in ownership of the controlling stake led to the appointment of Julio Saguier as board chairman. Saguier was intent on committing the company to... View Details

Keywords: by James Austin, Ezequiel Reficco & SEKN research team

23 Nov 2009
Research & Ideas

Management’s Role in Reforming Health Care

workshop." Over the past 10 to 15 years the object of management attention has widened to include the care itself. With the development of generally accepted standard processes we have become able to design operating systems... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Health

March 2023 (Revised March 2024)
Case

The Purdue Pharma Bankruptcy: Settling the Opioid Crisis

By: Kristin Mugford, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Susan Pinckney

How to get to a fair outcome for claimants in the Purdue Pharma bankruptcy given its significant role in the U.S. opioid crisis. View Details

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17 Apr 2007
First Look

First Look: April 17, 2007

Working PapersPublic Action for Public Goods Authors:Abhijit Banerjee, Lakshmi Iyer, and Rohini Somanathan Abstract This paper focuses on the relationship between public action and access to public goods. It begins by developing a... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

17 Mar 2008
Research & Ideas

The Lessons of Business History: A Handbook

civil law tradition, and in stimulating financial and economic development. This has sometimes been used to explain why the United States performed so much better economically than Latin America. Yet there is now a formidable amount of... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

03 Apr 2019
Book

Fintech's Game-Changing Opportunities for Small Business

Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and big data will transform financial services and small-business lending long before they impact driverless cars, predicts Harvard Business School Senior Fellow Karen G. Mills. “As we speak,... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Financial Services; Financial Services

14 Jun 2016
First Look

June 14, 2016

practices are broadly familiar, their application within cross-industry teams calls for unique leadership approaches that combine flexibility, open-mindedness, humility, and fierce resolve. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=51140 2016... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

03 Apr 2006
Research & Ideas

The Competitive Advantage of Global Finance

common mistakes made by international managers, and the development of his book for readers interested in "the opportunities of managing in a global setting." Sean Silverthorne: International Finance and its case studies explore... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Financial Services

02 Sep 2015
Research & Ideas

Explaining China's Crash

seven-year high. The consequences were felt by financial markets everywhere. Q: Given how opaque China’s economy is, does anyone accurately know how deep or lasting this slowdown might be? A: The official numbers must indeed be taken with... View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese; Financial Services

January 2008 (Revised July 2008)
Case

The Allstate Corporation

By: John R. Wells

In 2007, Allstate was the number two property and casualty insurer in the USA and had enjoyed five years of rapid profit improvement. The question facing CEO Thomas J. Wilson was how to maintain the momentum. This case tracks the evolution of Allstate's strategy over... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Financial Institutions; Insurance; Profit; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Financial Services Industry

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2025
Working Paper

Performance Capital Flows in DC Pensions

By: Bryan Gutierrez Cortez, Victoria Ivashina and Juliana Salomao

Are defined contribution (DC) pension funds' capital flows sensitive to performance? We examine pressures from individual account holders who can switch their pension managers. Using novel data on retirement accounts for nearly 10 million individuals, we analyze... View Details

Keywords: Investment Funds; Retirement; Risk and Uncertainty; Financial Management; Investment Portfolio; Financial Services Industry

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02 May 2012
What Do You Think?

Can the “Leadership Industry” Fulfill Its Promise?

those who cater to them, are willing to give it. As Sharath K put it, "Leadership needs to be learned by experimentation over a lifetime." There is perhaps too little emphasis on the development of self-knowledge. Wendy-Anne... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

10 Jan 2018
Research & Ideas

Working for a Shamed Company Can Hurt Your Future Compensation

work. It does seem like companies make some distinctions between employees, who are not all painted with the same broad brush. Senior executives suffer a 6.5 percent compensation discount on average while financial executives take a 10... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

08 Jul 2015
What Do You Think?

Do Americans Work Too Much and Think About Work Too Little?

well as emotional and business factors) every organization has to find its own optimal solution neuroscience in the last 20 years has proven that current business theory which basically has been developed from past slave-like &... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Financial Services

December 1999 (Revised December 2000)
Case

Charles Schwab: A Category of One

By: Stephen P. Bradley and Thomas H. Esperson

Examines Charles Schwab's on-line discount brokerage firm and questions whether or not Schwab has effectively balanced the old and new world of stock trading, and has remained a leader between giants like Merrill Lynch and Internet pure plays like E-Trade. Also looks... View Details

Keywords: Financial Institutions; Banks and Banking; Technological Innovation; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry

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14 Jun 2004
Research & Ideas

The Big Money for Big Projects

social returns when they succeed. The problem, says Esty, is that many of the largest products have hit financial turbulence. Esty, whose new book Modern Project Finance: A Casebook, was published recently, teaches the "Large-Scale... View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen; Financial Services

20 Feb 2006
Research & Ideas

Are Company Founders Underpaid?

Both of these factors change as the venture grows. As more people are hired and the founder begins sharing control with non-founders, and as the venture develops and formalizes systems and processes that make it less dependent on the... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Financial Services; Financial Services

April 1993
Case

Sumiko Ito

By: David A. Thomas

Describes the life and career of the first Japanese female investment banker at Nomura Securities, Sumiko Ito, who later became a partner at Alex Brown, a U.S. investment bank. Organized around the major life events and career transitions Ms. Ito experienced. Set in... View Details