Publications

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

15 Feb 2016
Research & Ideas

Want Your Employees to Plan Better for Retirement? Don't Do This

financial decisions and how those decisions play out in the market. Noting the dramatic shift from DB to DC plans over the past few decades, Beshears and his coauthors hear frequent concerns over workers ill-equipped to make well-informed... View Details

Keywords: Re: John Beshears; Financial Services

31 Aug 2009
Research & Ideas

Why Competition May Not Improve Credit Rating Agencies

In the run-up to the global financial crisis, credit rating agencies gave high marks to such risky financial vehicles as collateralized debt obligations, which few people understood. It has been argued that... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Financial Services

Profile

Scott Wu

is really the first time I can take my professional expertise in venture capital and finance and apply it in this fashion toward entrepreneurs and others working on solutions to major problems of a different type. “This isn’t a handout; it’s an investment,” Wu adds.... View Details

Keywords: Financial Services; Financial Services; Financial Services; Financial Services

Career Coach

Cindy Horowitz

has held include strategic planning, M&A, financial planning & analysis, and investor relations, leading to CFO of a NYSE company. Cindy also enjoys helping students gain better understanding of View Details

Keywords: Financial Services (All); Financial Services (All); Financial Services (All); Financial Services (All); Financial Services (All)

June 1994 (Revised September 1994)
Background Note

Beating the Commodity Magnet

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and George T. Bowman

All markets follow a cycle of growth and maturity, then commoditization and decline. This note argues that while commoditization of an industry may seem inevitable, the better managed firms find a way to make money in the commodity cycle. These firms know how and when... View Details

Keywords: Goods and Commodities; Financial Markets; Competitive Strategy; Financial Services Industry

July 1998 (Revised August 1998)
Case

Optimark: Launching a Virtual Securities Market

Bill Lupien's OptiMark Technologies, Inc., plans to launch a super-computer system in September, 1998 that he believes will release previously withheld liquidity to the securities market. While today's market matches those trades based on price and size, Lupien's... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Financial Markets; Product Launch; Financial Services Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

11 Jan 2018
Working Paper Summaries

Brokers and Order Flow Leakage: Evidence from Fire Sales

Keywords: by Andrea Barbon, Marco Di Maggio, Francesco Franzoni, and Augustin Landier; Financial Services

January 2016 (Revised April 2017)
Case

The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies

By: W. Carl Kester

This case is designed to provide an elementary introduction to options and option pricing for beginning finance students. Analysis of the case requires students to compare the prices of put and call options with various exercise prices and maturity dates on two... View Details

Keywords: Options; Option Contract; Option Pricing; Derivatives; Mutual Funds; Call Options; Put Options; Stock Options; Risk and Uncertainty; Volatility; Financial Services Industry; United States

06 Apr 2021
Working Paper Summaries

Currency Hedging in Emerging Markets: Managing Cash Flow Exposure

Keywords: by Laura Alfaro, Mauricio Calani, and Liliana Varela; Financial Services

13 Jan 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Forward Guidance in the Yield Curve: Short Rates versus Bond Supply

Keywords: by Robin Greenwood, Samuel G. Hanson, and Dimitri Vayanos; Financial Services

31 Oct 2017
Working Paper Summaries

Mutual Funds as Venture Capitalists? Evidence from Unicorns

Keywords: by Sergey Chernenko, Josh Lerner, and Yao Zeng; Financial Services; Financial Services

November 2010 (Revised May 2012)
Case

Innovating into Active ETFs: Factor Funds Capital Management LLC

By: Kenneth A. Froot, Lauren Cohen and Scott Waggoner

Kishore Karunakaran, President and COO of FFCM, faces a variety of challenges in launching an innovative investment management business in the rapidly evolving ETF space. View Details

Keywords: Investment Management; Institutional Investments; Entrepreneurial Finance; Financial Management; Innovation Strategy; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Capital Markets; Investment Funds; Financial Strategy; Management Teams; Financial Services Industry; Boston

02 Jan 2018
News

Reconsidering Retirement

think long term. That meant looking not just a few decades ahead to his own retirement, but also as much as a century ahead to his infant son’s old age. He needed to think like a university shepherding its endowment. That was the impetus behind Rebalance IRA, the View Details

Keywords: April White; Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments; Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments

August 2011
Teaching Note

Going to the Oracle: Goldman Sachs, September 2008 (TN)

By: Clayton Rose and Sally Canter Ganzfried

Teaching Note for 309-069. View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Investment; Negotiation Deal; Capital; Financial Liquidity; Decisions; Management Teams; Banks and Banking; Financing and Loans; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States

19 Mar 2006
Research & Ideas

Unlocking Your Investment Capital

risks—a process that can release more equity capacity. Finally, Merton argues, the job of managing the company's derivatives portfolio should not be delegated to in-house financial experts. The strategic importance of how a company... View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen; Financial Services

08 Sep 2003
Research & Ideas

A Bold Proposal for Investment Reform

should be a nonprofit organization, with responsibility for rating the performance of financial analysts from the viewpoint of retail investors. We believe that there are costs as well as benefits from liquidity in the capital market. The... View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen; Financial Services

June 1991 (Revised July 1993)
Case

Sunbeam Oster Co., Inc.

By: Steven R. Fenster

Japonica Partners, an investment firm, is trying to determine whether there is any unseen value in Sunbeam Oster Co., Inc., a Chapter 11 debtor. If there is, Japonica must consider the means by which they can acquire control of a company in Chapter 11. View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Acquisition; Financial Services Industry