Publications

April 2019 (Revised June 2019)
Case

Western Governors University: 10x Vision

By: William R. Kerr and Susie L. Ma

Western Governors University (WGU) was a nonprofit institution of higher education whose online learning model served more than 100,000 students in 2019 and was scaling rapidly. President Scott Pulsipher wanted to expand WGU’s reach to millions more with a plan called... View Details

Keywords: Online Education; Enrollment; Scaling; Higher Education; Internet and the Web; Business Model; Expansion; Growth and Development Strategy; Education Industry; United States

26 Apr 2023
In Practice

Is AI Coming for Your Job?

gradually and then suddenly.” Companies will move slowly to deploy generative AI technology like that embodied in OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Harnessing the immense pool of data underlying it will require the development of proprietary... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Technology

March 2000 (Revised February 2005)
Case

Thomas Weisel Partners (A)

By: Thomas J. DeLong, Ashish Nanda, Boris Groysberg, Matthew C. Lieb and Scott D Landry

Thomas Weisel, longtime leader of Montgomery Securities, realizes that the sale of Montgomery to NationsBank was the biggest mistake of his life. After his exit from NationsBanc Montgomery Securities, Weisel develops a business plan for a new merchant bank, Thomas... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Business Plan; Financial Institutions; Management Teams; Financial Services Industry

February 2000 (Revised April 2005)
Case

Gray Security: Building a South African Services Firm

Describes Gray Security Services, an entrepreneurial South African firm that has recently gone through a financial restructuring with the help of Brait Capital Partners, a private equity firm. Gray provides complete security services to companies in South Africa, other... View Details

Keywords: Initial Public Offering; Entrepreneurship; Equity; Growth and Development Strategy; Service Industry; South Africa

15 Jan 2013
First Look

First Look: January 15

governance of this new eco-friendly community. Emphasis is placed on the institutional collaboration and governance decisions behind Lake Nona's "Medical City" component. Five years after View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

August 2013 (Revised November 2015)
Case

Prudential Financial - General Motors Pension Risk Transfer: Back to the Future?

By: Luis M. Viceira and Emily A. Chien

In November 2012, Prudential Financial and General Motors closed on a $25.1B pension risk transfer (PRT) transaction, the largest of its kind to date by an order of magnitude both in the U.S. market and globally. In exchange for an in-kind transfer of $25.1B in... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Asset Management; Insurance; Retirement; Financial Services Industry; Insurance Industry

10 Jan 2005
Research & Ideas

The Knowledge Coach

intuits a developing bottleneck in the assembly line and creates a fix before a problem occurs. It's also the CEO who draws on years of experience to solve a strategy imbroglio that has paralyzed top staff. It's the venture capitalist—who... View Details

Keywords: by Dorothy Leonard & Walter Swap

February 2016
Teaching Note

Indonesia: Growth and Stability in a Global Economy

By: Lakshmi Iyer

This country case on Indonesia is designed to enable a discussion of the potential risks in financial globalization. The country suffered a severe economic crisis in 1997-98 when global capital withdrew from many Asian countries. A significant currency depreciation of... View Details

Keywords: Indonesia; Growth; Stability; Currency Depreciation; Decentralization; Currency; Balance and Stability; Globalization; Economic Growth; Indonesia

July 2011
Article

The Private Equity Advantage: Leveraged Buyout Firms and Relationship Banking

By: Victoria Ivashina and Anna Kovner

This paper examines the impact of leveraged buyout firms' bank relationships on the terms of their syndicated loans. Using a sample of 1,590 loans financing private equity sponsored leveraged buyouts between 1993 and 2005, we find that bank relationships are an... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Private Equity; Banks and Banking; Financing and Loans; Interest Rates; Investment Return; Relationships; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry

Program

Audit Committees in a New Era of Governance

profit objectives Ensure the integrity of financial information Foster the right culture regarding compliance and risk Develop a financial reporting strategy Improve audit committee effectiveness Develop... View Details

2014
Working Paper

Bridging Science and Technology Through Academic-Industry Partnerships

By: Sen Chai and Willy C. Shih

Scientific research and its translation into commercialized technology is a driver of wealth creation and economic growth. Partnerships to foster the translational processes from public research organizations, such as universities and hospitals, to private firms are a... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Firm Performance; Public-private Partnership Funding; Translational Research; Small And Medium Enterprises; Partners and Partnerships; Public Sector; Private Sector; Performance; Science-Based Business; Innovation and Invention

SSRN

Read Now

31 Aug 2009
Research & Ideas

Why Competition May Not Improve Credit Rating Agencies

competition is really the right medicine. "Competition in the ratings industry has been increasing, and there have been calls for yet more competition. Whether competition is likely to reduce quality or improve it has been unclear," says HBS professor Bo... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Financial Services

June 2006
Case

Home Equity Protection

Nearly 70% of households in the United States own their own home and, yet, virtually no household is insured against a crash in housing values. Is there a market for an insurance product, home equity protection, that would provide this protection? Focuses on the... View Details

Keywords: Housing; Insurance; Product Design; Equity; Insurance Industry

Find at Harvard

26 Jul 2023
Research & Ideas

STEM Needs More Women. Recruiters Often Keep Them Out

and Roberto M. Fernandez, Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management. To study how recruiters looked for candidates, the scholars examined initial calls and emails to 166,000 prospects from 2017 to... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

January 2010 (Revised December 2012)
Case

Knight the King: The Founding of Nike

By: Noam Wasserman and Kyle Anderson

It had taken Phil Knight 16 long years to build Nike into the number one athletic-shoe company in the country. When Knight had first conceived of the company for an MBA class project, Adidas had had more than 80% market share, but Knight's marketing approach had... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Initial Public Offering; Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Apparel and Accessories Industry