Publications

October 2007 (Revised January 2009)
Case

The Hertz Corporation (A)

By: Timothy A. Luehrman and Douglas Scott

Examines the leveraged buyout of Hertz in 2005, a complex, high-profile deal and a good example of cutting-edge practice in private equity. The first of a two-part series on the Hertz LBO, adopts the perspective of Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, the leader of a private... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Private Equity; Bids and Bidding; Negotiation Deal; Valuation; Value Creation; Financial Services Industry; United States

2024
Working Paper

Priors, Experiments, Learning and Persuasion in (Bayesian) Entrepreneurial Finance

By: Ramana Nanda

At the heart of entrepreneurial finance lies a persuasion challenge: regardless of the strength of an entrepreneur’s belief in the potential of their idea, they typically need to convince investors to provide the financial capital required for its... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Finance; Business Startups; Communication Intention and Meaning; Prejudice and Bias

SSRN

Read Now

February 1992 (Revised October 1996)
Case

CUC International, Inc. (A)

By: Krishna G. Palepu and Paul M. Healy

The case series examines the role of financial reporting and corporate finance policies as vehicles for communication between managers and outside investors. This case describes management's concern that the company's stock is undervalued because analysts viewed the... View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Stocks; Financial Management; Decisions; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Management Style; Management Practices and Processes; Business and Shareholder Relations; Value; Financial Services Industry

02 Aug 2004
What Do You Think?

For Greater Transparency, Is Section 404 an Effective Response?

Internal Controls." It requires, among other things, that selected managers be responsible for "establishing and maintaining an adequate internal control structure and procedures for financial... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

15 Aug 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Liquidity Transformation in Asset Management: Evidence from the Cash Holdings of Mutual Funds

Keywords: by Sergey Chernenko and Adi Sunderam; Financial Services

24 Aug 2010
First Look

First Look: August 24

PublicationsHigher Risk, Lower Returns: What Hedge Fund Investors Really Earn Authors:Ilia Dichev and Gwen Yu Publication:Journal of Financial Economics (forthcoming) Abstract The returns of hedge fund investors depend not only on the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Research Summary

Can Gambling Increase Savings? Empirical Evidence on Prize-linked Savings Accounts

This paper studies whether prize-linked savings (PLS) accounts, which offer random, lottery-like payouts to account holders in lieu of risk-free interest, can aid individuals in increasing savings levels by adding the chance to “win big.” Using micro-level data from... View Details

Keywords: Lottery; Banking; Saving; Commercial Banking; Africa

February 2003 (Revised November 2003)
Exercise

Accounting for Pensions at General Motors Corporation (B)

By: David F. Hawkins and Jacob Cohen

A potential investor in General Motor's stock reviews the retiree benefit note data included in the company's 2001 financial statements as part of the investment analysis of the company. View Details

Keywords: Investment; Accounting; Compensation and Benefits; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry

2010
Working Paper

When Open Architecture Beats Closed: The Entrepreneurial Use of Architectural Knowledge

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

This paper describes how entrepreneurial firms can use superior architectural knowledge to open up a technical system to gain strategic advantage. The strategy involves, first, identifying "bottlenecks" in the existing system, and then creating a new open architecture... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Investment Return; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Design; Organizational Design; Competitive Advantage; Technology Industry

Read Now

Professor McFarlan earned his AB from Harvard University in 1959, and his MBA and DBA from the Harvard Business School in 1961 and 1965 respectively. He has had a significant role in introducing materials on Management Information Systems to all major programs at... View Details

Keywords: communications; computer; e-commerce industry; health care; information; information technology industry; nonprofit industry

25 Apr 2014
Research & Ideas

To Pay or Not to Pay: Argentina and the International Debt Market

Costa Rica, recommends a course of action sure to anger banks and fund managers: absolute sovereign immunity, which is the way things were done before 1976. Argentina's escalating financial crisis is taking on the look and feel of 2002,... View Details

Keywords: by Laura Alfaro

Frances X. Frei

Frances Frei is a Professor of Technology and Operations Management at Harvard Business School. Her research investigates how leaders accelerate performance and design for excellence in leadership, strategy, and operations. She regularly advises senior executives... View Details

Keywords: financial services; financial services; financial services; financial services; financial services; financial services; financial services; financial services; financial services; financial services; financial services; financial services; financial services; financial services; financial services; financial services

August 2007 (Revised February 2008)
Case

Pinnacle Ventures

By: Michael J. Roberts, William A. Sahlman and Elizabeth Kind

Describes a prospective "venture debt" loan to a new venture from the perspective of Patrick Lee, a principal at Pinnacle Ventures. Forces students to grapple with the nature of financial risk in the start-up firm and assess the prospective risks and returns to a... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Venture Capital; Investment Return; Business Startups; Financial Services Industry

31 Mar 2009
First Look

First Look: March 31, 2009

leading to a 32% income gain for new adopters. The services collapsed one year later when the exporter stopped buying from DrumNet because farmers could not meet new EU production requirements. Farmers sold to View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

March 2016 (Revised May 2018)
Case

Reinventing Best Buy

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

On March 1, 2017, Best Buy Company, Inc., North America’s largest retailer of consumer electronics and appliances, announced a third year of comparable-store sales increases and a 20.8% increase in domestic comparable online sales. These results were in marked contrast... View Details

Keywords: Best Buy; Hubert Joly; Renew Blue; Showrooming; Webrooming; E-commerce; E-Commerce Strategy; Online Retail; Multichannel Retailing; Omnichannel; Marketplaces; Turnaround; Consumer Electronics; Consumer Electronics Accessories; Appliances; Stores-within-stores; Store Experience; Store Size; Store Pickup; Store Management; Delivery; Delivery Models; Amazon; Amazon.com; Pricing Strategy; Business Subsidiaries; Business Units; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Entertainment; Film Entertainment; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Music Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Theater Entertainment; Price; Profit; Revenue; Geographic Scope; Multinational Firms and Management; Business History; Cost; Selection and Staffing; Reports; Technological Innovation; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Human Capital; Leading Change; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Teams; Brands and Branding; Product Marketing; Consumer Behavior; Demand and Consumers; Media; Distribution; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Distribution Channels; Infrastructure; Product; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Public Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Programs; Groups and Teams; Sales; Salesforce Management; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Information Technology; Information Infrastructure; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Internet and the Web; Applications and Software; Internet and the Web; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Resource Allocation; Service Industry; Service Industry; Service Industry; Service Industry; Service Industry; Service Industry; Service Industry; Service Industry; Service Industry; United States; Minnesota; Minneapolis; Saint Paul; St. Paul

03 Mar 2008
First Look

First Look: March 4, 2008

forbid the most popular form of life insurance (tontine insurance), limit the growth of life insurers (which included several of the nation's largest financial institutions at the time), and prevent insurance firms from owning the stock... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Article

Network Effects Aren't Enough

By: Andrei Hagiu and Simon Rothman

In many ways, online marketplaces are the perfect business model. Since they facilitate transactions between independent suppliers and customers rather than take possession of and responsibility for the products or services in question, they have inherently low cost... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Competition; Internet and the Web; Network Effects; Market Participation

Find at Harvard

Register to Read

2010
Working Paper

Mixed Source

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Gaston Llanes

We study competitive interaction between a profit-maximizing firm that sells software and complementary services and a free open source competitor. We examine the firm's choice of business model between the proprietary model (where all software modules are... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Monopoly; Open Source Distribution; Quality; Competition; Information Technology Industry