Finance

Finance

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    • 2025
    • Working Paper

    Corporate Actions as Moral Issues

    By: Zwetelina Iliewa, Elisabeth Kempf and Oliver Spalt

    We examine nonpecuniary preferences across a broad set of corporate actions using a representative sample of the U.S. population. Our core findings, based on large-scale online surveys, are that (i) self-reported nonpecuniary concerns are large both for stock market investors and non-investors; (ii) concerns about the treatment of workers and CEO pay rank highest—higher than concerns about workforce diversity and fossil energy usage; (iii) moral universalism emerges as an important driver of nonpecuniary preferences. Combined, our findings provide new evidence on the importance of moral concerns as a key determinant of nonpecuniary preferences over corporate actions.

    • 2025
    • Working Paper

    Corporate Actions as Moral Issues

    By: Zwetelina Iliewa, Elisabeth Kempf and Oliver Spalt

    We examine nonpecuniary preferences across a broad set of corporate actions using a representative sample of the U.S. population. Our core findings, based on large-scale online surveys, are that (i) self-reported nonpecuniary concerns are large both for stock market investors and non-investors; (ii) concerns about the treatment of workers and CEO...

    • April 2025
    • Case

    BXP - Mercy Mercy Me

    By: Nori Gerardo Lietz

    • April 2025
    • Case

    #FutureFresenius: Implementing a New Strategy to Transform the Company and Advance Patient Care

    By: David J. Collis, Benjamin C. Esty and Haisley Wert

    In February 2024, Fresenius CEO Michael Sen reflected on the company’s transformation journey from his office in Bad Homburg, Germany. With revenues of 22 billion and a mission to advance patient care, Fresenius had built a strong reputation through decades of acquisitions and dividend growth. However, between 2017 and 2022, the company’s share price dropped over 70% as financial and operational performance sharply declined. When Sen became CEO in October 2022, he recognized the need for a fundamental reset. In response, Sen and the leadership team launched #FutureFresenius, a bold transformation plan that began with changes to the company’s structure, portfolio, and financial framework. By early 2024, key structural changes were in motion, and momentum was building. Looking ahead, the turnaround required deeper cultural shifts and further development of the company’s target operating models. Sen believed in the progress made but faced a critical question: Was Fresenius executing the transformation in the right sequence, at the right speed, and with the right priorities to ensure long-term success? This case study examines the challenges of corporate transformation, the role of leadership in driving change, and the importance of aligning stakeholders in a high-stakes turnaround.

    • April 2025
    • Case

    #FutureFresenius: Implementing a New Strategy to Transform the Company and Advance Patient Care

    By: David J. Collis, Benjamin C. Esty and Haisley Wert

    In February 2024, Fresenius CEO Michael Sen reflected on the company’s transformation journey from his office in Bad Homburg, Germany. With revenues of 22 billion and a mission to advance patient care, Fresenius had built a strong reputation through decades of acquisitions and dividend growth. However, between 2017 and 2022, the company’s share...

About the Unit

Our strategy is to assemble and nurture a faculty whose interests and skills complement each other, and who work well together:

a) to produce a broad range of finance-related research that is published in top-tier scientific and practitioner journals, and that addresses issues of present and future importance to managers (including regulators and policy makers);

b) to develop highly-relevant and intellectually rigorous MBA and executive education courses; and

c) to mentor future academics through the Business Economics doctoral program.

Our applied focus and access to business organizations are major advantages which are reinforced by our students and our case-based approach. We have a faculty with broad expertise, and we have resources, field contacts, and institutional support, all of which we can leverage to do richer work and be more productive than we could at other institutions.

Recent Publications

Corporate Actions as Moral Issues

By: Zwetelina Iliewa, Elisabeth Kempf and Oliver Spalt
  • 2025 |
  • Working Paper |
  • Faculty Research
We examine nonpecuniary preferences across a broad set of corporate actions using a representative sample of the U.S. population. Our core findings, based on large-scale online surveys, are that (i) self-reported nonpecuniary concerns are large both for stock market investors and non-investors; (ii) concerns about the treatment of workers and CEO pay rank highest—higher than concerns about workforce diversity and fossil energy usage; (iii) moral universalism emerges as an important driver of nonpecuniary preferences. Combined, our findings provide new evidence on the importance of moral concerns as a key determinant of nonpecuniary preferences over corporate actions.
Keywords: Public Opinion; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Moral Sensibility
Related

BXP - Mercy Mercy Me

By: Nori Gerardo Lietz
  • April 2025 |
  • Supplement |
  • Faculty Research
Related

BXP - Mercy Mercy Me

By: Nori Gerardo Lietz
  • April 2025 |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
Related

The Political Economy of Firm Networks: CEO Ideology and Global Trade

By: Elisabeth Kempf, Mancy Luo and Margarita Tsoutsoura
  • 2025 |
  • Working Paper |
  • Faculty Research
We examine how the political ideology of corporate leaders shapes cross-border firm networks. Exploiting changes in ideological alignment between U.S. firm CEOs and foreign governments around close foreign elections, we show that U.S. firms are more likely to terminate trade relationships with countries led by governments whose ideology becomes more distant from that of their CEOs. The impact is concentrated among CEOs holding strong political views, and is particularly pronounced for shorter trade relationships, suggesting ideological alignment is more relevant in more flexible and substitutable connections. Our findings highlight the role of ideology in shaping the formation and persistence of international firm networks.
Keywords: Global Trade; Firm Networks; Political Ideology; Elections; Political Economy; Political Elections; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Trade
Related

Pouring Oil on Troubled Waters: Vickers Oils and Resolving Family Conflict over Generations

By: Lauren Cohen, Octavian Graf Pilati and Sophia Pan
  • April 2025 |
  • Supplement |
  • Faculty Research
Related

#FutureFresenius: 'Committed to Life' in 2024 and Beyond (B)

By: David J. Collis, Benjamin C. Esty and Haisley Wert
  • April 2025 |
  • Supplement |
  • Faculty Research
From February 2024 onward, Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA continued to make progress on the #FutureFresenius transformation that CEO Michael Sen had initiated in October 2022. The company had completed the initial "reset" phase and moved into the "revitalize" portion of the transformation, which the company would continue to implement through the end of 2024.
Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Finance; Transformation; Leading Change; Health Industry; United States; Germany
Related

#FutureFresenius: Implementing a New Strategy to Transform the Company and Advance Patient Care

By: David J. Collis, Benjamin C. Esty and Haisley Wert
  • April 2025 |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
In February 2024, Fresenius CEO Michael Sen reflected on the company’s transformation journey from his office in Bad Homburg, Germany. With revenues of 22 billion and a mission to advance patient care, Fresenius had built a strong reputation through decades of acquisitions and dividend growth. However, between 2017 and 2022, the company’s share price dropped over 70% as financial and operational performance sharply declined. When Sen became CEO in October 2022, he recognized the need for a fundamental reset. In response, Sen and the leadership team launched #FutureFresenius, a bold transformation plan that began with changes to the company’s structure, portfolio, and financial framework. By early 2024, key structural changes were in motion, and momentum was building. Looking ahead, the turnaround required deeper cultural shifts and further development of the company’s target operating models. Sen believed in the progress made but faced a critical question: Was Fresenius executing the transformation in the right sequence, at the right speed, and with the right priorities to ensure long-term success? This case study examines the challenges of corporate transformation, the role of leadership in driving change, and the importance of aligning stakeholders in a high-stakes turnaround.
Keywords: Strategic Planning; Corporate Strategy; Transformation; Finance; Leading Change; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Alignment; Health Industry; Germany; United States
Related

Pouring Oil on Troubled Waters: Vickers Oils and Resolving Family Conflict over Generations

By: Lauren Cohen, Octavian Graf Pilati and Sophia Pan
  • April 2025 |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
Will Vickers, a seventh-generation (G7) member of the Vickers Family, grappled with a pressing challenge: how to re-integrate family members into the firm to recover lost talent. His father, Peter Vickers, was the lone leader of the Vickers Oils – despite having stepped down from his role as Managing Director. While there were active shareholders, none felt inclined to involve themselves in the operational front of the company. Further, family conflict in G5 had resulted in a family branch that was thereby excluded from participating in the firm, creating lasting divisions amongst the Vickers. Could family members who had drifted away find a way back into the company? How much effort would it entail to make them feel welcome and interested again? Or, as families grew in size, was some degree of “floating away” necessary? Was there an optimal number of involved and uninvolved members, and how might this interplay with shareholding dynamics?
Keywords: Leadership; Family; Relationships; Shareholder; Conflict; Involvement; Family Office; Family Firms; Diversification; Family Business; Business Growth and Maturation; Experience and Expertise; Retention; Leadership Development; Business or Company Management; Management Succession; Organizational Structure; Family Ownership; Family and Family Relationships; Consumer Products Industry; United Kingdom
Related
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Seminars & Conferences

  • 30 Apr 2025

Anil Kashyap, Chicago Booth

HBS Finance Unit/Harvard Economics Department Seminars
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Finance Unit
Harvard Business School
Baker Library | Bloomberg Center
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
financeunit@hbs.edu