Finance and investing

I recently sat down with Larry Cheng, a partner at Fidelity Ventures. He writes one of my favorite VC blogs, Thinking about Thinking, named after a course that both of us had the chance to take many years back at Harvard College. As part of my ongoing interview series investigating what lies at the center […]

Managers should make environmental investments for the same reason they make other investments: because they expect them to deliver positive returns or to reduce risks.

Few, if any, articles on finance that have appeared in HBR have enjoyed the influence of the 1962 article reprinted here as a “Classic.” Gordon Donaldson’s analysis of how many companies haphazardly established their debt capacity, and his careful explanation of what he considered a better way, seemed to strike a chord among corporate administrative […]

Impact investing--directing capital to ventures that are expected to yield social and environmental benefits as well as profits--provides investors with...

For decades now, venture capitalists have played a crucial role in the economy by financing high-growth start-ups. While the companies they've backed--Amazon,...

Current accounting rules don't always communicate real value to investors.

Less than a decade after the frantic merger activity of the late 1960s, we are again in the midst of a major wave of corporate acquisitions. In contrast to the 1960s, when acquirers were mainly freewheeling conglomerates, the merger movement in the 1970s includes such long-established giants of U.S. industry as General Electric, Gulf Oil, […]

For the first 40-plus years of their existence, the federal securities laws did not require or prohibit specific managerial practices in the operation of business, other than a business in one of a handful of closely regulated industries. But with the passage of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, the SEC is equipped to […]

The continent is on the cutting edge.

By utilizing the reality show format, corporations can create a more effective forum for pitching innovative products.

Initial public offerings are expensive, and many owners turn to M&A instead. But a little-understood mechanism known as a tax receivable agreement can...

Visits to the toy store were a lot different for Jim Clayton since he took the job as president of Playto Industries. Long lines at the checkout counter used to infuriate him. Now they delighted him because they signaled a boom in sales for Playto. Trips up and down the aisles used to be part […]

It shouldn't just be about the banks.

The value of many products and services rises or falls with the number of customers using them; the fewer fax machines in use, the less important it is...

A king had a trusted monkey that was trained to wield a sword. As the king’s bodyguard, the monkey would go to any length to protect him. One day, while the king was sleeping, a fly started pestering him. The monkey tried to shoo the fly away but it always came back. Frustrated, the monkey […]

As China's economy grows and opens further, the opportunity it presents to multinationals is changing. Foreign companies are moving to country development...

The scene is a conference room in the head office in Geneva of Universal Data Corporation’s European operations. The time is shortly after lunch on a winter day in 1977. Three men are finishing cups of coffee which have been served by a secretary. Seated at the head of the table is Clive Price, age […]

Factor social benefits and the use of resources into a company’s value.

This post is the sixth in a series on Advanced Entrepreneurship. Most new entrepreneurs obsess about raising cash to start their business. What they don’t spend enough time thinking about is generating income. That’s not to say that fund-raising isn’t important. An entrepreneur might occasionally have to raise cash to keep the business alive until […]

A new initiative, the International Sustainability Standards Board, holds promise.