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Improving Customer Compatibility with Operational Transparency

by Ryan W. Buell and MoonSoo Choi

Service firms seeking prospective customers usually highlight the advantages of their offerings and downplay the tradeoffs. This study suggests a different approach: Provide transparency into advantages as well as tradeoffs. The transparency helps customers make informed decisions and can lead to better outcomes for both firms and customers over the long run.

Bank Boards: What Has Changed Since the Financial Crisis?

by Shiva Rajgopal, Suraj Srinivasan, and Forester Wong

Since the 2008 financial crisis, bank boards have not improved their cultural or gender diversity compared to other companies, nor are they better qualified than before the crisis. Outside directorships of bank directors and the extent of CEOs also being Chairman also remains the same. However, there is some evidence of better risk oversight both from managers and the board.

Fintech's Game-Changing Opportunities for Small Business

by Martha Lagace

In the new book Fintech, Small Business, & the American Dream, Karen Mills describes how technology is opening up new capital for entrepreneurs. Around the corner: The transformative benefits of AI and big data. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

The Creation and Evolution of Entrepreneurial Public Markets

by Shai Bernstein, Abhishek Dev, and Josh Lerner

Since 1990, new stock exchanges geared toward fast-growing, entrepreneurial companies have proliferated around the world. This analysis shows that exchanges in countries with better shareholder protection allowed younger and less profitable companies to raise more capital. These markets alone cannot boost entrepreneurial activity but need enabling institutions.

These 4 CEOs Created a New Standard of Leadership

by Bill George

At the height of the 2008 financial crisis, these four corporate leaders stepped forward—and changed how we think of leadership forever, says Bill George. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Using Fintech to Disrupt Eastern Bank from Within

Re: Karen Mills

When Eastern Bank decided to battle a threat from new competitors, it hired a fintech executive to set up Eastern Labs and start innovating. Karen Mills discusses her case study on what happened next. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Do Fire Sales Create Externalities?

by Sergey Chernenko and Adi Sunderam

This paper contributes to our understanding of the role of large institutional investors in securities markets, providing evidence that the structure of the mutual fund industry increases the risks of costly "fire sales."

Diversity Boosts Profits in Venture Capital Firms

by Michael Blanding

VC firms that score high in diversity among their partners also tend to be more profitable, according to Paul Gompers. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Two Million Fake Accounts: Sales Misconduct at Wells Fargo

Re: Suraj Srinivasan

Coming out of the financial crisis, Wells Fargo was one of the world’s most successful banks. But then its sales culture went wild, opening more than 2 million fake accounts. Suraj Srinivasan discusses what went wrong. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Show or Tell? Improving Agent Decision Making in a Tanzanian Mobile Money Field Experiment

by Jason Acimovic, Chris Parker, David F. Drake, and Karthik Balasubramanian

Mobile money is popular in developing economies but many agents do not maintain proper inventory levels. This paper, based on a study of 4,771 agents in Tanzania, shows how training and ongoing guidance improve their inventory management. Agents who get in-person training and explicit inventory recommendations tend to stock out less.

How Chase Sapphire Made Credit Cool for Millennials

Re: Shelle M. Santana

The Chase Sapphire Reserve card was one of the hottest product launches in 2016. But what would be its next act, now that the introductory offer of 100,000 points was reduced? Shelle Santana discusses JP Morgan's strategy. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Sophisticated Investors May Be Harming Fintech Lending Platforms

by Dina Gerdeman

A study by Boris Vallee and Yao Zeng says savvy investors on peer-to-peer lending platforms are upsetting a delicate balance that makes those systems work for borrowers. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Op-Ed: Why BlackRock CEO Larry Fink Is Not a Socialist

by Bill George

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink’s open letter to CEOs has reignited the “shareholders versus stakeholders” debate. Bill George says it's actually not much of a debate: mission-driven, values-centered companies perform better. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Do Banks Have an Edge?

by Juliane Begenau and Erik Stafford

Reliance on high leverage is one distinctive component of the bank business model. This study suggests that the aggregate United States banking sector was relatively inefficient between 1960 and 2015. The falling costs of new production technologies in capital markets may further advantage capital markets over banks.

What Are the Real Lessons of the Wells Fargo Case?

by James Heskett

SUMMING UP James Heskett's readers identify key failures in Wells Fargo's culture and leadership. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Mutual Funds as Venture Capitalists? Evidence from Unicorns

by Sergey Chernenko, Josh Lerner, and Yao Zeng

Larger mutual funds and those having more stable funding are more likely to invest in privately held startups known as unicorns. Mutual funds are less involved in corporate governance, especially boards of directors, but have more protections when it comes to liquidating their stakes.

The Decline of Big-Bank Lending to Small Business: Dynamic Impacts on Local Credit and Labor Markets

by Brian S. Chen, Samuel G. Hanson, and Jeremy C. Stein

Between 2008 and 2014, the Top 4 banks sharply decreased their lending to small business. This paper examines the lasting economic consequences of this contraction, finding that a credit supply shock from a subset of lenders can have surprisingly long-lived effects on real activity.

Inventory Management for Mobile Money Agents in the Developing World

by Karthik Balasubramanian, David F. Drake, and Douglas Fearing

Mobile money agents in the developing world face a key inventory management challenge: How much cash and e-float should be held to minimize both stockouts and excess working capital? The authors develop two inventory models and show substantial inventory cost reduction with a large dataset of East African mobile money transactions.

Building India’s First $100 Billion Company

Re: Sunil Gupta

Startups welcome growth but are often strangled by it. In this podcast, Sunil Gupta discusses how entrepreneur Vijay Shekhar Sharma is meeting this challenge with his mobile payments company Paytm. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Lessons Unlearned? Corporate Debt in Emerging Markets

by Laura Alfaro, Gonzalo Asis, Anusha Chari, and Ugo Panizza

Emerging markets are contending with a worrisome slowdown in economic growth accompanied by the build-up of corporate debt. Understanding this and other potential vulnerabilities requires knowing more about the state of emerging market corporate balance sheets, the drivers of debt accumulation, and the effects of both on the macroeconomy.