Publications

April 2023
Case

Ryan Serhant: Time Management for Repeatable Success (A)

By: Ashley Whillans and Hawken Lord

From an open-concept 90’s-style stone and wood cabin in Dublin, New Hampshire, Ryan Serhant reflected on his career as a real estate broker. As Ryan stared into the fireplace that featured prominently in the center of the house, he wondered whether the period of... View Details

Keywords: Real Estate; Time Management; Decision Choices and Conditions; Personal Development and Career; Real Estate Industry

November 10, 2022
Article

5 Ways Startups Can Prepare for a Recession

By: Lou Shipley

Startups face unique challenges during economic downturns. They typically aren’t yet profitable and so are reliant on outside funding—and therefore are especially exposed when macroeconomic conditions change. To make it through a recession, startup CEOs should hit the... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Organizational Culture; Sales; Customer Focus and Relationships; Decisions; Inflation and Deflation; Financial Crisis; Employee Relationship Management; Business Startups; Credit

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January 2022
Technical Note

Introduction to Capital Structure Analytics

By: Samuel Antill and Ted Berk

This technical note provides an overview of key analytical approaches that are useful in assessing the appropriateness of a firm’s capital structure and funding plan. This note introduces basic quantitative tools and metrics that are commonly used as inputs to this... View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Business Plan; Forecasting and Prediction; Borrowing and Debt; Corporate Finance; Capital Structure; Cash Flow; Financial Liquidity; Financial Management; Financing and Loans

October 2009 (Revised June 2011)
Case

Zappos.com 2009: Clothing, Customer Service, and Company Culture

By: Frances X. Frei, Robin J. Ely and Laura Winig

On July 17, 2009, Zappos.com, a privately held online retailer of shoes, clothing, and other soft line retail categories, learned that Amazon.com, a $19 billion multinational online retailer, had won its board of directors' approval to offer to merge the two companies.... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Customer Focus and Relationships; Decision Choices and Conditions; Governing and Advisory Boards; Service Delivery; Organizational Culture; Internet and the Web; Valuation; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Retail Industry

January 2000 (Revised November 2000)
Case

Lucent Technologies New Ventures Group

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Michelle Heskett

Lucent Technologies' successful New Ventures Group must present company executives with a strong case for continuing corporate venturing activities despite a troubled financial performance in difficult market conditions. View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business or Company Management; Management Teams; Business Ventures; Venture Capital; Financial Condition; Change Management; Wireless Technology; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; New Jersey

April 2015 (Revised April 2022)
Case

Bankruptcy in the City of Detroit

By: Stuart Gilson, Kristin Mugford and Annelena Lobb

The June 2013 bankruptcy of the city of Detroit, Michigan was, at the time, the largest municipal bankruptcy in American history. Detroit had struggled for years with a weakening tax base, high unemployment, a heavy debt load and increasing retiree costs. These... View Details

Social support networks can provide much-needed emotional, material, and financial help for people living in poverty, yet little is known about how social capital is created and augmented within such networks. Further, these networks can be eroded by sustained... View Details

25 Apr 2023
Cold Call Podcast

Using Design Thinking to Invent a Low-Cost Prosthesis for Land Mine Victims

Keywords: Re: Srikant M. Datar; Health; Medical Devices & Supplies

March 2011 (Revised February 2012)
Supplement

Cosmeticos de Espana, S.A. (E)

By: David F. Hawkins

Spanish parent company must decide on the Euro/BsF exchange rate to translate its Venezuelan subsidiary's financial statements into Euros. View Details

Keywords: Financial Statements; Business Subsidiaries; Decision Choices and Conditions; Currency Exchange Rate; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Spain; Venezuela

May 21, 2020
Editorial

Primary Care Is Hurting: Why Aren't Private Insurers Pitching In?

By: Leemore S. Dafny and J. Michael McWilliams

Primary care clinicians are the front line for patients with suspected infection. We rely on them to diagnose, triage, and manage patients with potential or confirmed COVID infections. They are also responsible for keeping non-COVID medical conditions under control... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Primary Care; Health Pandemics; Health Care and Treatment; Financial Condition; Insurance

January 2009 (Revised December 2017)
Case

Who Broke the Bank of England?

By: Niall Ferguson and Jonathan Schlefer

In the summer of 1992, hedge fund manager George Soros was contemplating the possibility that the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) would break down. Designed to pave the way for a full-scale European Monetary Union, the ERM was a system of fixed exchange rates... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Currency Exchange Rate; Investment; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Financial Services Industry; European Union

March 2009 (Revised September 2011)
Case

UBS and Auction Rate Securities (A)

By: Daniel Baird Bergstresser, Shawn A. Cole and Siddharth Bhaskar Shenai

UBS, a global financial services company, must decide whether to continue to support the market for Auction Rate Securities in the face of a growing financial crisis. These instruments, underwritten by UBS, were marketed to clients as highly liquid and safe... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Financial Crisis; Asset Pricing; Financial Liquidity; Financial Instruments; Government Legislation; Risk and Uncertainty; Financial Services Industry

December 2011
Article

Stock Price Fragility

By: Robin Greenwood and David Thesmar

We investigate the relationship between ownership structure of financial assets and non-fundamental risk. We define an asset to be fragile if it is susceptible to non-fundamental trading shocks. An asset can be fragile because of concentrated ownership or because its... View Details

Keywords: Stocks; Price; Ownership; Risk and Uncertainty; Assets; System Shocks; Financial Liquidity; Forecasting and Prediction; Investment Return; Volatility; Relationships; United States

Article

Are Crises Good for Long-term Growth? The Role of Political Institutions

By: Alberto Cavallo and Eduardo Cavallo

This paper provides empirical evidence for the importance of institutions in determining the outcome of crises on long-term growth. We show that once unobserved country-specific effects and other sources of endogeneity are accounted for, political institutions affect... View Details

Keywords: Growth; Democracy; Macroeconomics; Growth and Development; Financial Crisis; Economic Growth; Government and Politics

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11 Apr 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Managers and Market Capitalism

Keywords: by Rebecca Henderson & Karthik Ramanna

September 2013 (Revised August 2015)
Background Note

Leadership and Teaming

By: Ethan Bernstein

Small differences in the leadership of teams can have large consequences for the success of their efforts. Many initiatives fail not because of a fatal error in judgment or insufficient ideas, knowledge, motivation, or capabilities to deliver a solution. They fail... View Details

March 2005 (Revised May 2006)
Case

Buckingham Park

By: Arthur I Segel and Joshua A. Katzin

In September, 2004, Stephen Lebowitz, President of CBL, a $6 billion publicly traded shopping mall real estate investment trust (REIT) with over 70 million square feet, is considering acquiring 170 acres for a new retail development at a racetrack site in Southern New... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Debt Securities; Investment; Real Estate Industry; New Hampshire

October 1990
Article

Troubled Debt Restructurings: An Empirical Analysis of Private Reorganization of Firms in Default

By: S. C. Gilson, J. Kose and L. H. P. Kang

This study investigates the incentives of financially distressed firms to restructure their debt privately rather than through formal bankruptcy. In a sample of 169 financially distressed companies, about half successfully restructure their debt outside of Chapter 11.... View Details

Keywords: Theory; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Restructuring

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November 2003
Article

The Maturity of Debt Issues and Predictable Variation in Bond Returns

By: Malcolm Baker, Robin Greenwood and Jeffrey Wurgler

The maturity of new debt issues predicts excess bond returns. When the share of long-term debt issues in total debt issues is high, future excess bond returns are low. This predictive power comes in two parts. First, inflation, the real short-term rate, and the term... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Bonds; Investment Return; Financial Markets; Forecasting and Prediction

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