Publications

2016
Working Paper

The State of Small Business Lending: Innovation and Technology and the Implications for Regulation

By: Karen Gordon Mills and Brayden McCarthy

Small businesses were among the hardest hit in the Great Recession, accounting for more than 60% of the total jobs lost. The economic crisis was one focused on the banking sector, which is one reason for the disproportionately high impact on America’s small businesses,... View Details

Keywords: Small Business; Financing and Loans; Financial Crisis

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December 2007 (Revised September 2009)
Case

Wall Street's First Panic (A)

By: David A. Moss and Cole Bolton

In the early 1790s, a flood of newly issued public and private securities sparked an investment boom in the nascent United States. In New York, the bustling commercial district along Wall Street emerged as the center of the city's securities trade. One of the many... View Details

Keywords: History; Financial Instruments; Auctions; Financial Crisis; Business and Government Relations; Financial Services Industry

June 1992 (Revised March 1993)
Case

Fleetwood Enterprises, Inc. 1990

By: Timothy A. Luehrman

The CFO of Fleetwood Enterprises is considering whether to recommend a large share repurchase to the board of directors. Fleetwood's core businesses, manufactured housing and recreational vehicles, are very sensitive to business cycles and oil prices. Following Iraq's... View Details

Keywords: Business Cycles; Capital Structure; Stock Shares; Price; Crisis Management; Production; Manufacturing Industry; Iraq; Kuwait

03 Oct 2013
Research & Ideas

Lehman Brothers Plus Five: Have We Learned from Our Mistakes?

In September 2008, Lehman Brothers went under—the largest bankruptcy in American history. But that was just the beginning of the story. What followed was the Great Recession, a gargantuan financial crisis... View Details

Keywords: Re: Multiple Faculty; Financial Services; Financial Services; Financial Services; Financial Services

May 1992 (Revised August 1996)
Case

NIKE in Transition (A): The Ascendancy of Bob Woodell

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Explores Bob Woodell's tenure as Nike's first COO. Describes development of Woodell's management style, his attempts to develop the organization, and his responses to unforeseen business problems. Changing market forces, new competitors, a build-up of low-end... View Details

Keywords: Conferences; Crisis Management; Management Style; Marketing Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance Evaluation; Competition

October 2009 (Revised April 2010)
Supplement

Societe Generale (B): The Jerome Kerviel Affair

By: Francois Brochet

This case illustrates the tension/balance that firms with complex and risky business models must consider in designing their internal controls. It describes the environment in which a derivatives trader engaged in massive directional positions on major European stocks... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Governance Controls; Crisis Management; Financial Services Industry

11 Feb 2015
Research & Ideas

Politicians Benefited From Using Toxic Loans

Talk of the recent financial crisis often falls into a simplistic narrative of villainous banks, marketing toxic financial products to innocent customers who did not understand... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Financial Services

October 2023
Case

Leading Transformation at IHCL

By: Krishna G. Palepu, V.G. Narayanan and Malini Sen

In November 2017, Puneet Chhatwal, took charge as MD and CEO of IHCL, popularly referred to as the Taj Hotels. Despite being India’s largest hospitality company by market capitalization and respected for its values and service, IHCL had made losses for the last seven... View Details

Keywords: Turn Around Management; Hospitality Industry; Brand Management; Financial Strategy; Business Model; Restructuring; Asset Management; Leadership Style; Crisis Management; Brands and Branding; Product Positioning; Segmentation; Asia; India

03 Feb 2018
Op-Ed

How to Heed BlackRock's Call for Corporate Social Responsibility

Larry Fink recently created a shockwave. As cofounder, chairman, and CEO of BlackRock, one of the world’s largest global asset management firms, in an open letter to CEOs he caught the attention of financial markets and beyond by insisting on the importance of... View Details

Keywords: by Julie Battilana

June 2011 (Revised June 2013)
Case

Sino-Ocean Land: Responding to Change

By: Nicolas P. Retsinas, Jeffrey Hu and Runjiao Xu

In 2010, Sino-Ocean Land Holdings Limited was a highly successful, large real estate developer based in Beijing, China. Sino-Ocean Land had three main business segments—property development, property investment/management, and other real estate related businesses. From... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategic Planning; Diversification; Property; Policy; State Ownership; Business Strategy; Business and Government Relations; Real Estate Industry; Beijing

22 Mar 2011
First Look

First Look: March 22

to use credit to build assets and finance consumption. Moving Forward explores what caused the crisis and, more important, focuses on the path ahead. The challenge remains the same as ever: protect consumers, ensure fairness, and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Joshua D. Margolis

Joshua Margolis is James Dinan and Elizabeth Miller Professor of Business Administration and the Unit Head for the Organizational Behavior unit. He is also Faculty Chair of the Program for Leadership Development. His research and teaching revolve around leadership... View Details

Keywords: furniture; health care; insurance industry; nonprofit industry; pharmaceuticals

September 2017
Case

Christine Lagarde

By: Julie Battilana, Carin-Isabel Knoop, Vanessa Ampelas and Noemie Assenat

The case covers the youth and career trajectory of Christine Lagarde across her time at Baker & McKenzie, as a minister in the government of France and as the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The case highlights the challenges and opportunities she faced... View Details

Keywords: Change; Personal Development and Career; Power and Influence; Leadership; Gender; Leading Change

2018
Working Paper

After the Carnival: Key Factors to Enhance Olympic Legacy and Prevent Olympic Sites from Becoming White Elephants

By: Isao Okada and Stephen A. Greyser

In recent years, the total spending on hosting the Olympic Games has snowballed. The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games spent $40 billion on infrastructure development, and the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics reached $50 billion. Even when the glorious but costly Olympic Games come... View Details

Keywords: Olympic Venue; Effective Reuse; White Elephant; Sustainability; Buildings and Facilities; Sports

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April 2009 (Revised June 2010)
Case

U.S. Subprime Mortgage Crisis: Policy Reactions (B)

By: Laura Alfaro and Renee Kim

In March 2009, the U.S. economy was in a severe recession not seen since the Great Depression after the subprime mortgage crisis had spiraled out of control. The situation had dramatically changed in one year since the Federal Reserve Board had helped to bailout... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Central Banking; Mortgages; Globalized Economies and Regions; Policy; United States

September 8, 2009
Article

The New Governance Paradigm

By: Nathaniel Foote and Michael Beer

Boards members of failed banks in 2008 or of the many companies like Enron who were caught up in scandals are by and large honorable, well intentioned, and competent people. So what went wrong and what can be done about it. This article argues that the problem lies in... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Competency and Skills; Banks and Banking; Failure; Goals and Objectives; Leadership; Management Practices and Processes; Ethics; Performance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Crime and Corruption

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September 2010 (Revised December 2010)
Case

Santander Consumer Finance

By: J. Gunnar Trumbull, Elena Corsi and Andrew Barron

A Spanish company has to decide if they should expand into the fragmented European consumer finance market and has to make important organizational strategy decisions in the midst of the world economic downturn that followed the 2007 U.S. credit crunch. Since 2002, the... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Financial Markets; International Finance; Personal Finance; Consolidation; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Financial Services Industry; European Union; Spain

November 2003 (Revised December 2003)
Case

Enabling Business Strategy with IT at the World Bank

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Brian DeLacey

World Bank IT provides services (communications, applications, video conferencing, knowledge sharing, distance learning, information sharing, client commerce, crisis management, etc.) on a global basis to the poorest countries in the globe via satellites. This case... View Details

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Globalized Economies and Regions; Information Technology; Global Strategy; Business Strategy; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry