Publications

October 2011 (Revised December 2013)
Case

Lehman Brothers and Repo 105

By: Anette Mikes, Gwen Yu and Dominique Hamel

The collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008 was the largest bankruptcy in US history. The case examines the economics of the off-balance sheet transactions Lehman undertook prior to the collapse, and highlights the corporate governance challenges in situations where firms... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Policy; Accounting Audits; Corporate Governance; Financial Instruments; Risk Management; Financial Services Industry

April 1991 (Revised July 1991)
Supplement

RJR Nabisco Board: Guardians of the Gate? (B)

By: Jay W. Lorsch

The special committee of the RJR Nabisco board has extended the bidding deadline for the company by 10 days. The case explains the process by which Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and the management group bid against one another for ownership of RJR Nabisco. The board of... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Situation or Environment; Bids and Bidding; Decision Making; Managerial Roles; Governing and Advisory Boards; Management Teams; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

19 Jun 2012
News

Pricing Lessons From the London Olympics

04 Mar 2020

Incorporating Climate Risk into Financial Models: Bob Litterman on Transition Risk

18 May 2022
News

Get to Know Class Day Student Speaker Peter James Kiernan

February 1999 (Revised October 2009)
Case

Royal Dutch/Shell in Nigeria (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Mihnea C. Moldoveanu

Working with Shell's country manager for Nigeria, the company's Committee of Managing Directors must decide how to respond to the Nigerian government's decision to impose the death sentence on Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other leaders of a movement for the rights of the... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Multinational Firms and Management; Courts and Trials; Rights; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Government Relations; Environmental Sustainability; Social Issues; Nigeria

Alberto Cavallo is the Thomas S. Murphy Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, where he teaches in the Business, Government, and the International Economy (BGIE) unit, a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a... View Details

Edward B. Berk

Ted Berk is the Barry and Teri Volpert Fellow and a Senior Lecturer of Business Administration in the Finance Unit at Harvard Business School. He teaches Private Equity Finance in the elective curriculum and Finance I & II in the required curriculum.

Ted... View Details

March 2014
Article

Delivering High-quality Cancer Care: The Critical Role of Quality Measurement

By: Tracy Spinks, Patricia Ganz, George Sledge, Laura Levit, James Hayman, Timothy Eberlein and Thomas W. Feeley

In 1999, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) published Ensuring Quality Cancer Care, an influential report that described an ideal cancer care system and issued ten recommendations to address pervasive gaps in the understanding and delivery of quality cancer... View Details

Keywords: Health Care Quality; Health Care and Treatment; Quality; Measurement and Metrics; Health Industry; North America

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March 2004 (Revised August 2004)
Case

Strategic Review at Egon Zehnder International (A)

By: Ashish Nanda

The case describes the history of the executive search firm Egon Zehnder International (EZI) from its inception through 2000. Internal and environmental changes lead EZI leaders to question whether the firm might be at an inflection point in its history. The EZI... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Strategy; Service Industry

January 2011
Supplement

ISS A/S (D): Goldman's 2011 Business Standards Report

By: Clayton S. Rose

The (D) case describes aspects of the Jan 2011 report by the Goldman Sach's Business Standards Committee on how the firm might strengthen its practices with respect to clients and other stakeholders. View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Financial Crisis; Corporate Governance; Management; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Core Relationships

May 2000
Supplement

Bain & Co., Inc.: Phyllis Yale in Conversation with MBA students

By: Ashish Nanda

Phyllis Yale, chairman of Bain's Compensation and Promotion Committee (CPC), discusses how the CPC decided on four promotion cases. She reflects on the impact of the promotion decision-making process on the firm. View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Compensation and Benefits; Service Industry

July 2004 (Revised May 2005)
Case

Pfizer's Virtual CIO (Abridged)

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Brian DeLacey

Discusses the IT organization and IT strategy issues facing Pfizer, one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies. Managing over $1 billion of IT expense, the company has a committee approach for handling all critical IT decisions, an approach that is consistent... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Cost Management; Organizational Culture; Strategy; Information Technology; Pharmaceutical Industry

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June 2005 (Revised January 2006)
Case

Investment Policy at the Hewlett Foundation (2005)

By: Luis M. Viceira

In early January 2005, Laurance Hoagland Jr., VP and CIO of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation (HF), and his investment team met to finish their recommendations to the HF Investment Committee for a new asset allocation policy for the foundation's investment... View Details

Keywords: Investment Portfolio; Risk and Uncertainty; Public Equity; Globalization; Investment; Property; Risk Management; Asset Management; Financial Services Industry

Sara Fleiss was the co-founder and co-portfolio manager of Emeth Partners, an emerging markets arbitrage hedge fund. Prior to founding Emeth, Sara was the lead analyst on the Emerging Markets Equities portfolio at Harvard Management Company (HMC). At HMC, Sara... View Details

Forest L. Reinhardt

Forest L. Reinhardt is the John D. Black Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, and HBS’s Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Promotions and Tenure.

Professor Reinhardt is interested in the relationships between market and nonmarket... View Details

Keywords: agribusiness; agriculture; beverage; biotechnology; chemical; energy; federal government; food; food processing; forest products; nonprofit industry; oil ＆ gas; paper; petroleum; tourism; transportation

December 2006 (Revised December 2007)
Case

The Vanderbilt University Endowment (2006)

By: Andre F. Perold and William T. Spitz

As with many modern-day large pools of capital, the Vanderbilt University endowment is significantly invested in alternative assets such as hedge funds, private equity, real estate, and natural resources. The endowment's investment committee chair is attempting to... View Details

Keywords: Higher Education; Asset Management; Financial Management; Financial Strategy; Investment Portfolio; Risk Management

November 1986 (Revised December 1998)
Case

Disctech, Inc.

Describes a company that had problems of fraudulent financial reporting. Provides an opportunity to discuss the roles of top management, financial management, internal and external auditors, and the audit committee of the board of directors in such circumstances. The... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Financial Reporting