Publications

February 1999 (Revised October 2009)
Background Note

Debt v. Equity: Definitions and Consequences

By: Henry B. Reiling and Mark Pollard

Explores the location of the somewhat imprecise line between debt and equity. Identifies the primary business contexts that give rise to problems, the alternative tax consequences attending the debt versus equity determination, and the most prominent tests used to... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Equity; Interest Rates; Taxation; Business and Government Relations; Public Administration Industry

2009
Case

Blaine Kitchenware, Inc.: Capital Structure: Brief Case No. 4040.

By: Timothy A. Luehrman and Joel L. Heilprin

A diversified mid-sized manufacturer of kitchen tools contemplates a stock repurchase in response to an unsolicited takeover. The company must analyze its debt capacity and optimal capital structure,while considering associated changes in firm value and stock price.... View Details

Keywords: Capital Structure; Financial Strategy; Interest Rates; Taxation; Stocks; Consumer Products Industry

October 2001 (Revised November 2001)
Case

Blethen Family and the Seattle Times Company (A), The

By: John A. Davis and Cathy Quinn

Frank Blethen, the fourth-generation publisher of The Seattle Times, ponders the challenges facing this family business. This case reviews the long history of this business and family and asks whether family ownership and management are in the interests of both the... View Details

Keywords: History; Management; Business or Company Management; Family Business; Family and Family Relationships; Family Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Journalism and News Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry

November 2002 (Revised April 2003)
Case

New York Stock Exchange versus NASDAQ, The

By: Estelle S. Cantillon and Tarun Khanna

Reviews the competition between stock markets, specifically the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ, as it plays out both in the United States and internationally. The competition between the two exchanges is interesting because of technological developments and the... View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Globalization; Strategy; Competition; United States

April 1999
Case

Trexel

Describes an interesting plastics technology and an entrepreneur's attempts to build a business around it. Highlights issues around managing technical and market risk. Teaching purpose: Highlights difficult decisions around building a business off of an unproven... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Business Startups; Risk Management; Risk and Uncertainty; Information Technology; Corporate Entrepreneurship

10 Oct 2019
News

Slowing Tech Represents A 'Real Reckoning'

04 Feb 2020
Video

Hubert Danso

Hubert Danso, Chair of the South-African based financial services group Africa Investor, explains how in West Africa in the 2010s government officials increasingly have a private sector background and are... View Details

Louis T. Wells

Professor Louis T. Wells is the Herbert F. Johnson Professor of International Management at the Harvard Business School. He has served as consultant to governments of a number of developing countries, as well as to international organizations and private firms. His... View Details

Keywords: mining; telecommunications; utilities

June 2018 (Revised February 2019)
Teaching Note

Rose Electronics Distributing Company

By: Richard S. Ruback, Royce Yudkoff and Ahron Rosenfeld

Itamar Frankenthal (HBS ’13) wanted a $4.5 million bank loan to partially finance his planned acquisition of a small company, Rose Electronics. He received nine proposals which varied widely in term, interest rate, amortization schedule, and covenants. Frankenthal had... View Details

Keywords: Financing and Loans; Acquisition; Decision Making; Electronics Industry

04 Nov 2014
News

'We Are Not ... Awash In Fabulous Role Models For Young Girls'

Research Summary

Business history

Espen Storli is currently working on a project on commodity trading in the post-WWII period, with a special interest in the political economy of the world mercury markets. He is also one of the editors of a forthcoming book on the global economic history of bauxite. View Details

31 Oct 2014
News

Business in the blood

February 2000 (Revised August 2001)
Case

Astor Park Hotel

By: William J. Poorvu, Arthur I Segel and Matthew C. Lieb

Starwood Hotels, the world's largest REIT, is interested in acquiring an underperforming hotel in the Pacific Northwest. Steve Goldman, Starwood's VP of acquisitions and development, is wondering how much to pay for the property and how to reposition it. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Mergers and Acquisitions; Asset Pricing; Property; Investment; Accommodations Industry; Northwestern United States

June 2006 (Revised June 2007)
Background Note

The Challenge Facing the U.S. Healthcare Delivery System

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Discusses the challenges currently facing the U.S. health care delivery system. These challenges frame the problems managers of delivery organizations are currently facing. They include a burgeoning gap between demand and supply. Demand for health care services is... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry; United States