Publications

Samuel L. Hayes holds the Jacob H. Schiff Chair in Investment Banking Emeritus, at the Harvard Business School. He has taught at the School since 1970, prior to which he was a tenured member of the faculty of the Columbia University Graduate School of Business. He... View Details

September 2024
Case

Topaz: Navigating Governance, Legacy, and Change

By: Christina R. Wing and Carla Larangeira

Since its founding in 2011, the Garza Sada brothers and their father positioned Topaz among leading family offices in Monterrey, Mexico, with several assets under management. Topaz aspired to have a transformative impact across multiple Mexican industries. An industry... View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Family Business; Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Managerial Roles; Management Succession; Family Ownership; Financial Services Industry; Real Estate Industry; Education Industry; Energy Industry; Latin America; Mexico

April 2021 (Revised January 2022)
Supplement

SA Taxi: A Vehicle for Empowerment? (B)

By: Nien-he Hsieh, Dilyana Karadzhova Botha and F. Christopher Eaglin

SA Taxi was a vertically integrated business that operated in South Africa’s distinctive taxi industry. Despite being plagued by violence, informal structures, unsafe road practices and lack of government support, the taxi industry had grown to become South Africa’s... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Accountability; Ownership; Ownership Stake; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Equality and Inequality; Race; Situation or Environment; Transportation Industry; South Africa; Africa

20 Nov 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Entrepreneurship and Business Groups: An Evolutionary Perspective on the Growth of the Koç Group in Turkey

Keywords: by Asli M. Coplan & Geoffrey Jones

January 2021 (Revised October 2024)
Case

Aptiv PLC Board of Directors (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz

Aptiv’s board must decide whether a joint venture with an auto maker is the right next step in the company’s efforts to develop and commercialize a production-ready autonomous driving system. While many commentators believed that Aptiv’s self-driving technologies had... View Details

March 2020 (Revised May 2020)
Case

Board Director Dilemmas—Family Affairs

By: David G. Fubini, Suraj Srinivasan and Amram Migdal

This case focuses on a new director who must help resolve a disagreement between two generations of leaders in a family business. The case raises questions of the proper role and approach for a director trying to manage a legitimate disagreement between shareholders... View Details

Keywords: Board Of Directors; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Family Business

April 2023 (Revised July 2023)
Case

Fermenting Accounting Problems at Vermont Kombucha Corp.

By: Tatiana Sandino and Marshal Herrmann

Founded in 2005, Vermont Kombucha Corp. (V-Ko) was an early mover in the fledgling U.S. market for kombucha, a drink brewed for its health benefits. Early on, the company captured more than 90% of market share. Under the leadership of its founder and CEO, Joe Williams,... View Details

Keywords: Going Public; Business Model; Financial Reporting; Ethics; Corporate Governance; Stock Shares; Food and Beverage Industry

Peter Tufano is a Baker Foundation Professor at Harvard Business School and Senior Advisor to the Harvard Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability. From 2011 to 2021, he served as the Peter Moores Dean at View Details

14 Oct 2014
First Look

First Look: October 14

Samuel G. Hanson, Joshua S. Rudolph, and Lawrence H. Summers Abstract—This paper re-examines government debt management policy in light of the U.S. experience with extraordinary fiscal and monetary policies... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

17 Dec 2007
Research & Ideas

The Rise of Medical Tourism

describes, the globalization of health care also provides a fascinating angle on globalization generally and is of great interest to corporate strategists. "Apollo Hospitals—First-World Health Care at Emerging-Market Prices"... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Health; Medical Devices & Supplies

04 Jan 2022
What Do You Think?

Firing McDonald’s Easterbrook: What Could the Board Have Done Differently?

transferred to a personal account from his corporate email account. The board also was able to allege that Easterbrook had actually had physical sexual relationships with three other McDonald’s employees in... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

10 Jan 2005
Research & Ideas

Motivation and the Cross-Sector Alliance

structure with management and ownership formally represented in different organs. In the case of La Nación, the newspaper is owned by a corporation (La Nación S.A.), but the... View Details

Keywords: by James Austin, Ezequiel Reficco & SEKN research team

April 2009 (Revised August 2009)
Case

Petrobras in Ecuador (A)

By: Aldo Musacchio, Lena G. Goldberg and Ricardo Reisen de Pinho

On October 18, 2007, Ecuador's President Rafael Correa announced his intention to migrate Petrobras' existing participation contracts to exploit oil reserves in Ecuador's Blocks 18 and 31 to servicing agreements under which Petrobras would be paid a production fee and... View Details

Keywords: Metals and Minerals; Globalized Firms and Management; Corporate Governance; Government Administration; Taxation; Contracts; Negotiation Process; Negotiation Tactics; Public Ownership; Business and Government Relations; Business and Shareholder Relations; Brazil; Ecuador

February 2023
Case

Ransomware Attack at Springhill Medical Center

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Li-Kuan (Jason) Ni

In July, 2019, Springhill Medical Center (“SMC”) in Mobile, Alabama, fell prey to a malicious ransomware attack that crippled the hospital’s internal network systems and public-facing web page. While the hospital rushed to securely restore the network, medical... View Details