Publications

23 Mar 2020
Research & Ideas

Product Disasters Can Be Fertile Ground for Innovation

the Strategy Unit of Harvard Business School. The case caught the attention of Luo and Alberto Galasso, a professor at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, who have together looked at the impact of changes in liability... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Health; Medical Devices & Supplies

June 2007 (Revised July 2007)
Case

USG Corporation (A)

Deals with CEO Bill Foote's decision of how to deal with USG's exposure to asbestos liability. USG was the largest building materials company in the United States, with 14,000 employees and gross revenues of $3.8 billion. Although USG used asbestos in a small subset of... View Details

Keywords: Legal Liability; Construction Industry

17 Feb 2014
Research & Ideas

Companies Detangle from Legacy Pensions

full responsibility for paying out the pensions; or was it going to "buy-out" the annuities, transferring both the assets and the liabilities of the plan to Prudential's own balance sheet? The decision would determine who was... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Aerospace; Financial Services

05 Jul 2018
Working Paper Summaries

Buying the Verdict

Keywords: by Lauren H. Cohen and Umit G. Gurun

February 2005 (Revised February 2005)
Case

SpudSpy

Students in a technology transfer class identify a promising application for a dormant university technology. In the process, they alienate the inventor, who threatens legal action. What exactly are the problems, and how should the professor teaching the class proceed? View Details

Keywords: Engineering; Legal Liability; Problems and Challenges; Projects; Groups and Teams; Technology

06 Jan 2003
Research & Ideas

Why Expensing Options Doesn’t Solve the Problem

company to transfer assets and liabilities to certain so-called special purpose entities (SPEs). According to the Powers report, which was published by a special committee of Enron's board after the company entered bankruptcy protection... View Details

Keywords: by William Sahlman

19 Mar 2006
Research & Ideas

Unlocking Your Investment Capital

extreme, poorly implemented risk management can lead to the firm's demise. Under Sarbanes-Oxley 404, both the CEO and CFO have to attest with personal liability to the accuracies of the financial statements (including footnotes with... View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen; Financial Services

April 1975 (Revised December 1975)
Case

Sorensen Chevrolet File, The

Concerns the settlement of an automobile insurance claim. A woman, blinded in an accident, alleges that approximate cause of the accident was failure by Sorensen Chevrolet to connect the left headlight of her car. The student is asked for a strategy for settling the... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Negotiation; Insurance; Lawsuits and Litigation; Legal Liability; Insurance Industry; Auto Industry

June 21, 2017
Article

Uber Can't Be Fixed—It's Time for Regulators to Shut It Down

By: Benjamin G. Edelman

I argue that Uber's intentional malfeasance is its comparative advantage. But having grown through intentional illegality, Uber should face strict enforcement of applicable preexisting laws—penalties that would probably bankrupt the company. View Details

Keywords: Lawfulness; Laws and Statutes; Legal Liability; Law; Transportation; Transportation Industry; Information Technology Industry

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July 2011
Background Note

Torts 101: Civil Wrongs & Ways to Right Them

By: Lena G. Goldberg and Mary Beth Findlay

This note summarizes basic principles of tort law and is intended as background information for business students studying legal aspects of management. View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Information; Legal Liability; Business or Company Management

20 Jul 2020
Op-Ed

It's Time for a Bipartisan Health Plan for Employers and Employees

valid, pay-as-you-go basis would avoiding worsening Medicare’s mammoth unfunded liabilities and could even help address them. The Public Option should also avoid government accounting; independent accountants should verify that the Public... View Details

Keywords: by Regina E. Herzlinger and Richard J. Boxer; Health; Insurance

26 Mar 2008
First Look

First Look: March 26, 2008

http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=508038 Ruling the Modern Corporation: The Debate over Limited Liability in Massachusetts Harvard Business School Case 708-016 In 1830, Governor Levi Lincoln, Jr. urged the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

August 2010 (Revised March 2012)
Supplement

The Dow Acquisition of Rohm and Haas (E)

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Melissa Barton

Dow completed the acquisition of Rohm and Haas and escaped a battle in a Delaware courtroom View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Legal Liability; Managerial Roles; Complexity

12 Jul 2016
First Look

July 12, 2016

model is defaultable bank liabilities that provide liquidity services to households. The quality of the liquidity services provided by bank liabilities depends on their safety in case of default. Commercial... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

06 May 2019
Research & Ideas

Consumers Blame Business for Global Health Problems. Can Business Become the Solution?

Every public health crisis—whether it’s the availability of highly addictive opioids or junk food marketing to children—prompts consumers to question how far companies will go for profit. It’s not an unwarranted concern. After all, cigarette makers once used... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Health

Article

To Drive Efforts...Don't Tiptoe Around Your Legal Risk

By: Edward Chang and Bonnie Levine

Many Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives are scuttled because DEI leaders and legal teams feel themselves to be at odds over questions of acceptable risk. DEI leaders see lawyers as guardians of the status quo, whereas legal experts, trained to... View Details

Keywords: Diversity; Risk Management; Legal Liability

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2013
Working Paper

Accountability of Independent Directors—Evidence from Firms Subject to Securities Litigation

By: Francois Brochet and Suraj Srinivasan

We examine which independent directors are held accountable when investors sue firms for financial and disclosure related fraud. Investors can name independent directors as defendants in lawsuits, and they can vote against their re-election to express displeasure over... View Details

Keywords: Debt Securities; Lawsuits and Litigation; Legal Liability