Publications

February 2011 (Revised January 2017)
Case

Countrywide plc

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah L. Abbott

One of the world's leading investors in distressed companies, Oaktree Capital Management, is contemplating a "loan to own" investment in the debt of Countrywide plc, a financially troubled residential real estate agent based in the U.K. Only sixteen months earlier,... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Restructuring; Financial Crisis; Capital Structure; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financial Management; Investment; Real Estate Industry; United Kingdom

23 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

China’s 60-Year Road from Revolution to World Power

in state industries—became a closed caste, an industrial elite with hereditary jobs, and with privileges and security far above that of their rural cousins. If anything, the gap between urban and rural identities became greater. And the... View Details

Keywords: by William C. Kirby

July 1994 (Revised March 1995)
Case

Microsoft: Multimedia Publications (B)

By: Marco Iansiti and Ellen Stein

Microsoft is about to release an apparently successful CD-ROM baseball product. The company is trying to determine what product(s) should be developed next, how it should organize itself, and what role it should play in the development of such products. View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Applications and Software; Product Design; Organizational Structure; Product Launch; Business Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Washington (state, US)

09 Sep 2008
First Look

First Look: September 9, 2008

Schoar, Jialan Wang Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/09-024.pdf The Contingent Nature of Public Policy and Growth Strategies in the Early Twentieth-Century U.S. Banking Industry Authors:Christopher Marquis, Zhi Huang... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

August 2011
Teaching Note

Before the Fall: Lehman Brothers 2008 (TN)

By: Clayton Rose and Sally Canter Ganzfried

Teaching Note for 309-093. View Details

Keywords: Resignation and Termination; Problems and Challenges; Management; Change; Performance; Rank and Position; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Investment Funds; Capital Structure; Service Industry

March 2011
Case

Grand Circle Travel: Where Risk Comes with the Territory

By: Herman B. Leonard

A worldwide travel company is intrinsically exposed to risks of natural and man-made disasters. How do you organize a business for success when it must on a nearly daily basis cope with hazards ranging from minor mishaps to large-scale catastrophes? Alan and Harriet... View Details

Keywords: Crisis Management; Risk and Uncertainty; Safety; Transportation; Organizational Design; Decision Choices and Conditions; Organizational Structure; Mission and Purpose; Competitive Advantage; Travel Industry

December 2010 (Revised March 2012)
Teaching Note

Alibaba Group

By: Julie M. Wulf

Teaching Note for 710436. View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Business Subsidiaries; Competition; Motivation and Incentives; Internet and the Web; Growth and Development; Corporate Strategy; Organizational Structure; Retail Industry; China

11 Oct 2016
First Look

October 11, 2016

Smartphone Industry By: Paik, Yongwook, and Feng Zhu Abstract—Strategy scholars have documented in various empirical settings that firms seek and leverage stronger institutions to mitigate hazards and gain competitive advantage. In this... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

27 Jan 2009
First Look

First Look: January 27, 2009

models and policies are incomplete without taking into account the bargaining process and, in particular, the way in which this process interacts with underlying control structures in the household. Testing the Commitment Hypothesis in... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

13 Oct 2003
Research & Ideas

Negotiating Challenges for Women Leaders

as industry and other variables, we found that men and women didn't tend to negotiate very different salaries, especially in industries where salaries were normative. But men and women did negotiate... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

December 2012 (Revised November 2014)
Case

W.R. Grace & Co.: Dealing with Asbestos Torts

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah L. Abbott

A manufacturer of building products and specialty chemicals, W. R. Grace & Co. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2001 in response to a flood of lawsuits alleging that its products contained asbestos, and had caused hundreds of thousands of people to contract... View Details

Keywords: Bankruptcy Reorganization; Business Failures; Environmental Regulations; Class Action Lawsuits; Natural Environment; Valuation; Health Disorders; Capital Structure; Restructuring; Lawsuits and Litigation; Chemicals; Crisis Management; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Legal Liability; Construction Industry; Construction Industry; United States