Publications

17 Mar 2009
First Look

First Look: March 17, 2009

market setting, the transfer price that maximizes a multinational's profits may also be the same one that maximizes the social welfare of the domestic economy that houses it. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/09-098.pdf A View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

01 Oct 2013
First Look

First Look: October 1

recessions, it is not clear if this is due to demand or supply. We address this question by studying firms' substitution between bank debt and non-bank debt (public bonds) using firm-level data. Any firm... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

25 Jan 2010
Research & Ideas

A Macroeconomic View of the Current Economy

If they didn't understand it already, executives and corporate managers have learned one huge lesson over the past couple of years: macroeconomics matters. Interest rates. Exchange rates. Trade deficits. The Gross Domestic Product.... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

April 2019 (Revised December 2021)
Case

Sears: The Demise of an American Icon

By: Kristin Mugford and Sarah L. Abbott

In 2019, ESL Investments’ $5.2 billion offer to purchase Sears Holdings out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, was accepted, despite opposition from the company's unsecured creditors and other parties. ESL, which was led by Eddie Lampert, had acquired a stake in Sears following... View Details

Keywords: Bankruptcy; Reorganization; Bonds; Restructuring; Business Divisions; Transformation; Fairness; Borrowing and Debt; Credit; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Corporate Governance; Motivation and Incentives; Retail Industry; United States

29 Nov 2017
Research & Ideas

How to Succeed in Business (According to a 15th Century Trade Merchant)

down, his intelligence dims and his memory becomes less quick, so that he risks committing many errors in his business.” “In a sense, these are very early concepts of corporate social responsibility,” says Harvard Business School... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

08 Aug 2017
First Look

First Look at Research and Ideas, August 8, 2017

using money to buy time can protect people from the detrimental effects of time pressure on life satisfaction. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=52953 Governance Through Shame and Aspiration: Index Creation and View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

19 Jun 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, June 19, 2018

Applied Corporate Finance Investors as Stewards of the Commons? By: Serafeim, George Abstract—Over the past few years, there has been a significant increase in the number of initiatives seeking to mobilize investor voice towards positive... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

November 2020 (Revised February 2021)
Case

Integrating Beam Suntory (A)

By: David G. Fubini, Rawi Abdelal and David Lane

The spring 2014 acquisition of U.S. alcoholic spirits maker Beam Inc. by Japan’s Suntory Holdings vaulted Suntory from 15th to third-largest international spirits company in the world. Yet Suntory had borrowed nearly the entire $16 billion purchase price, and relied on... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Communication; Borrowing and Debt; Globalization; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Retention; Leadership; Supply Chain; Organizational Structure; Ownership; Relationships; Conflict and Resolution; Integration; Value Creation; Food and Beverage Industry; Japan; United States; Chicago

September 2021 (Revised October 2021)
Case

Dream: Impact Through Real Estate

By: Michael Chu and John Masko

The Canadian city of Toronto had one of the largest housing affordability problems of any city in the developed world. One company trying to address this problem was Dream, one of the largest real estate groups in Canada. In 2021, Dream had just launched a new system... View Details

08 Sep 2008
HBS Case

The Value of Environmental Activists

There are many methods, most financial, to measure the success of companies in meeting goals. But the question becomes a lot harder at Harvard Business School when MBAs are challenged to measure the efforts of environmental organizations like Greenpeace and the World... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Energy; Utilities

Winter 2013
Article

Fear of Rejection? Tiered Certification and Transparency

By: Emmanuel Farhi, Josh Lerner and Jean Tirole

The sub-prime crisis has shone a harsh spotlight on the practices of securities underwriters, which provided too many complex securities that proved to ultimately have little value. This uproar calls attention to the fact that the literature on intermediaries has... View Details

Keywords: Debt Securities; Corporate Disclosure; Corporate Governance