Publications

Find at Harvard

Read Now

04 Aug 2014
Op-Ed

Why Small-Business Lending Is Not Recovering

because of a perfect storm of their falling sales and weakened collateral, and growing risk aversion among lenders. Those days are not over. While lingering cyclical factors from the crisis may still be constraining access to bank credit,... View Details

Keywords: by Karen Mills; Banking; Financial Services

09 Jun 2003
Research & Ideas

Around the World of Entrepreneurial Ventures

doesn't have a global perspective on access to resources. Its customers include Wal-Mart, Kmart, and Target; it has 60 percent market share in the U.S. But, like many Korean firms, Jinwoong financed itself with lots of debt from Korean... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

February 2019 (Revised January 2021)
Case

Quiksilver Inc. and Oaktree Capital Management

By: Kristin Mugford and Mike Harmon

Sports lifestyle company Quiksilver filed for bankruptcy in September 2015. Oaktree is considering an additional investment in the company to facilitate the restructuring. Students must consider whether Oaktree should invest given the risks of the turnaround... View Details

Keywords: Bankruptcy; Bankruptcy Reorganization; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Acquisition; Restructuring; Debt Securities; Transformation; Decision Making; Borrowing and Debt; Investment Return; Crisis Management; Negotiation; Retail Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Consumer Products Industry; France; United States

21 Jul 2010
Research & Ideas

HBS Faculty Debate Financial Reform Legislation

catastrophe that followed the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in September. In fact, had the reform legislation been in place starting in the 1990s or early 2000s, we might well have avoided the worst aspects of the financial crisis... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

March 2006 (Revised December 2013)
Case

Hexcel Turnaround — 2001 (A)

By: Paul W. Marshall, James Quinn and Reed Martin

Hexcel's new CEO is faced with deciding how to "take out" $60 million in cash costs in fiscal 2002, as two of the company's end markets—electronics and commercial aerospace—are expected to decline precipitously. Options include closing plants, exiting a business, or... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Negotiation; Management Teams; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategy; Change Management; Crisis Management; Borrowing and Debt; Aerospace Industry; Electronics Industry; United States

23 May 2017
First Look

First Look at New Ideas and Research: May 23, 2017

Corporate Debt in Emerging Markets By: Alfaro, Laura, Gonzalo Asis, Anusha Chari, and Ugo Panizza Abstract—This paper documents a set of stylized facts about leverage and financial fragility in the nonfinancial corporate sector in... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

April 2012
Case

Credit Rating Agency Reform in the US and EU

By: Robert C. Pozen and Brian Conroy

The purpose of this note is to explore reform options for the credit rating industry. The note examines the ways in which credit rating agencies contributed to the recent financial crisis, particularly through ratings of securitized products and sovereign debt. It... View Details

Keywords: Debt Securities; Financial Condition; Standards; Financial Crisis; Corporate Finance; Financial Services Industry; United States; European Union

March 2018 (Revised January 2019)
Case

The TARP Bailouts: Saving the Banking and Automotive Industries

By: Kristin Mugford

Comparison of the U.S. Government response, using the $700 billion TARP fund, to downturns in the banking and auto industries during the global financial crisis. View Details

Keywords: Bailout; Financial Crisis; Borrowing and Debt; Banks and Banking; Government and Politics; Debt Securities; Government Legislation; Public Opinion; Auto Industry; Banking Industry; United States

26 Feb 2020
News

Phoenix Rising

assets—which Greece has had a wealth of in recent years. Indeed the last decade has been rough on the country, to vastly understate the impact of a sovereign debt crisis that nearly kneecapped the entire... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint

December 2006 (Revised August 2013)
Teaching Note

Hexcel Turnaround -- 2001 (A), (B) and (C)

By: Paul W. Marshall

This is the teaching note that is supplemental to the Hexcel Cases A, B & C. View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Negotiation; Management Teams; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategy; Change Management; Crisis Management; Borrowing and Debt; Aerospace Industry; Electronics Industry; United States

2009
Other Unpublished Work

Danatbank

By: David Moss, Cole Bolton and Andrew Novo

In the summer of 1931, Germany was struggling with a deepening economic crisis. Production had fallen, unemployment was high, and bank deposits and gold were being withdrawn from the country at a rapid pace, threatening the value of the German mark. The country's third... View Details

Keywords: Financial History; Economy; Financial Crisis; Borrowing and Debt; Banks and Banking; Financing and Loans; Banking Industry; Germany

January 2009 (Revised October 2011)
Case

Barack Obama and the Bush Tax Cuts (A)

By: Matthew C. Weinzierl and Eric D. Werker

As his inauguration approached, President-elect Obama faced a financial sector meltdown, a costly bailout, and massive government deficits. With the economy in recession, interest rates near zero, and joblessness on the rise, Obama needed to decide whether, and how... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Crisis; Borrowing and Debt; Financial Management; Policy; Government Administration; Taxation; United States

08 May 2020
In Practice

Nonprofits Hurt by COVID-19 Must Hoard Cash to Hold On

The coronavirus crisis is hobbling social enterprises around the world, leaving many fighting for survival at a time of profound need. Since the pandemic hit, donations have fallen for more than two-thirds of nonprofit organizations, and... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

07 May 2013
First Look

First Look: May 7

during peaks of the private equity market, when the parent banks arrange more debt financing for in-house transactions yet have the lowest exposure to debt. Using financing terms and ex-post performance, we show that overall banks do not... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

29 Jan 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, January 29, 2019

forthcoming Journal of International Economics Corporate Debt, Firm Size and Financial Fragility in Emerging Markets By: Alfaro, Laura, Gonzalo Asis, Anusha Chari, and Ugo Panizza Abstract— The post-Global Financial Crisis period shows a... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

13 Jul 2010
First Look

First Look: July 13

turnaround expert, Andrew Macey, as COO to help him in the effort. Pearson and Macey have several options to consider: Should HLB raise $1 million in debt financing and focus on a turnaround or should it approach a private equity investor... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

February 1997 (Revised December 2012)
Case

Jim Sharpe: Extrusion Technology, Inc. (A)

By: H. Kent Bowen and Barbara Feinberg

Jim Sharpe, 11 years after receiving his MBA from Harvard and working for others, has finally become his own boss and 100% owner of manufacturer of aluminum extrusions. After 10 months of an unfunded search, he acquires the business in an LBO and prepares to face his... View Details

Keywords: Acquisitions; Search Funds; Entrepreneurial Management; Entrepreneurs; Turnarounds; Bank Loan; Manufacturing; Metals Processing; Entrepreneurial Finance; Leveraged Buyouts; Labor Unions; Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Crisis Management; Management Skills; Experience and Expertise; Borrowing and Debt; Manufacturing Industry

September 1992 (Revised March 1998)
Case

Japan Confronts an Interdependent World

By: George C. Lodge

Traces the evolution of Japan's economic strategy from 1972 to 1992. Describes the collapse of the Japanese stock market in the spring of 1992, raising the question: Is this the end of Japan's miraculous growth? To help students consider that question, the case... View Details

Keywords: Policy; Financial Markets; Information Technology; System Shocks; Borrowing and Debt; Financial Crisis; Government and Politics; Growth and Development; Situation or Environment; Japan; United States