Publications

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 2001
Case

California PERS (B)

By: Jay O. Light, Jay W. Lorsch, James O. Sailer and Katharina Pick

The largest state pension fund continues the evolution of its approach to corporate governance contemplating "relationship investing" and other new approaches. View Details

Keywords: Investment; Corporate Governance; Financial Management; Asset Management; Business and Shareholder Relations; Investment Funds; Financial Services Industry; California

February 2005 (Revised April 2006)
Case

Richard Grasso and the NYSE, Inc. (A)

By: William W. George and Andrew N. McLean

In 2003, the New York Stock Exchange faces heated controversy over the pay of Chairman Richard Grasso. Traces Grasso's development and his success serving stakeholders while transforming operations at the world's largest exchange. Describes how Grasso's compensation... View Details

Keywords: Financial Markets; Corporate Governance; Executive Compensation; Leadership; Performance; Financial Services Industry; New York (state, US)

2024
Working Paper

When Insurers Exit: Climate Losses, Fragile Insurers, and Mortgage Markets

By: Pari Sastry, Ishita Sen and Ana-Maria Tenekedjieva

This paper studies how homeowners insurance markets respond to growing climate losses and how this impacts mortgage market dynamics. Using Florida as a case study, we show that traditional insurers are exiting high risk areas, and new lower quality insurers are... View Details

Keywords: Insurance; Natural Disasters; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Insurance Industry; Florida

SSRN

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October 2011 (Revised December 2013)
Case

Lehman Brothers and Repo 105

By: Anette Mikes, Gwen Yu and Dominique Hamel

The collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008 was the largest bankruptcy in US history. The case examines the economics of the off-balance sheet transactions Lehman undertook prior to the collapse, and highlights the corporate governance challenges in situations where firms... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Policy; Accounting Audits; Corporate Governance; Financial Instruments; Risk Management; Financial Services Industry

21 Dec 2009
Research & Ideas

Good Banks, Bad Banks, and Government’s Role as Fixer

funds, Pozen writes with authority and unusual clarity about complex issues in Too Big to Save? How to Fix the U.S. Financial System (John Wiley & Sons). Roger Thompson: How does the government figure out which financial institutions... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson; Financial Services; Financial Services

Winter 2019
Article

Value-based Health Care: Lessons for the Anesthesiologist

By: J.A. Martin, B.L. Potter, T.F. Flanagan and T.W. Feeley

At one point or another in our life, we all become consumers of the health care industry. Indeed, health care affects everyone and encompasses a diverse set of services from childbirth, to illness prevention, to the management of chronic disease and end-of-life care.... View Details

Keywords: Value-based Health Care; Anesthesiologists; Health Care and Treatment; Value; Cost Management; Problems and Challenges; Health Industry; United States

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Research Summary

Managing Networked Businesses

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann

Platform-based businesses that leverage network effects face a distinctive set of management challenges. A platform encompasses components and rules that facilitate interactions between the platform's users. A platform-based product or service exhibits a network... View Details

04 Apr 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research, April 4

investors provide a little funding and limited governance to an increased number of startups that they are more likely to abandon, but where initial experiments significantly inform beliefs about the future potential of the venture. This... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

23 Jun 2008
Research & Ideas

Innovative Ways to Encourage Personal Savings

and I try to keep our connections in the communities we serve by talking with people. We come away from these encounters with a sense of optimism. Low- and moderate-income individuals, by and large, want to take care of their families. View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Financial Services

2025
Article

Educating Students and Professionals on the Business Implications of Climate Change

By: Michael W. Toffel

As climate change poses unprecedented challenges and opportunities, the private sector must play a pivotal role in both adaptation and mitigation efforts. This article discusses the new Harvard Business School Online course, Business and Climate Change, designed to... View Details

Keywords: Climate Impact; Online Courses; Online Education; Decarbonization; Mitigation Policies; Climate Risk; Climate Change; Risk Management; Science; Policy; Business Education; Adaptation

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September 1994
Case

Leadership Problems at Salomon (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Michael Santoro

Deryck Maughan, a vice chairman and co-head of investment banking at Salomon Brothers, learns that his superiors have been less than candid about their knowledge of bidding improprieties by the firm's government trading desk. He must decide what, if anything, he should... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Decision Choices and Conditions; Ethics; Moral Sensibility; Values and Beliefs; Crime and Corruption; Rank and Position; Financial Services Industry

21 Sep 2009
Research & Ideas

Excessive Executive Pay: What’s the Solution?

AIG phenomenon. On Wall Street, it was endemic. Bankers gave themselves nearly $20 billion in 2008 bonuses, even as the economy was spiraling downward and the government was spending billions on bailouts. Politicians pounced. President... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson

June 2015 (Revised October 2015)
Case

High Liner Foods, 2015

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

In 2015, Canadian-based High Liner Foods Ltd was one of North America's largest frozen fish processors with extensive shares of both the food service and retail channels in Canada, the USA and Mexico. With over C$1 billion in revenues, the company had grown four fold... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Analysis; Strategic Decision Making; Family Business; Commodities; Strategic Planning; Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; North America; Canada

November 2020 (Revised February 2022)
Case

CommonSpirit Health: Integrating a Merger of Equals

By: Robert S. Huckman, Hise Gibson and Nicole Gilmore

Soon after closing the 2019 merger of Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) and Dignity Health to create CommonSpirit Health, Lloyd Dean and Kevin Lofton-–jointly appointed to the role of CEO—must make several operational and strategic decisions related to the integration... View Details

Keywords: Health Care Delivery; Hospital; Merger; Merger Integration; Hospital Mergers; Health Information Technology; CEOs; Health Care and Treatment; Mergers and Acquisitions; Integration; Leadership; Customer Value and Value Chain; Decision Choices and Conditions; Governance; Information Technology; Health Industry; United States

October 2006 (Revised January 2008)
Case

Allianz AG: Becoming a European Company

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Alexis Chernak

Focuses on the decision made by leadership at Allianz AG, the German insurance and financial services company, to complete a cross-border merger with the Italian insurance and financial services company, RAS. Allianz, however, could not complete the cross-border merger... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Organization; Decision Choices and Conditions; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Governing and Advisory Boards; Laws and Statutes; European Union; Germany; Italy