Publications

SSRN

December 2017
Case

Charity or Bribery?

By: Eugene Soltes and Brian Tilley

Filip Kowalski, a senior manager at the pharmaceutical company Healthgen, leads sales for the firm’s Polish division. While pitching Healthgen’s products, he develops a relationship with a director of a regional health fund who also runs a private foundation. After a... View Details

Keywords: Bribery; Crime and Corruption; Law; Ethics; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; United States; Europe

01 Dec 2004
News

One-on-One with William H. Donaldson

major securities laws and the formation of the SEC. We were in the same sort of turbulent period but with one major difference. In 1929, not that many people were invested in the stock market. This time... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; Finance; Administration of Economic Programs; Government

November 2010
Case

Esquel Group: Building a Sustainable Partnership with Cotton Farmers in Xinjiang (A)

By: James K. Sebenius and Jason Cheng Qian

Esquel Group, leading manufacturer of quality shirts, sought to negotiate long-term partnerships with often-exploited farmers in Xinjiang (western China) to procure a superior cotton variety. Seeking to secure a large supply of specialty cotton in an ethical and... View Details

Keywords: Contracts; Agreements and Arrangements; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Leasing; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Partners and Partnerships; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Hong Kong; Xinjiang Uygur Zizhiqu

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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March 2016 (Revised November 2021)
Teaching Note

T-Mobile in 2013: The Un-Carrier

By: John Beshears and Francesca Gino

By 2013, the U.S. wireless industry was in the midst of a costly transition. As consumers began to embrace more sophisticated mobile devices, the industry's four main players spent heavily to improve their infrastructures for providing reliable high-speed data... View Details

Keywords: Wireless Industry; Telecommunications; Mobile; Service Contracts; Behavioral Economics; Add-on Fees; Shrouded Attributes; Contracts; Competitive Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Infrastructure; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Telecommunications Industry; United States

May 2011 (Revised June 2011)
Case

The Crisis at Tyco - A Director's Perspective

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Aldo Sesia

In 2002, Wendy Lane had been a member of the board of directors at Tyco International a little more than a year when the company's CEO Dennis Kozlowski and other top executives were accused of fraud, which ultimately led to resignations, imprisonments, lawsuits, and... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Reputation; Governing and Advisory Boards; Crisis Management; Accounting Audits; Problems and Challenges; Risk Management; Finance; Managerial Roles; Lawsuits and Litigation; Service Industry; United States

Keywords: Margie Kelley; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools

01 Dec 2008
News

Where Are They Now?

the strongest financial condition.” Glauber again returned to Harvard as an adjunct lecturer at the Kennedy School and a visiting professor at the Law School. He also sits on several corporate boards View Details

November 2002 (Revised June 2003)
Case

Merchant Card Services, Inc. (A)

By: Constance E. Bagley and David Lane

Explores the interaction between a venture capital firm that negotiates a good deal for itself and the portfolio company that seeks to extricate itself from its obligations. Exemplifies the potential conflicts between the fiduciary duty of board members and the... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Deal; Legal Liability; Conflict and Resolution; Financial Services Industry

23 Feb 2021
Research & Ideas

COVID-19 Shines New Light on Working Conditions in Supply Chains

more than 20 years, the devastation in meatpacking is just one example of how lax regulation can make a grave situation deadly. The lack of safety guidance from the US Occupational Health and Safety... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Apparel & Accessories

18 Oct 2021
Blog Post

How Much is Freedom Worth? For Gig Workers, a Lot.

when it came time to vote on reclassification of gig workers under California’s Proposition 22 initiative? Benefits and other protections were at the heart of Proposition 22, the first large-scale look at how voters view gig work. In... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Products

August 2008 (Revised May 2009)
Background Note

International Enforcement of U.S. Patents

By: Robert C. Pozen and Jordan Hirsch

A company that owns a U.S. patent can enforce its patent protections in three ways: by filing a lawsuit in U.S. federal district court, by bringing action in the International Trade Commission, or through the World Trade Organization. This note discusses the pros and... View Details

Keywords: International Relations; Patents; Courts and Trials; Lawsuits and Litigation; Rights

09 Aug 2016
First Look

August 9, 2016

anti-predatory laws to instrument for an outward shift in the supply of credit. First, a comparison between counties in the top and bottom deciles of presence of national banks in states with anti-predatory... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Naina Lal Kidwai

Keywords: Financial Services, Banking, Sanitation

January 1986 (Revised August 1986)
Case

Bougainville Copper Ltd. (Condensed)

Describes a mine operated by Bougainville Copper Ltd. in Papua New Guinea and the pressures negotiating the mineral contract between PNG and Bougainville Copper. Condensed from Bougainville Copper Ltd. (B), (C), and (D) by J.S. Hammond and G.B. Allan. View Details

Keywords: International Finance; Contracts; Negotiation; Mining Industry; Oceania

March 2001 (Revised April 2002)
Case

Ginzel et al v. Kolcraft Enterprises et al (A)

By: Michael A. Wheeler

Examines the wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of an infant who died after a portable crib collapsed. The manufacturer, Kolcraft, licensed the Playskool brand name from the co-defendant, Hasbro Industries. Raises difficult questions about what the two... View Details

Keywords: Safety; Product; Negotiation; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Lawsuits and Litigation; Legal Liability; Brands and Branding; Consumer Products Industry; United States

Student-Profile

Talia Gillis

complex situations led me to become a doctoral student at Harvard Law School. Focusing on consumer financial regulation it became clear that to address the questions I was interested in I needed the... View Details

March 2006
Case

EMC Corporation: Proposed Acquisition of VMware

By: Constance E. Bagley, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Chris Lombardi

Involves the decision by the CEO of EMC Corp. whether to acquire VMware, a small software firm in California that makes virtualization software. Among the factors to be considered are a pending patent case involving WMare and Microsoft and integration challenges... View Details

Keywords: Patents; Decision Choices and Conditions; Lawsuits and Litigation; Applications and Software; Acquisition; Information Technology Industry; California

October 2001
Case

Healthcare Brands Corporation

By: David F. Hawkins

A U.K. and a U.S. firm are entering into a merger agreement. Management must decide whether the merged companies should be domiciled in the United Kingdom and account for the merger as a pooling of interests or the United States and account for the merger as a... View Details

Keywords: International Accounting; Mergers and Acquisitions; Contracts; Health Industry; United Kingdom; United States