Publications

September 2020
Case

Disrupting Justice at RightNow: Rich or King

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Amir Reza Rezvani

The case examines issues such as cascading problems within the organization, changing founder roles, founder success criteria, as well as company exit consideration. In 2017, Dr. Torben Antretter, a former competitive tennis player and academic researcher, founded... View Details

Keywords: Exit; Startup; Financing; Founders; Entrepreneurship; Law; Venture Capital; Success; Financing and Loans; Business Growth and Maturation; Strategy; Legal Services Industry; Germany

April 2007 (Revised June 2008)
Background Note

USG

By: Elie Ofek and Kerry Herman

Serves as a background note for purposes of class discussion around next-generation innovation at USG. Describes the company, its products, and competitors. Of relevance is the fact that it recently filed for Chapter 11 due to litigation over asbestos-related claims.... View Details

Keywords: Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Innovation and Invention; Lawsuits and Litigation; Competition

Find at Harvard

08 Jan 2018
Research & Ideas

The Startling Percentage of Financial Advisors with Misconduct Records

required to disclose any whiff of misbehavior to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), an independent monitoring organization regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. A research... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

January 1994 (Revised April 1994)
Case

EMC Corporation: Response to Shareholder Litigation (B)

By: Josh Lerner

Reports EMC's decision concerning the second shareholder class-action suit and its implications. Legislative efforts to reform securities litigation are also discussed. View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Lawsuits and Litigation; Going Public; Policy; Management Teams; Business and Shareholder Relations; Technology Industry; United States

08 Jan 2001
Research & Ideas

Can Japan Compete? [Part Two]

themselves and new industries will grow. The number-one priority is to change the competition laws and the whole approach to regulating... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace & Hilah Geer

20 Jan 2016
Research & Ideas

Maybe Uber isn't God's Gift to Mankind

pick up passengers with disabilities. “Suddenly entrepreneurship is not about who can build a better mousetrap, but who can better ignore the law and develop a corporate advantage for ignoring the law”... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Transportation; Insurance

January 2011
Case

William Jeffrey Departs from Bay Colony Mutual

By: Lena G. Goldberg

A board's decision-making and process in investigating and terminating a company's CEO are explored and the company's policies and contractual obligations considered. View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Policy; Resignation and Termination; Contracts; Leadership

September 1992 (Revised August 2004)
Supplement

Martin Marietta: Managing Corporate Ethics (B)

By: Lynn S. Paine

The president of one of Martin Marietta's four main operating companies has learned of procurement irregularities in the company he manages. The problems involve U.S. government contracts the company is working on. After getting legal advice from the company's general... View Details

Keywords: Fluctuation; Crime and Corruption; Ethics; Governing and Advisory Boards; Policy; Contracts; Leadership; United States

01 Jun 2017
News

A Finger on the Pulse of the Financial System

scholars from HBS, Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard Law School, and the Department of Economics, the BFFS Project is led by Robin Greenwood, the George Gund Professor of Finance View Details

April 1986 (Revised July 1986)
Supplement

Duncan Field (B)

By: Howard H. Stevenson

Following the acquisition of a new business, the manager is approached for the "continuation" of a regular payment for services to "insure labor peace" and maintain a parking lot. The case allows discussion of ethical, legal, and practical issues involved. View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Ethics; Law; Management; Service Industry

September 2019 (Revised May 2020)
Supplement

Keroche (D): Transforming the Core Business

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Pippa Tubman Armerding

This case describes Keroche co-founder Tabitha Karanja’s decision to exit the wine business following the Kenyan government’s 2007 increase in excise taxes on wine. In August 2007, Keroche introduced the vodka drink Viena Ice as a replacement for its fortified wines,... View Details

20 Sep 2011
News

A Taxing Question

repeal the tax law that allows corporations to defer paying taxes on their overseas income, thereby generating billions in much-needed revenue for the US Treasury. And they point to major competitors with... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; Accounting, Tax, Bookkeeping, Payroll Services; Professional Services

23 Oct 2019
News

Negotiators Share Lessons from High-Stakes Global Diplomacy

Madeleine Albright was interviewed for the American Secretaries of State Project, a collaboration among faculty members at HBS, Harvard Kennedy School, and Harvard Law School designed to extract lessons in... View Details

Keywords: University Collaborations

01 Sep 2009
News

Consumer Finance Makes HBS Debut

Harvard Law School professor Howell Jackson (MBA 1980), the elective course attracted 52 students, with one-third coming from the Law School. Tufano recently talked about the course View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools

December 2022 (Revised February 2023)
Case

Daniel Defense: Responding to the Shooting at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher

At 11:33am on May 24, 2022, an 18-year-old man from Uvalde, Texas walked into the Robb Elementary School carrying a semi-automatic "AR-15-style” rifle manufactured by Daniel Defense and killed 19 children and two adults. Three days later, Representative Carolyn Maloney... View Details

Keywords: Gun Violence; Gun Policy; Second Amendment; Legal Liability; Government Legislation; Marketing Strategy; Business or Company Management; Product Marketing; Ethics; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Moral Sensibility; Crime and Corruption; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Manufacturing Industry; Advertising Industry; United States

31 Jul 2019
News

Honoring the Code

law is going to be, I'm going to carry it out. “But in 2008, I'm now chairman, much different from 1993 when I wasn't involved. It just struck me that I'm leading an institution whose main value is integrity. View Details

22 Feb 2016
Research & Ideas

The ‘Mother of Fair Trade’ was an Unabashed Price Protectionist

publications and meeting minutes of pharmacist groups. “She was known as Mrs. Thomas Gleason until about 1934, when she begins to get introduced by her first name. In the story of California ‘fair trade’ I found this exceptional state... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Retail; Health; Legal Services

January 1988
Case

Santa Clara County Transportation Agency (A)

A manager is confronted with a choice between promoting a man, recommended through a careful evaluation process, or a woman, who scored slightly lower in the same process, and who is seen as a trouble maker. Appendix summarizes legal issues in affirmative action... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Laws and Statutes; Gender

February 1997 (Revised April 1997)
Case

Harrington Financial Group

By: Robert C. Merton and Alberto Moel

In early 1997, Harrington Bank, a small Indiana savings and loan (thrift) wondered what its next move should be. Harrington was acquired in 1988 by the principals of Smith Breeden Associates, a money-management and consulting firm specializing in the application of... View Details

Keywords: Banks and Banking; Mergers and Acquisitions; Price; Risk Management; Mortgages; Contracts; Asset Management; Investment; Financial Services Industry